The Senate passed a higher education finance bill that includes $250 million in additional funding and a tuition freeze at the state's public colleges and universities by a 44-22 vote on Friday. Six Republicans joined all DFLers in voting for the measure.

Meet the freshmen: Senate GOP (part 1): Despite the net loss of nine seats on Election Day, Senate Republicans will nevertheless enter the 2013 session with nine new members in the fold.

Leaders from all four legislative caucuses are spending the waning days of the 2012 campaign barnstorming key districts around the state.

Senate President Michelle Fischbach has set a campaign schedule that’s heavy on greater Minnesota districts in the days leading up to next Tuesday’s general election.

Senate District 22 covers a sprawling nine-county swath of southwestern Minnesota that borders both South Dakota and Iowa. Partisans on both sides agree that the district is staunchly conservative.

n the four months since legislative maps were released, political strategists and journalists have been scrutinizing the new House and Senate districts to determine which ones favor Republicans or Democrats and where the key battlegrounds will be in 2012.