Welcome to Thursday’s digest. We’re only one day from the weekend, so away we go …

* The ethanol-gasoline debate is continuing to stir around local and national media from the study that the U released on Monday. Everyone from the Star Tribune (who I linked to on Tuesday) to WCCO is covering it, including Biofuel Review, the trade magazine on the topic. Biofuels, especially corn-based ethanol, is a big industry in Minnesota and surrounding states, and the U has been deep in this research for years — and will likely continue for even more years. Keep an eye out for a Daily feature next week on where research on the topic started, what advances we’ve made here, and where researchers are looking to go in the future.

* Minnesota senate republicans proposed a wage freeze for all state and government employees, according to an article in the Pioneer Press. The freeze would include the U, but there’s already a hiring freeze, and President Bruininks has frozen his own salary, so we’ll see how successful, and how money-saving, this really is. (if it passes.)

* Even though banks all over the country are struggling and cutting back, a Strib article says that TCF bankers (the ones sponsoring that big monstrosity of a stadium) aren’t sorry that they took 180 bank managers on a trip to Aspen, Colo. last weekend, or a trip to Vegas that lasted 12 days. So where is TCF coming up with all this cash-ola? Apparently the trips weren’t extravagent, and were necessary for "team-building."

That’s all for today — other than the breaking news on the "Gopher Groper" getting charged with a couple misdemeanors, which you can view here. Happy Thursday.

Courtney Sinner
Campus Editor