The Minnesota Senate yesterday said that it “would hold two public hearings on the possibility of using tax money to help build” a new Vikings stadium, according to Mike Kaszuba of the Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE. The first hearing “will be held on Nov. 29, with a second on Dec. 6.” News of the hearings came as Gov. Mark Dayton and others “looked for ways to resuscitate the long-debated stadium amid mounting evidence that the project would not be seriously considered by legislators until at least next year.” The announcement also came “as a colorful group of stadium supporters, known as the Viking World Order, marched into Dayton's office at the State Capitol to boost the chances for a new stadium in Ramsey County's Arden Hills.” The group, which “featured members wearing purple camouflage and face paint, included one man who cried as he sat in the office's reception area and wrote a note to Dayton urging him to get the stadium built.” Dayton yesterday after meeting with Arden Hills officials on stadium issues said, "Hopefully those hearings will present a clear picture, to at least the senators, as to what the options are and where to go from here" (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 11/17).
