1.) Three legislative caucus leaders are eager to go about repealing certain tax increases passed last year, but Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk is still ...

Dayton said the existing "operational problems" worry him, and are the kind of hitches that should have been worked out some time ago.

Richard Carlbom

Dayton called upon family, friends and trade union interests to help jump-start his reelection campaign.

Richard Carlbom, chief strategist in Minnesota the gay marriage push, will head a state-by-state campaign.

Carlbom has been hired by national gay rights advocacy group Freedom to Marry as director of campaigns in 37 states to legalize gay marriage. Freedom to Marry, which donated more than $2 million to Minnesota during its gay marriage battle, is turning its attention to individual states after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) last month.

State Rep. Karen Clark, who was the lead sponsor of legislation legalizing same-sex marriage, will receive the lifetime achievement award as part of the fourth annual Leaders in Public Policy awards, sponsored by Capitol Report and Politics in Minnesota. Clark and the other honorees will be recognized at a ceremony at the Saint Paul Hotel on July 11.

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.

Minnesotans United for all Families announced Wednesday formation of the MN United PAC, a political action committee that will work to support and re-elect Democratic and Republican legislators who voted in favor of the bill.

The ceremony marked a dramatic shift in Minnesota, where two years ago lawmakers voted to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot to ban gay marriages. Six months ago, voters rejected that amendment by a more than 5 point margin. Come August 1, same-sex couples in the state will be able to apply for wedding licenses and couples married in other states will have their union recognized in Minnesota.