Incoming House Majority Leader Joyce Peppin puts premium on communication.

The legal challenges and allegations in the race between Rep. Phyllis Kahn and her primary challenger, Mohamud Noor, have reached new heights in the feverish race for Minneapolis' House District 60B.

"If anybody knows me, I’ve never been the type to sit back and be quiet," Kuisle said.

The bill would allow children and certain adults with severe illnesses -- more restrictive than a different proposal that has stalled in the House -- to ingest and vaporize marijuana as part of clinical trials. The Senate version, which has been moving with more force, is more permissive. The proposals will travel in earnest on Friday into next week.

Though the total number of Nguyen's House endorsements is impressive on its face, he failed to win the support of House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt.

At 43, Nguyen said he plans to devote this decade to public service. His first major foray into that realm was a hard-fought loss in an effort to join the University of Minnesota Board of Regents. Undeterred, he decided to aim even higher with his next target, and is now the lone declared Republican candidate to succeed two-term DFL incumbent Mark Ritchie as Secretary of State.

Kalin is the second prominent DFL candidate to cite personal reasons for leaving the contest to replace Secretary of State Mark Ritchie.

Rachel Larson Bohman wasted no time getting into the race for Minnesota secretary of state. Within an hour of DFL officeholder Mark Ritchie’s Tuesday announcement that he would not seek a third term in 2014, Bohman released a statement putting her name in the ring as a Democrat.

The centerpiece of the bill is a new standard for investor-owned utilities like Xcel Energy to generate 4 percent of their electricity from solar sources by 2025.

After a steady flow of budget bills on the House floor that appropriate general fund money for the 2014-2015 budget period, the House on Wednesday night passed the tax bill intended to pay for the spending.