am.mn logoBy Gov. Pawlenty’s executive order, the State of Minnesota checks everyone it hires to confirm they’re legal to work. But the Texas firm to which the state farmed out its E-Verify program didn’t safeguard employees’ data, leaving Social Security numbers and other private info out in the open, online. A cook at the governor’s mansion tells Minnesota Public Radio, “It’s pretty disconcerting.” No word on whether any of the 500 affected workers were also among those exposed in the Norm Coleman campaign-donor dataleak this year.

Elsewhere in Minnesota news this morning  …

STATEWIDE: Income-tax reciprocity is dead. But new governors in Minnesota and Wisconsin in 2011 could revive it. [Winona Daily News; The Forum]

ONAMIA: Native son to face trial in Iran. Shane Bauer and two fellow hikers could get death sentences for crossing the border from Iraq. [Pioneer Press]

ST. PAUL: Entenza gets Stonewall DFL nod. Former House Minority Leader Matt Entenza continued an unbroken string of endorsements from the party’s gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender caucus. [Polinaut]

MANTORVILLE: Tea Partier set to seek 29A House seat. Chuck Bradford will try to replace fellow GOPer Randy Demmer, who is running for Congress instead. [Bluestem Prairie]

MEDFORD: A new Day? Former mayor Dan Kaiser switches horse races: instead of the 26B House seat, he’ll now run for the Republican endorsement to replace aspiring lobbyist and state Sen. Dick Day [Waseca County News]

AUSTIN: “Mammoth donkeys” are just that. Believe the roadside “For Sale” sign: they’re 56 inches mammoth. [Rochester Post-Bulletin]