Larry Oakes

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Larry Oakes

Reporter | Upper Midwest Region

Phone: 612-673-1751

Larry Oakes has been a journalist since 1982 and has worked at the Star Tribune since 1985. For 21 years, he staffed the Star Tribune’s Northern Minnesota Bureau in Duluth. Oakes also served a two-year editing stint as Minneapolis Team Leader.
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Users play chemical roulette

Synthetic drugs are widely sold as bath salts and incense. But lab tests reveal substances that can kill.

Updated: September 08, 2011, - 10:33 AM

Synthetic drug ban has buyers racing

Retailers unsuccessfully tried to block law on substances that mimic pot and LSD from taking effect.

Updated: September 08, 2011, - 10:01 AM

'Closed' doesn't deter park visitors

The DNR discourages it, but many people walked into closed state parks.

Updated: July 02, 2011, - 10:45 AM

Two gained freedom, but no success stories

Though the Minnesota Sex Offender Program has yet to discharge a single offender, two men did regain their freedom, each by different means and with a different result. Here's what happened:

Updated: March 23, 2011, - 04:36 PM

Locked in limbo

Minnesota commits a greater proportion of sex offenders to treatment lock-ups after prison than any other state. No one has been released, costs are mounting, and questions are increasing.

Updated: March 23, 2011, - 04:35 PM

Dec. 11: Mortgage foreclosures ripple into rural Minnesota

The Twin Cities has been hit hard by the mortgage crisis, but the effects have been even worse in some rural counties, where rising land values drew many into refinancing and subprime mortgages.

Updated: March 23, 2011, - 01:41 PM