MN Governor Goes Global, Columnist Doesn't Get It

1. NEW DELHI - Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty (pictured above) made history today by signing India's first sister-state agreement, tying Minnesota to the Indian state of Haryana, the most prosperous section of the country.

The Minnesota delegation is on the way to Bangalore and will meet with Minnesota companies already doing business in India, such as General Mills, ADC Telecommunications, IBM and 3M.

2. Meanwhile, back in Minnesota, popular StarTribune columnist Nick Coleman isn't quite so global-minded about Minnesota's participation in the global economy, and is actually fretting over 15 new Ford F-150 trucks that were "imported" to Minneapolis from Colorado by Flatiron Constructors, the company building the new I-35W bridge over the Mississippi River near downtown Minneapolis. And I'm not making it up, he actually uses the term "imported" in his column today "I-35W Bridge is Local, But New Flatiron Trucks Are Imported."

MP: Actually, Ford F-150 pickup trucks are built in Kansas City, Norfolk, Detroit and Louisville, and would have therefore been "imported" from Missouri, Virginia, Michigan or Kentucky to Colorado, before being "imported" to Minnesota from Colorado.