After months of controversy at the state Capitol about Legacy funding, a citizen/legislator panel has arrived at an apparent compromise to recommend outdoors projects paid for with dedicated sales tax dollars.

The Advisory Committee on Capitol Security used its second hearing to take public testimony on whether lawmakers should enforce tougher rules on carrying firearms in the Capitol. Nearly 30 people signed up to testify on the issue, many of them supporters of current state law that allows permit holders to carry guns in the building if they notify the Public Safety Department or Capitol Security.

The Advisory Committee on Capitol Security held a hearing on Wednesday to discuss the legality of carrying guns in the Capitol. Capitol security maintains a list of 832 gun owners who have been granted permission to carry in the building.

Ingebrigtsen, first elected to his Alexandria-area Senate seat in 2006, says he's been getting encouragement from supporters to run for the state's highest office and plans to make his decision final in "a month or a month and a half." He would join a growing field of GOP candidates seeking the office, including Rep. Kurt Zellers, Sen. Dave Thompson, Hennepin County Commissioner Jeff Johnson and Orono businessman Scott Honour.

The Senate passed legislation on Tuesday making significant changes to the state's trouble civil commitment program for sex offenders with bipartisan support. The House version of the bill continues to face opposition from Republicans.

House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt on Monday announced that Eden Prairie Republican Rep. Jenifer Loon will serve as his deputy minority leader. GOP Minority Leader David Hann also announced two additional assistant leaders on Friday, adding Rochester Sen. Carla Nelson and Alexandria Sen. Bill Ingebrigtsen to his team.

The landscape is shifting for the 12-member citizen-legislator group that recommends conservation habitat land acquisitions to the state Legislature.

In surveying the 2012 campaign cash landscape in Minnesota, it’s not immediately obvious who’s going to help Republican legislators defend their majorities.

Politics in Minnesota and Capitol Report are proud to announce the winners of our Leaders in Public Policy awards for 2012.

Left for dead in April, the Vikings stadium bill sprinted to passage in the session’s closing days. What happened?