I guess it shouldn't be a great surprise, but I was still stunned when I heard that Tom Delay will end his career in Congress.

Here's the story as of Tuesday morning from the Associated Press:

Succumbing to scandal, former Majority Leader Tom Delay intends to resign from Congress within weeks, closing out a career that blended unflinching conservatism with a bare-knuckled political style.

Republican officials said Monday night they expect the Texan to
quit his seat later this spring. He was first elected in 1984, and
conceded he faced a difficult race for re-election.

This would have been hard to imagine a year or two ago. Delay has led the GOP agenda for the past decade, fighting to cut taxes, put limits on abortions, maybe most of all, cut government regulations on businesses.

But as the AP reports, scandal caught up with him. He's been indicted for campaign finance violations in Texas and linked tightly to Jack Abramoff. Democrats will no doubt mention him at every campaign appearance this year, while Republicans will probably soon be asking Tom who? Listen to MPR for lots more on this today.

Closer to home as I mentioned yesterday, things are really starting to pick up at the Capitol. Monday night a Senate committee approved a Twins stadium bill. MPR's Tom Scheck has that story:

The Twins have been pushing for a new ballpark since the mid-1990s. Lawmakers have been reluctant to provide any state money for a new stadium for fear that they'd face voter wrath at the ballot box. But the bill's chief author, DFL Sen. Steve Kelley of Hopkins, says his constituents also don't want to see the Twins or any other Minnesota sports team leave the state.

"Sixty percent of my constituents wanted me to make sure I didn't let any of the teams leave town," Kelley told the committee. "And 60 percent of my constituents didn't want to pay anything in order to prevent that from happening. So I've been trying to figure out how we blend those views of the public in as responsible a way as possible."

The Senate passed a bill that would let voters decide if the sales tax should be increased to fund a variety of programs. MPR's Tim Pugmire covered that one:

Many outdoor enthusiasts were on hand for the Senate debate. John Schroers, president of the Minnesota Outdoor Heritage Alliance, wasn't talking about betrayal. He described the vote as truly historic.

"The goal is to get it to conference committee. All of the add-ons obviously were not there when we started this effort eight years ago. And we're only here to defend the original intent. It's up to the wisdom of the Legislature to decide all the other issues," he said.

There sure has been a lot of attention paid to the gay marriage issue, and there will be even more today as the Senate Judiciary Committee takes up the proposed constitutional amendment. But the Star Tribune has an item inside the metro section today about lawmakers quietly taking a step back from some of Gov. Tim Pawlenty's proposals on immigration:

Although two key measures have overwhelmingly passed the House -- a bill ensuring police can ask about immigration status and the immigration status checks on driver's licenses -- the main immigration bill has had a bumpier road.

Facing opposition from Minnesota police and sheriff's groups, among others, the House "omnibus immigration bill" looked more like a mini-bus by the end of the week.

Finally, I was complaining yesterday about this whole "spring ahead" scam. I thought I was alone until I heard Phil Picardi read this AP item from South Dakota on MPR last night:

A specialist says some people who have trouble adjusting to daylight-saving time could take a while to recover.

David Thomas of the Sioux Valley Care Center's sleep clinic in Sioux Falls says many people have a hard time adjusting. He says the hour time change takes away our normal cues to awaken and get going.

Thomas says the rule of thumb for recovery from the change to daylight-saving time is one week for each half-hour of adjustment. But he says some people who won't feel fully rested for about three
months.

Three months? Three months? You've got to be kidding!