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ST. PAUL - New test results show three out of four high school sophomores met reading requirements needed for graduation. The Minnesota Department of Education said that an average of 75 percent of 10th-graders passed a reading test and that the tougher exam yielded improvements over last year. Results released Monday also show that while more students are passing the test, racial and economic achievement gaps remain. More than 65,000 students took the exam earlier this year.
ROCHESTER, Minn. - Democrats left their state convention rallying behind Barack Obama, but the party remained divided about whether Hillary Clinton should fill out the presidential ticket. Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party activists gathered at Rochester's Mayo Civic Center for a three-day convention that ended Sunday said they are heading into the general election season confident of Obama's historic candidacy. There is less agreement on whether Clinton, who Saturday ended her own run for president, could help or hurt Obama's chances against Republican Sen.
ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Satirist-turned-candidate Al Franken convinced Democratic activists to look beyond controversies about his past Saturday as he locked up the party's U.S. Senate endorsement. "I'm not a perfect person and I'm not going to pretend to have all the answers, but I'll tell the truth," Franken told raucous DFL activists gathered in Rochester's Mayor Civic Center.
ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Al Franken's political career depends on how he answers fellow Democrats' questions today. "What he says is going to be important," Detroit Lakes Mayor Larry Buboltz, an alternate delegate to his party's state convention, said in a very much understated comment. Franken wants Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Laborites' endorsement today to face Republican U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman in the Nov. 4 election.
ST. PAUL -- State utility regulators postponed a decision on an electric transmission project in western Minnesota and want expert opinion on the proposed lines and related Big Stone II coal-fired power plant. The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission voted 3-2 Thursday to further study the proposed power lines and the controversial South Dakota coal plant that would generate the electricity. Commissioners only are considering whether to grant a request by five utilities led by Fergus Falls-based Otter Tail Power Co.
ROCHESTER, Minn. -- State Republican activists say they are ready to support their likely presidential nominee, John McCain, even as some admit they were slow to do so. "He is the best we have and we need to get behind him," said Kath Molitor, a Beltrami County Republican Party official and delegate to the GOP's state convention that ended Saturday. Molitor was typical of Republicans who earlier supported other candidates, but now are coalescing behind McCain, as Gov.
ROCHESTER, Minn. -- U.S. Sen.
BLOOMINGTON, Minn.
Highlights of transportation measures Minnesota legislators approved this year: -- Give state and local roads and bridges a significant boost in transportation funding - up to $6.6 billion over a decade. -- Raise the gasoline tax by up to 8.5 cents in the coming years to help pay for the new transportation spending plan.