It's dry. Liz Collin of WCCO tells us that 73 percent of Minnesota is in a drought, while the Pioneer Press reports that St. Paul is the "thirstiest place in Minnesota" with rainfall that is 8 inches below normal. KARE11's Boyd Huppert looks at how the drought has dropped water levels in local lakes, making docks unusable for boaters. As stressful as this might all be to St. Paulites and frustrated boaters, the Osakis Review informs us that the drought is even more stressful to the trees.

By the way, you may notice that the PiPress story above has no credited author. It's not alone. According to a front-page editor's note from Thom Fladung, a number of writers at the Pioneer Press who belong to the union have opted to remove their bylines for the day in protest of "recent events that ended in a layoff."

There may still be a lot of residual anger about the amount of time it took to seat Al Franken, and, it seems, state Republicans believe they can turn that anger on Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, who oversaw the election and recount. The state GOP is buying radio ad time to criticize Ritchie. Tim Pugmire of MPR sums up their charges: "Party Chairman Tony Sutton claims Ritchie is overly partisan, failed to properly train local election officials, and switched his position on absentee ballots during the recount." This campaign seems to be consistent with a longstanding attempt by the GOP to indicate that something stank in the recount, such as the repeated, and factually incorrect, assertion that absentee ballots were forgotten in a car, discredited by MinnPost's own David Brauer). (MinnPost's Jay Weiner offers an overview of Thursday's events here.)

Jason DeRusha of WCCO peeks in on the Denny Hecker case; specifically, he wonders how the hell a dog can be worth $30,000. Short answer: "training, pedigree and demand." Hecker's dogs are German shepherds, and, according to this site, purebred puppies from breeders sell for $800 to $1,200; perhaps Hecker sent them to college. Hecker is probably thanking his stars that he didn't get English bulldog puppies: According to Associated Content, they're the world's most expensive dog breed, with a starting price that can be as high as $5,000, which is ridiculous. That's the sort of money that's better spent on golf clubs, as Hecker did, according to WCCO. Fitzgerald was right, the rich are different: When they go bankrupt, their financial records are a lot more entertaining.

Some good news and bad news for Minnesota commuters. In general, the news is good: Traffic deaths are at a historic low, as the Associated Press reports. However, FOX news points out that motorcycle and bicycle deaths keep climbing, positing that increased unemployment and high gas prices may be a factor, having pushed more people toward cheaper commuting options.

In sports, it's Favremania: In anticipation of Brett Favre joining the Vikings, the Star-Tribune has already created a page for him.) David Brauer points us to Editor and Publisher, which couldn't resist punning, calling the move "A Bridge to Favre." In the meanwhile, on the Strib's Vikings page today, there are two stories devoted to the quarterback, one saying that Favre is the only thing that might keep Favre from joining the Vikes, the other informing us that he has been working out his throwing arm.) Compared with the Pioneer Press, however, this all seems a bit restrained. By my count, on its Vikings Page, there are no less than eight stories dedicated to Favre.

Is there no place where you can safely train for a naked bike race? Perhaps there is, but that place is not Minneapolis: On Thursday Minneapolis police cited a bicyclist for indecent exposure who claimed he was preparing for a West Coast race in which contestants are nude, as Vince Tuss of the Star-Tribune reports. A quick search for such a race produces this decidedly not-safe-for-work site: the World Naked Bike Ride, which claims 70 cities in 20 countries are participating, although most of the Northern Hemisphere rides took place in June. Perhaps he was readying for a Eugene, Ore., naked bike ride that may occur on March 13. This is all idle speculation, of course, but once you start looking at naked bicyclist web pages, it can be hard to stop.

Aw. An Eagan man saved 15 baby ducks from a sewer, completing the trifecta of Eagan good news that includes the man who won $13,000 on "Deal or No Deal" and the declaration by resident and former state auditor Pat Anderson that she's going to run for governor; if she were to win, she would be following in the heels of another notable former Eaganite, Tim Pawlenty. These are exciting days for Eagan.

When faced with a perplexing bit of news, online web forums have created an elegant, one-word response: "what," all lower-cased, without punctuation, which seems an appropriate response for today's news out of Duluth: According to Mark Stodghill of the Duluth News Tribune, republished in the Pioneer Press, Duluth police are searching for a burglar with an unusual sexual fetish. Specifically, he likes to slash large rubber exercise balls with a knife, and will break into buildings to do so.