Special Session Plans Scuttled

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota officials are abandoning their plans for a special session to offset massive health insurance premiums.

Rates on the individual market are set to jump by as much as 67 percent next year. That triggered months of discussions about how to help shoppers who don't get federal subsidies.

But any relief is on hold after a final attempt at a deal proved futile. Gov. Mark Dayton and Republican House Speaker Kurt Daudt occasionally flashed anger during a rare public meeting Friday before declaring the effort finished.

Daudt says he and an incoming Republican Senate majority will approve financial help and other measures in the first week of session starting Jan. 3.

The blowup also leaves $1 billion in construction projects and hundreds of millions of dollars in tax relief unfinished.