State Sen. Julianne Ortman left the GOP field for US Senate on Monday after handily losing the party endorsement over the weekend to businessman Mike McFadden.

In one of the compromises between the Senate and the House versions, the deal allows for the establishment of two medical marijuana manufacturers and eight distribution sites across the state.

Aside from their sudden velocity and a good amount of attention from leadership, advocates and the press, the two proposals shared little in common at the start of the session’s last week.

A new coalition of advocates for the elderly and disabled in Minnesota is planning an aggressive campaign to persuade legislators to pass a 5 percent increase in their budget next session, which would cost the state an additional $86 million in the current budgeting period.

The first partisan front in the newly constituted Minnesota House of Representatives was established only minutes after that body opened the 2013 session. After the chamber cycled through a handful of procedural votes, Rep. Rod Hamilton, R-Mountain Lake, rose to challenge the DFL majority’s decision to create the House Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture Finance Division.

Gov. Mark Dayton has held the political upper hand throughout the first six months of his tenure. Polling has consistently shown him with approval ratings above 50 percent and widespread public support for his plan to eliminate the state’s $5 billion budget deficit through a mix of spending cuts and tax increases on the state’s wealthiest residents.

Moderate legislators are hard to come by these days. By most accounts, last fall’s election saw voters oust most of the middle-of-the-road DFLers in the Minnesota House and replace them with a spate of freshman Republicans elected on a strong right-wing wave that swept the nation.

Around 4 o’clock last Saturday afternoon, the central drama of Session 2011’s closing days finally reared its head on the House floor. Shortly before the chamber recessed for dinner, GOP Rep. Mary Liz Holberg stood to announce the addition of a controversial constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage to the calendar for that evening’s proceedings.

After five hours of emotional debate, the House voted to place a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage on the 2012 ballot. The amendment – which previously passed the state Senate on a largely party-line vote – passed off of the House floor on a 70-62 vote Saturday evening. Four Republicans voted against the amendment, with two DFLers crossing over to vote for the measure.

With just days left before the adjournment of the 2011 regular session, eight Chamber of Commerce leaders from greater Minnesota came to the Capitol Monday to blast the Republican Legislature’s budget proposals.