Kerrick News

They had been debating a bill that would allow child-care providers and personal-care workers to unionize.

The Minnesota House on Wednesday night, May 15, approved the first of the nine tax and spending bills that will make up the state's $38 billion budget for the next two years, opening the floodgates for a torrent of financial action before the Legislature's constitutional deadline for adjourning on Monday.

Posted at 1:33 PM on May 1, 2013 by Tom Scheck Filed under: MN Legislature , Mark Dayton House Democrats passed a tax bill last week that includes an alcohol excise tax increase that amounts to seven cents a drink.

"We had a tough target, but we managed to be creative, and do some reform within the health and human service area and generate some money in our budget area and we were able to mitigate cuts to those most vulnerable populations our elderly and our disabled and in fact we were able to make some very critical investments," said Sen.

Carlson's body was found at about 6:30 p.m. by maintenance staff in a second-floor restroom at the Pine County Courthouse near Pine City.