Geography of Minnesota "The Cities"), and "Outstate" or "Greater Minnesota". The Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area comprises eleven Minnesota counties centered around Minneapolis, the state's largest city, and adjoining Saint Paul, the capital; plus two Wisconsin counties. About three out of every five residents of the state live in this conurbation. Greater Minnesota is less urbanized than the Twin Cities. It is also geographically more diverse, with farmlands to the south and west, lake country in central Minnesota, and forests in the northern part of the state. Approximately 40% of Minnesotans live in Greater Minnesota. Its major population centers include Duluth, Rochester, Moorhead, St.
2005 Minnesota state government shutdown 2005 Minnesota state government shutdown The 2005 Minnesota state government shutdown was a government shutdown affecting the U.S. state of Minnesota, the first in the history of the state. The shutdown was the result of a fiscal dispute between the Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty and House majority, and the Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL) majority in the state Senate, that was not resolved by the constitutional deadline on June 30. The Republicans and the DFL disagreed over how much would be spent on state healthcare programs and public schools, and what sources of revenue would be used for this funding. During the