More than 100 new St. Paul high school graduates received their diplomas in a weekend ceremony. For many who spent the summer earning the last few credits they needed, crossing the stage at their commencement was a thrill. And for some it'll be followed by the first day of college on Monday.

After 70 years, a World War II veteran from Fargo, N.D., can call finally call himself a high school graduate. Teddy Wong, who was drafted into the Army during his junior year of high school, was given an honorary diploma Saturday in Fargo. Wong is the owner of the longest family-owned business in Roseville.

After a long wait, the remains of Navy Lieutenant William Swanson are home in Minnesota. Swanson's plane was shot down in 1965 and until recently he was listed as missing in action. But his remains were finally identified near a village in Laos and Monday family members saw Swanson buried with full military honors. Flags will fly at half-staff Tuesday in his honor.

Thousands of freshly minted Minnesota high school graduates wouldn't have gotten a diploma this year without a waiver from the state because they repeatedly failed Minnesota's math requirement. In some districts, as many as one-third of seniors wouldn't have graduated because they didn't pass the mathematics graduation test.

Classes can overwhelm many college students, but Michael Mockler juggled his courses with chemotherapy as he battled brain cancer. The student at Saint Mary's University in Winona is set to graduate today.

Twenty-two years ago, then Gov. Rudy Perpich caught heaps of flack for referring to Minnesota as the "Brainpower State." He may have been onto something. New Census data shows that Minnesota ranks fourth in college completion rates among adults 25-54 with 49.8 of folks in that bracket having completed college. Our neighbors to the northwest, North Dakota came in a slot ahead of us at #3 with 50.8 percent of their adult population donning college graduation caps.