When the Legislature returned on Monday, it quickly became clear that lawmakers weren’t going to meet their own deadline. What follows is a series of vignettes from the past few days of action at the Capitol.

When the sun rose on Tuesday, April 17, the slow death of the Minnesota Vikings stadium bill appeared complete at last.

Gov. Mark Dayton and GOP legislative leaders met to discuss possible common ground on tax and bonding bills on Thursday afternoon. But with the legislative session expected to come to a close in less than a week, no deal appears imminent.

The bulk of the additional capital bonding proposals in the expanded bill go toward transportation, at about $100 million. There's also $30 million each for flood prevention, the University of Minnesota and MnSCU.

DFL Gov. Mark Dayton and Republican leaders of the Legislature spent the week fielding questions about their close-of-session priorities, and lawmakers shuttled between news conferences and marathon floor sessions in both chambers.

After the state's new redistricting maps dropped in February, Robling said she planned to seek reelection to her Senate seat, which covers much of Scott County. But she says her interest in the job is "waning."

Gov. Mark Dayton is not willing to dip into the state's budget reserves in order to pay for corporate tax cuts. The DFL governor reiterated that stance in a letter to House Speaker Kurt Zellers and Senate Majority Leader Dave Senjem on Monday.

The perennial bill to install slots in the state’s two racetracks was yanked from its first hearing in the Senate Education Committee amid fear that the committee’s conservative members would kill it early in the session.

Since the start of the legislative session, Republican leaders have promised an early adjournment. But with legislators vacating the Capitol this week for spring break, significant work remains to be completed.

In recent weeks, local party activists around Minnesota have commandeered many a school auditorium to endorse candidates for state House and Senate races.