After a pair of marathon floor debates, the House and Senate passed legislation this week authorizing construction of a $975 million stadium for the Minnesota Vikings.

After weeks of committee hearings, each one bearing new amendments and surprises, the already-dramatically divergent House and Senate stadium proposals faced an onslaught of on-the-fly amendments on the floor this week, and some major changes were adopted.A conference committee made up of six legislators is expected to meet sometime on Wednesday.

Nearly a week after an acrimonious meltdown concerning increases to hunting and fishing license fees, the Senate has passed its game and fish bill 36-30. Fifteen senators changed their votes from last week to vote in favor of the fee increases.

With momentum building to finish off the 2012 legislative session, the House and Senate spent hours on the floor last week debating bills.

A proposal to increase hunting and fishing license fees on Tuesday afternoon ran headlong into a wall on the Senate floor. The Republican chairman of the Senate environment committee accused DFLers of scuttling the legislation for political purposes.

Prompted by a shooting in Cook County, the law allows county prosecutors to carry firearms while on duty.

The perennial bill to install slots in the state’s two racetracks was yanked from its first hearing in the Senate Education Committee amid fear that the committee’s conservative members would kill it early in the session.

Nearing the end of Session 2012, Dayton has mostly kept out of the headlines, the spotlight directed instead at scandals and internal battles within the Republican caucuses.

Gov. Mark Dayton signed legislation on Monday that seeks to reduce red tape for businesses applying for permits. It's the second straight session in which Dayton and Republican legislative leaders have reached agreement on proposals to improve the state's regulatory climate.

The House and Senate on Thursday passed a conference report that reduces that further streamlines the environmental review permitting process. The bill, which is a priority for the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, now awaits a decision by Gov. Mark Dayton