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Columnists

Olson: GOP’s Chris Madel will need more than snark to win the governor’s race

The political newcomer’s my-way-or-the-highway approach won’t work at the State Capitol.
AuthoredRochelle Olson
December 4, 2025

Columnists

Brown: Self-driving cars in Minneapolis? A small Minnesota town did it first.

Autonomous transit came to Grand Rapids in 2022 — years ahead of the Twin Cities.
AuthoredAaron Brown
December 2, 2025

Columnists

Olson: Trump’s 'piggy' insult is yet another stain on his record with women

Outrage over his use of the barnyard nickname shows the president’s dangerous disparagement of his foes faces limits.
AuthoredRochelle Olson
December 1, 2025

Columnists

Burcum: An Army veteran, surgeon becomes collateral damage in U–Fairview spat

Newly released analysis details Dr. Greg Beilman’s urgent concerns about ‘unwinding’ a critical health care partnership.
AuthoredJill Burcum
November 30, 2025

Columnists

Rash: Minneapolis eats up the Arrows Awards, honoring the sharpest British advertising

Not everything is funny; public service announcements, in particular, build out of “an undeniable truth.”
AuthoredJohn Rash
November 29, 2025

Columnists

Olson’s Cheers & Jeers: Here come Diggins and Vonn whizzing by for the coming season

Plus: Rising property taxes, Lake Superior’s silly social media, Pete Stauber’s resistance to in-person town halls, and more.
AuthoredRochelle Olson
November 28, 2025

Columnists

Brown: Bitterness dies, but gratitude lasts generations

Remembering a grandfather whose gruffness couldn’t erase his moments of kindness.
AuthoredAaron Brown
November 25, 2025
Marvin Johnson holds his grandson, Aaron Brown, on Christmas Day 1980.

Columnists

Rash: Klobuchar meets Pope Leo to fight for Ukraine’s kidnapped kids

The Vatican’s moral force can amplify the call to return more than 19,000 children Russia has abducted since its invasion.
AuthoredJohn Rash
November 25, 2025
Minnesota U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar meets with Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican on Friday, Nov. 21, 2025.

Columnists

Brown: With money flowing and change afoot, Minnesota’s iron industry must modernize or die

It’s tempting to argue that boom times are coming, but trade and economic uncertainty cloud the crystal ball.
AuthoredAaron Brown
November 24, 2025
(Mesabi Metallics) welcomed more than 600 visitors from across the region to its Fall Open House on Tuesday, November 18, offering the public a behind-the-scenes look at Minnesota’s newest and most advanced taconite mining operation and an up-close look at Minnesota’s largest mining trucks. During the event, guests toured the Mesabi project site, met the company’s engineers and saw some of the largest mining equipment in the world—including the 400-ton 980E-5 Komatsu haul trucks, the largest ever to operate in Minnesota.

Columnists

Brown: From South Beach to Superior shore, bringing resilience back home to Duluth

If climate solutions don’t help people, they aren’t solutions after all.
AuthoredAaron Brown
November 23, 2025
Galen Treuer, seen here at Amity Creek in Lester Park last summer, recently relocated to his hometown of Duluth after serving as a climate policy strategist for Miami-Dade County in Florida.

Columnists

Burcum: When a chatbot becomes a ‘friend’

A deeply disturbing suicide, allegedly encouraged by ChatGPT, illustrates the risks of unregulated artificial intelligence.
AuthoredJill Burcum
November 22, 2025

Columnists

Olson’s Cheers & Jeers: From 9/11 to Annunciation, cheers to this family’s legacy of heroism

Plus: U.S. strikes on Venezuelan boats, U-Fairview drama, votes on the Epstein files and more.
AuthoredRochelle Olson
November 21, 2025
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