On the opening day of the Minnesota Legislative session, the first episode of Capitol Conversations streamed live from the House gallery. GOP Representatives Mike Beard and David FitzSimmons were the season’s first guests. Watch the full show, or else review the five-minute program re-cap presented by hosts Marty Owings and Paul Gardener.

On January 10th, bills to establish a state-level insurance exchange were introduced in both the Minnesota House and Senate. Such exchanges are central to the implementation of the federal Affordable Care Act (ACA), which will rely on exchanges to enroll millions of uninsured Americans, and to transact the purchase of health coverage more generally. The ACA requires states to create their own exchanges, or else to utilize a federally-run exchange.

PRM’s Matt Ehling recently wrote an op-ed for Minnpost on the prospects for the ACA’s exchange-based model.

The Twin Cities-based blog HongPong.com has posted a cache of documents related to Minneapolis Police Department surveillance of “Occupy Minnesota” activities. Included are MPD documents, and copies of an intelligence bulletin produced by the Major Cities Intelligence Commanders Group and the Southern Nevada Counterterrorism Center. The documents were obtained through a Minnesota Data Practices Act request.

KFAI radio’s civic affairs program Truth to Tell will feature an hour-long discussion on drone use – both at home and abroad. Guests will include former FBI agent Coleen Rowley and Jay Stanley of the ACLU. Public Record Media’s Matt Ehling will appear with attorney JT Haines to discuss PRM’s drone FOIA case.