Happy weekend to ya. Ok, well, happy END of the weekend to ya…I admit that Monday is almost here. But enjoy the day off while it lasts. As for the news:

*Good article out today from the Star Tribune about the inefficiency that is national food testing (aka, detecting food borne illnesses). The story details how the current "system" is actuallly just 50 state-level systems, which makes for a muddled and murky approach. Part of the story details the work of Team Diarrhea, a group that has done impressive research on food borne illness (they detected the link between jalapenos and salmonella last year) and is composed of students and researchers from the University of Minnesota.

*More from the never-ending news source that is the budget: Higher ed officials think it is impossible that students won’t feel the impact of Pawlenty’s cuts, according to this MinnPost article. A quote from the piece: “A 10.7 percent cut as recommended by the governor would have serious consequences for our students and the communities that we serve," Laura King, chief financial officer and vice chancellor for the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, testified before the higher education division of the Senate Finance Committe. "You will see access and opportunities curtailed," King predicted. "We will be looking at layoffs, program closures, enrollment caps, reducing course offerings and other strategies.” Yikes.

Sid Hartman, possibly in his Daily Digest debut.

*Lastly, possibly for the first time in the history of the Daily Digest/Weekend Round-Up, let’s get some Sid Hartman in here: The Sid’s most recent column details how the athletics department has been instructed not to give contract extensions or pay raises while the state is in its current budget crunch. This means no extension for football coach Tim Brewster, Hartman notes–at least for now.