A fresh perspective on recent news events from John Kriesel, Sen. Scott Dibble, Rep. Greg Davids and Nekima Levy-Pounds.

Pro-gay marriage group Minnesotans United for all Families has released its first television ad this session as lawmakers near a likely floor vote on legalizing same-sex marriage.

For Branden Petersen, the past week has been, in his words, “unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before.” It all started when the 27-year-old Republican senator from Andover told the Star Tribune that he’s likely to support a DFL effort to legalize gay marriage in 2013, just months after voters rejected a constitutional amendment to define marriage as the union of a man and a woman.

Frenetic early-morning celebrations capped an historic Election Day in which Minnesota voters defeated two ballot initiatives that were a hallmark of the GOP-controlled Legislature that swarmed to victory two years ago on a national wave.

The principal groups fighting for and against a proposed constitutional amendment prohibiting gay marriage have released their latest television spots.

The Republican takeover of a Minnesota House seat that’s home to cities like Cottage Grove and St. Paul Park was one of the more surprising turns among the many upheavals in the 2010 election.

In football, you ride in a parade to celebrate your victory. In politics, you clamber on to the flatbed of that trussed-up truck over and over again and wave to the people as part of a ritual for trying to attain victory.

Near-miss 2010 GOP challenger Karin Housley mounts primary bid for retiree Vandeveer’s seat

Left for dead in April, the Vikings stadium bill sprinted to passage in the session’s closing days. What happened?

The headline-grabbing details hadn’t changed much by the time the bill to construct a new professional football stadium for the Minnesota Vikings passed through both chambers of the Legislature after more than a year of back-and-forth negotiations.