In the PiPress, Andy Greder says, “The Gophers men’s basketball team ate Buffalo Wild Wings from tables with maroon and gold balloon centerpieces on the top floor of the Athletes Village on Sunday evening. Content with full stomachs and knowledge their season’s body of work would be enough, players moved over to a semicircle of seats to watch a large projector screen with confidence they would see ‘Minnesota’ included in the NCAA tournament field. The Gophers didn’t have to wait long to learn they received a No. 10 seed and will play No. 7 Louisville in a first-round game at 11:15 a.m. Thursday at Wells Fargo Center in Des Moines, Iowa.”
In the Star Tribune, Chao Xiong reports, “From 2011 to 2018, about 275 St. Paul police cases, or more than 6,500 pages of reports, have been placed on “administrative lockdown,” which is used at the discretion of commanders and higher-ranking officers. A written policy sets out broad guidelines but doesn’t include criteria for what qualifies a case for lockdown, nor detail when and how a report should be unlocked. A department review of the 275 reports resulted in a majority of them being unlocked; 40 remain on lockdown.”
Says John Lundy for the Duluth News Tribune, “A nonstop bus service between the Duluth and Minneapolis-St. Paul airports with one-way rates starting at $9 will be launched in June. Known as Landline, the company will provide its lowest rates to customers who then fly to their destination via a partner airline, said co-founder David Sunde. Landline has an agreement with an airline, Sunde said, but he could only say that it’s a low-cost provider. The first trip to Minneapolis will be on June 4, with a full schedule of four trips in each direction beginning the next day.”
Also in the Star Tribune, Jenna Ross says, “Crews in southern Minnesota used pumps and backhoes Sunday to battle flooding caused by melting snow and ice chunks that choked creeks, sending water spilling onto nearby land. In Jordan, which has been fighting the ice jams on Sand Creek, workers cleared one blockage midday Sunday and watched as water levels dropped nearly 3 feet in an hour and 15 minutes, said Police Chief Brett Empey. But then another dam formed — this time on the north side of the Valley Green mobile home park.”
MPR’s Ron Trenda says, “Astronomical spring arrives at 4:58 p.m. CDT on Wednesday. It’ll look and feel more and more like spring this week, as temps rise and our snow cover shrinks. Monday afternoon highs are expected to reach the upper 30s in much of Minnesota and western Wisconsin. We could touch 40 in the Twin Cities metro area. Our average metro high temp is 42 degrees this time of year. … We could see highs in the mid to upper 50s next weekend.”
Says a KARE-TV story, “Rep. Ray Dehn will try to convince fellow lawmakers to foot the bill for a mural celebrating the life of the late Minnesota music icon Prince. The Minneapolis Democrat is seeking $250,000 for public money for the mural. It would come from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, which is financed by a 3/8th percent sales tax voters approved in 2008 when they passed the Legacy Amendment.”
In the Pioneer Press, Ryan Faircloth says, “Minnesota’s medical marijuana program has struggled for years as the flaws in its design have caused issue after issue. New patients are leaving the program in droves, turning to the black market or prescription opioids because they cannot afford the processed pills and oils that are legal. Growers are losing millions because of a strict tax structure written into the law. Lawmakers can fix this, but they might have to look beyond their home state for solutions.”
At MPR, Andrew Krueger says, “A week before sled dog teams hit the trail for Alaska’s famed Iditarod race, a hardy group of athletes tackles that same trail on foot, on bike or on skis. The annual Iditarod Trail Invitational features races of 150 miles, 350 miles or the full thousand-mile route from near Anchorage to Nome — crossing mountain ranges, traversing frozen swamps and passing remote lodges and villages. Minneapolis resident Rob Henderson, 35, not only completed the 350-mile run earlier this month in his first attempt at the race — he was the top men’s finisher with a time of 5 days, 7 hours, 2 minutes.”
Nice to see the Gophers in the Big Dance….