Gov. Mark Dayton expects to call a brief special legislative session during the last two weeks of August to address disaster relief for northeastern Minnesota and other parts of the state.

The catalyst for a landmark gambling deal cut between horseracing track Canterbury Park and the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux tribe was a minor bill that didn’t get a single hearing during the 2012 legislative session.

Last week the Department of Employment and Economic Development sent out a call for grant applications to spend almost $50 million. At stake was the latest pot of economic development dollars DEED will disburse this year, just another funding stream to be doled out to projects around the state.

Left for dead in April, the Vikings stadium bill sprinted to passage in the session’s closing days. What happened?

During a post-session interview at his office last Friday morning, Dayton discussed his views of the 2012 session; the GOP legislative majorities; and his own performance at the midway point of what he hopes will be his first term.

After a pair of marathon floor debates, the House and Senate passed legislation this week authorizing construction of a $975 million stadium for the Minnesota Vikings.

The fractious Minnesota Senate passed the bill 45-22 in an awkward session that saw more than half the Republican majority caucus vote against it. The bill garnered the votes of 27 DFL senators, but only 18 of the 37 members of the GOP majority.

At first it was a “hare-brained scheme,” and then it was “absolutely worth considering.” At first it was roofless, and then it couldn’t be built without a roof.

An all-new Republican roofless Vikings stadium plan paid partially with state borrowing is now out of the picture and legislative floor votes are forthcoming on a $500 million bonding bill and the stadium proposal that has been working its way through committees all session.

After months of negotiations between Gov. Mark Dayton and legislative leaders on a Minnesota Vikings stadium plan, GOP legislative leaders upended the debate on Tuesday by unveiling a new proposal that relies entirely on general obligation bonds to cover the state’s portion of the project.