Pro-GOP groups outspend DFL-oriented independents

Hennepin County Commissioner Jeff Johnson, a GOP gubernatorial hopeful, announced Wednesday that he's taken on former Rep. Bill Kuisle as his lieutenant governor pick.

House Capital Investment Chair Alice Hausman told reporters on Wednesday that the sprinkler provision would not be included in either chamber’s final bonding package.

Lawmakers are expected to announce a deal on Monday raising Minnesota's minimum wage to $9.50 an hour with inflationary increases thereafter. Negotiations between the Senate -- which has been dragging its feet on the issue -- and the House, have been a major political division this session between the Democrats who control the Legislature.

The first 279 House bills of the 2014 legislative session are already on record, thanks to a pre-filing deadline earlier this month. Many of those bills find legislators eager to peel back last year’s new business taxes, while another stack bears witness to members’ best efforts to push pet capital investment projects to the front of the line.

Paymar's announcement set off waves of speculation over who might run to replace him.

DFL Rep. Tom Anzelc, Balsam Township, said Wednesday that he plans to introduce a constitutional amendment next session that would raise the state's minimum wage from $6.15 per hour to $10 per hour by 2015 and adjust the rate in the future according to inflation. Many state employers play the federal minimum wage of $7.25.

On the same day the U.S. Supreme Court struck struck down the federal Defense of Marriage Act, the Minnesotans United PAC released the full "Minnesota 15" list of pro-gay marriage legislators who will be made "priorities" in their reelection campaigns. That list includes the five legislative Republicans who voted in favor of the bill and 10 rural Democrats serving in the House who could be vulnerable after casting their "yes" votes.

The centerpiece of the bill is a new standard for investor-owned utilities like Xcel Energy to generate 4 percent of their electricity from solar sources by 2025.

A perennial battle over whether schools should be allowed to begin classes prior to Labor Day surfaced in the House Ways and Means Committee on Thursday.