By MARK BRUNSWICK, Minneapolis Star Tribune

MINNEAPOLIS - Room 1659 in Minnesota's Hennepin County Government Center looks like any other courtroom. But there is subtle evidence that it's not.

For the families of soldiers who kill themselves, the anguish that accompanies the initial news is often only the beginning of their ordeal.

What frequently follows, survivors say, is a string of slights, stonewalling and misinformation that conveys a disturbing message: Their loved ones remain government property, even after their deaths.

Military figures go on campaigns. So do politicians. Usually, they aren't one and the same, but Minnesota state Rep. John Lesch is testing whether they can be.

The four-term House DFL party member joined the National Guard and, at 37, is blending his military role with his candidacy for reelection to his St. Paul seat.

MINNEAPOLIS - Flying the Minnesota flag may be easier than folding it. With its blue field and the state seal superimposed in the middle, Minnesota's flag was adopted in 1893, but there is no standard about how it should be folded, particularly to fit it into triangular cases often used for display. A bill in the state legislature would formalize how the state flag is folded.

MINNEAPOLIS - What began as a casual hallway conversation between two Minneapolis lawyers has turned into a small-scale international search for Danish fishermen who helped rescue Jews during World War II.

The obstacles include the passage of time -- 67 years to be exact -- and a well-deserved cultural reputation for stoicism and modesty.

DENVER -- The conventional wisdom that Iraq was THE dominant issue of the presidential campaign seem so outdated, replaced by worries about the economy and energy prices.Yet the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan figured in speeches Wednesday, when vice presidential nominee Joe Biden took to the stage at the Democratic National Convention.

MINNEAPOLIS -- It might not be unusual these days for a daughter to follow her dad into the family business. But it is unusual when that means flying an Army Blackhawk helicopter into a war zone.

Affirming what American Legion hall operators and mom-and-pop bar owners had warned, a new report shows that Minnesota's statewide ban on smoking appears to have cut into charitable gambling revenues from bar-game pull tabs and bingo.