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When Lee Harvey Oswald was about to be buried, funeral directors had a problem: There were no mourners around to carry the casket to its final resting place, just a bunch of Texas reporters.

Jerry Flemmons of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram turned to Associated Press reporter Mike Cochran and said, "Cochran, if we're gonna write a story about the burial of Lee Harvey Oswald, we're gonna have to bury the son of a bitch ourselves."

And so they did, Cochran says in his story today.

This week, Saint Paul announced plans for a "starter line" that would run down East Seventh Street from Arcade, up West Seventh Street all the way to Randolph.

, says he was part of the process he describes as trying to get pandas to mate.

Saint Paul's old streetcar system was dismantled in 1953.

It doesn't really matter that there's no "monster" in Lake Pepin. It only matters that enough people with a little money in their pocket think there might be.

Two separate TV crews are on the lake this week, the 

At this time of year, marketing firms lie to the media and the media repeats the lies without any thought or question at all.

We are, sadly, willing accomplices in the effort to make you feel you're missing out on something other Americans are doing -- shopping on or right after Thanksgiving.

A poll this week says 46 percent of Americans will go shopping on Friday. Accenture says 38 percent of people will shop on Thanksgiving. AdWeek says the number is closer to 45 percent.

KMSP reporter M.A. Rosko showed why being an early-morning journalist in the Twin Cities is dangerous work.

Free Thanksgiving Meals in the Twin Cities 

 (StreetWorks Outreach Collaborative) h/t: Twin Cities Daily Planet.

 In 1996, Hamilton County, Ohio (Cincinnati) voters were told if they increased the sales tax, they could build two new stadiums for the city's professional football and baseball teams. Now, for the third time in four years 

homeowners will pay more property taxes than promised when voters approved construction

 The Minnesota Nurses Association is upset at a Star Tribune investigation on apparently incompetent disciplinary oversight by the state. 

A lot of organizations think "no comment" makes a story go away. It doesn't. Got a side of the story you think needs telling? You better tell it.

Would you get behind the wheel of a self-driving car?

(9-12 p.m.) - First hour: The drop in military suicides.

Second hour: What kind of issue does it take to get Republican Congressman Erik Paulsen and Democratic Senators Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken on the same side? The 2.3 percent tax on the medical device industry implemented as part of the Affordable Care Act. The tax went into effect in January, and Minnesota’s Congressional delegation is leading the effort to get it repealed, arguing the tax will cost jobs and stifle innovation. Where does the repeal effort stand now? Where does it go from here?

Third hour: We'll talk with Judge John Tunheim about a recent trip to Pakistan and the role that Pakistan's legal system can play in combating terrorism, and get his thoughts on the 50th anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

 (12-1 pm) - Live broadcast of the Westminster Town Hall Forum: Dr. Eben Alexander, author of "Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife."

 (1-2 p.m.) - The consequences of filibuster reform.

 (3-6:30 p.m.) - Former state House Republican Minority Leader Marty Seifert 

 that he will run for governor in 2014. Seifert lost the race for the GOP endorsement to Tom Emmer in 2010 and dropped out of the race. Emmer went on to lose to Mark Dayton.

Seifert joins a race that is already starting to get crowded, with Jeff Johnson, Kurt Zellers, Dave Thompson and Scott Honour already seeking the Republican nomination to take on Dayton. MPR's Tim Pugmire will have the story.

In Philadelphia, nearly four out of 10 schoolchildren live in poverty. And too many kids are coming to school hungry. Poverty has long been proved to be the biggest barrier to educational success. NPR considers the link between poverty and education.

NewsCut

Crime, Law and Justice

Bob Collins

Author

The reporters who buried Oswald, does Saint Paul need streetcars again, the monster in Lake Pepin, the lies we repeat about Thanksgiving shopping, and the Fox 9 reporter’s face plant.

Burying Oswald, St. Paul streetcars, Lake Pepin monsters, and Thanksgiving shopping lies (5×8 – 11/21/13)

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