Man finds Superman comic book No. 1 tucked in a wall

The story of the day is Curt Brown’s Strib piece about the guy who found a Superman comic book tucked inside a wall: “In his decade of working construction and home remodeling, David Gonzalez always dreamed of finding some hidden treasure in the demolition work. He’d even put dollar bills in new walls for folks to unearth in the future. So he chalks up to karma the 1938 Action Comics #1 book he found amid old newspapers used to insulate a wall of a fixer-upper he was gutting in Elbow Lake, Minn. The old comic book, from June 1938, features a new character named Superman lifting a car on its cover. ‘I knew it was worth money,’ said Gonzalez, 34. ‘But I had no idea how much’. He’s quickly finding out as he sells the comic book in an online auction that runs until June 11. It has already attracted 31 bids, including one for $107,333, in the first two days of the auction.”

And you think you’re quite the adventurer, out kayaking on Lake of the Isles … MPR’s Dan Kraker writes: “For a handful of weeks every spring when the snow melts, the creeks and rivers that plummet down steep hillsides into Lake Superior become powerful, cascading class V whitewater kayaking destinations that draw paddlers from around the country. [Jim] Rada, an astronomy professor and expert kayaker, introduced many paddlers to the little-explored rivers. His guidebook, for many years unpublished, became like ‘kayaking gospel,’ according to his friend and fellow paddler John Kiffmeyer. Rada died 10 years ago of a heart attack while paddling the Presque Isle River, which drops in a series of waterfalls through Upper Michigan’s Porcupine Mountains State Park to Lake Superior. Ever since, his friends have held a race on the river in his honor.”

On the TechDirt website, Matt Sparby reports on an interesting day in Minnesota court for the Prenda Law firm, the one accused of trolling for payouts from viewers of Internet porn: “I attended today’s hearing out of curiosity and convenience. I happened to have an appointment across the street from the Hennepin County Government Center today and decided that it would be interesting to see the wheels of justice in motion first hand. … Judge [Ann] Alton was clearly agitated going into this. In reference to the Prenda business model she said, ‘This is fraud, clear and simple.’ She also said, ‘I will be reporting this to the Lawyers Board.’ In fact, she would make a similar comment at least one more time at the end of the hearing. Still addressing [Paul] Hansmeier, she went on, ‘Your involvement in this case is a TRAVESTY!’ She added impact (both figuratively and literally) to that point by slapping her hand on the bench. If I closed my eyes, I could have very easily assumed I was watching an episode of Judge Judy at this point.”

$400,000 later … Paul McEnroe of the Strib says: “The Minnesota Department of Corrections has agreed to pay a record $400,000 to the family of a mentally ill inmate who died in 2010 after being left alone in his cell while suffering a nightlong bout of seizures. The settlement ends a federal lawsuit brought by the family of Xavius Scullark-Johnson, a 27-year-old St. Paul native who suffered from schizophrenia and seizure disorders while incarcerated at the state prison in Rush City. Prison medical records showed he was left on the floor of his cell in urine-soaked clothes overnight and that a nurse turned away an ambulance crew when they were finally called early the next morning.”

And a fourth for good measure … John Myers of the Duluth News Tribune writes: “The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s citizens board on Tuesday unanimously approved plans by Magnetation to build its fourth iron ore recovery plant on the Iron Range, this time near Coleraine in Itasca County. Grand Rapids-based Magnetation hopes to have the plant up and running by early 2015, eventually producing up to 2 million tons of iron ore concentrate each year. The company has a Department of Natural Resources permit to mine at the site, and construction will start this summer on the $120 million facility, Magnetation President Matt Lehtinen said.”

Steve Kuchera of the News Tribune caught the GOP’s post-session road show in Duluth Tuesday. He writes: “Republican leaders were in Duluth to express their disappointment over its results. ‘The best part of this legislative session is that it is over,’ said House Republican Leader Kurt Daudt of Crown. ‘Unfortunately, hardworking taxpayers will be picking up the tab of Democrats’ wasteful spending and overreach for years to come.’ … Senate Republican Leader David Hann of Eden Prairie called the state’s two-year, $38 billion budget ‘overtaxing, overspending, overreaching. Everyone will pay for this bloated budget.’ … ‘We should not take one dime more’ from taxpayers until the state budget has been gone through line by line to cut wasteful spending, he said.” Those folks need a Happy Hour.

Early Wednesday afternoon, Stribber Janet Moore updated her story on the $250 million tax concession wrung out of the Legislature by the MegaMall: “A planned $1.5 billion expansion at the Mall of America calls for the Bloomington behemoth to double its size with more stores, movie theaters, hotels, and maybe a water park. To help ensure the project moves forward, up to $250 million in tax breaks were approved this week by the Minnesota Legislature. In recent years, the megamall’s pleas for public subsidies have failed. This year, lawmakers supported a controversial new funding mechanism that draws from the region’s tax base to pay for the mall’s roads, water and sewer pipes, and parking that provide the project’s backbone — the sort of features that would thrill engineers more than Prada-seeking power shoppers.”

At Lou’s?! Bob Collins of MPR reports: “The Minnesota Supreme Court today rejected the argument that if an employer’s sexually explicit behavior is extended to both women and men in the workplace, it’s not sexual harassment under the Minnesota Human Rights Act. But the ruling split the court because it did not specifically declare the employer’s actions to be sexual harassment. The court ruled in the case of three women, who were employed at Lou’s Fish House in Two Harbors. They testified in district court that owner Brian Zapolski asked them about their sexual preferences and sex lives, made sexually suggestive comments to them, showed them pornography, asked them to find friends who would have sex with him, and touched them. But a district court judge said that’s not sexual harassment because they didn’t lose salary or their jobs, didn’t seek counseling, were not specifically sexually propositioned and Zapolski’s sexual comments were ‘not merely directed at females.’ ”

Brandt Williams of MPR looks for a silver lining in gun control legislation out of this year’s session: “[L]egislation falls far short of the kind of measures gun control advocates wanted to see passed — most notably, expanded background checks for gun sales. Still, proponents of the bill applaud it, noting several measures designed to … keep guns out of the hands of people who shouldn’t have them. For example, the law shortens the amount of time law enforcement and courts have to submit data on felons or other people ineligible to possess firearms to the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. Police chiefs and county sheriffs across the state use such information when they consider applications for permits to purchase or to carry firearms.”