City Pages Mn

Study says Twin Cities 'overextended' on pro sports

There is a point when metro areas become overextended in terms of supporting pro sports. At ninth worst, we’re getting close. In the Business Journals, G. Scott Thomas writes : “Denver is under more financial stress than any other professional-sports market in North America, according to a new On Numbers study. Denver heads a list of 20 overextended markets, all of which have insufficient income bases to support their existing major-league teams.” Phoenix is eighth and Cincinnati is 10th. Rupa Chenoy of MPR takes a look at T-Paw’s employment possibilities : “For Pawlenty supporters, this weekend's Iowa straw poll results means the end of a promising national campaign. For local Republicans, it signals a possible beginning. ‘Like my mom always used to say, things always work out for the best in the end, and maybe this is an opportunity for Minnesota,’ said Tony Sutton, chairman of the Minnesota Republican Party. Sutton said he hasn't talked to Pawlenty yet, but knows what he'll say when the time comes. ‘Now that he's not running for president, I sure hope he'd consider running for U.S. Senate,’ said Sutton. ‘I think he'd make a heck of a candidate.' "

That's an interesting piece from MPR’s Dan Gunderson on research to replace petroleum-based paints with crop-based compounds : “Researchers at North Dakota State University say they've developed a way to make high quality paints and coatings from soy oil and sugar. Most paints, coatings and glues are petroleum based, but there is great interest to develop plant-based products that are environmentally friendly. The worldwide market for biorenewable chemicals will reach $5 billion by 2015, says one industry estimate. Efforts to develop plant-based alternatives and replacements have sometimes resulted in products that don't last or wear as well as their common counterparts. North Dakota State researcher Dean Webster has been working on a solution since 2008, and he says a breakthrough in his lab created a soy and sugar based coating that's just as tough as petro chemical paints.” The mom charged in the case of the kid accused of running down three people in Dinkytown last spring, killing one? She’s free to go.