1) A key Senate committee Thursday morning will hear a proposal that would allow severely ill patients to access medical marijuana, marking the first movement ...

The approval sends the bill to the House, where House Speaker Paul Thissen has said his caucus intends to adopt the Senate language.

In the end, the DFL-controlled 2013 Legislature finished its budget work on time — with four minutes to spare, to be exact. It was 11:56 p.m. on adjournment day by the time the Minnesota Senate wrapped up its vote on the tax bill.

With a quick swipe of his pen, Gov. Mark Dayton made Minnesota the 12th state in the nation to allow same-sex marriages as a crowd of more than a thousand watched on the front steps of the Capitol Tuesday.

All but three members of the Senate DFL caucus voted in favor of the bill -- Dan Sparks of Austin, LeRoy Stumpf of Plummer and Lyle Koenen of Clara City -- while only one Republican senator, bill co-sponsor Branden Petersen, voted in favor of the bill.

State lawmakers are introducing a workers’ compensation proposal that business and labor leaders alike regard as the most significant change to the system in 18 years.

For many lobbyists, working the Legislature is as much about the bills they are able to stop as the bills they are able to pass. That’s why Friday’s final deadline for policy measures to pass through committees in both chambers will be cause for either celebration or relief for Minnesota’s Capitol lobbying corps.

While seniority ruled in the majority's selections for committee chairs, a number of newly elected senators will serve as committee vice-chairs.

Close on the heels of Tuesday’s election, members of the new DFL House and Senate majorities gathered behind closed doors on Thursday to elect their leaders. As expected, the minority leaders who helped steer Democrats back into control — Rep. Paul Thissen, DFL-Minneapolis, and Sen. Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook — were elevated to House speaker and Senate majority leader.

GOP freshman Vogel contends with local teacher, union head Sawatzky