A slain Minnesota lawmaker's beloved dog, Gilbert, stays with her as she and her spouse lie in state

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Gilbert the golden retriever was home with Democratic leader and Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband when a gunman fatally shot the couple and mortally wounded their beloved dog. And he was with them again Friday when the Hortmans lay in state at the Capitol in St. Paul.

He is all but certainly the first dog to receive the honor, having been put down after being badly injured in the attack. There is no record of any other nonhuman ever lying in state, and Melissa Hortman, a former state House speaker still leading the chamber's Democrats, is the first woman. The state previously granted the honor to 19 men, including a vice president, a U.S. secretary of state, U.S. senators, governors and a Civil War veteran, according to the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library.

Hundreds of people waited outside the Capitol before they were allowed into the rotunda at noon to pay their respects. Two pedestals sat between the Hortmans' caskets, one for an arrangement of flowers and the other, for the gold-colored urn holding Gilbert's remains.

A memorial outside the House chamber for the Hortmans included a box of Milk-Bone dog biscuits with a sticky note saying, “For the best boy, Gilbert.”

“We’ve all had family, pets, and it’s tragic to have the whole family lost in in a moment like that," said Kacy Deschene, who came to the Capitol from the Minneapolis suburb of Champlin.

Gilbert has received a flood of tributes like Hortman and her husband, Mark, ever since news spread online that he had been shot, too, in the attack early on the morning of June 14 by a man posing as a police officer. The accused assassin, Vance Boelter, is also charged with shooting a prominent Democratic state senator and his wife, and authorities say Boelter visited two other Democratic lawmakers' homes without encountering them.

The dog's injuries were severe enough that surviving family members had him put to sleep at a veterinary clinic in the Hortmans' hometown of Brooklyn Park, a Minneapolis suburb. The clinic, Allied Emergency Veterinary Service, called Gilbert “sweet and gentle” and “deeply loved” on a GoFundMe site raising money for the care of local police dogs.

Volunteers from a nonprofit that trains service dogs, Helping Paws Inc., provided a little canine therapy for waiting mourners Friday at the Capitol, working the crowd with cheerful golden retrievers. The Hortmans provided a foster home to dogs as part of the animals' Helping Paws training, and one of them, Minnie, had graduated on to assisting a veteran.

Helping Paws said in a Facebook post hours after the shootings that Gilbert “career changed." Gilbert had been deemed ”too friendly” to be a service dog, KARE-TV reported.

Democratic state Rep. Erin Koegel, told The Associated Press after the shootings that the golden retriever had “flunked out of school" and “Melissa wanted him to fail so she could keep him.”

Hanna reported from Topeka, Kansas.

The urn carrying the remains of Gilbert, the dog of Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark Hortman, is diplayed at the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul, Minn., on Friday, June 27, 2025. (Aaron Lavinsky/Star Tribune via AP)

People line up to pay their respect to former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman, who will lie in state with her husband, Mark, and their golden retriever, Gilbert at the Minnesota Capitol rotunda on Friday, June 17, 2025 in St. Paul, Minn. (Aaron Lavinsky/Star Tribune via AP)

Mike Starr from Oak Grove, Minn. is the first person in line pay his respects to former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman, who will lie in state with her husband, Mark, and their golden retriever, Gilbert at the Minnesota Capitol rotunda on Friday, June 17, 2025 in St. Paul, Minn. (Alex Kormann/Star Tribune via AP)

People line up to pay their respect to former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman, who will lie in state with her husband, Mark, and their golden retriever, Gilbert at the Minnesota Capitol rotunda on Friday, June 17, 2025 in St. Paul, Minn. (Aaron Lavinsky/Star Tribune via AP)

Gov. Tim Walz and his wife Gwen Walz walk into the rotunda to pay their respect to former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman, who will lie in state with her husband, Mark, and their golden retriever, Gilbert at the Minnesota Capitol rotunda on Friday, June 17, 2025 in St. Paul, Minn. (Alex Kormann/Star Tribune via AP)

Minnesota State Representative Melissa Hortman, Mark Hortman and their dog, Gilbert, lie in state at the Minnesota State Capital in St. Paul, Minn., on Friday, June 27, 2025. (Alex Kormann/Star Tribune via AP)

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Richard “Dick” Codey, a former acting governor of New Jersey and the longest serving legislator in the state's history, died Sunday. He was 79.

Codey’s wife, Mary Jo Codey, confirmed her husband’s death to The Associated Press.

“Gov. Richard J. Codey passed away peacefully this morning at home, surrounded by family, after a brief illness,” Codey's family wrote in a Facebook post on Codey's official page.

"Our family has lost a beloved husband, father and grandfather -- and New Jersey lost a remarkable public servant who touched the lives of all who knew him," the family said.

Known for his feisty, regular-guy persona, Codey was a staunch advocate of mental health awareness and care issues. The Democrat also championed legislation to ban smoking from indoor areas and sought more money for stem cell research.

Codey, the son of a northern New Jersey funeral home owner, entered the state Assembly in 1974 and served there until he was elected to the state Senate in 1982. He served as Senate president from 2002 to 2010.

Codey first served as acting governor for a brief time in 2002, after Christine Todd Whitman’s resignation to join President George W. Bush’s administration. He held the post again for 14 months after Gov. Jim McGreevey resigned in 2004.

At that time, New Jersey law mandated that the Senate president assume the governor’s role if a vacancy occurred, and that person would serve until the next election.

Codey routinely drew strong praise from residents in polls, and he gave serious consideration to seeking the Democratic nomination for governor in 2005. But he ultimately chose not to run when party leaders opted to back wealthy Wall Street executive Jon Corzine, who went on to win the office.

Codey would again become acting governor after Corzine was incapacitated in April 2007 due to serious injuries he suffered in a car accident. He held the post for nearly a month before Corzine resumed his duties.

After leaving the governor’s office, Codey returned to the Senate and also published a memoir that detailed his decades of public service, along with stories about his personal and family life.

“He lived his life with humility, compassion and a deep sense of responsibility to others,” his family wrote. “He made friends as easily with Presidents as he did with strangers in all-night diners.”

Codey and his wife often spoke candidly about her past struggles with postpartum depression, and that led to controversy in early 2005, when a talk radio host jokingly criticized Mary Jo and her mental health on the air.

Codey, who was at the radio station for something else, confronted the host and said he told him that he wished he could “take him outside.” But the host claimed Codey actually threatened to “take him out,” which Codey denied.

His wife told The Associated Press that Codey was willing to support her speaking out about postpartum depression, even if it cost him elected office.

“He was a really, really good guy,” Mary Jo Codey said. “He said, ‘If you want to do it, I don’t care if I get elected again.’”

Jack Brook contributed reporting from New Orleans.

FILE - New Jersey State Sen. and former Democratic Gov. Richard Codey is seen before New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy delivers his State of the State address to a joint session of the Legislature at the statehouse, in Trenton, N.J., Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2023. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)