Listen up, Albany: government shutdowns can have graver consequences than the loss of public employees' right to collective bargaining: because of Minnesota's gridlock—currently in its 13th day—MillerCoors can't renew their brand label registration, thus all MillerCoors products will be off shelves in the Land of 10,000 Lakes "within days." The company represents 38 percent of the beer market in Minnesota, which means 38 percent of the population that drinks beer will have to settle for a can that doesn't tell if you if your suds are cold or not. How will we know unless the can tells us?! Not to mention all those poor people who pilot that Silver Bullet train to Refreshmentville will be out of work. more ›

With public outcry mounting and threats of a boycott spreading, Target CEO Gregg Steinhafel wrote employees today to say the discount retailer was "genuinely sorry" for donating $150,000 to a conservative Republican for Minnesota governor, the AP reports. In the memo, Steinhafel explained that the contribution was intended to support Republican Tom Emmer's stance on economic issues, not his opposition to same-sex marriage and other gay-rights initiatives. (Emmer is promising to cut taxes and government spending if elected.) more ›

On Election Night two months ago, it appeared that America was only sending one famous Harvard alum who was also a well-publicized cocaine user to Washington. Not so! Today the Minnesota State Canvassing Board certified results showing Democrat Al Franken as the winner of the Minnesota Senate race. Lizard people, unite! more ›

Senator Charles Schumer said yesterday that comedian turned Senate candidate Al Franken won the Minnesota Senate race against Norm Coleman—with a 200+ vote lead—and should be seated. Minnesota's canvassing board is expected to name Franken the winner and the senior Senator from New York issued a statement, "While there are still possible legal issues that will run their course, there is no longer any doubt who will be the next Senator from Minnesota. With the Senate set to begin meeting on Tuesday to address the important issues facing the nation, it is crucial that Minnesota's seat not remain empty, and I hope this process will resolve itself as soon as possible." Yeah—the Senate needs to figure out what to do with Illinois Senate appointee Roland Burris! Still, the Coleman campaign refuses to succumb to "stinkin' thinkin'" and will petition to have 650 ballots included. more ›

Well, it only took two weeks for Alaska's election officials to figure out that Anchorage mayor Mark Begich (D) managed beat the incumbent, convicted Sen. Ted Stevens (R), who has been serving since 1968. Begich said, “I can’t wait to get to work fighting for Alaskan families," and his win also means an end to guessing whether Governor Sarah Palin might appoint herself to Stevens' seat. There is some talk of a recount (Begich's margin is 3,724 with just 2,500 votes left to recount), but the Anchorage Daily News reports with machine counting "recent Alaska recounts have resulted in little change in the final tally." As for other undecided Senate races: In Minnesota, Sen. Norm Coleman (R) leads Al Franken (D) by 215 votes, but a recount will start tomorrow, while the Dec. 2 runoff between Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R) and Jim Martin (D) in Georgia is drawing big names. more ›

Mayor Bloomberg kept himself in the middle of national political scene by speaking at an Independent Party fund raising breakfast in Minnesota. While he was expected to tout John McCain a little, Bloomberg had spent equal time praising both McCain and Barack Obama to the Independents, noting the candidates' willingness to buck party lines. more ›

After a long absence, Stephon Marbury finally showed up at Madison Square Garden last night, but the circumstances of his absence remain a mystery. “I ain’t got no comment to that,” was Marbury’s response when asked if Isiah had told him to stay away from the team. Marbury did add that he was happy to be “able” to be on the bench and support his teammates. Was that a reference to the ban or simply an acknowledgment that he was injured and therefore couldn’t attend games? more ›

Trent Hunter got things going with a goal at 17:42 of the first. The Flyers tied it up in the second, but the Islanders took the lead and built it on two beautiful goals. Jeff Tambellini took advantage of a bad Philadelphia turnover to put the Isles back in front. Sean Bergenheim got a semi-breakaway off of a feed from Trent Hunter to make it 3-1. Philadelphia cut it to 3-2, but Rusian Fedotenko put the game out of reach with his 10th goal of the year. more ›

