Keith Ellison at least is emphatic that the U.S. should cut off aid to Egypt. The AP reports: “Democratic leaders have generally supported the president’s approach. But on Sunday, Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., said he would end aid to Egypt. Ellison is the first Muslim elected to Congress and is co-chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. ‘I would cut off aid but engage in intense diplomacy in Egypt and in the region to try to say, look, we will restore aid when you stop the bloodshed in the street and set up a path towards democracy that you were on before,’ Ellison said. ‘In my mind, there’s no way to say that this was not a coup. It is. We should say so. And then follow our own law, which says we cannot fund the coup ­leaders.’ ”

Did you catch this? You may want to be the first on your block … Mike Creger of the Duluth News Tribune tells the truly obsessed: “Someone let the cat out of the Duluth Pack bag a week early. Social media went abuzz late this  week when word got out that the Duluth outdoor gear maker was about to introduce a duffel and shell bag made out of material once used in the roof of the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. … [Jim] Cunningham and Tim O’Phelan, a businessman and son of a longtime Twins physician, bought the entire inner layer of the Metrodome roof after it collapsed in 2010. … farmers purchased much of the outside layer of the inflatable roof to use as covers and others purchased small pieces and sold them as memorabilia. So the pair decided to shell out $4,000 for the entire inner layer of Teflon-coated fiberglass, about three acres.” Who got the Dave Kingman ball that stuck in the roof?

The Strib editorial board approves of one move made by the 2013 Legislature: “Beginning in the 2014-15 school year, Minnesota youths must stay in school until age 17 — a year longer than current law requires. The change, passed quietly during the 2013 Legislative session, moves Minnesota in a long-overdue direction. …  If students of color in Minnesota graduated at the same rate as white students by 2020, more than $1.3 billion could be added to the state economy. If Minnesota’s male graduation rate increased by just 5 percent, the state economy could see an annual combination of savings and revenue of nearly $80 million in reduced crime spending and increased earnings.”

A story in the Rochester Post-Bulletin describes a new study of the health of the upper Mississippi: “State pollution officials have begun monitoring the Upper Mississippi River as part of a large-scale study to analyze the waterway's health in terms of aquatic life, recreation and fish consumption. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency will take water chemistry samples over two years and analyze them by late 2015. Researchers hope the wide-ranging study will make it easier to pinpoint the cause of any pollution issues. Scientists will collect bugs, fish and water samples to test for contamination … The MPCA is already halfway through a 10-year effort to assess the smaller rivers, streams and lakes throughout the state's 81 watersheds. The Mississippi is the first of the state's five large rivers scheduled to be sampled over the next five years, the agency said.”

Here’s a shocker … tax hysteria from a GOP legislator. Rep. Bob Barrett of Lindstrom writes in the Strib: “This is the year hardworking taxpayers found out what one-party control of Minnesota government looks like. It isn’t Shangri-La. More like Detroit. A recent report titled “The Fiscal Survey of States: Spring 2013,” produced by the National Governors Association (Gov. Mark Dayton serves on the group’s Executive Committee) makes very clear that Minnesota’s tax increases this year were extreme compared to the rest of the country. Our sales tax increases were the fourth-highest in America. Our income tax increases were second-highest. Our corporate tax increases were the very highest, as were our tobacco tax increases (by a mile). … How did this happen? It happened because of one-party control of state government. ... For the first time in 24 months, state revenue collections were down in the month of July (by $20 million), which happened to be the first month of the new DFL budget and new DFL tax increases.” A handful of random statistics … can be a dangerous thing.

That dang Fargo … it’s so cutting edge. Dan Gunderson of MPR reports: “Fargo city officials are developing a plan to burn natural gas in city vehicles, primarily buses and garbage trucks. … Natural gas is more than $2 a gallon cheaper than diesel. But there's one big problem. There's no place to fill vehicles with natural gas. ‘You need to basically create a market. Because right now there's no vehicles here because there's no fueling stations here,’ Williams said. Williams said a fueling station costs as much as $1 million.” Details …

The judgment against for-profit Globe University in that whistleblower suit last week has Alex Friedrich of MPR wondering what sort of precedent this sets for Attorney General Lori Swanson: “Her office doesn’t generally comment on ongoing investigations, and has not responded to multiple requests for information. But I spoke ... with Prentiss Cox, a University of Minnesota law professor and former manager of the AG’s consumer enforcement division. He couldn’t comment specifically on the case or any inquiry the attorney general might be making. But judging from his experience working under Swanson, he told me: ‘It has absolutely attracted [her] attention. … It’s unlikely to prove anything definitively, but it has to make the attorney general feel more confident [about her own investigation].’ The Weber case itself, he said, would not be critical to any investigation she had, but it would still be useful.”

Alejandra Matos’ Strib piece talks about the financial dealings of  up-scale developer Keith Waters: “Waters and Associates of Excelsior, which designed multimillion-dollar homes including musician Lorie Line’s Lake Minnetonka house, has been accused by several homeowners and subcontractors of taking customers’ money intended to pay subcontractors, but never paying them and forging documentation to cover it up. The Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry revoked the license of owner Keith Waters and his business partner Carter Siverson in November after multiple complaints of forged liens and unpaid contracts. Waters and Siverson were both fined $20,000 and the company was fined $80,000. They both filed for bankruptcy in late November, and their victims say they will never recoup what they lost. One homeowner claims to have lost $3 million. Contractors have put in claims for as much as $135,000 apiece.”

Well, it is a game of skill … Amy Pearson of the Winona Daily News reports: “When it comes to playing the lottery, Mike Mendyk appears to be one of those graced with good fortune. The Minnesota City man recently found himself $100,000 richer — for the second time in just more than a year. Mike and his wife, Becky, last week beat odds of 1 in 610,000 to win the big prize on a $5 Cash and Cadillac scratch-off ticket, revealing the amount outside on the couple’s deck by scraping the ticket with Mike’s lucky scratcher, a silver envelope opener. It was the same one Mike used in June 2012 when he won an identical amount on a Walleye Winnings ticket.”