AM.MN: Indian languages buttressed in Bemidji, derided in Duluth

Shops in Bemidji have put up signs saying “boozhoo” and “aaniin” — welcoming words in the Ojibwe language — as part of a project by a group called Shared Vision to repair racial rifts. A cafe has put a list of common Ojibwe words on every table, and a food co-op plans to label fruits and vegetables it sells with their Ojibwe names. But in Duluth, Canal Park shoppers were greeted with T-shirts reading “My Indian name is ‘Drinks Like Fish.’” Complaints led the storeowner to apply deep discounts until the shirts were gone.

Elsewhere in Minnesota news this morning…

ROCHESTER: Republican governor candidates gather. Tonight’s Olmsted County Republican Party forum will have at least some of the nine or so GOP contenders. [Associated Press]

RED WING: Newspaper goes twice-weekly. The Republican-Eagle will no longer land on doorsteps (or in mailboxes) each weekday, but news will appear online as it happens: “I’m in love with this Web,” says Publisher Steve Messick. [Red Wing Republican-Eagle; Minnesota Public Radio]

AUSTIN: Officials won’t aid Nazi’s effort. A member of the National Socialist Movement had a petition about enforcing immigration laws, which the mayor rebuffed: “We fought a war against the Nazis, and I am sure as heck not going to support anything they do.” [Rochester Post-Bulletin]

STATEWIDE: Stimulus jobs top 2,000 for transportation projects. “You may not see big flashy projects,” a lawmaker concedes, but there are almost 100 of them so far in Minnesota, sparked by federal economic-recovery funding. [Associated Press]

ST. CLOUD: Parking income down, but speeding income roaring-good. Ripping out parking meters partly accounted for an $11,500 drop in revenue from parking, but that could be offset by 264 speeding tickets police wrote in July. [St. Cloud Times]

ST. PAUL: Collector nets $10,000 for 45 rpm record. Texan A.M. Hunt’s 1953 single, “Greyhound Blues,” the ninth release by famed Sun Records, has another Minnesota connection: The song seems to reference the bus line that began in Hibbing. [St. Paul Pioneer Press]