Minnesota Government News

Gov. Mark Dayton has signed a pile of state budget bills and other legislation into law, including $2.1 billion in tax increases.

In its final weekly report until next fall, the Minnesota Department of Health on Thursday said there were a total of 201 flu-related deaths during the 2012-13 influenza season.

Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., listens to testimony on Capitol Hill in October 2009. Financial disclosure forms show Franken is still making money off his career at Saturday Night Live.

Seven million college students are on track to see their federal loan rates double this year unless Congress acts ahead of a July 1 deadline when subsidized Stafford loan rates will increase from 3.4% to 6.8%. The U.S. House will vote Thursday on a Republican plan to head off the increase inspired by an unlikely source: President Obama.

Gov. Mark Dayton signed a wide-ranging school funding bill that includes money to provide all-day kindergarten starting in fall 2014.

Even taking out workers at the state judicial branch, MnSCU and the U of M, there are nearly 700 state employees making more than $100,000. WCCO asked taxpayers on the street who the highest paid state employees and almost everyone told us it was Gov.

With an insider's eye, Hot Dish tracks the tastiest bits of Minnesota's political scene and keep you up-to-date on those elected to serve you.

The group that pushed Minnesota lawmakers to legalize gay marriage disclosed Wednesday it invested more than $2 million in the successful lobbying effort.

3, 2012. "She's strong enough to share the load with me, said Sobiech. . Zach Sobiech, left, plays guitar as his friend Samantha "Sammy" Brown,foreground, sings a song they wrote earlier that night called 'Star Hopping' in Lakeland, Minn., on Dec.

The Boy Scouts of America will convene a two-day meeting of 1,400 local leaders to consider changing its long-standing ban openly gay boys belonging to the scouting movement.

A narrow band of Minnesotans will pay a higher income tax under the new state budget.

That's because of how it decides who gets a house. Habitat for Humanity has helped 900 low-income Minnesotans become homeowners.

Twin Cities Public Television announced Open Air May 7, describing the programming and promotional initiative as "tailor-made to meet the demands of a new Minnesota public TV audience." Open Air's three pillars are online content, original programming and "community engagement," which will include local events.

Sensory overload is a way of life. Minnesotans are plugged in, turned on and always connected, but sometimes people just need to tune out and de-stress. KARE 11 asked its Facebook fans to weigh in on where they go to relax.

As the final gavel fell on the 2013 legislative session, lawmakers left a changed Minnesota.

Minnesota's Director of Homeland Security and Emergency Management Kris Eide said she is moved by the news of the tragedy.

The designation is part of a nationwide effort to raise awareness of the destructive nature of the tree pests, and to spread the word about the "three P's of EAB" - Prepare, Protect, and Plant.

Minnesota lawmakers worked right up to the end Monday before adjourning a session that produced $2 billion in tax hikes and a historic vote on gay marriage.

Minnesota state Rep. David FitzSimmons "made himself a hero for the cause [of] religious freedom" with his " civil marriage" amendment to what is now the state's new law permitting same-sex marriages .

Extensive work on the 107-year-old state Capitol is getting the go-ahead from Minnesota lawmakers in a late financial rescue package.