Dayton says a compromise agreement paving the way for a special legislative session follows ‘extremely difficult’ negotiations.

Politicians will always be sensitive to their supporters, but policies needn’t be driven solely by payback.

Other elements of the framework for a special session remain unresolved, including a passage in the state government finance bill that would significantly diminish the authority of State Auditor Rebecca Otto.

Without the planning money, project backers will have to consider options — including a delay to the line’s projected 2022 opening.

Despite the surface similarities, a number of new factors make 2015’s standoff different, and perhaps simpler, than the 2011 episode.

The state’s reputation as a vanguard in political ethics is largely dead, producing problems such as the budget impasses and shutdowns we have seen in the last few years, and which again loom larger and larger this year.

Deciding just how to spend — or, indeed, whether to spend — the largest projected surplus since 2007 ought to be complex enough to occupy state politicos’ time for the next five months.

The U.S. Supreme Court term that ended in June is just one example of how polarization is undermining confidence in the judiciary and turning that branch of the government into just another partisan body torn by politics.

Tea Party activists are reacting with alarm to Rep. Erik Paulsen’s comments suggesting that he would be willing to break with GOP House leadership in order to end the federal government shutdown.

Traveling in the House and Senate budget bills are dozens of little-discussed provisions that could become sticking points in final negotiations.