Long-time DFL communications pro Leslie Sandberg has been hired as the communications director at the St. Paul Public School District.

St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman welcomed Tomihisa Taue, the mayor of Nagasaki, Japan, to Minnesota on Wednesday as part of a longtime sister-city relationship between the two cities.

U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., has received the 2010 Edward W. Brooke III Housing Leadership Award from the National Low Income Housing Coalition.

Tom Dooher has been re-elected to a second three-year term as president of Education Minnesota, the state's 70,000-member teachers union.

U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., will be the keynote speaker at the 33rd annual Hubert H. Humphrey Day dinner May 8 at the Minneapolis Convention Center.

Two Republican presidential hopefuls -- former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and current Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty -- will speak April 9 at an event sponsored by the Freedom Foundation of Minnesota.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty has accepted the recommendations of the Commission on Judicial Selection for a trial court bench vacancy in Ramsey County, the result of the retirement of Judge Michael F. Fetsch last fall.

Matt Entenza, one of a dozen DFL candidates for Minnesota governor, has hired longtime cohort Dave Colling as his campaign manager.

U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., has been recognized by the National Narcotic Officers' Associations' Coalition (NNOAC) for her commitment to fighting drug trafficking.

One person has been appointed and three others reappointed to the Minnesota Juvenile Justice Advisory Committee by Gov. Tim Pawlenty.