Weekly humor columns that appeared under Jon Flatland's name in the Blooming Prairie Times were apparently swiped from a host of other columnists and bloggers. The paper's publisher apologized to readers for the plagiarism that seems to date back through many years of Flatland's newspaper career.

Coon Rapids-based ECM currently publishes fifteen newspapers in the Twin Cities suburbs but will more than double that with its purchase of Sun Newspapers. The Sun papers have a circulation of more than 350,000.

A moose, far astray from its north woods Minnesota habitat, has been plodding around the southern part of the state. It was recently spotted near Winthrop, roughly 80 miles southwest of the Twin Cities, the Mankato Free Press reports. “Generally, it’s young bulls who do this," a DNR biologist said. "They just have a lot of wander in them.”

Bullwinkle Moose hailed from Frostbite Falls, Minnesota, but his species may become just a memory in the state. A DNR aerial survey shows northeastern Minnesota has already lost half its moose. Scientists don't know what's causing the animals to die off. The DNR doubts there's anything the state can do.

The DNR is closing two zones to moose hunters but will allow limited bull-hunting in others. The agency has been reviewing the rules as the moose population continues to fall. The state is issuing fewer than 90 permits this year.

The St. Paul Pioneer Press is still under fire from readers for a Saturday editorial in which the newspaper seemed to lay out an argument for the marriage amendment, although the piece said it was not an official "endorsement." The newspaper has written a follow-up piece in an effort to clarify, and it acknowledges that many found the piece disingenuous. "We should have been more direct about the premise, and we should have made our respect for the anti-amendment arguments more evident," the newspaper writes.