Home | Staff Directory

Tony Kennedy

Investigative reporter  |  General assignment, education, transportation

Phone: 612-673-4213

E-mail: tony.kennedy@startribune.com

Tony Kennedy has been an investigative reporter at the Star Tribune since 2002. His investigations include “The Informant,” on the FBI’s 2007-08 corruption probe inside the Minneapolis Police Department; an examination of factors leading to the collapse of the I-35W Bridge, including the series “Money vs. Safety”; the plane crash that killed U.S. Sen. Paul Wellstone; and the unsavory fund-raising machine of Vietnam-era Hmong warrior Gen. Vang Pao. He has uncovered corruption and lax oversight within Minnesota’s legal guardianship system for vulnerable adults, conflicts of interests that plagued Minnesota’s first lottery director at the time of his suicide in 2004 and the inside story of failure at Excelsior-Henderson Motorcycle Co. As aviation beat reporter, he led the Star Tribune’s coverage of the 1998 pilots’ strike at Northwest Airlines.

The St. Paul native holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Marquette University. He worked at the Frankfort (Ind.) Times, St. Cloud Times, Business Journal of Milwaukee and The Associated Press before joining the Star Tribune in 1991.

Recent content from Tony Kennedy

• No one was snoozing in cockpit, NWA pilot says
  Internal airline documents describe a schedule that left the two Flight 188 pilots with a 19-hour layover before their trip to the Minneapolis airport, which they overshot by 150 miles.
  Oct 24, 2009
• State to probe if public is paying for mosques
  State officials are examining whether public money has been improperly used to pay for Islamic mosques on charter school campuses in Blaine and Inver Grove Heights. The TiZA charter school threatens to sue for defamation.
  Aug 29, 2009
• Kazeminy suit ends, but fight isn't over
  Norm Coleman said he's happy the lawsuit was killed. The plaintiff said a power play in Texas forced him to abandon it.
  Aug 12, 2009
• Fatal crash puts Cirrus in spotlight again
  Earlier this month, a jury ordered Cirrus and its flight training subcontractor to pay $16.4 million in damages in connection with a fatal crash in 2003.
  Jun 17, 2009
• On a collision course
  Within weeks of the FBI's arrest of informant Taylor Trump, Lt. Mike Keefe put himself on a collision course with federal investigators and his chief. He would later tell internal affairs that he had grown skeptical of Trump's story that he had cops in his pocket, even as other investigators compiled evidence that seemed to support it.
  May 21, 2009
• FBI probe of relationship between Coleman and major donor continues
  The FBI continues to investigate the relationship between former U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman and a close friend who has been a major political donor, according to a source who was questioned by the FBI.
  May 14, 2009
• Cocaine pipeline from Texas busted
  Traffickers supplied by a violent Mexican cartel allegedly delivered 5 to 15 kilos a month to Minnesota.
  Apr 29, 2009
• 'Police versus the police'
  The investigation into the informant's claims about corrupt cops spanned more than a year. Did they have enough evidence to prosecute?
  Apr 24, 2009
• The Informant
  Word on the street was that some Minneapolis cops were dirty, tipping off drug dealers. Investigators knew one man who could help them figure out if that was true: gang leader Taylor Trump.
  Apr 23, 2009
• Putting cops to the test
  When informant Taylor Trump identified cops he alleged were corrupt, investigators decided to see if they could catch the police officers in the act.
  Apr 23, 2009

Next page