Johnson’s line is insurance, and that has placed him smack in the center of Minnesota’s climate change debate

Lobbyist spending reports from this year’s legislative session have been unveiled by the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board (CFPD). But a word of caution is warranted in assessing the numbers: They don’t include lobbyists’ salaries.

Wednesday, House Republicans finished a major bit of business left on the table when the 2011 session expired, passing four tort law bills favored by the state’s business lobby.

At the close of a news conference in July called by Republican legislative leaders to discuss the $11 billion health and human services bill, former DFL House Speaker Bob Vanasek offered some pointed criticism to Republicans David Hann and Jim Abeler from the back of the room.

In 11 nonconsecutive terms as a DFL legislator going back to 1977, Sen. Linda Scheid has made a name for herself as a highly knowledgeable and instinctually bipartisan legislator with an independent streak. Long before legislators were chanting “jobs, jobs, jobs” in unison, Scheid cast moderate, pro-business votes that sometimes raised eyebrows among fellow DFLers.

"Interlocutory appeal" is not exactly the most glamorous issue on which to focus at the start of a legislative career. But that's the arcane subject of Rep. Doug Wardlow's first bill introduction during his rookie term at the Capitol.

John Choi is garnering support from some unlikely individuals in his race for Ramsey County Attorney. Among the backers that the DFL-endorsed candidate announced today: Fourth Congressional District GOP chair Bev Aplikowski and former state Republican party chair Chris Georgecas.

Three chief county prosecutors in the seven-county Twin Cities metropolitan area, with a combined 55 years of experience, are leaving their jobs at the end of the year and triggering something of a shakeup among metro county attorneys.

[Note: This story first appeared in the March 18, 2008, edition of The Weekly Report.] Unbeknownst to most Capitol outsiders is this: A legislator questioning ...