Sworn in as 40th governor, Mark Dayton pledges progressive taxation

Mark Dayton was sworn in Monday as Minnesota’s 40th governor; he’s the first Democrat to hold the post since the 1980s. Dayton said he’s committed to progressive taxation in Minnesota and carrying through on his campaign promise to deal with the state’s budget problems in part by increasing taxes on wealthy Minnesotans, a group he says isn’t paying its fair share.

FBI vet Rowley rips RNC report, readies WAMM complaints, pursues police data

FBI whistleblower-turned-activist Coleen Rowley is on a roll. She rips into the City of St. Paul’s report on Republican National Convention law enforcement in a new commentary column, and Tuesday she will join others from Women Against Military Madness (WAMM) in filing formal complaints with Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher over RNC policing tactics. And Rowley’s inquiries into what she suspects was overbroad surveillance during the RNC are starting to bear fruit — of a sort.

Inaugural panorama: ‘Where’s Waldo?’ for the political set

This zoom-able online panoramic photo of the presidential inauguration is a “Where’s Waldo” puzzle for fun-loving political junkies (with slight stalker tendencies). One Minnesotan could school those vain attendees who went sans chapeau: U.S. Rep. Jim Oberstar knows…

Photo gallery: Inaugural excitement and entrepreneurship

Minnesota writer Christopher Koehler attended yesterday’s inauguration of President Barack Obama and shared these views of the excitement (and entrepreneurship) of a historic day.

Warren dares to say ‘Jesus,’ next to nada about love that dares not speak its name

In his inaugural invocation today, the Rev. Rick Warren was subtle about shaming gay-rights protesters but explicit about his Chrisitianity, calling on Jesus by name not once but four times, in four different languages associated with three world religions.

The difference between Coleman and Franken, in inaugural and fundraising messages

In separate e-mails sent almost simultaneously this evening, Al Franken and former U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman offered takes on President Obama’s inauguration as diametrically opposed in style as the Senate contenders are opposed in their rival campaigns. Franken’s is an…

Sign season: Hooray (and Hooters) for Obama

Minneapolis celebrated President Obama’s inauguration today with new signs ranging from an exuberant “Hooray” in a front yard to a more formal greeting above the downtown Hooters restaurant.

Lawmakers and lobbyists celebrate inauguration

President Barack Obama promised that his inauguration would be different from those of previous presidents, but change doesn’t come easily when it requires shaking influence in Washington.

‘Shot’ not best word to put below Obama on Star Tribune Inaugural Day cover

Headline below huge photo of Obama on Star Tribune’s front page today: 

“Shot at tickets becomes Minnesota get-together”

Early on, Obama wanted no ‘vanity campaign’ or ‘cult of personality’

Two years ago Barack Obama told his early supporters in the nascent “Draft Obama” movement that he wanted no part of a “vanity campaign” in which he would make nice speeches and then lose. He was also wary of developing a “cult of personality,” Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak told Minnesota Public Radio by phone this morning from the site of Obama’s inauguration.