Rep. Paul Kohls (R-Victoria) introduced a bill Feb. 11 to sell the Metrodome to the Vikings for $1. 

“We currently face a $1.2 billion budget deficit. I don’t support using tax dollars to fund a new stadium when so many Minnesotans are struggling,” stated Kohls, in a press release.

“We just can’t afford it, and I’ve never supported using taxpayer dollars for professional stadiums. We do want the Vikings to stay, and this is one way to try to keep the team here.”

By Forrest Adams

Precinct caucuses on Tuesday featured non-binding straw polls for governor.

Local Republican activists bucked the statewide Republican trend by choosing state Rep. Tom Emmer over the former House Speaker Rep. Marty Seifert as their favored candidate to run for governor.

By Forrest Adams

   Faced with dwindling income tax revenues and what DFLers and Republicans alike refer to as “a structural deficit” in the state’s budget, state lawmakers will resume work at the State Capitol on Feb. 4.

   The last session ended in a budget stalemate between lawmakers and Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty. DFLers proposed a package of spending cuts and tax increases. Pawlenty vowed to veto any tax increases sent to him. Pawlenty used emergency unallotment powers to erase a $2.7 million deficit.

By Forrest Adams, Mathias Baden, and Shannon Fiecke

In one of the first bipartisan debates of the gubernatorial election
season, 20 candidates tried to differentiate themselves from other
Republican, Democratic-Farmer-Labor, and Independence party candidates.

A team from Southwest Newspapers is covering tonight's gubernatorial
debate in conjunction with the UpTake. Check back here for live
coverage from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. The debate in Bloomington is
co-sponsored by the League of Minnesota Women Voters and the Minnesota
Newspaper Association. 

Shannon Fiecke

The Senate District 34 caucuses are 7 p.m., Feb. 2.

According to a press release from the local DFL, Carver County caucus sites include:

* Chanhassen Precincts 1-7: Bluff Creek Elementary School, 2300 Coulter Blvd., Chanhassen

* Chaska Ward 1; Ward 2, precincts 1 and 2; Ward 3; and Ward 4: Chaska Middle School West, 140 Engler Blvd., Chaska

* Carver: Church by the River, 109 Main Street, Carver

* Victoria Precincts 1 and 2: Victoria Elementary, 9300 Red Fox Drive, Victoria

By Forrest Adams

(News release from Governor's office) 

By Forrest Adams

A Minnesota Republican straw poll on Saturday resulted in Victoria Republican Paul Kohls coming in near the bottom of a crowded candidate field, according to reports. The winner was Rep. Marty Seifert, Marshall. "Rep. Tom Emmer of Delano came in second, former state auditor Pat Anderson third and Sen. David Hann of Eden Prairie a close fourth," the Star Tribune reports.

Some issues excite the constituency more than others, said U.S. Rep. John Kline (R- Lakeville). Immigration reform was one. Cap and trade was another. Health-care reform is the most recent. Kline swung through Scott and Carver counties Monday (Aug. 31) to engage select members of his constituency in a dialogue about health-care reform. Absent were any raucous town hall meetings, similar to what has greeted many of his colleagues.