And then there were three: Minnesota flag finalists narrowed
By Ryan Faircloth
Good morning. Minnesota took a step closer to picking a redesigned state flag on Tuesday when a commission narrowed down a list of finalists to three distinct designs that all bear image of the North Star, my colleague Briana Bierschbach writes.
One of the flags bears an abstract shape of Minnesota's borders, another depicts a flowing wave and the North Star, and the third shows mirroring water and snow and also features hidden loons in its design.
The State Emblems Redesign Commission also made last tweaks to the final state seal design, making the loon's eyes red and removing the state's official motto — "L 'etoile du nord," or the star of the north — and the year Minnesota became a state.
"We don't need it on the seal to remind us," said commission member Anita Gaul, a history professor from southern Minnesota. "Just like we don't need words on the United States flag to remind us it's the United States flag."
TRANSIT: Metro Transit officers issued citations to 193 people who rode the light-rail without paying during the first week of the agency's new fare enforcement effort, colleague Tim Harlow reports.
That total came out of nearly 2,000 riders who were checked by the officers.
"We are committed to cleaning up the perception of our light-rail system," said Metro Transit Police Chief Ernest Morales III. He and Metro Transit General Manager Lesley Kandaras gave an update on the agency's progress to the Minnesota House Transportation Finance and Policy Committee on Tuesday.
