Mark Dayton becomes the first DFL governor in two decades, while Republicans take over the Legislature

Republicans are now in control of the Minnesota Legislature. Rep. Kurt Zellers has been sworn in as Speaker of the House and Sen. Amy Koch is the new Majority Leader.

When Senate Republicans take the majority next month, they will install former Republican legislator and Pawlenty administration commissioner Cal Ludeman as the Secretary of the Senate.

The state of Minnesota is proceeding with plans to establish a $600 million line of credit to get through the cash-poor months ahead. And while Minnesota Management and Budget Department Commissioner Tom Hanson said on Tuesday that he doesn't want to call on the state's banker to get a short-term loan, he also conceded that his department might need to tap into the state's line of credit with U.S. Bank before the end of 2010.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty's consistent opposition to a new federal requirement that Americans purchase health insurance could bolster his national political ambitions, suggests a recent post on the National Journal's Hotline blog. Such mandates have become a touchstone issue since the passage of the national health care package, with Republicans across the country arguing that they're unconstitutional.

If there’s anything to the notion that all politics is personal, then it’s not hard to see how Erin Murphy wound up in the Minnesota Legislature. Murphy, the DFL state representative from St. Paul, is a nurse by profession. She comes from what she describes as a “big Irish Catholic family” that lionized John F. Kennedy.

Key legislators met Thursday night with Gov. Tim Pawlenty's point people on health care and budget matters in closed-door talks on the general assistance medical care (GAMC) proposal.

DFLers and Republicans are heading into the legislative session with differing ideas about how to provide health care to people who relied on the General Assistance Medical Care (GAMC) program axed last year by Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

From election law battles to the state budget deficit, there's a host of bogeys waiting for lawmakers in St. Paul when the 2010 legislative session starts on Feb. 4. But the most formidable specter haunting the Capitol halls will be politics itself.

Issues facing Minnesotans who are aging or have disabilities and their caregivers will be the main focus of the annual Age and Disabilities Odyssey conference today through Wednesday in Rochester.