Minnesota's largest public employee unions reached tentative contracts with state negotiators early Friday morning. The deal needs to be ratified by the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 5. State Human Relations Commissioner Cal Ludeman told MPR's Cathy Wurzer he is pleased with the settlement. (07/29/2005)

It's been a week since Minnesota lawmakers left the Capitol, after finishing work on a state budget that wasn't completed until a special session and a partial government shutdown. We take a look behind the scenes at how the budget stalemate came, and was resolved, by the state's three top political leaders. (07/21/2005)

Many state lawmakers say they intend to spend the next several weeks explaining, and sometimes apologizing, to their constituents about what caused a partial government shutdown. Nearly 9,000 state employees were furloughed and some state services came to a halt as a result of the eight-day shutdown. Some legislators say the inability to pass a budget by June 30 was purely political, while others blame it on an unwillingness to compromise. (07/15/2005)

DFL Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson and Gov. Tim Pawlenty flew around the state yesterday offering Minnesotans their assessment of the legislative session. They had a lot of explaining to do since Minnesotans are still complaining about the state government shutdown, which put about nine thousand state employees out of work and halted some government services for eight days. (07/15/2005)

Now that the new two-year budget has been signed, perhaps the biggest winners are the nearly 9,000 state employees who were furloughed during the eight-day government shutdown. Those employees are now back at work. Many other interested parties are reviewing the fine print to sort out the winners and losers. (07/14/2005)

Gov. Tim Pawlenty signed the remaining state budget bills Thursday, as he tried to shift the focus at the Capitol away from the bruising legislative session. Pawlenty and DFL leaders toured the state Thursday, to put their spin on the session's outcome. (07/14/2005)

The proposed 75-cents-a-pack increase in the cigarette tax is likely to discourage people from smoking. But can the state afford fewer smokers? (07/12/2005)

Legislative leaders say they're worried about finding enough votes for the health and human services bill, which includes a 75-cents-a-pack cigarette tax. (07/11/2005)

Minnesota state workers are back on the job after Gov. Pawlenty and legislative leaders reached an early-Saturday-morning agreement that ends the state's first-ever partial government shutdown. Pawlenty and legislative leaders agreed on an overall budget. Pawlenty also signed a temporary "lights -on bill" into law after the House and Senate quickly passed the measure. The law allows furloughed state workers to go back to work while lawmakers iron out the final details in the tax and spending bills. (07/09/2005)

State leaders said Friday they were on the brink of ending Minnesota's unprecedented partial government shutdown, as a marathon negotiating session between Gov. Tim Pawlenty and top lawmakers stretched on into Friday afternoon. Both sides said an agreement was very close, but some DFL lawmakers have reservations about the details. (07/08/2005)

State workers out of a job because of the shutdown are dealing with varying degrees of uncertainty. Some of have enough vacation time and savings to get by, while others don't. But most state employees are frustrated the budget impasse had to come to this. (07/06/2005)

On the sixth day of a partial state government shutdown, several hundred state workers rallied at the Capitol Wednesday asking for their jobs back. Legislative leaders are talking hopefully about resolving the budget stalemate over the next day or so. (07/06/2005)

A partial state government shutdown entered its fifth day on Tuesday, with no sign of an immediate resolution. Minnesota lawmakers returned to the Capitol after hearing from their constituents over the 4th of July weekend. Some say voters are mad at the Legislature, and may blame all state leaders. (07/05/2005)

The halls of the State Capitol were silent Sunday, until a small group of legislative leaders showed up around 5 p.m. for another round of budget talks. The topic was how to raise the money needed to pay for proposed spending increases. (07/03/2005)

As we kick off the Fourth of July, some people are marking another "fourth" on their calendars. It's the fourth day of Minnesota's partial government shutdown. Last week, Gov. Pawlenty and legislative leaders failed to agree on a new two-year budget. We talked to folks at the Taste of Minnesota to find out what they think. (07/03/2005)