Near Two Harbors, 34 structures burned and Highway 61 closed; in Crow Wing County, a 1,600-acre fire sparked evacuations

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This morning we'll find out when the Central Corridor light-rail line from St. Paul to Minneapolis 

, setting off another round of debate over whether public transit is much of an investment. It is. Cars will not be going out of style, but we're being fed wrong information on its importance in the future. "The nation's entire transportation forecast system is broken, Clark Williams-Derry at 

Transportation planners have been making the same forecast for vehicle volume for years, Williams-Derry says. One problem: It's wrong.

Subcompact Cars Fare Poorly in New Crash Tests

It's a long way to the Super Bowl, so the Richard Sherman story remains alive for another day. Sherman, the defensive corner for the Seattle Seahawks, exploded in a postgame interview that's dominated world news -- OK, just US news -- for a couple of days now.

 has noted the social-media-fueled trends of the story, which started with abject horror, shifted with proof of Sherman's academic achievements at Stanford -- the school that's never turned out a jerk (cough: Tiger Woods) -- then shifted again to a discussion about race in America. Stevenson's conclusion:

"For the first time since 2009, the coastline of Lake Superior has frozen hard enough that people can venture out onto the ice and into the sea caves that line the shore near Wisconsin's Apostle Islands," 

Boing Boing's Maggie Koerth-Baker writes.

Can your cherished summer do this? I didn't think so.

In Minnesota, we like to poke fun at the people of Washington who -- our mocking usually says -- "freak out" when they get a little snow. The pikers. But they do something else we seem to have difficulty with. 

Photos: Pioneer Press Treasure Hunt attracts all sizes

Iditarod pioneer, Minnesota native shares his tale of the trail

Dunkin' Donuts is probably going to find an investor willing to put down the cash for the stores the iconic chain wants to place in the Twin Cities, filling the dream of fans of its working-class coffee.

But Dunkin' isn't looking for entrepreneurs to build a business here. They're looking for investors, Charles Marohn at the 

, writes.  "That’s a very different person, and a very different impact on the city, than the doughnut shop started by your local go-getter with vision and a dream," he says.

The comments to the essay are proof -- again -- that the Internet can be a valuable place to exchange intelligent ideas. Don't tell the football people.

On this date in 1967, KSJR in Collegeville went on the air. It signaled the start of Minnesota Public Radio.

Some years later -- 2004 -- The Current went on the air and has "become the model for cutting-edge radio throughout the country. Not bad for a station built from the ground up in six weeks," 

Pawlenty says Republicans must broaden party's appeal

Do you think childless couples are happier?

(9-12 p.m.) - First hour: Closing the achievement gap.

Second hour: Starting today, National Public Radio is shining a spotlight on "Oil fields in the Great Plains." The Bakken Oil Patch has brought tremendous prosperity to North Dakota and propelled America to energy independence. But concerns about the environmental effects of extracting the crude and the safety of transporting it has prompted some observers to call for a slowdown to development.

Third hour: Atlantic Editor Scott Stossel is out with a new book - a personal account of the challenges of managing his own almost debilitating anxiety. His sister, Safe Stossel, has also just released a new book. It’s fiction, but the main character in the story shares Stossel’s own anxious behavior. These siblings talk with us about the origins of their anxiety and the ways they manage to lead vibrant creative lives.

 (12-1 pm) - A new debate from the Intelligence Squared series: "Is the Affordable Care Act beyond rescue?"

 (3-6:30 p.m.) - More than 40 years after it was hailed as a radical innovation in higher education, Metropolitan State University is at a turning point. State college and university leaders say the nontraditional school isn't big enough to fill the growing hunger for bachelor's degrees in the Twin Cities metro area. They're discussing how to expand it, and how it may need to change to meet the new demands it's facing. MPR's Alex Friedrich will have the story.

The Affordable Care Act was supposed to help people afford health care. But in states that are not expanding Medicaid, navigators are finding a paradox. Some working poor don't make enough money to qualify for assistance. NPR will report on those too poor for health care subsidies.

NewsCut

Bob Collins

Author

What we don’t know about cars,  can you call Richard Sherman a jerk without being called a racist,  the caves of Lake Superior, why Dunkin’ might not be such a sweet deal for Minnesota, and Ricky Rubio is still adorable.

Overblown vehicle projections, the Richard Sherman debate, and the caves of Lake Superior (5×8 – 1/22/14)

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