Here's a rundown of the year's top 10 political stories.

Nearly a quarter of respondents would fix the budget gap solely with tax hikes, and just 12 percent would close the deficit by spending cuts alone.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mark Dayton released an updated budget plan to close the state's nearly $6 billion budget deficit, but even this revised budget falls nearly $1 billion short of closing the state's entire deficit.

DFL gubernatorial candidate Mark Dayton released an estimate by Minnesota Revenue Department saying his proposed income tax hike on the state's top earners raises nearly $1.9 billion, well short of the $5.8 billion needed to balance budget.

U.S. News & World Report has published its so-called Pain Index that calculates the per-person financial impact of state and local budgets during the recession. Minnesota ranks high on the list.

The chairs of the Minnesota House and Senate tax committees are working on legislation that cuts aid to local governments by approximately $105 million -- far less than the $250 million proposed last month by GOP Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

[This story originally appeared in the June 4 issue of Capitol Report.] The next act in Minnesota’s deficit drama won’t begin until later this month, ...

Minnesota Lawyer has an interesting piece this week on the Judicial Council debate last week on whether or not to impose a moratorium on all ...

I was glad to see the public-defense crisis got some ink from the Star Tribune over the weekend. In an unusual move (for us anyway) ...

The State Board of Public Defense voted on June 5 to cut the public defender work force by 15 percent across the state to meet ...