In what could be a spectacular discovery in the world of astronomy and physics, researchers working in the depths of a northern Minnesota mine report that they have detected two signals from what could be the mysterious particles believed to function as invisible glue that binds the universe.

Building a light rail line through the heart of the Twin Cities is turning out to be way harder than anyone imagined. If the Central Line is to open by 2014 and stay on budget, then miracles have to start happening.

After listening carefully to a recent interview with Norm Coleman, I wondered whether it would be possible for a Republican to be nominated for governor who starts from the premise that Republicans have to come out of the no-new-taxes posture that has characterized at least the Pawlenty years.

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK — If you like dramatic endings, keep your eyes on COP15. After years of planning, months of anticipation and weeks of debate, the final hours of the climate talks have arrived, and countless big-name policy drivers have come to enjoy the show.

Related: President Obama's speech to the conference

Some songs' lyrics are good at the "short sprint," offering a single great line (or two). But others excel at the long-distance run, managing to carry an evocative theme through an entire song. Here are a few of my favorites.

ALSO: Bachmann, health care and socialism; stories of Christmas giving; Garrison Keillor turns Grinchy.

A recent study disagrees with Minnesota's approach to training dental therapists. Also, Continuing Legal Education classes for lawyers are now available for mobile devices.

Kenneth P. Vogel tells us in POLITICO that Glenn Beck has no apologies for promoting gold.

The venerable Minnesota Comprehensive Health Association, which has about 27,000 enrollees, may not be necessary if federal health reform is enacted.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Minnesota is set to receive an extra $579 million in transportation, infrastructure and transit funding that's part of a job stimulus bill narrowly approved by the House. But the package still has to get by the Senate.

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK — As the sun rose, the streets puffed with the first lasting snow of COP15, and my daily bicycle commute to the train station was a slippery, beautiful mess.  I don't usually start so early, but we were promised protesters at the front gate.

Today's National Transportation Safety Board report on Northwest Flight 188 puts focus on communication problems, the Delta-NWA  merger and two pilots who weren't paying attention.

The venerable Minnesota Comprehensive Health Association, which has about 27,000 enrollees, may not be necessary if federal health reform is enacted.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Minnesota is set to receive an extra $579 million in transportation, infrastructure and transit funding that's part of a job stimulus bill narrowly approved by the House. But the package still has to get by the Senate.

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK — As the sun rose, the streets puffed with the first lasting snow of COP15, and my daily bicycle commute to the train station was a slippery, beautiful mess.  I don't usually start so early, but we were promised protesters at the front gate.

Today's National Transportation Safety Board report on Northwest Flight 188 puts focus on communication problems, the Delta-NWA  merger and two pilots who weren't paying attention.

PLUS: "Bipartisanship" issue breaks out everywhere, Jesse quote makes Top 10, and pilots are off-course and off-frequency.

Minnesota’s just-announced unemployment rate for November dipped 0.2 of a point to a seasonally adjusted 7.4 percent, compared with the U.S. unemployment rate of 10 percent.

Flashlight Worthy asked some of his favorate specialty bloggers to help concoct a list of 2009's best graphic novels.

HAVANA — A math professor moonlights to pay for food and clothing, the arts thrive, tourism is coming back, and people look over their shoulder before answering a question.

Slideshow: World premiere of 'The Closest Farthest Away'
Slideshow: Scenes from Havana, Dec. 2009
Slideshow: Images of the Revolution
Global Post: Old cinemas still standing in Havana

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK — The Bella Center may have emptied for the moment, but the pressure remains intense. Things are moving in the negotiation chambers, but the added external tensions could change the dynamics at just the wrong time.

Related: Global warming talks inch toward accord -- 'adaptation' cash a sore point

New dynamics are prompting the Twin Cities' two winter-season pro teams to refine their strategies. So far, the Timberwolves rank 22nd out of 30 NBA teams in attendance. And for the first time, the Wild's franchise record of 382 straight sell-out games may be in jeopardy.

Most prospective law students would be better off working their way up the ranks at McDonald's.

HAVANA — A math professor moonlights to pay for food and clothing, the arts thrive, tourism is coming back, and people look over their shoulder before answering a question.

Slideshow: World premiere of 'The Closest Farthest Away'
Slideshow: Scenes from Havana, Dec. 2009
Slideshow: Images of the Revolution
Global Post: Old cinemas still standing in Havana

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK — The Bella Center may have emptied for the moment, but the pressure remains intense. Things are moving in the negotiation chambers, but the added external tensions could change the dynamics at just the wrong time.

