The Daily Digest: 3-18-08

The Good Faith Insurance bill heads for a floor vote in the Minnesota Senate today.

Education Secretary Margaret Spellings will attend a few Minnesota events with Gov. Pawlenty today. They'll be talking about No Child Left Behind.

Pawlenty picks the next chief justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court. It's Pawlenty's former law partner and chief of his judicial selection committee, Eric Magnuson. Forum Communications, the Pi Press, the Star Tribune, ECM, AP and MPR have stories.

Pawlenty also names a new chair to the judicial selection committee.

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The state's video game law is struck down again.

Doctors remove a patient's one healthy kidney by mistake. Gov, Pawlenty and the medical mistakes report are mentioned.

The House GOP parts with Pawlenty on nursing home funding.

The NTSB is one step closer to saying why the 35W bridge collapsed. They also put a bunch of bridge data on the web.

The Star Tribune and Pi Press says the focus of the NTSB comes on stress point and construction load.

The governor tells the AP that he may be willing to allow some victims of the I-35W bridge collapse to get more than $400k as long as they have an "extraordinary case."

MPR says the future of Bemidji State University hockey hinges on the bonding bill.

Bemidji officials will meet with the governor today.

The fishing opener date change is on hold.

Pawlenty says the transportation bill hurts rural Minnesota.

MPR says Minnesota colleges and universities have seen substantial growth in endowments.

U of M president Bob Bruininks tells folks in Crookston that a modest tuition increase is a last resort.

Sesquicentennial organizers look for state money.

Minnesota will allow deer hunting 24/7 in bovine TB area.

Congress

GOP Sen. Norm Coleman wants emergency bovine TB funding.

The Air Force Times says vets still struggle with medical systems. DFL Rep. Tim Walz is mentioned.

The Star Tribune says one estimate says a third of the foreclosed homes in north Minneapolis should be razed. DFL Rep. Keith Ellison took a tour of the district along with Illinois Rep. Rahm Emanuel. Ellison wants Congress to help with foreclosures.

Farm Bill blame is being passed around. DFL Rep. Collin Peterson is mentioned.

There are calls for increased scrutiny of offshore maintenance of airlines. DFL Rep. Jim Oberstar is mentioned.

Oberstar also blogs that the budget resolution invests in infrastructure.

The Star Tribune says Reebok's deadly lead charm leads to a $1 million fine.

2008 U.S. Senate race

FOX9 and the Star Tribune say the MNGOP and Norm Coleman are calling on Democrat Al Franken to apologize for what they say is a racist book reading.

Franken will appear on the Late Show with David Letterman tonight.

The Star Tribune writes about the latest Survey USA poll which has Coleman leading Franken and Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer.

2008 Race for Congress

A Blue Man in a Red District is speculating that Democrat Bob Olson may drop his bid for Congress in Minnesota's 6th District.

2008 Race for President

The Uptake has video of DFL Sen. Amy Klobuchar at the Humphrey Day Dinner. She's an undecided superdelegate.

Pawlenty for VP Watch

Arizona Central says 3 pundits from South Carolina are on the VP list.

Finally

Sorry to those who are on the Digest e-mail list and aren't getting it. We're trying to get the problem fixed but it's taking longer than a normally patient Tom Scheck would like. That's a joke. Just like Jay-Z, Tom Scheck is not patient and he hates waiting.