March 29, 1999 - Senate Democrats and House Republicans called on each other today to give in and break the deadlock over tax rebates before the Easter break. Each side accuses the other of being inflexible, and neither shows signs of giving in.
March 29, 1999 - Governor Ventura spent part of the weekend back on the campaign trail, barn-storming through south-central Minnesota in support of senate candidate Terry Anderson. Anderson is the Reform Party candidate in the special election in district 26, and the party's leaders consider this their first realistic chance at winning a legislative election. As Minnesota Public Radio's Martin Kaste reports, the party wants to prove Ventura's upset victory in November was NOT an isolated event.
March 11, 1999 - House Republicans are offering to relent in the two-month-old standoff over tax rebates, but their capitulation may cost the Governor and the Democrats more than they're willing to pay.
March 10, 1999 - Governor Ventura today endorsed Fairmont Businessman Terry Anderson in a special election in State Senate District 26. Anderson is running under the Reform Party banner, and this will be the first test of the party's electoral appeal since Ventura's victory last fall.
March 9, 1999 - Governor Ventura has revised his tax cut proposals to reflect the state's increasingly rosy budget. The new plan edges closer to the kinds of permanent cuts called for by the House Republicans, but as Minnesota Public Radio's Martin Kaste reports, Ventura and the Republicans are still no where near an agreement.
February 26, 1999 - State legislators have an extra $282 Million dollars to work with before this fiscal year ends in June. The Finance Department today predicted the state's budget surplus will be that much bigger than previous estimates -- an increase economists attribute mainly to rising wages and increased income tax revenues for the state. The additional revenue raises the stakes in the tax relief negotiations between the House, Senate and Governor Ventura.
February 25, 1999 - Governor Ventura offered an apology of sorts today for joking on national television that drunken Irishmen laid out the streets in St.Paul -- but he also accused the media of blowing the situation out of proportion. At the same time, some of Ventura's aides are hinting that other politicians are trying to use Ventura's gaffe for political gain.
February 15, 1999 - Members of the House and Senate will sit down this week for what promises to be lengthy negotiations over tax rebates. Legislators in both chambers say they want to find a way to send the rebates to taxpayers as simply and efficiently as possible, but if past experience is any example, that's easier said than done.
February 10, 1999 - An encounter between Governor Ventura and a group of college students turned into a shouting match at the state capitol today.
February 8, 1999 - The DFL-controlled Minnesota Senate has passed a one-billion-dollar version of Governor Ventura's sales tax rebate plan. Senate Republicans tried to defeat the sales tax rebate approach, which they call unfair to the state's wealthier taxpayers. The Republican alternative -- rebates based on INCOME taxes -- has already passed in the House, which means Senate and House negotiators now have to find a way to reconcile the two plans.