Related: Global warming talks inch toward accord -- 'adaptation' cash a sore point

New dynamics are prompting the Twin Cities' two winter-season pro teams to refine their strategies. So far, the Timberwolves rank 22nd out of 30 NBA teams in attendance. And for the first time, the Wild's franchise record of 382 straight sell-out games may be in jeopardy.

Most prospective law students would be better off working their way up the ranks at McDonald's.

PLUS: Pawlenty on the move, online revenge fantasies, and more stadium news.

Despite a dramatic turnaround in earnings, Gander Mountain intends to go private after a nearly six-year run as a public company. The reality: It simply doesn’t fit the current market’s public model.

Glenn Grennwald at Salon rejects the notion that the White House is a helpless victim of health-care reform's twists and turns.

As federal stimulus money flowed through state governments and 28 federal agencies, the priority of creating or saving jobs often took a back seat to other factors. And trying to track the whole picture in Minnesota is a complicated, frustrating undertaking.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A provision of a key amendment offered to the health care bill by Sen. Al Franken is likely dead after a Congressional Budget Office report released today said it would come close to federalizing the entire insurance industry.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Hundreds of amendments — 376 in all — have been filed to the Senate health care bill. Sixteen come from Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken and focus on the details of how health care reform will work.

There are two broad themes from IDC, the global tech analyst firm: a "recovery" that brings more spending, and the focus on the "transformation" occurring in technology.

Tom Horner, a lifelong moderate Republican, is thinking about running for governor and, if he did so, it seems most likely he would do so via the Independence Party.

I've been a reporter long enough to sense when somebody wants to talk. Now was one of those times, and the young soldier who had been in Iraq started to tell his private story.

As federal stimulus money flowed through state governments and 28 federal agencies, the priority of creating or saving jobs often took a back seat to other factors. And trying to track the whole picture in Minnesota is a complicated, frustrating undertaking.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Hundreds of amendments — 376 in all — have been filed to the Senate health care bill. Sixteen come from Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken and focus on the details of how health care reform will work.

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK — Reports of walkouts and conference "chaos"? It turns out, like most things here, that such stories were largely truthful, but the interpretations were far too severe.

Related: At Copenhagen global warming conference, alarms on ocean acidification

There are two broad themes from IDC, the global tech analyst firm: a "recovery" that brings more spending, and the focus on the "transformation" occurring in technology.

Will Tom Horner be the Independence Party candidate for guv?

ALSO: Tay Zonday gives advice to Tiger Woods; Tim Pawlenty opines on global warming; and accusations of a new Ponzi scheme.

Don't get too excited about those 22 million lost-then-found Bush-era emails, writes Zachary Roth at Talking Points Memo. They won't be made public for years.

I've been a reporter long enough to sense when somebody wants to talk. Now was one of those times, and the young soldier who had been in Iraq started to tell his private story.

Whether he would have liked it or not, Charles Darwin and his work continue to influence religious thinking in Minnesota's churches, synagogues and mosques. Here's a sampling.

The Vikings called it a game of atonement. It was also a game of good, hard cash because today for the second straight year the Vikings are securely installed in the NFL playoffs with their 30-10 romp over Cincinnati.

Richard D'Amico was smart to hire the Minneapolis agency Brew to promote his new D'Amico Kitchen at the Chambers Hotel in downtown Minneapolis.

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK — Week One at COP15 saw controversy, confusion, consensus (occasionally) and somewhere along the way, the word "Copenhagen" became the most searched term on Google.

I've been a reporter long enough to sense when somebody wants to talk. Now was one of those times, and the young soldier who had been in Iraq started to tell his private story.

Whether he would have liked it or not, Charles Darwin and his work continue to influence religious thinking in Minnesota's churches, synagogues and mosques. Here's a sampling.

The Vikings called it a game of atonement. It was also a game of good, hard cash because today for the second straight year the Vikings are securely installed in the NFL playoffs with their 30-10 romp over Cincinnati.

Richard D'Amico was smart to hire the Minneapolis agency Brew to promote his new D'Amico Kitchen at the Chambers Hotel in downtown Minneapolis.

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK — Week One at COP15 saw controversy, confusion, consensus (occasionally) and somewhere along the way, the word "Copenhagen" became the most searched term on Google.

