UP — To Minnesota keeping all eight of its congressional seats.

OK, that should say “likely” to keep them. News this week came of an analysis that said Minnesota made the cutoff to keep its eight seats by merely 15,000 residents. We like that the 1st District doesn’t lump southern Minnesota in with another part of the state. It’s a sensibly shaped district that ensures better representation — regardless who the representative was or is — because our part of the state has different issues than other sections.

The analysis came from Kimball Brace of Election Data Services, a Manassas, Va.-based political consulting firm. Unfortunately, the same report said Iowa likely will lose one of its five seats. The actual decision on seats will be made by Congress using information from the Census Bureau’s 2010 census.

UP — To officials from the city and county.

We can’t say enough good words about this. City and county officials met in mid-September to discuss issues and said they plan to meet every six months. For years — too many years — county and city officials would run for elected offices saying the county and city need better communication and little was done to improve it. But now there has been an improvement. All the members of the Albert Lea City Council and Freeborn County Board of Commissioners deserve praise for doing what past boards and councils failed to do — simply meet.

UP — To “The Tenth Inning.”

It’s rare that we would give thumbs up to television, but some of the finest programming on the tube comes in the form of Ken Burns’ documentaries. “The Tenth Inning,” a four-hour documentary broadcast in two parts on Iowa Public Television on Tuesday and Wednesday, showcased the tumultuous past 20 years of baseball. The time was filled with controversy: the 1994 labor dispute that shut down the league, the era when steroids were all the rage, shattered records and debates over asterisks and, through it all, amazing games of baseball. Will the Cubs ever win it all?