Nigel Dawes got the Rangers on the board near the end of the third period as he converted a power play chance. Scott Gomez who assisted on the first goal followed with a goal of his own, setup by a great screen from Chris Drury at 3:53 of the second. Then the fights started, a linesman took a skate to the face but the Rangers and Valiquette kept their focus and got the win. more ›

As of 11:45 p.m., Hillary Clinton and John McCain are projected to win their New York primaries. The Democratic primary distributes NY delegates proportionally, so the final total will be important in determining how many will go to Clinton and how many to Barack Obama. more ›

History will place the 2007 Giants among the most unlikely champions ever. 0-2 to start the season, down 17-3 at halftime of their third game, bad losses to Minnesota and Washington, down 14-0 off the bat in Buffalo, a comeback in Dallas, an OT winner in Green Bay and a 17-14 victory over the perfect Patriots- it simply doesn’t get any better than this for Giants fans. more ›

The big sports news of the day isn't the Super Bowl. It's the probable Johan Santana trade that the Mets and Twins agreed to yesterday. And from the reaction of the local papers and sportswriters, it seems like the Mets pulled a fast one on the rubes from Minnesota. If the Mets can sign Santana to a contract extension, it's likely that he will become the highest paid pitcher in baseball, surpassing Barry Zito of the San Francisco Giants. It's believed that Santana and his agent Peter Greenberg are looking for a 6 or 7-year deal in the range of $20-25 million per year. more ›

The Mets have finally landed a much needed arm to lead their rotation. USA Today is reporting that the Minnesota Twins and the Mets have agreed to terms for pitcher Johan Santana. The two-time Cy Young winner comes to the Mets at a high cost, with the Mets delivering outfielder Carlos Gomez and pitchers Phil Humber, Deolis Guerra and Kevin Mulvey to the Twins. Conditions of the deal include the Mets and Santana reaching agreement on a contract (rumored at six or seven year contract extension in the area of $150 million) and that Santana passes a physical. According to USA Today Santana and the Mets have between 48-72 hours to reach an agreement. more ›

Could this be it? Is our long nightmare about to end? It sounds like it might because there are strong indications out of Minnesota that the Twins are finally going to trade Johan Santana and the front-runners right now are the New York Mets! more ›

An AP report that Mayor Bloomberg has been "conducting extensive polling and voter analysis in all 50 states" continues to fan the flames of a possible Bloomberg '08 bid. We can just imagine it: People in Alaska, Missouri, Ohio, all getting phone calls and asked, "How would you feel if a billionaire who happened to also be a mayor of a certain urban area decided to run for President - as an independent?" more ›

The family and friend of the Minnesota tourist who took a fatal plunge from a Midtown hotel this past weekend are saying her death is not a suicide. Twenty-one-year-old Jennifer Olson fell 60 feet from a fire escape at the Night Hotel and earlier reports suggested she jumped, but her friend, Timothy O'Neill, told the Daily News, "I don't believe it was suicide. I believe it was accidental. After drinking six or seven hours, people aren't thinking clearly." more ›

A 21-year-old woman visiting New York City from a small town in Minnesota killed herself Friday evening by jumping from the fire escape of a midtown hotel. The suicide ended a weekend that was the result of winning tickets to Friday night's Z100 Jingle Ball concert at Madison Square Garden. Jennifer Olson was from the town of Eveleth, Minnesota, population: 3,000. She checked into the Night Hotel on 45th St. with her male friend Timothy O'Neill. The two were co-workers at a dental office in Eveleth and O'Neill apparently had a romantic interest in Olson, which was not reciprocal. Nonetheless, she accepted his invitation to go to NYC with him after he won tickets to the concert. more ›

