Pawlenty goes to bat for Romney and Ryan

Tim Pawlenty
Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty addresses the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., on Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2012.
AP Photo/Charles Dharapak

At the Republican National Convention, Former Gov. Tim Pawlenty got a convention spotlight and Paul Ryan got a fact check. On the Iron Range, there's news about a taconite mine labor dispute and new pollution rules aimed at clearing the BWCA's air. And we talk to the State Fair's neighbors about how they put with all the crowds, noise and trash.

A one-liner attack
Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty came out swinging at the Republican National Convention Wednesday evening, listing off what he called one bad decision after another by President Barack Obama.

Factually challenged
GOP vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan took some factual shortcuts Wednesday night when he attacked President Barack Obama's policies on Medicare, the economic stimulus and the budget deficit. (There's a transcript of the Ryan speech here.)

Taconite strike?
Contracts between three giant mining companies on the Iron Range and the United Steelworkers of America will expire at midnight Friday, and an apparent stalemate threatens to set in motion a strike that could disrupt the nation's steel supply.

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Taconite haze rules
Speaking of the Iron Range: Minnesota's taconite companies face a major environmental challenge in November when the federal government decides whether to require significant reduction in air pollution that causes haze in the BWCA and Voyaguers National Park.">

Dodging Isaac's worst
Isaac's whistling winds lashed New Orleans and the storm dumped nearly a foot of rain on its desolate streets, but the system of levee pumps, walls and gates appeared to withstand one of their stiffest challenges yet. To the north and south, though, people had to be evacuated or rescued as Isaac lingered over Louisiana.

Mixed Fair feelings
For 12 days each year, more than a million people flock to the Minnesota State Fair. There are the crowds, the noise, the garbage -- and that's outside the fair. The people who live near the fair's main entrance have mixed feelings about that.

What happens to the butterheads?
So what does one do with 90 pounds of butter, casrved into the shape of your own head at the Minnesota State Fair? This year's Princess Kay of the Milky Way, 17-year-old Christine Reitsma of Sauk Centre, Minn., asked some previous butter princesses for their advice.

Getting into English
Fargo-Moorhead Rotary clubs started "Project English"last year to help refugees learn the local language more quickly, setting up computers with the Rosetta Stone language software. Organizers say the program, is so successful that it's worth expanding nationally.

Cop caught on video
An officer with the St. Paul Police Department was placed on paid administrative leave Wednesday after a video was posted to the Internet that appears to show him kicking a man on the ground. We've got the video here.

Walker can haz cat videos
Warning: This is a story about online cat videos at an esteemed art museum. If you're among the seemingly tiny minority of the general population not interested in watching a 1-minute clip of a cat in a T-shirt pounding on a keyboard on the web, then move along.