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Higher ed budgets headed for scrutiny
Gene Pelowski pulled out his iPad on the first day of session and went straight to YouTube. The incoming Democratic chairman of the House Higher Education Finance and Policy Committee likes to pull up the same video clip for anyone who comes into his office to ask for something: the famous opening scene of the Marx brother’s 1932 movie “Horse Feathers.”
Sen. Gary Kubly remembered as a man of character and a passionate advocate for rural Minnesota
Current and former legislative colleagues of the late Sen. Gary Kubly recall a man of compassion and dry wit and a legislator who refused to draw ideological lines in the sand.
Many names surface in Senate leadership scrum
The Minnesota Senate Republican caucus is in disarray after a tumultuous few days that saw Majority Leader Amy Koch suddenly step down following allegations of an “inappropriate relationship” with a direct subordinate on the Senate staff.
Koch’s sudden resignation rocks the Capitol
Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch sent shock waves through the Capitol complex late Thursday afternoon when she announced that she will not seek re-election in 2012 and that she is resigning her post as Senate majority leader, effective immediately.
Pogemiller’s appointment to Office of Higher Ed ends storied legislative career
No one seemed to see Larry Pogemiller’s departure coming. Not even him. Gov. Mark Dayton announced late last week that the Minneapolis senator of nearly 30 years would move to the Office of Higher Education to replace former Director Sheila Wright, who resigned suddenly in September.
Why gambling expansion remains a long-shot bet
A steady downpour didn’t keep Indian gambling workers from flocking outside the state Capitol in St. Paul last April. At least 1,500 people gathered outside on the building’s steps, some arriving by the busload from reservations hours away. Clad in raincoats and shielded by a canopy of umbrellas, workers thrust signs into the air that read, “Rural jobs count too” and “Don’t gamble wit[...]
20 years later, state-tribal gaming compacts still produce friction
The compacts that regulate Indian-run gambling in the state never came up for a vote in the Minnesota Legislature. In fact, the whole affair happened rather quietly.
Budget negotiations show no outward sign of progress
Nearly six months after DFL Gov. Mark Dayton and the Republican-controlled 87th Minnesota Legislature were sworn into office and set to work concocting the 2012-13 biennial budget, the state has crept inexorably toward a government shutdown whose scale and consequences remained unclear in important respects even after a Wednesday order from Ramsey County District Court Judge Kathleen Gearin.
Elements of 2005 shutdown present in this year’s standoff
Six years ago GOP Gov. Tim Pawlenty and the Legislature deadlocked over a $466 million budget deficit. The DFL-controlled Senate wanted to raise nearly $1 billion by increasing income taxes on the state’s wealthiest residents. Pawlenty dismissed the move as “profoundly stupid.”
Senate DFL: Goodbye to all that
In 1972, the state Senate's Liberal Caucus won the majority in the general election. When they took office, both chambers switched to a partisan affiliation footing, and and Senate DFLers started a run in the driver's seat that would last nearly 40 years. As Republicans prepare to end their 38-year drought by taking control of the Senate next week, Capitol Report sifted through the archives to gle[...]
DFL hopes to avenge Dean Johnson’s surprise 2006 defeat
The last time around, Senate District 13 in western Minnesota played host to one of the most intense legislative races in recent history. Republicans, DFLers and several independent groups waged an expensive and pitched battle there in 2006 that culminated in the defeat of Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson, DFL-Willmar, by a razor-thin 553 votes.
Top News
- Mexican food trademark fight grinds on in federal court
- Target faces ‘non-drowsy’ meds suit
- Melodie Rose named president at Fredrikson
- Supreme Court lawyers have rituals of their own
- Minnesota artists consider what’s next in AI copyrights
- Defining ‘and’ in sentencing statute falls to Supreme Court
- Hashtag rates higher libel protection
- Court: Performance issues, not bias, prompted union to fire organizer
Expert Testimony
- Briefly: A chat with Supreme Court Commissioner Tim Droske
- Perspectives: Oral arguments at high court stir lively debates
- Quandaries & Quagmires: Advance waivers: Lessons from Paul Hastings vs. Coca Cola
- Perspectives: Recent cellphone ruling recalls high court cases
