Washington

The Council of the District of Columbia voted unanimously Tuesday to allow Washington, D.C., to recognize same-sex marriages performed outside the district. The decision comes on the heels of a string of victories for advocates on the issue, as Iowa and Vermont — and even Sweden — have legalized same-sex marriage in recent days.

Minnesota’s congressional delegation is keeping busy on Capitol Hill this week as most find ways to put their stamp on a historic economic recovery strategy working its way through Congress.

Mayor R.T. Rybak of Minneapolis did an excellent job today on Minnesota Public Radio, extolling the virtues of the proposed urban policy office in President-elect Barack Obama’s White House. He did a fairly miserable job of professing a lack of interest in whether Obama might offer him the job running it.

The federal Office of Special Counsel is investigating allegations that Rachel Paulose, U.S. attorney for Minnesota, mishandled classified information, decided to fire the subordinate who called it to her attention, retaliated against others in the office who crossed her, and made racist remarks about one employee.

Paulose did not return phone calls seeking her comment.

The investigation [...]

When U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum sent out her weekly e-mail newsletter on March 5, the Minnesota Democrat included a farewell to the paper’s longtime Washington reporters, who will continue working for the Strib’s former owner, McClatchy.
“I want to thank Rob Hotakainen and Kevin Diaz for more than 20 years of service each with the [...]