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Carl Pohlad Dies at Age 93

According to Star Tribune columnist Pat Reusse, on Joe Soucheray's KSTP show (reported here), Minnesota Twins owner Carl Pohlad is dead at age 93. If anyone hears any more about this, please comment.  [Update: Star Tribune confirms.]

Joe Dowling Makes a Lot of Money

The Strib does a story on salaries for the local arts community, and reveals that Guthrie Artistic Director Joe Dowling pulled in $682,229 in salary and benefits last year: Even discounting a one-time bonus of $100,000, his compensation surpassed that of his peers not only in New York but also at nonprofit theaters elsewhere in the United States. So, Joe Dowling -- overpaid?

Perhaps the Greatest Andrew Zimmern Site Ever

Here is what is currently flying through the blogosphere: Andrew Zimmern Ate My Balls. Via: Almost every blog in the Twin Cities.

Food Invented in Minnesota

Of course, we know that Minnesota is the home of the Jucy Lucy. Also the bundt cake, or, at least, the bundt pan. Pronto Pup claims to have invented the corn dog. We're reportedly the birthplace of the cosmopolitan. Cheerios comes Golden Valley, along with dozens of other General Mills products. Pearsons in St. Paul invented the Salted Nut Roll. And now Secret's of the City's own Jeremy Iggers reveals the extraordinary fact that Minnesota's own Leeann Chin invented the cream cheese won ton. Any other local creations that I am forgetting?

Franken Wins (Sort Of)

The winner of the Senate race will be abbounced tomorrow, and, with a 225 lead, the winner is expected to be Al Franken. Coleman says he'll fight, and, until the issue is settled, Franken can't be seated in Senate. Didn't Coleman make the case when he was ahead that were he behind, he would step down?

Strib: 3 busted after 1 parachutes from Foshay Tower

Finally. Something neither Wisconsin or Iowa (or Norsokota) can claim!

Three people were arrested after one of them allegedly parachute jumped 32 stories off the Foshay Tower in downtown Minneapolis — and they returned to the scene to brag about it.

Gosh. I wonder why, though, they fought with police when arrested? Wonder what their logic was?

Xcel Has Smelly Wood

The Bridge reports that Seward Neighborhood residents are not fans of the stinky PCP (Pentachlorophenol) treated wooden power poles installed by Xcel Energy. PCP is a toxin and the manufacturing process creates additional toxic chemical byproducts. However, poles treated with the pesticide last 4X longer. Should people be putting themselves, their kids, and their neighbors ahead of poles?

A Kardashian lands a T-Wolf?

I'm so desperate for attention (lol) that anything with a Minnesota connection is attracting my interest ... even if it involves sports and C-list babes.

Khloe Kardashian Lands A Boyfriend (Perez Hilton via Jezebel.com)

The RNC Informant Pleads His Case

Brandon Darby, the informant who turned over two Texas men who were making molotov cocktails to be used at the RNC, explains his reasons, and why his turning informant wasn't a betrayal of his activism: "I feel like, as an activist, I played a direct role in stopping violence," he tells the PiPress. More from the Independent.

Looking to the Internet to uncover the truth behind a family's story of murder

David Hawley tells a fascinating tale of his grandfather, who, according to his father, had killed a man during a strike and spent 10 years in jail for it. Hawley took to the computer to find out the truth, and he discovered a story that still involved murder, but otherwise was quite different than what his father told him.

2008 Police Blotter Roundup

The PiPress rounds up their favorite stories from the police blotter. Because how can we look back on the last year without remember a story like this: It was reported Aug. 14 that someone spray-painted the rear window of a car in Eagan. Blue paint was used to write the words "penis mobile."

Open Thread 01.02.08

To kick off the open thread, here is an awesome music video in which a Mexican wrestler battles all manner of bad guys.

The Latest in Fake Memoir News

Fake memoirs seem all the rage nowadays. There was Love and Consequences: A Memoir of Hope and Survival, the story of a teenage gangbanger in Los Angeles that turned out to be written by a middle class white suburban woman. Then there was Misha: A Mémoire of the Holocaust Years, the story of a child Holocaust survivor who was tended to by wolves, which probably should have surprised nobody when it was exposed as a fabrication. And who can forget JT Leroy, who authored the tellingly titled The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things, which told of his experiences as a transgendered teenage male prostitute, despite having been authored by a middle aged woman. Minnesota has already been involved in at least two forged memoirs: Most notoriously, James Frey's fictionalized tale of Hazelden horror, a Million Little Pieces; Somewhat less known is my own fake memoir (not sure why it has never caught on; after all, I was kidnapped by mole men.) Now a Minnesota publishing house finds itself at the center of a new fake memoir controversy. Lerner Publishing Group published a children's book about a true romance between a concentration camp inmate and the young woman who threw apples over the fence to him. The trouble? It wasn't true.

Christmas Crime Shopping Spree

It has not been a great holiday season for retailers (the "most challenging in decades," according to one source). But at least one pair of Minnesota teens did what they could for our ailing economy, by allegedly stealing a quarter million dollars from their grandfather and spending it in a whirlwind holiday spree.

More media cuts

The local media continues to dwindle, as Brauer reports: City Pages has laid off restaurant writer James Norton and Assistant A-List editor Ben Palosaari, while WCCO-AM canned longtime overnight guy Al Malmberg and his regular fill-in, Brad Walton. It's been a rough year.

Recent Comments

Plus Joe hates gay people. So that means he doesn't have to tip them very well. …

Behind every great fortune is a great crime. The man made his fortune exploiting struggling farmers…

I'm sure he puts a lot of that money back into the local arts community, at least I would hope so. &…

It can be found if you're that curious. …

Speak ill of the dead at your own risk. …

Was anyone able to confirm whether Carl was able to take it with him? …

Too easy. How much do you think old Joe gave the Geezer & the Dingbat? …

Every few years Mary Abbe does an article about this. If I remember correctly, Hallbreich made somet…

That was the dirty one, right? Back when "hot mail" was not an e-mail provider. …

No, I just don't remember which day it was. :) …

So, Matt I'm wondering, did you tune into KSTP on New Year's Day because you saw her in New Year's E…

That place must be endowed to the hilt. Dowling's salary could be chump change. …

I just think it's kinda ridiculous to make that much a year and live in Minne...but that's just me..…

echo on Hunt the Wumpus. That game is still a legend of AI programming. I myself was a fan of Fant…

oooooh Rich, I am totally misty-eyed over Prodigy! It's like those first memories you have as a baby…

Who was the new KSTP weathergirl on New Year's Eve/New Year's Day? What a babe. …

It's a good thing the Guthrie pushed through the new arts sales tax. They've got overhead! …

MPR has this too. I guess the stadium now belongs to those who bought it - the living residents of H…

CompuServe was to AOL what Facebook now is to MySpace. My first extra-net experience happened in 199…

rumor is his year-end financial statements are what finally did him in. …

Me too! …

Any guess what the name of the new Twins stadium will now become? As stingy as Carl was with the Twi…

If anyone gets misty-eyed for the glory days of Prodigy, I'm going to smack them. Now GEnie, on the …

starving artist …

De mortuis nehil nisi bonum …

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