State Party Chairman Tony Sutton says the financial burden is due to Republican's calculated gamble in the 2010 elections. The state GOP spent heavily on campaigning and won the state Legislature for the first time in a generation.

The Legislature last year passed a law requiring the University of North Dakota to use the Fighting Sioux nickname. The state Attorney General believes the law is unconstitutional. Now the Board of Higher Education has voted to challenge it with a lawsuit.

Officials say the president plans to formally announce that states seeking to drop parts of the law can apply for waivers. Cassellius submitted Minnesota's waiver request last month.

Chris Fields, Democratic Rep. Keith Ellison's Republican challenger for Congress in Minnesota's 5th District, is being sued fundraising consultant who claims he owes her money for work on his campaign. Attorneys for Erika Roland allege in the suit filed in Hennepin County District Court that Fields did not fulfill provisions of a contract he had with Roland.

Six years after backing U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar's Republican opponent in the U.S. Senate race, the Minnesota Farm Bureau has had a change of heart. Klobuchar's campaign announced Friday that the GOP-leaning group has endorsed her for re-election.

Bills is a first-term representative from Rosemount, where he teaches high school economics. He says he wants to bring Economics 101 to Washington. He joins two other Republicans hoping to be the party's challenger to U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar.