Gov. Tim Pawlenty signaled Wednesday that he'll approve a major statewide public works effort, after DFLers made concessions to fund his priorities with no assurances that he'll approve their projects.

In a surprise move, a Senate committee on Wednesday night tabled a bill to bolster state coffers by adding slot machines at the state's two race tracks, following a standing-room-only hearing lasting nearly two hours.

Less than two weeks after a Star Tribune report exposed a legal loophole that allows convicted sex offenders to work as chiropractors, the state Senate is moving quickly on a bill that would overturn the policy.

WASHINGTON - Jobless Minnesotans would see their unemployment and health benefits extended and the state would get help closing its budget gap under a $150 billion bill passed by the Senate on Wednesday.

Twin Cities area home prices showed not one but two signs of stability in February, as prices rose when compared with the previous month as well as February 2009. The median sale price for homes in the 13-county metro area climbed 6 percent -- from $150,000 in February 2009 to $159,000 in February 2010. The median price in January was $157,000.

About 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, Minneapolis school officials activated a computer program that sent an urgent and ominous telephone message to parents of all 32,000 of its students. It said that because of an unspecified threat, all Minneapolis schools would be locked down with students inside until the end of the school day.

Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak on Wednesday headlined what might be his last annual overview of his city's prospects with a four-word phrase: New ballpark, same fundamentals.

A new federal law that requires states to send ballots to military and overseas voters 45 days before the general election is causing headaches for states with September primaries -- states like Delaware.

North Dakota's attorney general plans to ask Minnesota officials to support changing a law that makes North Dakota's coal-generated electricity more expensive to sell in Minnesota.

When rival Walgreen bought — and closed — their stores in the Twin Cities this year, nearly 400 Snyders Drug Store employees suddenly found themselves out of work.

WASHINGTON - Pledges to rid Washington of pork barrel spending turned into a game of political football Thursday, with Minnesota Rep. John Kline championing the charge for a Republican Hail Mary.

The Minnesota House and Senate voted Thursday to borrow $1 billion for public-works projects ranging from bridges and sewer systems to college classrooms and sex-offender lockups to music halls and sports centers.

Acting in the wake of the Metro Gang Strike Force scandal, a House committee on Thursday approved a bill to strengthen Minnesota's civil asset forfeiture rules, giving prosecutors the authority to review police decisions to take private property from suspects.

Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Eric Magnuson announced his resignation Thursday, signaling an abrupt end to a tenure that, though brief, earned him widespread respect among fellow jurists and attorneys.

Both political parties are taking tea party activists seriously and are wary of offending them – if they are not already actively wooing them for state races this fall. Just look at the governor’s election in Ohio. Republican gubernatorial candidate John Kasich openly touts his tea party credentials in his bid to defeat incumbent Democrat Ted Strickland. “I think I was in the tea party before there was a tea party,” Kasich famously told a Columbus crowd earlier this year. “This is a real movement with a real message about people’s frustrations by broken promises that leaders on both sides of the aisle would be foolish to ignore,” he went on to write in a blog posting.