It's not just for Michael Brodkorb anymore: KSTP wants to examine more than 10,000 rejected U.S. Senate ballots "to count the ballots and try to determine how different counties decide to reject absentee ballots," the station reports. Media lawyer Mark Anfinson sent a letter to elections and Data Practices officials, saying the information is public if the personally identifying return envelopes are separate from the votes. (Combined, you could figure out who voted.) No input so far from the officials themselves.

The Minneapolis Planning Commission voted against allowing Hennepin County to burn 21 percent more trash next to the ballpark, but the City Council can overrule the refusal, the Strib's Steve Brandt notes. While pollution would stay "far below" permitted limits, it would increase, though new control equipment would be added. The city attorney says being scared of gunk isn't a "sufficient basis to deny."

Related: Mercury: it's what's for dinner! MPR's Dan Gunderson says University of North Dakota researchers have determined mercury in fish may be less dangerous than thought. Mercury is poison because it depletes another body chemical, selenium. But if fish have more selenium than mercury, they're safe to eat. Makes me want to drink a glass of mercury and wash it down with a glass of selenium! Northern Minnesota lakes may be problems. By the way, the Hennepin garbage burner is well under permitted mercury-excreting levels.

Really? Common Cause may sue to overturn Gov. Pawlenty's instant unallotments because he killed the $50-per-donor political refund program, the Strib's Patricia Lopez and Paul Walsh report. The problem with challenging the unallotments in court is finding a victim: meet your local politician! A DFL leader gets that his colleagues' situation t is not the most heart-rending, and says his party has no plans to reinstate the $10 million program. The state GOP took in $1.6 million from the refund in 2007, compared with $954,000 for the Dems.

Related: Politics In Minnesota's Sarah Janecek looks at which parties lose the most with the donor refund program's veto unallotment and concludes it's the Independence Party. Still, the IP's chair says he has no problem with the veto. If the IP is weakened, the DFL is probably strengthened, Janecek asserts.

KSTP's Bill Lunn offers an interesting look at a private company whose Salvation Army-style collection boxes fund its sketchy operations. Despite green claims, U'SAgain tosses too much of what it collects, a Sally Army official says; the non-nonprofit uses its cash to fund a lavish Mexican palace, a cult watchdog notes. The group's local leader does seem pretty skittish about cameras, but it makes me wonder what the Goodwill and the Salvation Army HQs look like.

The Strib's Randy Furst keeps banging away at the Gang Strike Force, noting a new suit against the disbanded outfit for busting into a south Minneapolis home. The force was looking for the owner's nephew, an alleged rifle-wielding Vatos Locos gang member; they busted numerous windows, ordered a teenage girl down at gunpoint, and took a computer and camera. However, the alleged gang member wasn't found, denies it all, and there are no warrants for his arrest.

For those of you not paying attention, unemployment on the Iron Range is near 15 percent, and that's probably understated because laid-off miners with callback dates aren't included, the Duluth News Tribune's Peter Passi reports. Checking those communities out would make an excellent feature for some enterprising reporter, unless we're all too bored with Ranger unemployment. By the way, Duluth's unemployment fell from 7.9 percent to 7.5 percent last month.

You can't blame Gov. Pawlenty alone for this one: cutting $2.5 million to help disabled metro residents coordinate rides to doctors. The slicing has thrown patients and counties into a tizzy, since they now have to gin up a way to provide 85,000 rides a month, the Strib's Jean Hopfensperger writes. Ramsey County would have to hire 10 people, Hennepin 17; for now, the counties are funding the old system. The lead DFLer says the three-year-old program was a frill.

Fox9's Tom Lyden picks up the GOP meme that Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak is crazy to spend nearly $180,000 to promote tap water. A city spokeswoman is forced to admit the water stinks for a week in the spring, making the effort look lame. But selling more water means earning more, a point unmade. Lyden gets in a clear cheap shot, noting City Hall faucets have to be run for three minutes before drinking. That's because of the building's old pipes, not bad water.

Yikes: Transit advocate and ex-PiPress transportation reporter Chuck Laszewski was mugged the very first time he tried to buy a light rail ticket, the Strib's Sarah Lemagie reports. The thugs, who got away, beat Laszewski's 75-year-old pal worse. According to Metro Transit, such attacks are "fairly uncommon" (how uncommon?) because of cameras and emergency phones.Laszewski says he won't stop trying to ride the rails.

In today's nature news, the PiPress' Dennis Lien looks at the dangerous life of a suburban bald eagle. In five years, the U's Raptor Center has seen 42 injured national symbols from the seven-county area. Most are victims of unknown causes, though 20 percent are poisoned and three hit airplanes. There were 156 adult eagles in the metro area in 2005. Meanwhile, the Strib's Kevin Giles chronicles the Trust for Public Land's purchase of 38 Chisago County acres in the St. Croix River watershed.

What if you opened up a municipal domestic partner registry and nobody came? MPR's Bob Kelliher says that happened Monday in Duluth. Unlike in Minneapolis, the new registry isn't tied to benefits; the Mill City requires city contractors to offer bennies to registered partners. Still, the Duluth office says it has received inquiries.

The IRS will butt to the head of the line to claim $2.6 million in taxes Denny Hecker owes, the Strib's Dee DePass writes. And that's just in Phoenix; other IRS districts will follow, putting liens on everything Hecker and his wife own.

We won't call the Met Council nuts, but they want to give White Bear Lake $1.39 million to develop a lakefront site into private and public space, the PiPress' John Brewer reports. The city got proposals back for restaurants, retail and parking ... folks, we are hugely overbuilt, and the fact that White Bear would lose $33,000 to $188,000 a year on the plans ought to tell you something. Stop.

Nort spews: The Twins were off Monday, but hold their minor-league tryouts today, giving the PiPress' Charlie Walters a chance to reminisce about how he was signed after the same event four decades ago. The columnist eventually pitched in six games with the '69 Twins, racking up a 5.40 ERA.