Sen. David Hann: Not a fan of the state paying employees to set up the state's health insurance exchange.

​Minnesota Senator David Hann, R-Eden Prairie, is upset about the public dollars being spent on a handful of employees working to setup the state's health insurance exchange.

The health insurance exchanges, which aren't expected to be operational until 2014, are mandated for each state by President Obama's health care reform legislation. Minnesota is currently paying nine employees $787,000 annually to setup the exchange.

"There is still no clear purpose for what these people are doing," Hann said at a news conference today. "I think that's a scandal."

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WCCO

The playground where "rape tag" happens

​A group of New Ulm elementary school students were busted playing "rape tag" on the playground earlier this month.

The game is similar to freeze tag, a child's game where someone tags you and you have to freeze until one of your teammates unfreezes you with a tag.

Except in "rape tag," you unfreeze someone by "humping" them, which is what a group of two dozen Washington Elementary School kids were caught doing last month.

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Romney's F-bomb hasn't prevented him from winning the support of MNGOP leadership.

​Minnesota's Republican vanguard is throwing its weight behind Mitt Romney's bid to be the 2012 Republican presidential nominee.

Later today, House Speaker Kurt Zellers and House Majority Leader Matt Dean will reportedly headline a list of Romney's legislative backers.

Last week's polling indicates that Romney has only half as much support as Newt Gingrich among Minnesota Republicans. But since then, Romney solidly defeated Gingrich during the Florida primary. The Minnesota GOP caucus is coming up next Tuesday.

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A hot commodity in Minneapolis these days.

​Minneapolis copper scavengers have found a new target: air conditioners.

In the past two weeks, six air conditioners have been stolen or stripped in north Minneapolis, according to police. Since mid-November, 11 more were hit in south Minneapolis neighborhoods.

Though the target is new -- at least in Minneapolis -- the problem isn't. Copper theft is an ongoing crime in Minneapolis, which makes sense, given how the price of copper has continued to go up.

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The Obama administration's "preventative services" mandate isn't popular with Catholics.

​A Twin Cities-based dermatologist may close down his business because of the Obama administration's new "preventative services" mandate.

That mandate requires virtually all employers to purchase health insurance plans that cover contraception. Catholics, in particular, believe this requirement violates their faith.

Dr. Michael Ebertz runs five dermatology clinics around the Twin Cities under the name of Skin Care Doctors, P.A. He's reportedly considering closing his business rather than offering his employees health care plans that cover contraception.

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Would you vote for these men this sinister? Especially after they've been splattered with Santorum?

​After months of playing relatively nice with his fellow GOP presidential contenders, Rick Santorum's new Minnesota ad splatters Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich.

With a shit-eating smirk on his face, Romney is shown standing in front of a sinister Gingrich. Obama is in front of both of the GOP frontrunners, staring into the distance, while an announcer suggests the three 'aren't so different.'

"Supporting big government that strangles our nation's ability to create jobs, bailouts, government-run health care -- who can we trust? Rick Santorum."

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Star Tribune

Bosacker is leaving the top-paying job in the city for a journey abroad.

​From the 'what a refreshing idea' and 'if I could only do that' departments:

Steven Bosacker, the Minneapolis City Coordinator for the past six years and one of the most powerful employees in the city, is leaving a job he likes because he wants to spend a year traveling the world.

Bosacker was the city's highest paid employee as of 2010, reportedly hauling in a base salary of $147,154 that year. But good for him -- he's managed his money wisely and is clearly motivated by travel more than income.

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Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal

Chris Meyer's small Mpls company served as a case study in Facebook's IPO.

​In Facebook's IPO, CM Photographics, a small Minneapolis wedding photography company, served as a case study of how advertising on the social network can benefit mom-and-pop businesses.

Wedding photographers, of course, want to get their ads in front of the eyeballs of as many soon-to-be brides and grooms as possible. And Facebook knows exactly who's living nearby and engaged. It's a perfect match.

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Rolling Stone

The title "School of Hate" isn't doing anything for the Anoka-Hennepin image.

​In its current issue, Rolling Stone magazine becomes the latest big-name national media outlet to come down hard on the gay-bullying problem in the Anoka-Hennepin school district.

In "School of Hate: One Town's War on Gay Teens" reporter Sabrina Rubin Erdely writes about the plight of gay students in Michele Bachmann's home district, joining past scrutinizing reports from Mother Jones and The New York Times.

"The Anoka-Hennepin school district finds itself in the spotlight not only for the sheer number of suicides but because it is accused of having contributed to the death toll by cultivating an extreme anti-gay climate," Erdely writes.

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Sally Jo Sorensen

A crime bill everyone can get behind?

​Republican State Representative Tony Cornish unveiled his crime bill to DFL colleagues yesterday.

The "bill," revealed in an email to "All DFL representatives," features a photo of two nooses and a gallows -- and that's all. Cornish's Facebook reveals more information.

The gallows is apparently from Arizona, and the photo was apparently taken and uploaded to Facebook earlier this year. Under the photo, Cornish writes: "Only Sure Cure for Repeat Offenders."

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