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Jeffrey Meitrodt

Reporter
Investigations
Previously, Meitrodt was an investigative reporter for the New Orleans Times-Picayune. He also covered the Illinois statehouse for the Chicago Tribune. He grew up in southeastern Minnesota and graduated in 1984 from the University of Minnesota with a degree in journalism. He has won national journalism awards for his reporting on public corruption in Louisiana and Illinois, and for his coverage of corporate misconduct and educational disparities in Minnesota.

Latest from Jeffrey Meitrodt

Here’s what to know about Minnesota’s fraud crisis

For more than a decade, Minnesota has grappled with a fraud crisis in its Medicaid programs. The Star Tribune covered it extensively and can guide you through the process.
December 21, 2025

Walz says there’s no evidence of $9B in fraud, exposing rift between state and feds

The statements exposed tensions that have been simmering between Walz and Joe Thompson, the federal prosecutor who has led the fraud investigations.
December 19, 2025

Trump claims Minnesota lost billions to fraud. The evidence to date isn’t close.

The fraud allegations have been used as a justification for federal immigration enforcement against Minnesota’s Somali population.
December 11, 2025

How the Minnesota Star Tribune analyzed alleged fraud totals in Minnesota

The Trump administration says fraud totals are in the billions but the evidence doesn’t meet the claim. Here’s how we did the analysis.
December 11, 2025

A state law has prevented school and workplace shootings, but enforcement is inconsistent

Public records show that the state’s red flag gun law has helped law enforcement confiscate guns from people with violent plans. Some counties, though, have rarely or never used it, raising worry about gaps in its effectiveness.
October 4, 2025

Minnesota's red flag law prevented deaths, but an investigation found gaps

The red flag law has been successful in removing guns from people who are a danger to themselves or others. But many counties have not filed any petitions.
September 30, 2025

Minneapolis church shooter turned violent after sometimes turbulent upbringing

She expressed love for her family, but knew they’d wonder how they could have missed obvious signs.
August 31, 2025

What we know about the Annunciation shooter

Robin Westman graduated from Annunciation eight years before committing violent act.
August 29, 2025

Federal judge: Minnesota can’t bar religious colleges requiring faith statements from participating in high school program

The 2023 state law was an unconstitutional restriction of students’ religious freedom, the judge ruled.
August 24, 2025

Assassinations place Vance Boelter’s religion in the spotlight

He was steeped in a thriving strain of Christianity. For some, the alleged assassin is a symbol of the growing politicization of faith.
August 17, 2025
Vance Boelter preached several times while doing missionary work in the Democratic Republic of Congo and videos of those sermons were posted on YouTube by ceflabornematadi.officiel.

Fight over a Cowles fortune includes claims of sexual abuse and financial exploitation

A complex and lurid legal fight is pitting members of a wealthy family with Minnesota roots against the state’s largest bank and one of its former employees.
July 17, 2025
Illustration from court documents by JAKE LOVETT - The Minnesota Star Tribune

Wife of alleged political assassin says she’s ‘absolutely shocked,’ pledges cooperation with police

In her first public comments, Jenny Boelter also offered condolences to the Hortman and Hoffman families.
June 27, 2025
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