ALSO: Good news and bad news about drinking; Mark Dayton wants to tax the rich; Antoine Winfield is a tackling machine.

Where we're winning against al-Qaida is "in places where antiterrorism efforts are local and built on an understanding that the ties binding terrorist networks today are more cultural and familial than political," writes Scott Atran at Huffington Post.

The problem for R.T. Rybak as he runs for governor is convincing voters that his achievements as Minneapolis mayor are real and not just froth. Here's an assessment of what the mayor's done based on interviews with a current and former high-ranking city officials, both allies and critics.

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK — The reason internal squabbles capture the news cycle isn't because they will ultimately make or break the negotiations; it's because the negotiations themselves are nearly impossible to cover.

Christian Science Monitor: Global warming talks spark friction between U.S. and China

This year, the Dickens work is a play of Christmas past. Director John Lynn has started what may well become a new tradition at the school — a Christmas revue with singing, dancing and skits — and folks are embracing it.

With the musical version of "Young Frankenstein" coming to town, it seemed an appropriate time to assemble my own musical monster. You’re invited to concoct a creation, too.

The problem for R.T. Rybak as he runs for governor is convincing voters that his achievements as Minneapolis mayor are real and not just froth. Here's an assessment of what the mayor's done based on interviews with a current and former high-ranking city officials, both allies and critics.

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK — The reason internal squabbles capture the news cycle isn't because they will ultimately make or break the negotiations; it's because the negotiations themselves are nearly impossible to cover.

Christian Science Monitor: Global warming talks spark friction between U.S. and China

This year, the Dickens work is a play of Christmas past. Director John Lynn has started what may well become a new tradition at the school — a Christmas revue with singing, dancing and skits — and folks are embracing it.

With the musical version of "Young Frankenstein" coming to town, it seemed an appropriate time to assemble my own musical monster. You’re invited to concoct a creation, too.

ALSO: The latest Bachmann antics; the state of health care; and a hunter's excuse.

The Hill’s Jordan Fabian calls our attention to the latest song written by Sen. Orrin Hatch — this one about Hanukkah.

If only it were 2014, a couple of public-health funding headaches might start to go away in Minnesota.

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK — Are the industrialized nations working out a secret deal? Based on the scrambling I see in the halls, I doubt that anybody has a good handle on what sort of deal (if any) is going to be produced.

Global Post: Indonesia taking bigger role in CO₂ responsibilities

Its "endangerment" finding moves the issue of greenhouse-gas emissions into the concrete realm of direct health effects on you and me.

The Minnesota Supreme Court has finished uniting all of the various district courts into a single, integrated court system. And next year, the courts will roll out the first test drive of an electronic filing system in Hennepin County.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Minneapolis-based pharmaceutical company lost more than $8 million in the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme, but because of an obscure federal regulation, investors can recover just one-sixteenth of the amount they were defrauded.

If only it were 2014, a couple of public-health funding headaches might start to go away in Minnesota.

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK — Are the industrialized nations working out a secret deal? Based on the scrambling I see in the halls, I doubt that anybody has a good handle on what sort of deal (if any) is going to be produced.

Global Post: Indonesia taking bigger role in CO₂ responsibilities

Its "endangerment" finding moves the issue of greenhouse-gas emissions into the concrete realm of direct health effects on you and me.

The Minnesota Supreme Court has finished uniting all of the various district courts into a single, integrated court system. And next year, the courts will roll out the first test drive of an electronic filing system in Hennepin County.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Minneapolis-based pharmaceutical company lost more than $8 million in the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme, but because of an obscure federal regulation, investors can recover just one-sixteenth of the amount they were defrauded.

PLUS: So do big-screen TVs, theater expansion plans and pricey Wisconsin cheddar.

Writes Cecilia Kang at the Washington Post: "Uh, about that status update on Facebook last night ... you may want to make sure that information isn't available to more than just your friends."

I had never met Michele Bachmann, but when I interviewed her recently, I found her to be straightforward and gregarious — at one point, she called herself "a lovable little fuzz ball." Here are some of her comments — unvarnished Bachmann — on the issues of the day.

Inside MinnPost: A note about interviews with Kersten and Bachmann

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK — Day Two in the Bella Center shed some light on the power dynamics underlying the COP15 climate talks. Two powerful players: the United States and the People's Republic of China.

