The suspect in the Minnesota shootings targeting two lawmakers and their spouses is in court today. Former State Representative Ryan Winkler, who served with Melissa Hortman and was close friends with her,

Melissa Hortman’ s influence at the Minnesota Capitol and her power as a Democratic leader to shape the course of a deeply divided Legislature were a far cry from her job as a teenager making chili-cheese burritos and overshadowed her volunteer work training service dogs for veterans.

Raleigh native Mark Hortman and wife, lawmaker Melissa Hortman, were fatally shot in a suspected political attack in Minnesota.

From the wooden dais in the Minnesota House, then-Speaker Melissa Hortman presided two years ago over what many called the most consequential legislative session in recent history. She helped orchestrate the passage of long-held Democratic goals: increased education spending,

Democratic Sen. John Hoffman, his wife, and House Democratic leader Melissa Hortman were injured in what the governor describes as targeted shootings.

Officials say Vance Luther Boelter surrendered to police in a wooded area near his home. He faces multiple charges in a targeted attack on lawmakers.

But there was a caring, apolitical gracefulness as well to Hortman, colleagues said. Garofalo said that in the days after the 2022 elections, when Democrats took control of state