When Minnesota's new state flag starts flying next year, it will almost certainly incorporate hues of blue and white and the symbol of the North Star. That imagery rose to the top on Tuesday as the State Emblems Redesign Commission winnowed down a list of more than two thousand public submissions for a new flag to six finalists. They also zeroed in on more than half a dozen favorites for a new state seal, gravitating toward representations of snow, the North Star and Minnesota's state bird, the loon. From those finalists, the commission plans to settle on one final design for each early next month to use as the basis of Minnesota's new flag and seal. The commission was created by the Legislature last session to take on the daunting task of redesigning both the flag and the seal in a matter of months to meet a Jan. 1 deadline. Neither has been substantially redesigned since first created more than 100 years ago. Read more at the link in our bio. Reporting by Briana Bierschbach