Ariel Wade called Whistleblower last week to say she had been refused service at the 24-hour White Castle. Her story was told in words, pictures and video on Sunday. The reactions to the story have been strong, judging by the phone calls, emails and more than 200 online comments. I knew that would be the case, so I warned Wade ahead of time, knowing that many of them would be nasty. That’s something I’m having to do regularly now, because commenters are ready to pounce on anyone who speaks publicly about feeling they’ve been mistreated by the system. Some have asked me why we allow commenting at all. My response is, because the news audience of 2009 expects and demands it, and I would rather have those discussions going on with the source of the chatter in close proximity. Our web site allows users to turn comments off, if they turn you off.

In the end, everything we produce is biodegradable, in a cosmic sense. That doesn’t mean everything you use and toss can sport that label so you feel better about buying it. This week the Federal Trade Commission cracked down on Kmart, Tender and Dyna-E for dubious claims of biodegradability. Guidance from the FTC since 1992 has set a standard that allows the biodegradable label “only if they have scientific evidence that their product will completely decompose within a reasonably short period of time under customary methods of disposal.”

The performance of my compost pile raises questions about the biodegradability of all kinds of wholesome vegetable and fruit trimmings (not to mention the toxic-smelling fumes wafting into the alley). I fully expect that all the plastic cups and styrofoam peanuts and assorted artificial junk that comes in every birthday party goody-bag that appear in my house will eventually join the Texas-sized island of pollution dubbed the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch.” Long after we’re dead, these things will still be around, dug up by archeologists from some future, and hopefully, greener civilization that figured out how to live without disposable plates, moist wipes and compact towels.

In search of missing tax dollars, Whistleblower paid a visit to the closed Bass Zone store on East Lake Street in Minneapolis in April. I didn’t find the $544,000 owed to the state in back sales taxes. Dan Olson at Minnesota Public Radio made his own pilgrimage to the former car audio shop sometime before Tuesday as part of his take on the state’s souped-up efforts to collect $489 million in unpaid taxes.

In February I described the abrupt breakup of the ubiquitous revival band Whitesidewalls and the acrimony between the band’s then-owner and some people who had booked the band for upcoming gigs. The Whitesidewalls are still kicking, with its founding members powering up the amps once more. On May 19, a Steele County judge ordered former owner Kathy Worke of Medford, Minn. to pay $1,215 to Sid Korpi, who had booked the elusive band for her Geezer Gala Alzheimer’s Association fundraiser in Minneapolis in March. It was a default judgment, after Worke didn’t contest Korpi’s claim that her contract with the band was violated. Worke’s failure to respond to a Better Business Bureau inquiry also earned the Whitesidewalls an “F” rating from the BBB, although it was based on Korpi’s single complaint.

It’s one thing to win a judgment in conciliation court, which is what Minnesota calls its small claims court. It’s another to collect the money. Korpi said she wants to take every action she can to collect the judgment. Here’s how the Minnesota court system describes the next steps after you’ve won in court:

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