Energizing the base appears to be a key aim.

Lawmakers finished out the 2014 legislative session Friday evening with the passage of three major finance and spending bills and a restrictive medical marijuana proposal. Those four pieces were seen as the last major measures to pass this year.

Lawmakers are expected to announce a deal on Monday raising Minnesota's minimum wage to $9.50 an hour with inflationary increases thereafter. Negotiations between the Senate -- which has been dragging its feet on the issue -- and the House, have been a major political division this session between the Democrats who control the Legislature.

Political and ideological opponents did not waste their chance to grab some of the spotlight from Tuesday's groundbreaking.

Minnesota Management and Budget Commissioner Jim Schowalter rejected calls from American Indian activists who were pushing for the delay of bond sales on the new Minnesota Vikings stadium, the Star Tribune reports. The activists are trying to get assurances that the word "Redskins," the' nickname for the Washington, D.C. NFL team, will not be displayed inside the stadium.

The race had divided many of the city's prominent Democrats.

Nelson said she would eventually endorse one of her fellow Republicans in the CD 1 race, but wasn't ready to commit to one candidate yet.

A national Republican group is hammering DFLers in three greater Minnesota congressional districts over the technical failures that have beset the rollout of the federal health insurance exchange.

After taking a pounding from Congressman Tim Walz in the 2012 general election, Republicans in the 1st Congressional District appear to be dusting themselves off and getting serious about preventing the Mankato Democrat from winning a fifth term.

At least five Republicans are seeking to challenge U.S. Rep. Tim Walz in the First Congressional District. GOP activists will gather in Mankato on Saturday to determine which candidate gets the party's endorsement.