The following excerpts are from Star Tribune Opinion articles ranked by highest online readership last year. To read them in their entirety, go to startribune.com/opinion and use the embedded links.

  1. "Woke revolutions looms for Minnesota schools," by Katherine Kersten: Minnesota parents, are you ready for the coming "woke" invasion of your child's public school? By 2022, as your first-grader is learning that two plus two is four, the Minnesota Department of Education intends to mandate that she also learn to recognize "stereotypes," "biased speech" and "injustice at the institutional or systemic level."
  2. "I'm through with the Vikings," by Paul H. Anderson: I am dismayed by the apparent decision of Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins to refuse to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
  3. "Booster shot, please? Ready, waiting ...," by the Star Tribune Editorial Board: While health officials have cleared many vaccine recipients for an additional shot, there's been a frustrating lack of communication for Pfizer and Moderna recipients who are not yet eligible.
  4. "Why I am one of many former MPD officers," by Kim Voss: I don't know how to respond when people congratulate me on my retirement or thank me for my years of service to the community. I want to scream "This isn't what I wanted to do," and "Don't thank me."
  5. "Bezos finally went too far, so it's goodbye to Amazon," by Martha Wegner: You knew me … you knew what would tantalize me, what would feed my desires. That is why it is so hard for me to write this letter and break up with you.
  6. "What I learned during 10 days of treating COVID pneumonia," by Richard Levitan: We are just beginning to recognize that COVID pneumonia initially causes a form of oxygen deprivation we call "silent hypoxia" — "silent" because of its insidious, hard-to-detect nature.
  7. "The verdict of a '13th juror' on Chauvin — and the trial," by D.J. Tice: We must cling to faith in our besieged institutions, while soberly facing the peril American civilization seems to be in just now.
  8. "Near George Floyd Square: revolution by day, devolution by night," by Monica Nilsson: As neighbors of 38th Street and Chicago Avenue, also known as George Floyd Square or the autonomous zone, we are witnessing a revolution by day and a devolution by night.
  9. "COVID masks for young athletes are worse than useless," by Andrew F. Arthur: The reality is that face coverings should not be considered safe for any athlete to wear during a competition.
  10. "I live in a cemetery called north Minneapolis," by Marcus Hunter II: As a Black, teenage male I no longer feel safe in my community. After the killing of George Floyd and the reduction of the Minneapolis Police Department, there has been uncontrollable crime in this city.
  11. "The challenge of a fair trial for Chauvin," by D.J. Tice: Justice for all can exist only if — even in the most disturbing cases, when popular passions burn hottest — criminal conviction requires that the specific criminal nature of individual conduct is proven conclusively.
  12. "The verdict of a '13th juror' on the Potter trial," by D.J. Tice: In the always troubled world of crime and cops and courts, amid the bitter ideological conflicts that rage there, 2021 has been a year like no other, in the Twin Cities and across the country.
  13. "Make the filibuster great again," by Al Franken and Norman Ornstein: What to do now? Flip the numbers. Instead of requiring 60 votes to end debate, require 41 to continue debate.
  14. "I'm vaccine hesitant, and here's why...," by James Todd Adams: Enough already. We vaccine hesitant types are not buying what government and media are peddling.
  15. "'Spark of life' evidence could backfire in Floyd case," by Albert W. Alschuler: As unfortunate as even a "balanced" presentation of George Floyd's life would be, a one-sided presentation would be worse.
  16. "The white family at Lake Minnetonka and words unspoken," by Tiffany Johnson: Any other year I imagine our two families would have greeted each other. But instead, it felt like each family was invisible to the other. No one made eye contact. No one said anything.
  17. "Respect jury's decision to convict Potter," by the Star Tribune Editorial Board: Former police officer Kimberly Potter's conviction on two counts of manslaughter in the death of Daunte Wright will strike some people as a miscarriage of justice. It is not.
  18. "Trump: America's sorest loser," by D.J. Tice: They've been a 'public nuisance' since the republic's founding. ... Former President Donald Trump, even before leaving office, set a new historic standard.
  19. "There's another virus plaguing our schools," by John C. "Chuck" Chalberg: Over the past year our public schools have suffered two pandemics. One has long been evolving; the other hit us suddenly. One burst forth in full fury right here in Minneapolis; the other blew in from China.
  20. "Why we must boycott Pillsbury," by Charlie Pillsbury: We take pride in seeing our family name associated with products sold around the world. But in these times we no longer can in good conscience buy products bearing our name.
  21. "Please, Rep. Omar, no more clarifications," by Mohamed A. Ahmed: There is a serious problem when one cannot distinguish our glorious America and its ally Israel from butchers of humanity like Hamas and the Taliban.