Good Morning from Minnesota...

While Duluth is having a balmy morning, just over 10F, here in the twin cities we are hovering a few below zero. Despite the cold, the ice is simply not as thick as people expect it to be. Bradley Erikson's truck went through the ice on Leech Lake last night. Bradley got out of the water but died on his way back to his camp. Today is the 100th day of work on the new bridge, replacing God's Bridge, on Highway 35W, which fell down last summer. (Maybe 35E is the holy branch of the now nationally famous Highway 35, and 35W is the evil twin ... ever think about that?)

Garrison Keillor is annoyed that his next door neighbor is building a "MacHouse" ... that's what Twin Cities home owners, who traditionally live in tiny little stucco-covered hovels, call the new homes being build as infill all across the metro area with unique designs such as having a second story that you don't have to bend over to walk around in. Garrison is suing.

Keillor and his wife, Jenny Lind Nilsson, are suing their next-door neighbor, Lori Anderson, to stop her from building a two-story addition to her home that would include a three-stall garage and studio.
[Star Tribune, 15 January 2008]

University of Minnesota researchers have figured out how to make a functioning heart from scratch, more or less.

Other than that, not much else going on here in the North Star State.