In a vacuum, every imagination works overtime, especially when a public school employee collects a $250,000 severance package. Its an intriguing story the Strib’s Heron Marquez Estrada tells: “Just seven months after signing a new contract, Burnsville school district's human resources director has been paid an unusually large severance of more than $250,000 to leave. No one at the Burnsville-Eagan-Savage School District would comment Tuesday about Tania Z. Chance's sudden reversal of fortune, her January resignation, or what prompted the district to essentially pay her to stay home for the last 18 months of her contract. The settlement is one of the largest in recent memory for a Minnesota school administrator … Portions of the separation agreement provided by the school district were redacted. School board chairman Ron Hill said those portions contained private personnel data that could not be disclosed or described. Hill acknowledged the state's Data Practices Act pertaining to separation agreements calls for making public the reasons for such an agreement but said ‘from our perspective, the separation agreement complies’ with that law. As part of her severance package, Chance agreed to dismiss any claims against the district regarding human rights violations, equal employment issues, age discrimination or civil rights complaints.” It’ll be real tough keeping this one tucked away for long.

Even down 17 percent, the situation is a long ways from “normal.” Curtis Gilbert at MPR reports: “Minnesota saw a 17 percent drop in foreclosures last year, according to a study conducted by a consortium of Minnesota housing agencies. The study counted about 21,300 foreclosures in 2011, down from more than 25,000 the year before, marking the fewest foreclosures the state has seen since 2007 — but still at least triple what's considered a normal level.” The story says we’ve got “four or five years” to go.

Common Cause is going after two major groups supporting the so-called anti-gay marriage amendment. Sasha Aslainian at MPR says: “Common Cause filed two complaints with the Minnesota Campaign Finance Board Wednesday against groups lobbying on behalf of the same-sex marriage ban amendment. Common Cause alleges Minnesota for Marriage and one of its backing groups, the Minnesota Family Council, failed to comply with Minnesota's campaign finance laws. Common Cause Director Mike Dean says Minnesota for Marriage named only seven individual donors, meaning most of the money it raised can't be traced to individuals. ‘I just I find it hard to believe with all these emails that have been sent out, with all the work they're doing online, with all the probably direct mail that they're doing, that they've only found seven individual donors to the campaign,’ Dean said. Amendment opponents disclosed 773 individual contributors during the same period.” What part of “I'm ashamed to have my neighbors know I’m doing this” doesn’t Dean understand?

This will be a fun crowd at the après demonstration happy hour  ... Candace Renalls of the Duluth News Tribune reports: “A member of the Supreme White Alliance said the group plans to hold a white pride rally in Duluth next month in protest of an anti-racism campaign that has sparked controversy. The white unity rally will be held at 10 a.m. March 3 at the Duluth Civic Center and could last up to three hours, said Robert Hester of Superior, the group’s local organizer. ‘It’s open to anyone who is sick and tired of the color of their skin being slandered, saying they’re a racist,’ he said. ‘It’s open to everyone, but there will be white nationalists there.’ Twenty to 100 people are expected, most from outside the area and some coming from as far away as New Mexico and Arizona, Hester said. ‘Hopefully, there will be some locals (attending),’ he said.” Or, hopefully not.

If there are “county rights” proponents, they won’t like this. Jeremy Olson’s story for the Strib says: “Minnesota's child welfare system needs stronger guidance to ensure that vulnerable children are treated consistently from one county to another, a legislative audit concluded Tuesday. Testing county and tribal child-welfare agencies with 10 fictional cases of abuse and neglect, state auditors found wide variations in whether local officials deemed investigations necessary. It was a virtual 50-50 split, for example, on whether agencies would investigate a claim of a small child found wandering a block from home. And 64 percent said they wouldn't investigate as maltreatment a domestic abuse incident that occurred while a child was in another room.”

