It's been a day and a half since the triple homicide in Seward, and the manhunt is on. There aren't many details yet, although FOX9 reports that this is no longer considered to be a botched robbery. Whatever it was, it has become about community, in a few ways.

Firstly, because the victims and perpetrators are either confirmed to be or suspected to be East African, the police now have the unenviable task of proceeding with an investigation within a minority community; this can be particularly thorny for police, but they've begun by asking for assistance from the community itself, as Minnesota Public Radio's Mark Zdechlik reports, quoting Mayor R.T. Rybak as saying, "We have a challenge right now that this entire community needs to come together around, which is to bring every possible piece of information forward."

Zdechlik's story also touches on another way this crime has turned into a tale of community -- in the shock and grief that it has produced in Minneapolis' Somali community. Especially moving is a photo on the site showing a small bundle of flowers left near the market where the killings occurred; variations of this same image have shown up elsewhere, such as on the Star Tribune site, making it clear that the window above the flowers was pierced by bullets and spattered with blood. MPR's Laura Yuen files a piece about Somali (and, more generally, East African) reactions to the crime; she quotes a relative of the victims as explaining that the victims were from Ogaden,  an area of Ethiopia that is ethnically Somali,where the Ethiopian government and resident Somalis have regularly clashed, and where there have been reports of human rights abuses against Somalis by the Ethiopian military (Wikipedia offers a capsule of the recent conflict). Yuen quotes the relative as saying "So the young guys who were murdered fled their homeland to save their lives. So this is sad -- very, very sad."

Finally, this story is about the larger Seward Community, which responded quickly and dramatically with a candlelight vigil Thursday night outside Seward Market, which was mentioned in stories by FOX9, KARE11 and WCCO, but it's the sort of thing bloggers and social media address especially well, and so we will look to them for coverage. Peter Fleck, writing and the Seward Profile blog, offers his own account of the shooting, which he overheard; hurrying to the market, he met other Seward residents that had discovered the bodies: "They reached the market before I did, crossed 25th and told me there were bodies in the doorway and store. I called 911 immediately to report a shooting and we walked to the Market entry. 911 dispatch started to ask if there was a robbery and I said 'No! There are bodies here. Three bodies. We need an ambulance.' "

Fleck ends his blog entry by inviting readers to the vigil (according to WCCO radio, about 300 showed up) and blogger Jennifer Larson offers a photograph of the event showing attendees gathered around a sign reading "Seward Stands Together." "A true cross-section of Seward showed up for tonights vigil," says Twitter user crossn81, who offers a blurrily effective photo of a throng of people outside the market as proof.

While we're on the subject of Minnesota's East African community, let's look in on St. Cloud, where, you may remember, anti-Muslim cartoons were posted outside a Somali market last month. There's been a resolution to that case, of a sort, according to the Associated Press: The police found a man who admitted to posting the cartoons, which included an image of "Prophet Muhammad engaged in bestiality"; they declined to prosecute, however, citing the First Amendment. It's an understandable position for local authorities to take, but the local Somalis are understandably disappointed; St. Cloud's mayor is also disappointed, at least in a quote in the story: He says, "When people do something like this, they're doing it because they want to create some kind of reaction ... So they should be ready for the consequences."

In other news, the race for governor has been taking a turn for the ugly recently as opponents of former U.S. Sen. Mark Dayton have decided to make his mental health a subject of inquiry, particularly with Dayton's admission that he suffered a relapse in his alcoholism when he was a senator. This story has been developing slowly, with its most pointed observer being MPR's Bob Collins, who has offered up a series of observations via Twitter, mostly in conversation with MinnPost's own David Brauer; Collins' opinion is that "Mental illness is not a character defect. Let's ask candidates when's the last time they lied?"  "The Star Tribune will soon editorialize that anyone who's been treated for depression or anxiety should wear scarlet letters. Shameful."

Collins' specific complaint is that the Strib is sending out emails to all the gubernatorial candidates questioning their mental health history, republished on Politics in Minnesota, along with commentary: "Dayton might actually be in the best position because his Senate record is out there, and now the personal stuff is out there. Dayton’s bags are unpacked and he’s ready to go." City Pages responds to the Strib with considerable vitriol, saying the paper is launching a "modern day inquisition." Brauer asks if the paper is crazy to even ask the question; Brauer doesn't precisely answer his own question but raises some questions, partially influenced by his own experiences with depression and anxiety disorder, that add some more nuance to this story.

Let's offer a little round-up of local politicians responding to President Obama on various subjects, culled from the local press. The wildest one is state senatorial candidate Mike Parry's calling Obama an "Power Hungry Arrogant Black Man" on Twitter, which, as the AP reports, he quickly scrubbed.  (He also Tweeted, and scrubbed, "whats with the Dems and Pedophiles?") Parry apologized for these comments, saying they "were written in haste and out of the frustration I felt for the out of control spending in Washington." Which is understandable, as race and pedophilia are major factors that lead to government overspending. Wait. What?

MinnPost's own Derek Wallbank offers Michele Bachmann's response to Obama's address on terrorism, and the congresswoman was supportive and genial — oh, who are we kidding? She hated it, and calls for Obama to make a fundamental change to his policy on terrorism, including denying suspected terrorists Miranda rights.

Al Franken, in the meanwhile, is remaining studiously mum on his opinion about Obama's plan for Afghanistan; he wants to visit the country before he forms an opinion, according to MPR's Tom Scheck.

In sports: We're going to take a break from Favre reportage to instead tell you that Bloomington has a pair of teen skaters training for the Olympics, according to Jana Shortal KARE11. The story doesn't mention if the Bloomington Police will be bringing their bomb-sniffing dog around them, but we at Daily Glean would like to make a request: Please don't. It takes a lot of practice to prepare for the Olympics, and these girls can't afford to be shut down while a robot destroys their gym bags.