Metro Transit plans to reduce or cancel service on around 70 percent of its routes each weekday and raise nearly all fares by 25 cents to deal with a budget crunch. (03/15/2005)

The legislative session is about half over, and bills and proposals are piling up fast and furious at the Legislature. Leaders from both sides of the aisle give their assessment of how the session is shaping up and the prospects for everything from increasing school funding to expanding gambling to banning gay marriage. ( 03/14/2005)

The casino Gov. Pawlenty is proposing offers thousands of jobs and million of dollars in civic economic incentives, still no Minnesota community has stepped forward in hopes of becoming home to the casino. (03/13/2005)

Schools would get a bigger bump in the per-student aid allowance as part of a revised budget plan Gov. Tim Pawlenty laid out Thursday. The governor did not add any more money to health care programs. (03/10/2005)

Republicans in the state Senate want Minnesota to join five other states in offering a way to buy prescription drugs from other countries over the Internet. Senate Minority Leader Dick Day announced a proposal to join the I-SaveRx Web site. MPR's Steven John talked with Day. (03/10/2005)

A bill designed to help pregnant women, once seen as possible common ground in the bitter abortion debate, ended up highlighting the divisions Thursday in a House committee hearing. (03/10/2005)

The lawmakers who created MinnesotaCare in the early 1990s say Gov. Pawlenty's proposal to cut back the program to help balance the budget is the wrong idea. They say it's the only health insurance option that the working poor can afford, and cutting it will increase overall health care costs. (03/10/2005)

Gov. Tim Pawlenty's proposal to let taxpayers signal their satisfaction, or lack thereof, with their property taxes has begun its way through the Legislature. Under the proposal, if enough property owners complain, it would trigger a referendum that would allow voters to repeal the levy. Who should decide whether taxes go up? ( 03/10/2005)

Last November, with much fanfare, Gov. Tim Pawlenty invited Minnesotans to suggest ways to balance the state budget without raising taxes by logging on to a new Web site. The governor's office has just released the results. More than 17,000 people responded, and most wanted the state to spend more money on education, both K-12 and higher ed. Democrats question whether Pawlenty is paying attention to the results of his own Web site. (03/10/2005)

A bill before the Legislature this session would take public schools out of the sports business. For that matter it would take debate, one-act play and band competitions away from the schools and put them, along with athletics, under the control of city park and recreation departments or their equivalents. Critics worry that the bill would decrease participation in extracurricular activities, or, worse, lead kids to drop out of school. ( 03/09/2005)

The owners of Canterbury Park are raising the stakes in the gambling expansion debate at the Capitol. The horse track and card club in Shakopee Wednesday released a plan to add 3,000 slot machines and 40 black jack tables to the existing facility. In exchange, the state would get a share of the profits. (03/09/2005)

The state senator whose proposed constitutional ban on legal recognition of gay couples said Tuesday that she'd reintroduce it this week. The ban sparked a contentious battle last year, and the Senate Democratic leader responded that if gay marriage goes to a statewide vote, Democrats would insist that voters also weigh in on issues like universal health coverage and the constitutionality of state-sponsored gambling. (03/08/2005)

Gov. Pawlenty's plan for a new state-tribal casino could spark several legal challenges. Pawlenty and leaders of three northern Minnesota Indian tribes have agreed to build a 4,000-slot-machine casino in the metropolitan area. Other Minnesota tribes that aren't involved in the deal aren't ruling out suing the state. (03/07/2005)

The White Earth, Leech Lake and Red Lake Indian tribes are proposing to build a metro-area casino in partnership with the state of Minnesota. The Mall of America's owners say they'd like to expand the mall and add a gambling component, and a number of Republicans in the Legislature would like to see slot machines at Canterbury Park. Will Minnesota become a gambling mecca, or will the casino plans fizzle? ( 03/07/2005)

Gov. Tim Pawlenty toured the state Friday with officials from three Minnesota Indian tribes to pitch a state-tribal partnership for a new casino in the Twin Cities metro area. But the plan immediately came in for harsh criticism from the state's other eight Indian tribes and some lawmakers. (03/04/2005)