Senate District 59, which encompasses the Minneapolis campus of the University of Minnesota and northeast Minneapolis, is home to one of the most concentrated DFL constituencies in Minnesota.

At least three strong DFL challengers — Jacob Frey, Cordelia Pierson and Peter Wagenius — are seeking the Minneapolis Senate seek vacated by Larry Pogemiller. The three-decade veteran legislator announced last week that he was resigning to serve as director of the state’s Office of Higher Education.

The state government finance bill may have been the last omnibus bill to pass in the recently concluded special session that ended the government shutdown, but in the eyes of Republican legislators, it certainly wasn’t the least. Although Republicans’ social policy proposals were rejected by Gov. Mark Dayton, the state government finance bill is loaded with GOP policy priorities for revamping the way state government operates.

A bill that would allow the production of industrial hemp in Minnesota appears to have lost momentum in the House, where it initially got off to a fast start. The bill has stalled in committee and hasn't made it into agriculture budget bills.

When news broke last week that longtime former House Chief Clerk Ed Burdick had died, representatives took time to reminisce on the chamber floor. Preston Republican Rep. Greg Davids remembered a time when the clock struck midnight on the last night of session. The Legislature was constitutionally required to adjourn, but had yet to finish its work.

Although the issue of medical marijuana seems dead for the duration of Session 2011, one related issue is making its way through the legislative machinery. Industrial hemp is gaining momentum at the Capitol, even though a proposal on the subject appears destined for trouble in public safety committees.

The Minnesota House passed a bill to eliminate the moratorium on new nuclear power plants on a 81 to 50 vote Thursday.

During the 2008-09 biennium, Minnesota spent just over $360 million for information technology services, including software, hardware, contractors and personnel. State workers use more than 32,000 computers to do their jobs, according to a survey conducted last year by the Office of Enterprise Technology. The Amateur Sports Commission, for instance, has three computers, while the Department of Corrections has 4,500.

As Minnesota’s Republican Party was giddily tweeting the news that the party had fielded candidates for all 201 seats in the state Legislature for the first time in 30 years, the Independence Party of Minnesota was quietly celebrating its own milestone: 16 candidates for the Legislature in 2010, seven in Senate districts and nine in House districts.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty has vetoed a bill that responded to a Minnesota Supreme Court ruling that found bong water is a controlled substance.