The shooting of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and 19 others on Saturday in Tucson, Ariz., has pushed the issue of security at the Capitol onto the front burner. But it is hardly a new subject:

Two weeks before Minnesota's political contribution refund (PCR) program expired, Rep. Julie Bunn, DFL-Lake Elmo, and about nine volunteers unleashed a full-tilt fundraising drive.

Around convention time in the spring, Senate Minority Leader Dave Senjem, R-Rochester, boasted that his caucus would retake the chamber’s majority in November. Considering Senate Republicans’ 38-year stranglehold on minority status, and the 13 seats that his troops will need to gain to make good on the pledge, it amounts to a tall order.

On Tuesday evening, hundreds of lawmakers, lobbyists and labor officials made their way to the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office. The occasion was a memorial service for Mark McAfee, a beloved lobbyist and advocate for economic justice who stalked the Capitol corridors for three decades.

The 2010 primary election will be held on August 10. The House voted overwhelmingly to move up the date in order to accommodate military and overseas voters and comply with federal law. The Senate previously passed the legislation unanimously.

Rep. Rick Hansen, DFL-South St. Paul, has introduced a bill that would prohibit state political party conventions from taking place while the Legislature is in session. Presently there are eight legislators running for governor, creating

State lawmakers are criticizing a $69.5 million plan that’s supposed to guide them in spending dedicated sales tax dollars to conserve forests, prairie and other ...