AM.MN: Hearings for state’s ambassador picks are sub-Sotomayor

It wasn’t one of Amy Klobuchar’s “Minnesota Mornings,” those Thursday breakfasts at her U.S. Senate office to which everyone from the state is invited. But reports suggest that a Senate subcommittee’s hearings were packed — albeit not on the scale of last week’s Sotomayor mediafest — with home-state folks, as the nominations of Minnesotans Miguel Humberto Diaz and Sam Kaplan for ambassadorships to the Vatican and Morocco, respectively, came under official review. Klobuchar and Sen. Al Franken were on hand to introduce the nominees to the committee chair, Sen. Bob Casey, who asked one question each.

Elsewhere in Minnesota headlines this morning…

MINNEAPOLIS: Paul Thissen to unveil bid for guv. The four-term DFL state rep will formally attempt to wedge his hat into a very crowded ring this morning with a press conference at his home in the city’s southwest corner. [Associated Press]

TWIN CITIES: Ellison downplays, GOP plays up Hajjgate. In a letter to the editor, U.S.. Rep. Keith Ellison says a House ethics review of how he paid for his trip to Mecca last year is “a routine matter generated by the Star Tribune’s inquiry.” The Republican Party of Minnesota asked Congress to investigate. [Star Tribune]

MINNEAPOLIS: U of M wants a whole lot less shakin’ goin’ on. A faculty report says the University of Minnesota should get what Minnesota Public Radio got: mitigation for vibrations from the planned Central Corridor light rail train line. [Minnesota Public Radio]

MINNEAPOLIS: Banner day to stop bloodshed in Afghanistan. A demonstration to protest American escalation of the war takes place at 5:30 p.m. outside Mayday Books on the West Bank. [Associated Press]

BELTRAMI COUNTY: Signs in roadside ditches are hazards, engineer tells county board. “How in the hell are people going to find the resort if you can’t have a stinking sign,” asked a commissioner whose name is Jack Frost but calls his business simply Joe’s Lodge. [Bemidji Pioneer]

WORTHINGTON TOWNSHIP: It costs county to clean up ad hoc dumps. Never mind signs; here’s what they find in Nobles County ditches: burnt carpet, shingles, nails, garbage bags, empty boxes of (Mexican!) beer, garden refuse, paint rollers (still wet!), paint cans, a chair frame, small appliances, diapers, household waste, televisions, microwaves and vacuum cleaners. [Worthington Daily Globe]