AFTERNOON EDITION

One day it’s an increase in pension payments, effectively a pay cut. The next day it’s a proposal to prohibit teachers from striking. (There have been so many strikes, you know.) Doug Belden at the PiPress writes: “Minnesota teachers would lose the ability to strike and contract negotiations would be limited to the summer months under a bill passed by a state Senate committee Monday. ‘We don't view this bill as an attack on teachers,’ said Charlie Kyte, executive director of the Minnesota Association of School Administrators, which is advocating for the bill. But some opponents clearly saw it that way, and Monday's committee discussion had echoes of the recent labor strife in Wisconsin. ‘This bill strips teachers of collective bargaining rights as they know them,’ said Jan Alswager, chief lobbyist for Education Minnesota, the statewide teachers union.”

Ramsey county’s eagerness to be the lucky suitor who gets to slip the taxpayer equivalent of a 30-carat diamond on Zygi Wilf’s finger can be seen in an agreement with the feds to stop an auction on the Arden Hills Vikings stadium site. Sara Horner of the PiPress reports: “Ramsey County commissioners Tony Bennett and Rafael Ortega told a meeting of about 25 north suburban mayors and city employees Monday that the county had secured an agreement from the U.S. General Services Administration to suspend a public auction planned for the Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant while officials work to get a deal done for the site. The GSA is the agency working to sell TCAAP for the Army, which owns it.”

“Pilot error.” Two words that usually correlate to: fatal. That is the NTSB ruling on the crash in Owatonna three years ago that killed eight people. The AP story says: “The ruling Tuesday cited the pilot's decision to attempt a go-around without enough runway left after touching down at the Owatonna airport in southern Minnesota on July 31, 2008. The NTSB cited contributing factors, including poor coordination between the pilot and first officer and fatigue that likely impaired their judgment. Investigators also cited a wet runway, an 8-knot tailwind and a seven-second delay in braking that prevented the Hawker Beechcraft jet from stopping safely before the end of the runway.” Does it really take three years to figure this stuff out?

MPR has a nice photo essay up on the subject of black bears migrating into farmland in northwest Minnesota. The intro copy says: “Minnesota black bears are on the move in northwest Minnesota. Bears are expanding their range out of forested areas, into farmland. Researchers are trying to learn more about how and why these bears are adapting to a new habitat where bears traditionally did not live.” The photos are by Ann Arbor Miller.

You know how in the movies as soon as a character says he’s “just days from retirement,” you turn to your spouse or date and say, “That guy is toast”? Well, that’s pretty close to what happened up in Duluth. The AP reports: “[A] Duluth officer, just days away from retirement, is hospitalized after his squad car was hit by a repeat drunken driver. Authorities say 50-year-old Sgt. Don Boso was driving an unmarked squad when he was hit by a 25-year-old Bemidji man who ran a red light about 6:20 a.m. Monday. Boso is being treated for non-life threatening injuries at St. Luke's Hospital in Duluth. He's scheduled to retire from the police force in about a week.”

Target Field, less than a month away from the home opener and still buried in snow, is in the running for a flattering honor. Paul Walsh of the Strib says: “The new Twins stadium, fresh off a successful first season in 2010, is one of six Sports Facility of the Year nominees in the fourth annual Sports Business Awards. Nominees in 15 categories overall were compiled by the Street & Smith's SportsBusiness Journal and announced Monday. Winners will be announced May 18 in New York City. Competing with Target Field are: Amway Center (Orlando Magic), Arrowhead Stadium (Kansas City Chiefs), Consol Energy Center (Pittsburgh Penguins), New Meadowlands Stadium (New York Jets and New York Giants) and Red Bull Arena (New York Red Bulls of Major League Soccer).”

The newest Mrs. Hecker, Christi Rowan, will be spending the next 14 months in jail. According to Dee DePass and Kara McGuire of the Strib: “Rowan initially faced just six months in jail after pleading guilty in April to lying under oath and lying on an auto loan application that let Rowan buy a Range Rover for Hecker prior to his June 2009 bankruptcy filing. Rowan could have been sentenced with just probation or six months in jail. But that changed abruptly last month after prosecutors discovered that Rowan violated a prior court order by taking nearly $25,000 in secret bank funds, stock dividend checks and gift cards that Hecker hid from the bankruptcy court.”

There was a healthy uptick in 4Q Minnesota exports. Steve Alexander of the Strib says: “Minnesota manufacturing exports hit a record quarterly high of $4.6 billion in the fourth quarter of 2010, a state report said Tuesday. For the year, exports increased 17.3 percent to $17.2 billion. The Department of Employment and Economic Development said fourth-quarter exports were led by computers and electronics with $1.08 billion and machinery (such as centrifuges and pumping equipment) with $776 million. Transportation equipment, including public transit vehicles and aircraft parts, was third with $632 million.”

If you missed it Sunday, here’s a piece from Salon by Thomas Schaller titled “Why Republicans should run in 2012 — to lose.” The logic is this: “[T]he most obvious reason for the largely vacant GOP field — sorry, Herman Cain — is that the prospects of a Republican beating a once-again formidable Barack Obama seem rather bleak. The 2012 Republican nomination may be a prize not worth winning. Because the nomination isn't worth winning, however, doesn't mean it is ill-advised for Republican hopefuls to run in 2012. In fact, if three historical patterns tell us anything, the smart play for any Republican who hopes someday to sit behind the desk in the Oval Office is to run in 2012 — but to lose the nomination.” And the Pawlenty mention is this: “[The] field of run-to-lose prospects for '12 [narrows] to two current governors and one former one: Mississippi's Barbour, Indiana's Daniels, and Minnesota's Pawlenty. All three can and should announce their presidential candidacies and then proceed to spend as much time introducing themselves to the kinds of voters who would be key to their hopes in '16: Midwestern suburban women for Barbour, southern conservatives for Daniels and Pawlenty, Mountain-state Mormons for all three.”