Today British newspaper The Daily Telegraph released numbers 41 through 60 of their list of the most influential liberals and conservatives in the US. (100 of each will be named.) No Minnesota conservatives have made the cut so far, but Al Franken and District 5 Rep. Keith Ellison each received shout-outs on the list of prominent lefties.

Franken came in at number 49. Perhaps more surprising was Ellison's positioning at number 54. The freshman congressman is sandwiched between progressive heavyweights Paul Krugman (53) and Ralph Nader (55).

In recent weeks hundreds of St. Paul residents have been receiving phone calls from St. Paul Police Federation president Dave Titus. The calls are targeted at potential voters in the city's three most hotly contested city council races.

However, Titus is not directly making all of these calls himself. Rather it's a machine-dialed, recorded message designed to bolster SPPF-backed candidates Debbie Montgomery, David Haas, and Dan Bostrom. The only problem is that Minnesota state law forbids such automatic messages unless there is a live human placing the call.

"It's clearly illegal," says David Schultz, a professor at Hamline University and an expert on campaign laws, of the phone calls. "You've got to have a live person at some point."

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Boy, is my face red. In last week's column, your faithful readers' representative performed the journalistic equivalent of pissing myself when I wrote the contraction "you're" in lieu of the grammatically correct possessive "your." In pointing out the error, one reader sent a scathing email suggesting, "Matt, whatever you're paid, it's too much." Which struck me as a caustic little jab and nothing more until Avista Capital Partners caught wind of the email and cut my health insurance.

But the main reason I write today is to address responses elicited by another one of Editor Nancy Barnes' columns. The piece—titled "There’s a world of news—and we still cover it"—appeared Sunday in the Opinion section. In it, Barnes introduces readers to four intrepid reporters in an attempt to quell suspicions that the paper’s revamped news model has narrowed its focus.

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North Country Co-Op will shut down by November 4. The venerable grocery store has been selling organic vegetables and bulk granola to West Bank residents and University of Minnesota students for 37 years. But mounting debt and declining sales led to a bleak financial forecast for the store. The decision to shut down, sell the building, and pay off the organization's debts was made at a meeting Monday evening.

The Twin Cities original co-op was in some ways a victim of its own success. "It's a bit of a Phyrric victory for us," says North Country board member Doug Sembla. "Originally the vision of the co-op movement was that organic and local foods would be accessible to everyone. Now you're seeing organic and local food at Cub, at Wal-Mart, at the corner stores. North Country was a big part in inspiring that."

Roger Dumas recalls shopping at the co-op as a long-haired U of M music student in the early 70s. "It was kind of dark and unadorned with industrial size drums of honey and very liquidy peanut butter and granola," recalls Dumas, who is now a researcher at the university's Brain Sciences Center. "If it wasn't for those three things I probably wouldn't be alive today."

(The Strib had a piece on this in today's paper.)

Chris Cillizza's excellently wonky political blog "The Fix" looks at open House seats today. The Washington Post reporter ranks the top ten seats that are most likely to switch parties in the 2008 elections. Sitting at number three on the list? Minnesota's 3rd Congressional district. That's up three notches from Cillizza's previous ranking. The seat is slated to be vacated by nine-term incumbent Rep. Jim Ramstad. (Although Eric Black has suggested otherwise.) Here's Cillizza's take:

3. Minnesota's 3rd District (R): Minnesota politics has a unique metabolism. Races develop more slowly and break late. So it's not a huge surprise that the field remains somewhat amorphous in the race to replace Rep. Jim Ramstad (R). State Sen. Terri Bonoff (D) is in the race and raising money, and MN-03 is a toss-up by any measure. Anti-war sentiment runs strong in this suburban Twin Cities district and could spell serious trouble for the eventual Republican nominee. (Previous ranking: 6)

Welcome back to a (very belated) episode of cPod. This week we feature the music of The Glad Version, speak to Jessica Armbruster about beer, and to Paul Demko about his news article on the Northside Residents Redevelopment Council. Jeff Severns Guntzel gives us his perspective on the recent attention surrounding his sex-crimes story, and Dara spills some early info on an upcoming foodie event.

To download the .mp3 directly, click here.

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KSTP has picked up our story about the expansion-minded Holy Family Catholic Church in St. Louis Park. According to the TV station's report, Father Dufner said the church is looking to expand across the street from the block discussed in our article. No word, though, on what he plans to do with the two vacant houses the church owns/controls on the block.

St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman is supporting Hillary Clinton for president. The endorsement was announced this afternoon in a press release from the Clinton camp. “America is ready for change, and Hillary Clinton has the strength and experience to deliver it,” Coleman said in a statement. Former President Bill Clinton is in town this evening for a fundraiser at the State Theater.

Dear Strib readers:

Let me begin by saying that it's good to know my previous pleas for reader responses have not gone unheeded. I asked for feedback, and you came through like disgruntled champions. On Sunday, I returned home to find my voicemail flooded with calls from irate readers. It appears many of you are upset with our decision to divide the Twin Cities metro area into four zones. (As Strib editor Nancy Barnes announced on October 7, the four zones will bolster our coverage of outlying suburbs.)

Some of you bemoaned our decision as a calculated attempt to pander to more affluent markets, thereby increasing our revenue. Others speculated that the move would turn attention away from concerns of the inner city and poorer neighborhoods.

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Editorial employees at the Pioneer Press have tentatively agreed on a new four-year labor contract with MediaNews. The deal, which impacts 340 workers, was reached late last night following three days of intensive talks. The union's previous contract expired at the end of July. Union members will vote on the proposal next Wednesday.

The contract proposal includes raises of two percent each of the next two years and three percent in 2010. It also prohibits layoffs through the end of 2008.

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