Dayton revives special session talks. Again.

Oh, don’t toy with me. Brian Bakst of MPR says, “This might sound familiar: Gov. Mark Dayton is in preliminary discussions with top state lawmakers about a special session to approve an array of tax cuts and construction projects that got tripped up this spring. The on-again, off-again consideration of a quick meeting of the Legislature has a new gasp of life. Gov. Mark Dayton says he’ll talk about it Friday with Republican House Speaker Kurt Daudt.” At this rate, legislators will go back in January for a sub-session to the special session.

This is a classy gesture. Fox 8 TV in Cleveland says, “On Friday, the Twins will wear red jerseys with a number 11 patch, the team announced. The Cleveland Indians will also wear the ‘Jacob’ patch. ‘A fan of all sports, Jacob wore a red number 11 jersey in sports as a child and the Wetterling family asked people to use the number 11 as a symbol of hope to honor their son and show a commitment to making the world a better place for kids,’ the Twins said on Thursday.”

The storms just keep coming. In the Duluth News Tribune, Brooks Johnson writes, “Storms tore through the Minnesota National Guard’s Camp Ripley on Wednesday night, ripping off roofs and damaging a massive solar array Minnesota Power is constructing there — though no injuries were reported. … A financial estimate of damage at the base, located in the middle of the state about 15 miles southwest of Brainerd, was unavailable Thursday as assessments were still underway, according to the Guard and Minnesota Power. Minnesota Power’s 10-megawatt solar array was set to be dedicated next week. With 25 percent of the 97 rows of solar panels now twisted and shattered to varying degrees, the ribbon-cutting will have to wait till next spring.”

A for-profit college in the same sentence as the word “fraud”? How shocked are you? For the Strib, Mark Brunswick reports, “The state of Minnesota took steps toward closing Woodbury-based Globe University and the Minnesota School of Business on Thursday after a judge ruled that the for-profit schools committed fraud in marketing and recruiting for their now-shuttered criminal justice program. … .” The gravy train is getting shorter and thinner for a few courageous entrepreneurs.

Also shocking: This from Bill Chappell at NPR. “Wells Fargo Bank has been ordered to pay $185 million in fines and penalties to settle what the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau calls ‘the widespread illegal practice of secretly opening unauthorized deposit and credit card accounts.’ Thousands of Wells Fargo employees opened the accounts in secret so they would get bonuses for hitting their sales targets, according to investigators. More than 2 million deposit and credit card accounts may have been created without customer authorization. The bank must pay $100 million to the CFPB — the largest fine ever levied by the federal consumer watchdog.” That’s Elizabeth Warren smiling over there.

If summer is over, then it’s time for a map of when the leaves will change. Here’s one from Nancy Yang at MPR.

Also at MPR, Mark Steil writes, “Minnesota health officials will evaluate the health risks of a highly popular farm herbicide. Glyphosate is the main ingredient in Roundup, which is widely applied to fields growing genetically modified corn and soybeans. The International Agency for Research on Cancer found last year that glyphosate is ‘probably carcinogenic to humans’. …  The Minnesota agriculture department says the use of glyphosate will likely increase in the future. The agency says its most recent data shows about 28 million pounds of the herbicide were sold in Minnesota in 2011.” That stuff’s been on the market how long?

Here’s another MPR piece, this on the Allina nurses strike. “Allina Health says the number of nurses crossing the picket line “continues to climb by the hour,” with more than 413 now signed up to work just four days into an open-ended strike. The company said Thursday that 20 percent of its union nurses at Unity Hospital in Fridley have agreed to work. At Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids 13 percent of nurses have signed up for shifts, according to a company spokesman. Allina said the number of nurses willing to cross the picket line now is notably higher than the 120 who worked during a week-long strike in June.”

“Supervalu under pressure” is a headline as evergreen as “Unrest in the Middle East.” In the Strib, Evan Ramstad writes, “Supervalu Inc.’s struggles to shore up its grocery operations, including Twin Cities market leader Cub Foods and its Save-A-Lot discount unit, are being hurt by competition and price deflation, executives said Thursday. The Eden Prairie-based firm became the latest major grocery company to warn that its performance in the summer months would be below expectations.”

Probably wise, on both counts. Says Mike Berardino in the PiPress, “Ticket prices for current Twins season-ticket holders will remain unchanged next season, Twins owner Jim Pohlad wrote in a letter to fans this week. Pohlad also doubled down on the vote of confidence he gave second-year manager Paul Molitor on July 18 upon firing Terry Ryan after 17½ seasons as general manager. ‘We believe in the presence and baseball acumen of Hall of Famer Paul Molitor,’ Pohlad wrote in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by the Pioneer Press.” The Twinks better pull out all the stops for Fan Appreciation Day after this season.

Is ChurchMilitant.com on your regular reading list? Too bad. You might have missed this from Joseph Pelletier. “In a lawsuit filed Wednesday by conservative nonprofit Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), 11 families from the Virginia School District in northern Minnesota allege a current school policy, based on a federal mandate allowing transgender individuals to use the bathrooms and locker rooms of their choosing, is an invasion of privacy. The complaint highlights the actions of a particular transgender student, referred to as Student X, contending the student … engaged in highly inappropriate behavior, including dancing in the female locker room ‘in a sexually explicit manner … .’”