A group of child care providers opposed to an effort to unionize the business are suing. They claim Gov. Dayton overstepped his authority in signing an executive order authorizing child-care workers to vote on whether to form a union.

One child care provider who has joined a lawsuit to block a vote to unionize tells Forum Communications' reporter Don Davis that she worries a union would take over all negotiations with state officials, leaving her with no voice of her own. But union supporters say the move to stop the vote is just a ploy by "cheap-labor conservatives" and that unionization would provide better pay and benefits for workers in the industry.

An Eagan woman faces criminal charges, including two counts of manslaughter, over last summer's death of a three-month-old who was in her care. Authorities say the baby was put down for a nap and died of asphyxiation. The provider was licensed to care for 12 children but had 20 in her home at the time.

A new national report shows it costs more to place an infant in a Minnesota day care center than a year of state college tuition, the Star Tribune reports. The advocacy group Child Aware of America names Minnesota the nation's second costliest state for center-based day care. The newspaper writes one year of infant care in a center cost $13,579 in Minnesota, while one year for a preschooler cost $10,470. In 17 states, a year of infant care cost less than $8,000.