Some small business owners are worried a $1 hourly increase will put an extra squeeze on their profits. (05/08/2005)

The Minnesota Senate on Friday approved a DFL plan to raise income taxes on the wealthiest Minnesotans. The tax increase was approved on a 35-to-28 vote. (05/06/2005)

Legislators on both sides of the aisle in both houses of the Legislature seem to agree that Minnesota schools need more money. But how much money and the even stickier question of where to get it from are still very much up in the air. ( 05/06/2005)

As both parties search for ways to make ends meet on a state budget, tax proposals continue to crop up. Midmorning looks at the various options. ( 05/06/2005)

The K-12 education finance bill lawmakers passed Thursday night provides significantly more money for schools than Gov. Pawlenty's budget or the House education bill. (05/06/2005)

Gov. Tim Pawlenty on Thursday blasted a Senate DFL plan to raise taxes on upper-income Minnesotans. The Senate tax bill would create a temporary 11-percent top income-tax rate. Senate Democrats who support the plan say it asks Minnesotans who benefitted from the economic boom of the '90s to help balance the budget. But not all Senate Democrats back the plan. (05/05/2005)

Whereas the Minnesota House has moved to reduce the number of people covered by MinnesotaCare state-subsidized health insurance, the Minnesota Senate passed a bill Wednesday that would increase the MinnesotaCare rolls. ( 05/05/2005)

The Senate Taxes Committee voted Wednesday night to hike income taxes, perhaps temporarily, on some six-figure earners to raise nearly $1 billion for state coffers. (05/05/2005)

A $12.6 billion package for K-12 education that would give schools their first state aid increase since 2002 cleared the Minnesota House on Wednesday, despite suggestions that the bill doesn't spend enough. (05/04/2005)

An $8.7 billion health package that would expand the MinnesotaCare insurance program passed 38-29 in the Democrat-controlled Senate Wednesday, setting up an end-of-session struggle with the Republican-led House and Gov. Tim Pawlenty. (05/04/2005)

As the Legislature prepares to review the latest Twins stadium plan, a group of lawmakers from greater Minnesota are dangling a large bloc of votes for the project. But they want something in return. (05/04/2005)

As the clock ticks down to the end of the legislative session on May 23, final budget negotiations at the State Capitol cannot begin until the State Senate passes its budget. The DFL-controlled chamber is proposing more spending than the House and Gov. Tim Pawlenty, but have not passed a bill saying how it will pay for that spending. MPR's Cathy Wurzer spoke with Sen. Majority Leader Dean Johnson, D-Willmar. (05/04/2005)

The Hennepin County Board of Commissioners voted 4-to-3 to send a Twins stadium proposal to the state Legislature. (05/04/2005)

The worst sex crimes wouldn't be punished with the state's toughest penalties under a crime bill approved Tuesday by the Senate, where lawmakers argued that mandatory life sentences without parole could hamper prosecutors. (05/03/2005)

Minnesota's embrace of ethanol-gasoline blends would be taken to new heights under a bill that could clear the Legislature as soon as Wednesday. (05/03/2005)