Karen Tolkkinen
Columnist
Greater MinnesotaKaren Tolkkinen is the Minnesota Star Tribune's greater Minnesota columnist. She has more than three decades of experience in local journalism, most recently serving as a reporter, copy editor, and columnist at the Echo Press in Alexandria, Minn. She lives with her husband and son in Otter Tail County, in a farmhouse built by her husband's great-great grandparents in the early 1920s.
Latest from Karen Tolkkinen
Tolkkinen: Their CBD business was about to take off. Then Minnesota told them they couldn’t ship.
Minnesota’s ban on shipping CBD products was overturned Thursday, a relief especially to rural retailers.
February 14, 2026
![Hemp Plant. Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022, Elk River, Minn. After two years of selling its unique seed-to-shelf wellness products, Carpe Diem celebrated its success by inviting 400 customers and wholesale distributors to its 80-acre farm in Elk River, Minn., for its annual harvest. In addition to ÒgatheringÓ a portion of Carpe DiemÕs 5,000 hemp plants, attendees enjoyed a health and wellness festival with local vendors and supporters of the CBD oil product developer and supplier. ] Brian Peterson ¥ brian.peterson@startribune.com](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/HK2UP5KUARKIQZS56EKDTUT5F4.jpg?&w=252&ar=3:2&fit=crop)
Tolkkinen: I met my rural GOP legislator. I didn’t realize he was recording me.
Phones have become a symbol of distrust in a fractured society.
February 9, 2026
Tolkkinen: Despite federal surge, Minnesota continues to try building trust across party lines
The work has been obscured by the ICE conflict, but it continues.
February 3, 2026
Tolkkinen: After childhood under dictatorship, 97-year-old Detroit Lakes woman has a warning for America
Masked federal agents dragging people from homes reminds her of growing up in Austria in the late 1930s.
January 30, 2026
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Tolkkinen: I’m sure glad rural Minnesota isn’t like the Twin Cities
But it’s not because of the protests.
January 22, 2026
Tolkkinen: In rural Minnesota, our horse got sick. We couldn’t find a vet to treat him.
Large-animal vets who make house calls are in short supply in greater Minnesota.
January 19, 2026
Tolkkinen: Who did ICE take from a Perham company? The agency wouldn’t tell me.
In greater Minnesota, conservatives are mum about federal secrecy.
January 16, 2026
Tolkkinen: Was Stanley tired of the limelight?
A popular feline vanished last month, causing consternation in a small western Minnesota town.
January 8, 2026
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Tolkkinen: Greater Minnesota never forgave Walz for pandemic measures
Walz’s support grew in the Twin Cities from 2018 to 2022 but shrank in rural areas.
January 7, 2026
Tolkkinen: How small towns made me a better driver
You just never know who might be in the other car.
January 1, 2026
Tolkkinen: At 27 below, Brainerd diver helped rescue lost cable in Lake of the Woods
Bill Matthies, 90, died this month, leaving behind a legacy of exploits and the love of scuba diving.
December 29, 2025
Tolkkinen: Without funding, state’s new child protection law will land hard on rural counties
The law, which seeks to keep intact Black families and others who are overrepresented in the system, has been halted in the metro.
December 16, 2025
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