Minnesota Lawyer

The Department of Commerce awarded 14 grants for “cutting edge research that will help Minnesota homes, businesses and farms achieve tangible energy savings,” said Commissioner Mike Rothman.

Are you an expert or interested in water conservation and water quality issues? The Minnesota Department of Agriculture wants you.

Legislators who represent districts that have changed since redistricting have more than just new opponents to contend with or the decision of whether to buy a new home in a new district.

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture has awarded $2.4 million in grants to stimulate innovative biofuel projects.

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Tom Landwehr readily concedes his agency faces several significant challenges ranging from the scourge of aquatic invasive species to the loss of grassland to a growing number of Minnesotans uninterested in activities his agency promotes.

Take a stroll through the neighborhood directly north of the Capitol and it’s hard to imagine the streets once showcased an amazing group of mansions that were largely built before the state government’s arrival. It turns out the Capitol wasn’t for many years the only castle on the hill.

While serving in the Legislature, Margaret Anderson Kelliher used a Bush Foundation fellowship to spend one semester at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and another at MIT. It was hanging around MIT’s Sloan School of Management that enlightened her to the promise of technology for creating high-wage jobs and a climate of innovation.

The Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board (CFPD) has become a busy place over the past year as the full weight of the Legislature’s 2010 campaign spending laws led organizations supporting the state’s marriage amendment to come out swinging against disclosure.

As the Legislature begins work again next year a constant presence will be lobbyists. Condemned, reviled, lambasted and occasionally crucified, lobbyists see themselves as a key component in the democratic process, the paid and unpaid petitioners to legislators and the governor.

By this time next year the grounds and neighborhoods surrounding the state Capitol will have an important new feature — the Central Corridor light rail transit line.