Under “Things I Always Wondered About,” the Strib’s Doug Smith explains the hows, costs and insurance coverage of losing your truck through thin ice to the bottom of a lake: “There's no fine for dropping your truck or ATV into a lake, [DNR conservation officer Tim] Collette said. ‘You have up to 30 days to remove it,’ he said, though officials might give extensions if ice conditions make removal impossible. ... Figure on $2,000 to $6,000 for a car or truck. An ATV or snowmobile could run $1,200, depending on difficulty. [Towing company owner Clarence] Turner and his crew recently spent half a day recovering a pickup from Gull Lake.” And the vehicles? “ ‘They are totaled,’ Turner said. Even a new vehicle likely is ruined because the computer wizardry and wiring are destroyed. Insurance generally pays recovery and replacement costs. But it's the ‘comprehensive’ portion of a policy that covers such a loss, said Mark Kulda, vice president of public affairs for the Insurance Federation of Minnesota.” So if good old State Farm pays once for someone dumb enough to drive a 6,000-pound truck out on thin ice, what does the premium jump to after that?

Uh, excuse me, stewardess — I mean “flight attendant.” That was my drink. Paul Walsh at the Strib writes: “A flight attendant, whose recent removal from a Delta commuter jet scheduled to fly from Grand Forks to the Twin Cities forced the flight's cancellation, was so drunk that she repeatedly failed to recite the alphabet on command and could not spell her own name, according to police. ... [Jean] Bongers had difficulty speaking but denied having been drinking even though she was swaying while standing. The officer could smell ‘a moderate odor’ of alcohol on Bongers' breath. She failed numerous field sobriety tests. When asked to spell her name, she left two letters our of her last name and was mumbling and slurring. During her alphabet tests, she did fine the first time until about halfway in. During her third futile try at the test, she started singing the letters before the officer could complete the instructions.”  Wasn’t this scene in “Bridesmaids”?

Debra O’Connor’s PiPress “Watchdog” column prints reader reaction to the lawsuit over whether car wash slips are gift certificates and, therefore, cannot by law expire: “Maplewood banker Cassie Myers e-mailed: ‘Just because you failed to be responsible for letting it expire, you think you have the right to sue! ... It is people like this that make me sick!’
Lorn Manthey emailed: ‘This is just another example of people who think rules don't apply to them. If there's an expiration date, it's the person holding the ticket who needs to understand that it expires, it's not the responsibility of the offering company to give them something if they screw up.’ Michael Schmitt e-mailed: ‘Shame on you for promoting such frivolous litigation ... This is exactly why our system is broken.’ The main question behind the lawsuit is whether a carwash receipt is in fact a gift certificate under this law. The Watchdog asked Rep. Joe Atkins, DFL-Inver Grove Heights, who was the chief author of a bill against expirations of gift certificates when it passed the Legislature and was signed by Gov. Tim Pawlenty in 2007. Atkins replied: ‘Yes, a car wash receipt like the one described in your article falls under (Minnesota Statute) 325G.53. Notably, this is not just my conclusion, but the conclusion of non-partisan House research staff as well.’ "

Nick Coleman took his kids to see the 1968 exhibit at the
History Center and was disappointed: “By comparison to The Greatest Generation, the 1968 exhibit was a hopeless, sad muddle. Like the year itself. It didn’t leave anyone inspired, just tired. I wasn’t as touched as I had hoped to be, and not just because the exhibit was disappointingly short on local history but perhaps because it was heavier on kitsch and culture than on meaning or interpretation. It seemed a bit like walking through a Living Trivial Pursuit game rather than moving through a chaotic year of social disintegration. The Black Panthers and George Wallace. The American Indian Movement and Laugh-in. Burning cities and bra burners. All presented as if they had equal import. What did it all mean? Danged if I know. And I didn’t find any profound thoughts about it at the History Center. ... Corporations do not fund research or museum displays to express points of view but, rather, to prevent points of view from emerging. In the end, that’s why an exhibit like 1968 — so fair-and-balanced in a perfect Murdochian way — leaves you feeling empty and dis-spirited rather than feeling that anything was accomplished by all the turmoil.”