The Senate Finance Committee hewed to the recommendations of the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources, which earlier winnowed the original 192 proposals down to 71 projects.

After piling on to an old-style, double-decker excursion boat at Rosemount on Wednesday morning, scores of citizens, politicians and government agency employees listened as officials with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers outlined an ambitious plan to revitalize the most degraded stretch of the Mississippi River in Minnesota.

On Sept. 15, crews from scads of state and federal agencies launched a small fleet of research boats at Hidden Falls Regional Park in St. Paul, looking for an answer to a suddenly pressing question: Have two species of the dreaded Asian carp finally worked their way up the Mississippi River to the Twin Cities?

The Obama administration Tuesday opposed Michigan and other states, including Minnesota, that want to close shipping locks near Chicago to prevent ravenous Asian carp from invading the Great Lakes.