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If speeches by Gov. Tim Pawlenty and University President Bob Bruininks weren't enough to attract business and University officials, the open bar was.

Pawlenty spoke about the importance of innovation at the third-annual business community open house Wednesday.

Pawlenty visited the University Enterprise Laboratories, a building that provides lab space for start-up businesses, to promote the work done within the University community. He toured some of the labs before speaking to the crowd.

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ulé Hill, who played Charlie Young on TV's "The West Wing," said he asked himself why he was flying from California to Minneapolis in minus 15 degree weather.

Surrounded by a crowd of students in Coffman Union's fireside lounge, Hill said he's been inspired by Sen. Barack Obama's message of change.

"It's a very crucial time in our history right now," he said. "It's time for everyone to come together."

With Super Tuesday quickly approaching and candidates dropping like flies, it seems every eye on campus is fixated on the upcoming presidential election.

But according to 2007 data from the Federal Election Commission, University staff and faculty favored congressional candidates heavily over presidential ones with campaign donations last year.

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ulé Hill, who played Charlie Young on TV's "The West Wing," said he asked himself why he was flying from California to Minneapolis in minus 15 degree weather.

Surrounded by a crowd of students in Coffman Union's fireside lounge, Hill said he's been inspired by Sen. Barack Obama's message of change.

"It's a very crucial time in our history right now," he said. "It's time for everyone to come together."

.The Daily sat down with University President Bob Bruininks at Morrill Hall on Tuesday to discuss political fever hitting Minnesota and how the University factors into it.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty's bonding plan proposal offers $129 million for University building projects, such as the Folwell Hall renovation, a new science classroom and student services center. What was your reaction to this figure?

>UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Global warming could cost the world up to $20 trillion over two decades for cleaner energy sources and do the most harm to people who can least afford to adapt, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warns in a new report.

.KISUMU, Kenya (AP) - The young man hefting a machete at the burning roadblock was frustrated. He'd been looking for five days, but could not find a member of the Kikuyu tribe to kill.

Members of Kenya's biggest tribe have disappeared in their thousands from Kisumu, making it the first - but perhaps not the last - city to be ethnically cleansed.

.MOUNT DRUITT, Australia (AP) - As a girl, Mari Melito Russell felt out of place. She was darker than the other kids at school, she felt more comfortable in the forest than her suburban home and she had vivid dreams of an Aboriginal woman beckoning her.

At age 24, she learned a shocking truth that helped explain her unease and set her on an agonizing search for an identity snatched away from her the day she was born.

Is a medical resident who works 40 hours or more per week a student or not?

That's the question being asked right now in Minneapolis' U.S. District Court in a civil lawsuit filed by the University in December 2006. The case is expected to be heard by Judge Richard Kyle on Feb. 21.

University lawyers filed the lawsuit seeking nearly $1.1 million plus interest in refunds from the government for medical residents who paid Federal Insurance Contributions Act, or social security, taxes in the second quarter of 2005.

Last Thursday, for the second afternoon in a row, Martin Reynolds fussed with a Goodall acoustic guitar. The problem from the day before was still there - the guitar's unique layout made it difficult for the low strings to resonate fully when amplified. Most people would consider it frustrating, even maddening, to spend two full days straining to hear if the low-E string sounded "airy."

Reynolds simply called it "a challenge."