The Daily Digest (MN Legislature is back in session)
Welcome to the Daily Digest. The Legislature convenes today for a relatively short 2014 session.
Minnesota:
Minnesota lawmakers return to the Capitol Tuesday for the start of an election-year legislative session, and much of their early attention will be on a minimum wage increase and taxes. (MPR News)
Up first will be low-income heating assistance bill. (AP via Star Tribune)
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Gov. Mark Dayton outlined his session priorities for the coming session. (MPR News)
House Speaker Kurt Zellers, R-Maple Grove, says he will not seek re-election this year as he runs for governor. (MPR News)
Hundreds of people lined up in St. Paul to get tickets to see President Barack Obama speak tomorrow. (MPR News)
Republican Rep. Erik Paulsen is asking Obama to visit a medical device manufacturer while he is here. Paulsen wants to repeal a medical device tax included in the Affordable Care Act. (Star Tribune)
The St. Paul teachers' contract means smaller class sizes and a nearly 9 percent raise. (Pioneer Press)
Washington:
Why is Sen. Al Franken worked up about the Comcast/Time Warner merger? In part, it's politics. (MPR News)
House Republicans have released a plan that would cut the top income tax rate and impose a surcharge on the nation's wealthiest. (Washington Post)
Good read: The Heritage Foundation, long a bastion of conservative policy ideas, has made a decidedly political shift under new leadership (The New York Times)
Democrat John Dingell, the longest serving member of Congress in history, is retiring. (The New York Times)
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has a plan to scale back the Army and the Marines. (NPR)