An obesity expert at Mayo Clinic has gotten behind New York City's controversial new ban on sugary beverages in containers bigger than 16 ounces, the Rochester Post-Bulletin reports. “Understandably, people don’t like being told what to eat, but a limit like that isn’t unreasonable,” Dr. Donald Hensrud, a Mayo endocrinologist, says.

Rochester-based Mayo Clinic earned the No. 3 spot on U.S. News & World Report's elite list of “Best Hospitals." The University of Minnesota Medical Center in Minneapolis; Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis; St. Cloud Hospital and United Hospital in St. Paul were also among the five Minnesota hospitals to receive national rankings.

It appears an aggressive tourism campaign after the devastating June floods in northeastern Minnesota helped boost tourism in Duluth. The News Tribune reports tourism tax receipts show a 10 percent surge in local hotel and motel revenues in July compared with the same month last year. Figures for August and September are still being calculated.

Jessica Danielson, 30, is recovering from a very rare double organ transplant at Mayo Clinic. After more than six months of waiting, she received a new heart and liver on Monday. Doctors at Mayo told KARE 11 her lifesaving heart-liver transplant is only seen at the hospital about twice a year.

The City Council in Duluth has snuffed out smoking at popular tourist spots: the Lakewalk, Lake Place and Leif Erikson Park, banning the use of tobacco – and synthetic marijuana or “bath salts” – within 6 feet of the paths and the park. The measure was prompted by complaints about smoke, littering, and issues with patrons of The Last Place on Earth, a downtown head shop.