It took all of 45 seconds on Sunday to tell you that the Giants were in trouble. Lawrence Tynes sent the opening kickoff out of bounds and Minnesota scored on a 60-yard bomb on their second play of the game. It was a harbinger of things to come as Minnesota thrashed the Giants 41-17 on Sunday. You can blame the entire team for this one, but the quarterback deserves special consideration. Eli Manning was terrible... more ›

Stars 3, Rangers 2: What good is outshooting the opponent 41-18 if it doesn't lead to a win? That's what the Rangers have to ask themselves after Sunday's disappointing loss to the Stars. No matter how this game is measured -- except for the score that is -- the Rangers appeared to outplay the Stars. Mike Smith repeatedly stifled the Blueshirts' attack, however, and goals from Jaromir Jagr and Brendan Shanahan didn't end up as... more ›

The Giants face a potentially tricky match up on Sunday when the Vikings come to Giants Stadium. While the Vikings probably won’t have Adrian Peterson, they still have Chester Taylor who rushed for 164 yards and three touchdowns last week. Minnesota has used their two excellent backs to lead the league in rushing. On defense the Vikings have the best rushing defense in the league, but the worst pass defense. The Giants should exploit the... more ›

Knicks 97 Minnesota 93: Isiah Thomas was booed when he was introduced before the game, but the rest of the Knicks were cheered. And, when Nate Robinson pledged before the game that this team would win more games than in previous seasons that elicited the biggest cheers of all. Robinson backed up his pledge with 10 points in 16 minutes while Jamal Crawford had 24. Unlike Friday, the Knicks shot well from the charity stripe,... more ›

FAIR: Attention vinyl junkies! WFMU is hosting their Record Fair starting this eve and running throughout the weekend. "Hundreds of dealers specializing in the out sounds that WFMU is adored for delivering year round will gather for three days of merciless hawking o' the wax, and thousands of area music geeks are already trembling with nervous anticipation!" There will also be live performances this year, check out more details here. more ›

RALLY: Barack is back! This time he's hitting up Manhattan with an evening rally in Washington Square Park. It's gonna be a big one, so get there early! At least this time there won't be any unhappy paying customers, because it's free! Check out his video invite: more ›

The string of pleasant, if not all that meteorologically interesting, weather continues today with another sunny, mild day. More of the same is expected tomorrow, though the mercury may crack the 80 degree mark. The Weather Service has finally come to their senses and backed off their earlier prediction of highs around 90 on Friday and Saturday. They are currently calling for highs around 86, which is more in line with weather.com's predictions of the lower-80s. The next chance of rain is Sunday at the earliest. more ›

While even Google can't help out with the subway perv problem, Subway Blogger reports that they are "getting geared up to start mapping New York City Transit systems. Ultimately, you’ll be able to map a transit or subway route just like Google Maps." more ›

Hurricane Dean continues to gain strength as it heads toward the Yucatán peninsula. The hurricane, with sustained winds of 150 miles an hour, may intensify to a category 5 storm before it hits land tomorrow. Dean is currently expected to cross the Yucatán near the Mexico-Belize border, where it will weaken, then regain strength over the Bay of Campeche before slamming into northern Mexico. The storm passed a hundred miles south of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, with neither country adding to the storm's death toll of eight people across the Caribbean. more ›

Looks like New York State beaches have become just as dirty as the thoughts you have while lying there sunning yourselves (and we're not just talking about hypodermic needles). A new report from the NRDC says there's been a serious rise in the number of health-related advisories and beach closings thanks to pollution. New York beaches experienced over 1200 days of closings and advisories last year (that's up from about 830 in 2005). You can read the report here. more ›

We at the Gothamist network would like to express our heartfelt wishes to the people of Minnesota in the days after their tragic bridge collapse. We're not trying to discount the severity of the accident by making note of it in opposition to our usual -Ist lightheartedness - we just wanted to take a moment and recognize those affected last week. more ›