In the end, the DFL-controlled 2013 Legislature finished its budget work on time — with four minutes to spare, to be exact. It was 11:56 p.m. on adjournment day by the time the Minnesota Senate wrapped up its vote on the tax bill.

Coming off the 2012 election, lawmakers are looking to make good on campaign promises to improve education and lower property taxes. On the issue of special education, both of those concerns are at play on a large scale.

Over the past decade, Senate District 47 — stretching around north metro area cities like Champlin, Coon Rapids and Brooklyn Park — has been a place where moderate Democrats could prosper despite the district’s slight GOP tilt.

Matt Entenza and his wife, Lois Quam, aren’t exactly the first names that pop up when Minnesota politicos talk about heavy-hitter political donors.

After adjourning in the wee hours of Thursday morning, the Minnesota House of Representatives plunged ahead with the bittersweet biennial ritual of retirement speeches from departing members.

Two marquee pieces of environmental legislation in the 2012 session owe their victories in no small part to horse trading between Gov. Mark Dayton and the Legislature.

Dittrich has carved out a career as a conservative DFLer in winning elections in her swing district in the northern Twin Cities suburbs.

There was little fanfare when not one but two racino bills surfaced in the Minnesota Legislature last week. The perennial proposal to install slot machines in racetracks usually enters into the political milieu with news conferences and headlines.

The most often cited sources of K-12 school funding in Minnesota are per-pupil aid from the state and property taxes levied by local districts. But a less well known source of funding for schools is being scrutinized by state lawmakers and Gov. Mark Dayton’s administration.

“The Late Debate with Jack and Ben” got off to an inauspicious start. At the beginning of the debut broadcast in April, one of the microphones didn’t work for the initial eight minutes. The first words uttered over the air were, “Do you hear me?”