Chris Serres doesn't want to be a spectator anymore.

​Chris Serres, veteran business investigative reporter for the Star Tribune, is on his way out the door.

But Serres isn't the typical victim of newsroom budget cuts or low morale. Instead, he's following his passionate political beliefs.

Serres will work as a researcher and and campaigner for the Unite HERE union in Las Vegas, which represents about 55,000 hotel and casino workers in Nevada.

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​So is this what Pam Costain had up her sleeve when she relinquished her seat on the Minneapolis school board?

The organization she spearheads, AchieveMPLS, was evidently the driving force behind a multimillion dollar gift to Minneapolis Public Schools from the foundations related to Cargill, General Mills, Medtronic and Target.

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Pot holes are turning into money holes.

​We were stunned to read a report from WCCO this morning about Minneapolis hitting up homeowners and businesses for upwards of $1,000 to repair pot holes in front of their property.

Weren't we just rejoicing over the Minneapolis City Council dumping an extra million dollars into this spring's pot hole repair program?

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How old does this guy look to you?

​Mahdi Hassan Ali is one step closer to not spending the rest of his life in a prison.

The triple-murder suspect who claims to have been 15 when the killings took place, has been granted the chance to appeal his case by the Minnesota Supreme court.

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Screen grab: Fox 9.

Sarah Mikesell, hands free.

​Wabasha school bus driver Sarah Mikesell just couldn't help herself. She was nearing the end of her run, with one child left to drop off, when she reached for her smartphone.

Dumb move -- especially since a security camera caught the whole episode. At one point she can be seen with both hands off the wheel and on her keypad.

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YouTube

Can this guy turn the Vikings around?

​Christian Ponder is the new Brett Favre.

Actually, after the rolling disaster that was last season, on and off the field, that's probably not on how the 23-year-old quarterback is framing his aspirations.

But with Favre's long-threatened departure from professional football a done deal, the Vikings felt the need for some fresh blood in the huddle rather than a retread, and they got some last night when they made Ponder their first-round draft pick, 12th overall.

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A little bit of shaking going on.

​Granted, the 2.5 magnitude earthquake that rattled Alexandria in the middle of last night might not have raised an eyebrow along the San Andreas Fault, or next to the Fukushima nuclear power plant, but here up north the temblor rates as a bona fide geologic event.

The United States Geologic Survey reported that the quake was centered about 39 miles southeast of Fergus Falls and 55 miles north of Willmar.

It did not tear the Earth asunder.

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​Tomika Swoope was walking back to her home on Columbus Avenue on Monday night from a nearby bus stop when the shots rang out.

Swoope took a bullet to the head above her left eye, collapsed, and was rushed to Hennepin County Medical Center along with a cousin who was also wounded in the shooting.

For days, family and friends were with her while she struggled to survive.

She died last night.

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Source: Onlineschools.org

Bachmann Bling.

​Yesterday we took a look at the latest reports on where Michele Bachmann gets her money: Mostly from everywhere except Minnesota. Today we're here to tell you, with the aid of some catchy graphics from Online Schools, that Bachmann spent more money on her re-election campaign that Kanye West made in the last last year.

Check out the glittering grill and the yacht.

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MN Senate

Sen. Claire Robling wants to take transportation planning away from Met Council

​A proposal to overhaul the Metropolitan Council--the agency responsible for long-term transportation planning, including bringing in money to expand light rail--is gaining ground in the Legislature.

At the heart of the matter is a conflict over transportation priorities: Planning for growth versus maintaining current infrastructure. And the people behind the bill--the pro-growth faction--are pretty unhappy with the decisions the council has recently made.

"They want to take that transportation planning ability away from the Met Council," says Susan Haigh, the council chair.

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