Wolf hunt advances, dissing Minneapolis, brewing in Bemidji

Bill to allow wolf hunting clears Senate committee

MPR News: "A Minnesota Senate committee Tuesday approved a bill for a wolf hunt that would start in the fall. Farmer and hunting groups testified in support of a season for wolf hunting."

Santorum takes North Dakota despite Paul's presence in Fargo

Grand Forks Herald: "Despite a final personal pitch from Libertarian Ron Paul, it was former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum who took home the most votes in North Dakota's statewide Republican caucuses." Politico: "Mitt Romney's weaknesses show no sign of going away. He struggles in the South and with evangelical voters. He's not conservative enough. He loses among rural voters and with voters down the economic scale." More 2012 coverage from Minnesota Today.

Survey: Many Minnesotans still without insurance

MPR News: "A new report shows that the portion of Minnesotans who have health insurance has not recovered from losses that occurred during the recession that ended in 2009. Minnesota's uninsured rate in 2011 remained essentially unchanged at 9.1 percent, despite improvements in the state's job picture."

Fargo man challenging North Dakota's ban on gay marriage

Forum of Fargo Moorhead: "Lenny Tweeden plans to take his case to allow gay marriage to North Dakota voters."

Crowdsourced funding for Bemidji micro-brewery

MPR News: "Tina Hanke and Justin "Bud" Kaney are standing in a community kitchen at Harmony Food Cooperative, getting ready for the day in a few weeks when they and a partner, Tom Hill, plan to start brewing beer on a commercial scale. Hanke cracks open one of their craft beer specialties, a bottle-conditioned 'rye Saison,' describing it with appreciation as "a little bit more bubbly of a beer, almost like a champagne quality."

Join an online chat with Minnesota's beer makers Thursday at 11:30a.

Duluth school board discusses plan to save $4.8 million

Duluth News Tribune: "The district proposed several budget ideas to the School Board on Tuesday night during a planning session meant to help put together the fiscal year 2013 budget. The board will vote on a final list March 20, which will reconcile about $4.8 million in reductions."

Minn. lawmakers back bill to fight Asian carp

MPR News: "With Asian carp spreading up the Mississippi River, members of Minnesota's congressional delegation are introducing legislation designed to counter the invasive fish."

17 men charged with soliciting prostitutes in Rochester

Rochester Post Bulletin: "Seventeen men have been charged with prostitution-related offenses in Olmsted County District Court following a police sting aimed at clients of prostitutes in Rochester."

Op-Ed: DFL is stuck in the mud of teacher seniority

Lynnell Mickelsen: "So there I was, in late February, a lifelong, die-hard progressive DFL mom from Minneapolis, sitting in the governor's office with Rep. Branden Petersen, a die-hard conservative Republican dad from Coon Rapids."

Op-Ed: Racial justice is not a monopoly of the Left

Cafe con Leche Republicans: "Republican Congressional Candidate Chris Fields (R-MN) caught my attention for a variety of reasons. First, Mr. Fields seems genuinely intent on reaching out to the black community."

Op-Ed: Deflating the bloated public pension myth

Star Tribune: "The pension facts in a new report by the National Institute on Retirement Security warrant a look as well. They blow the myth of cushy retirement payouts to public employees at taxpayer expense."

Howler's Jordan Gatesmith has some choice remarks for Minneapolis

Local Current: Gatesmith: "There's this band called the 4onthefloor, for example, and the gimmick is that they play, you know, they have four kick drums, and they all play the kick drum on the floor, and they're like Mumford & Sons crap. ... Nothing will happen outside of Minneapolis for them." The comment section on this one is lively.

Minnesota legislative notebook: DNR says it should keep school land duties

Grand Forks Herald: "Minnesota's natural resources commissioner does not want to give up his job of managing 2.5 million acres of land, mostly in northern Minnesota that support schools across the state."

Sled-dog trek highlights fight in DFL over Iron Range projects

MinnPost: "On Thursday, environmental activist Frank Moe, a former DFL state representative from the Iron Range, will finish a 350-mile sled dog trek from Grand Marais on the steps of the state Capitol. He will bear petitions with thousands of signatures calling for a moratorium on mineral mining."

The aging of the BWCA visitor

NewsCut: "Is it a problem that the average age of a visitor to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness is approaching twice that of the average age in the 1960s?"

Caitlin Robertson -- "Like Pure Snow"

(h/t Perfect Duluth Day)

• Editor’s notebook: Covering the environment in 2014
• Best of Minnesota Scenes from 2014
• 50 years of memory making in the Boundary Waters