am.mn logoIt’s a big day for U.S. Rep. Ron Paul. His bill to audit the Federal Reserve gets its first hearing this morning before the House Financial Services Committee. Then tonight, he and committee colleague Michele Bachmann host a “student town hall” at the University of Minnesota. But will Paul and Bachmann willingly enter Northrop Auditorium, where words carved in stone declare devotion to “the Welfare of the State”?

Elsewhere in Minnesota news this morning …

WINONA: Locals aim to reinstate reciprocity. Gov. Pawlenty put the kibosh on a long-standing tax arrangement for residents of Minnesota who work in Wisconsin (and vice versa).  [Winona Daily News]

EAGAN: State senate candidate mourns T-Paw’s cancellation. David Carlson says Pawlenty will go to Atlanta instead of his Oct. 8 fundraiser. [Facebook]

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA: Green revolutionary to be remembered. At another campus venue on Oct. 8, the U of M will honor alumnus and Nobel Prize winner Normon Borlaug. [Associated Press]

ALBERT LEA: No first lady. When Michele Obama can’t visit, she lets you know by … sending a postcard? [Albert Lea Tribune]

MINNEAPOLIS: Lutheran splinter group rethinking last month’s gay-clergy vote. What happens in Minneapolis gets reconsidered in Indianapolis. [Associated Press]

PIPESTONE: Monument vandals nabbed. Text messages like “backyard in trash can everything is there!!” led cops to objects stolen from the Keepers of the Sacred Tradition building. [Worthington Daily Globe]