Another season of catch-and-release-only for walleye on Mille Lacs

At MPR, Kirsti Marohn says, “Catch-and-release-only rules will be in effect for walleye on Lake Mille Lacs when the season opens May 12, state officials said Monday. The rules are essentially a continuation of last year’s controversial order that kept anglers from keeping the prized fish and the third consecutive season anglers will face catch-and-release only. Department of Natural Resources officials did note that because Mille Lacs’ spawning walleye population has improved, they will not seek to close the lake completely to walleye fishing as they did for several weeks last summer.”

OK. Says the AP, “Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty announced Monday he created a campaign committee to run for his old job, the most concrete step yet after months of speculation whether the Republican would return to politics following his short-lived 2012 presidential campaign. Pawlenty has been inching toward a run for months, recently quitting his Washington lobbying job and starting to raise money for a potential bid to replace outgoing Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton.” 

There was a lot of revenue enhancement by local cops Saturday. Says WCCO-TV, “Hundreds of people taking part in St. Patrick’s Day festivities eventually ran out of luck and ended up in jail. Authorities say the weekend resulted in 424 arrests for DWI. The Minnesota Department of Public Safety says the arrests were from 6 p.m. Friday to 4 a.m. Monday. … Last year, there were 175 DWI arrests, and in 2016, there were 189. The last time the holiday was on a Saturday was 2012, and there were 346 arrests.”

Another day of MNLARS. In the PiPress, Christopher Magan says, “Minnesota’s troubled vehicle title and license system is a step closer to getting some of the money it needs to fix computer problems that have plagued the system since its summer rollout. The injection of cash would come with a new legislative commission that would oversee the work on MNLARS, as the system is known, and have the power to halt funding for poor performance. State leaders asked for the nearly $10 million in emergency funding to continue to pay contractors working to fix problems with the new computer system.”

One Diet Sunkist later. Callie Schmidt at the PiPress reports, “Debbie Kujava stopped at a Holiday convenience store in Roseau, Minn., to buy a Diet Sunkist after work on March 13. While there, she decided to buy a lottery-ticket bundle for $7. She thought she might win $1 or $2. When she realized on Thursday that her ticket matched every number for the multistate Lotto America game, she stepped outside to calm down and smoke a cigarette. … Debbie Kujava thought they won $2 million. When she told her brother she thought they were millionaires, he said, ‘Yeah, right.’ It was Dennis Kujava’s daughter, Denise Kujava, who discovered they had actually won $22.8 million. She and her sister will share their father’s half of the jackpot.”

Scamming the gummint. Stribber Joe Carlson reports, “U.S. hospitals have held onto millions of dollars in warranty credits from medical manufacturers that should have been sent to Medicare, according to the latest audit of federal payments related to recalled and defective heart devices. In a report out last week, the Medicare inspector general’s office concludes that 210 hospitals failed to report a total of $4.4 million in manufacturer warranty credits that should have been passed along to the government insurance program.” Cleary an inadvertent oversight by a rogue employee.

I know I’d think about it. Also at MPR, this from Mark Steil: “The Minnesota Department of Transportation said Monday the bridges in the state designed by FIGG Bridge Group are in good condition. The company designed a Florida pedestrian bridge that collapsed March 15, killing six people. FIGG-designed bridges at four locations in Minnesota are scrutinized frequently. … FIGG bridges are located in Minneapolis, St. Paul, and at two locations in southeast Minnesota. One of the FIGG structures is the Interstate 35W bridge in Minneapolis which replaced one that collapsed more than a decade ago.” Very reassuring.

Wait, what? City Pages’ Pete Kotz writes: “The Economist just released its annual Worldwide Cost of Living report, which ranks the world’s cities based on their unbearable expense. The magazine factors in housing and transportation costs, utilities, food, clothing, and more than 400 prices on everyday products and services, from a loaf of bread to a pack of cigs. And since The Economist tends to cater to the well-to-do, it even includes the cost of private schools and domestic help. No American city made the world’s Top 10, largely due to a weak dollar. New York naturally finished first among North American burgs, followed by Los Angeles. But tucked in third place – ahead of all those towns known for their punishing costs – was little old Minneapolis, which is also ranked the 26th most expensive city in the world.”