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stove and former legislator Win Borden. Borden, 70,  died last night. His downfall from the state Legislature -- he didn't pay taxes and served prison time -- was not something he ignored when he preached from his Facebook pulpit, from a small farm in Crow Wing County, where he retired to a life as a gentleman farmer and philosopher.

Over a year ago, he was diagnosed with cancer and 

and things seemed to be looking up until a month ago when he stopped posting, except for one a week or so ago in which he announced he was going back into the hospital for more tests.

"He had been in failing health ever since his cancer was discovered, and the punishment of chemo and radiation takes a terrible toll," his friend Pete Holste wrote. "But Win was an optimistic fighter until the end."

Indeed, he had ordered seeds for spring planting.

2)  SHOULD MARIJUANA BE LEGALIZED IN MINNESOTA?      

It may well be that legalizing marijuana emerges as the dominant issue in the upcoming Minnesota state Legislature now that Washington and Colorado have legalized it and the movement seems to be gaining some traction.

Writer Jim Walsh makes the case for legalization in a recent issue of the 

 by telling the story of her son, who she says had his first psychotic episode because of marijuana (marijuana induced paranoia).

 writes today, "is why attitudes toward marijuana are shifting now. And the answer, according to pollsters and drug policy experts, is a complicated stew of demographics, personal experience, electoral success and the failure of existing drug policy."

"Americans don't necessarily like pot more than they used to," the Times reports. "The percentage of those who have actually tried it has stayed in the 30% range for three decades. Rather, Americans are simply fed up with criminal penalties they say are neither cost-effective nor just."

Minnesota family hopes for legalization of medical marijuana, the 'best hope' for their daughter

3) THE MINNESOTA STARVATION EXPERIMENT     

How did Minnesota researchers learn more about starvation?  By starving people. The 

 looks back at the University of Minnesota project that used conscientious objectors in the war. For six months they were starved while being required to walk or run 22 miles every week, expending over 1,000 calories more than they consumed each day.

It took months, even years, for the men to recover from the experiments, the BBC reports. Among the researchers findings:  Starvation increases the need for privacy and quiet - noise of all kinds seems to be very bothersome and especially so during mealtimes.

4) THE SPORTS-RELATED DISCUSSION WE REALLY SHOULD BE HAVING  

 on Sunday, one of the most intriguing story in sports was 

Grantland's article about   Dr. Essay Anne Vanderbilt

, the inventor of the Oracle GXI smart putter club. It outed  Vanderbilt as a transgender woman, against her wishes.

Yesterday, Christina Karhl, also writing on Grantland, said writer Caleb Hannan could've stuck with debunking Vanderbilt's educational and professional claims, 

but lurched into an area he didn't need to instead.

On her 21st birthday, Pat Knapp of Brainerd had lost almost all of her eyesight because of defective over-the-counter cold medication. It was 1965, and by age 69, she had used a white cane for half of her life. After her husband died last year, a neighbor suggested a specialist, the 

  Who should be getting a raise? The person who came up with the idea for 

 It's sad, indeed, that Tim Jones of British Columbia has died. But when you depart this planet, there's no better way to go out than 

to hear from the people who are alive because you were

(9-12 p.m.) - First hour:  St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman and newly elected Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges

Second hour:  Never-ending work-life balance conversations  often center on mothers and work. Liza Mundy adds to the conversation about how mothers benefit from paternity leave in her recent piece in The Atlantic. She joins the show as today's guest.

Third hour: What you need to know about credit.

 (12-1 pm) -  Libertarian political scientist and author Charles Murray, giving a Chautauqua Lecture titled, "Nurturing the Institutions that Let us Pursue Happiness."

 (1-2 p.m.) - Do the Geneva II peace talks on Syria have a chance of surviving?

 (3-6:30 p.m.) - Italy cannot afford the upkeep of its many art treasures. To decide which few the government will repair, citizens have taken a vote. That's brought praise for getting people involved in their heritage and criticism for demagoguery.

NPR will look at Italy's experiment in democratizing art preservation.

NewsCut

Politics and Government News

Bob Collins

Author

The old stove loses a pal,  should marijuana be legalized in Minnesota, how Minnesota researchers starved people to learn about starvation,  the sports-related discussion we really should be having, and the gift of sight for an elderly woman.

Winston Borden dies, learning from the starving, and the thoughtless outing of a transgender woman (5×8 – 1/21/14)

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