The Senate Capital Investment Committee is in the middle of the second leg of its four-part tour of state project ideas.

House Capital Investment Chair Alice Hausman told reporters on Wednesday that the sprinkler provision would not be included in either chamber’s final bonding package.

The Senate introduction fills out the three-way negotiations around bonding with two weeks left in the 2014 legislative session.

A story in the Rochester Post-Bulletin concerning former GOP Secretary of State candidate Dennis Nguyen contained one little-noted detail regarding Nguyen's relationship with Rochester Republican state Sen. Dave Senjem.

Nguyen, who serves as chairman of New Asia Partners and Newport Capital, both Minneapolis-based financial services firms, kicked off his campaign for the state's top elections official at a Capitol news conference.

Republican candidates and activists filed into the National Sports Center in Blaine on Saturday to participate in a preliminary straw poll of candidates in the gubernatorial and U.S. Senate races. Hennepin County Commissioner Jeff Johnson won the gubernatorial poll with 35 percent of the vote, and state Sen. Julianne Ortman won the U.S. Senate poll with 37 percent of the vote.

Aside from the severance package, the committee will still need to convene at a later date to sign off on final defense payments.

Republicans plan to beat the tax drum once again when the Legislature convenes to pass $5M in local storm aid

Sen. Vicki Jensen, DFL-Owatonna, didn’t get much of a chance to speak her piece on the final version of the tax bill. There literally wasn’t any time. The DFL majority’s omnibus tax bill passed the Senate with minutes to spare before the session’s predetermined end date of midnight on Monday, May 20.

The Senate's legal bills stemming from Michael Brodkorb's wrongful termination lawsuit have now reached $226,000. The latest billings from the Larkin Hoffman firm add $27,701 to the tab for work done between February 13 and April 30.