Somalia and Minnesota: Maya Nishikawa of WCCO-TV reports that 20-year-old Jamal Bana, one of an estimated 20 Somali-Americans who disappeared from Minneapolis last fall, has been killed in a skirmish in Somalia. At the same time, the Associated Press reports on the death of another Somali-American, Zakaria Maruf, who likewise was killed in combat, the fourth of the group to die in Somalia. Andrea Elliott of The New York Times takes an extensive look at this group, which included Shirwa Ahmed, the first known American suicide bomber, who blew himself up in northern Somalia on Oct. 28, 2008.

The Times also peeks in at our local advertising community, which, in order to attract attention to itself, apparently has decided to rebrand Minneapolis as an advertising mecca. However, in a move that seems almost as misconceived as when local hipsters attempted to redub the Twin Cities "Twincy," advertising professionals have decided to introduce the name "MinneADpolis," with accompanying website. One expects that fans of hockey legend Hap Day will, at some point, decide to call our fair city Minnehapolis, which, come to think of it, was Charles Hoag's original suggestion for the name of the city.

Confirmation hearings for Supreme Court-nominee Sonia Sotomayor begin this morning, and the Pioneer Press' Rachel E. Stassen-Berger and Emily Gurnon remind us that both Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken are on the Judiciary Committee and, therefore, will participate in the hearings. This shouldn't be an issue for Klobuchar, herself a lawyer, but the PiPress writers suggest the hearings may be a bit trickier for Franken, who risks coming off as unknowledgeable. Franken, who MPR reports has been meeting with legal scholars in preparation, seems sanguine about the subject. The PiPress quotes him as saying that his lack of legal background might make him an appropriate stand-in for the American public, quipping, "Most Americans aren't lawyers. I looked it up."

Illinois businessman Greg Bell — whose Lancelot Investment Management went into Chapter 7 bankruptcy last year, and who, in an email to his investors, bemoaned having been victimized by the alleged Ponzi scheme of Twin Cities businessman Tom Petters — seems not to have been entirely forthcoming. The AP reports that the Securities and Exchange Commission says that Bell was not so much a victim of Petters as an active collaborator in fraud, to the tune of $2.6 billion invested with Petters. Bell was arrested Friday.

The Pioneer Press' David Hanners offers a crash course in how not to rob a bank inspired by a recent robbery in Cannon Falls. Chief among Hanners' suggestions: "Don't hold up a bank where you were a customer and the tellers know you." The White Rock Bank was robbed last Tuesday, and, an hour later, a suspect was arrested, having been recognized as a former bank customer.

For those who need to reminded of the awesome power of a tornado, a video has been making the rounds showing a train being dramatically derailed by a twister. With this as prelude, Julianna Olsen of KARE11 gives us the story of a Minnesota family who, on a fishing trip to Canada, was scooped up en masse, along with the cabin they were in, by an F-2 tornado. The tornado also killed the three men in the cabin next door.

While we're on the subject of terrifying videos, perhaps you have seen this early, stop-motion animated commercial of the Jolly Green Giant, in which the corporate icon menaces a farmhouse, accompanied by a soundtrack that sounds borrowed from the chant of the Wicked Witch's guards in "The Wizard of Oz." As of this past week, it is no longer necessary to go online to find evidence of the Green Giant's troubling past: The Associated Press reports that a Green Giant Memorial Museum has opened in Blue Earth, which is also the home to a 55-foot-tall statue of the mascot.

If you've ever wanted a mannequin who could bleed, vomit or give birth — and who hasn't? — you might want to head to Willmar. According to the WCCO-TV website, Ridgewater College's SimLab L1 has acquired these mannequins for paramedic and nursing training purposes, although one suspects that having a life-size baby dummy who can turn blue on command, as they do, might also make for an entertaining prank.

In Sports: City Pages' Kevin Hoffman provides a breathless recap of Minneapolis' own Brock Lesnar, who defeated Frank Mir on July 11 to become the undisputed heavyweight champion of the UFC: "Lesnar also delivered a hellacious beating to Mir's face, leaving the pretty boy looking like two-day old chuck steak," Hoffman reports.