The Grey Lady Speaks

Editorial
Fargo’s Flood

From a geologist’s perspective, Fargo, N.D., is in the wrong place at the wrong time: in the midst of a flood plain waiting to be reflooded. What is making the Red River overflow is the combination of heavy snow melt and ice jams — the convergence of spring and winter all at once on a river with a shallow channel across a terribly flat landscape. More

Concrete Is Remixed With Environment in Mind

BIG JOB The Minneapolis bridge uses concrete mixes tweaked for strength, durability and environmental reasons.
By HENRY FOUNTAIN
Published: March 30, 2009

Soaring above the Mississippi River just east of downtown Minneapolis is one remarkable concrete job. More

In Wine Futures Season, Concerns of a Bust

A wine tasting in Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte in southwestern France on Monday. The wine trade is presenting and auctioning the first samples of the 2008 harvest to customers this week.
By DAVID JOLLY
Published: March 30, 2009

PARIS — What is a wine worth?

As elite critics and merchants from around the globe descend on the city of Bordeaux this week to sample the 2008 vintage of the world’s finest wines, that question will dog them. More

Simplicity From Spain: Tiny Seafood Pancakes

By MARK BITTMAN
Published: March 27, 2009

A COUPLE of years ago, a friend took me to Taberna Toscana, in Madrid. “We don’t need a menu,” he said. “We’ll get the veal shoulder and the tomato salad, like everyone else.” He was both right and wrong; those dishes were amazing, and I ate them the next couple of times I went there. More

Related
Recipe: Tortillitas With Shrimp

An Old Breed of Hungarian Pig Is Back in Favor

By MICHAEL S. SANDERS
Published: March 26, 2009
Emod Istvánmajor, Hungary
Mangalitsa pigs.

IN THE UNITED STATES, TOO Juan Vicente Olmos Llorente, above, takes the meat of curly-haired Hungarian Mangalitsa pigs and finishes it in Spain.

LIKE style on the runway, style for pigs is changeable. With their abundant fat, the curly-haired Mangalitsa pigs of Hungary were all the rage a century ago. But as time went on, they became has-beens. More

White Stuff

Fallin' outta the sky. Sandwiched between the rain.

1TB Drive: $89.99

Seagate 1.0 TB SATA Hard Drive $89.99 Right Here in Our Fair Cities

Minnesota Court Ruling a Setback for Coleman

March 31, 2009, 7:30 pm
Minnesota Court Ruling a Setback for Coleman
By David Stout AND Bernie Becker
Al Franken, the comedian turned politician, won a potentially decisive court ruling on Tuesday in his bid to unseat Senator Norm Coleman, the Republican incumbent in Minnesota. More

Coleman all but concedes, but will appeal court ruling
Total is far fewer than Coleman sought in effort to close gap with Franken
By PAT DOYLE , Star Tribune

In a potentially decisive ruling, a panel of three judges today ordered up to 400 new absentee ballots opened and counted, far fewer than Republican Norm Coleman had sought in his effort to overcome a lead held by DFLer Al Franken.

The ballots appear to include some that Franken had identified as wrongly rejected as well as ballots that Coleman wanted opened in his quest to overcome a 225-vote lead that Franken gained after a recount.

About half come from Hennepin, Ramsey and St. Louis counties, places Franken won by significant margins, though many of those are from suburban precincts that the Republican carried in November.

"We are very pleased," said Franken lead lawyer Marc Elias shortly after the ruling. More

Coleman-Franken recount: 400 ballots to be opened next week
By Jay Weiner | Published Tue, Mar 31 2009 4:35 pm

With Franken ahead by 225 votes, Coleman sought to have 1,360 ballots opened. The ruling (PDF) calling for 400 — with many from Hennepin, Ramsey and St. Louis counties — does not bode well for Coleman. The judges also scolded the Coleman lawyers for not proving their case well enough to include more ballots in this next round of ballot opening.

However, this is not the judges' final decision. The judges haven't ruled on the law, and this decision affects only the opening of ballots.

They didn't address key legal issues dear to the Coleman side, such as whether there were violations of constitutional "equal protection" rights because ballots were counted differently in different counties. More