Global Post: New report has parts of Australia falling into the ocean

For some, treatment with Tamiflu does the trick. But a critically ill patient showed this doctor what the virus is capable of.

The heaviest snows will swirl across the Twin Cities this morning, with most of the accumulation winding down (from west to east) after 9 or 10 a.m. By that time many towns will have 6-8" of powder.

I had never met Michele Bachmann, but when I interviewed her recently, I found her to be straightforward and gregarious — at one point, she called herself "a lovable little fuzz ball." Here are some of her comments — unvarnished Bachmann — on the issues of the day.

Inside MinnPost: A note about interviews with Kersten and Bachmann

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK — Day Two in the Bella Center shed some light on the power dynamics underlying the COP15 climate talks. Two powerful players: the United States and the People's Republic of China.

Global Post: New report has parts of Australia falling into the ocean

For some, treatment with Tamiflu does the trick. But a critically ill patient showed this doctor what the virus is capable of.

The heaviest snows will swirl across the Twin Cities this morning, with most of the accumulation winding down (from west to east) after 9 or 10 a.m. By that time many towns will have 6-8" of powder.

PLUS: Pro-slots lobbyist Dick Day, unhappy cabin owners, and Power Line on EPA "power play."

Once the transportation bill comes up for debate in a year or so "it may be time to think about raising the federal gas tax and indexing it to inflation," writes Jeff Rosenberg at MNPublius.

Between 2000 and 2007, per-student state funding dropped 28% and state grants were flat as in-state tuition increased by 68 percent at the U and 55 percent in the MnSCU system.

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK — The language was universally urgent at welcoming ceremonies, and there's no mistaking the growing resolve for global climate action, but actions and words are not of equal weight.

Rare GOP office holder in St. Paul resigned to chase a dream, but now he's back to run for state auditor

Not to suggest that Carl Pavano is a great pitcher, but simply by repeating his 2009 performance, he would be a very solid middle-of-the-rotation starter for a team whose starters had the third-worst ERA in the league.

Too often, I'm doubtful these technologies are truly making classrooms future-ready. With change accelerating, students need exposure to a wide range of tech-related issues that will be "table stakes" in the game of life.

An estimated 1,400 fans pack a Mall of America rotunda today for the chance to meet the "Going Rogue" author and get her autograph. "We love Sarah" was a typical reaction.

Between 2000 and 2007, per-student state funding dropped 28% and state grants were flat as in-state tuition increased by 68 percent at the U and 55 percent in the MnSCU system.

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK — The language was universally urgent at welcoming ceremonies, and there's no mistaking the growing resolve for global climate action, but actions and words are not of equal weight.

Rare GOP office holder in St. Paul resigned to chase a dream, but now he's back to run for state auditor

Not to suggest that Carl Pavano is a great pitcher, but simply by repeating his 2009 performance, he would be a very solid middle-of-the-rotation starter for a team whose starters had the third-worst ERA in the league.

Too often, I'm doubtful these technologies are truly making classrooms future-ready. With change accelerating, students need exposure to a wide range of tech-related issues that will be "table stakes" in the game of life.

An estimated 1,400 fans pack a Mall of America rotunda today for the chance to meet the "Going Rogue" author and get her autograph. "We love Sarah" was a typical reaction.

ALSO: Palin/Bachmann 2012, Pawlenty gets some criticism, Minneapolis loses some police, and the Vikes lose a linebacker.

The Environmental Protection Agency's decision to declare greenhouse gases a danger to public health is seen in Copenhagen as giving President Obama more room to negotiate at the climate conference there, writes Lisa Lerer at Politico.

Star Tribune investigators shined an appropriately bright light on charter school "building boom" abuses, but may have also have blinded readers to intractable policy-making complexities.

The two-week U.N. summit on climate change begins today in Copenhagen. Should we care? What's the likely outcome? And what should we watch for? Here are some answers.

HAVANA — The use of live American actors interacting with Cubans on film represented a powerful metaphor — that two people less than 90 miles apart cannot be in the same space.

For the "out-tempoed" Vikings, there is more to rue than the 30-17 loss to Kurt Warner and the Arizona Cardinals: E.J. Henderson was carted off the field with a broken bone in his leg.

We hear a lot about what it takes to attract business to Minnesota. Here's the perspective of one small-business owner who plans to open a French bakery in Minneapolis.