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.

GOP legislators began sounding the constitutional amendment drumbeat even before the start of Session 2012.

The proposal, authored by freshman GOP Sen. Scott Newman, passed on a 36-30 vote after nearly five hours of debate. GOP freshman Sen. Jeremy Miller voted with all DFLers against the measure.

For Republican Sen. Dave Thompson, time is running short. The freshman from Lakeville has spent the last six months readying a ballot initiative that would enshrine so-called “right-to-work” language in the state’s Constitution.

Jack Krage, who has worked as a real estate agent for Coldwell Banker for more than 25 years, announced his run for the southwestern Senate district on Wednesday.

A lot of things are changing for Dick Day. The former Senate Republican minority leader made a legislative career out of supporting slot machines at racetracks — better known as racino — during his 19 years in the chamber.

The Winona GOPer, one of the youngest in his class of lawmakers, will tour businesses with the governor in Seoul, South Korea, as well as businesses in China during a solo trip planned just prior to the trade mission.

Tax reform became an unlikely elephant in the room during the contentious 2011 Minnesota legislative session.

Ever since the latter days of the 2011 regular session, it was clear to lobbyists, staffers and other Capitol watchers that the main limitation on the ability of GOP legislative leaders to cut a budget deal was the hard line on spending adopted by numerous members of their freshman-dominated majority caucuses.

On Wednesday evening roughly 40 people gathered in the strip mall offices of the Winona Education Association to hear from freshman GOP Sen. Jeremy Miller. The event was organized by the Southeast Minnesota Area Labor Council, and most of the people present were union members.