Columnists

Cheers & Jeers: As leaders return to the Capitol, Melissa Hortman’s legacy endures

Plus: Quinn Hughes’ ghosts, St. Paul’s pothole-fixing machine, the heavily redacted fraud report and more.

Rochelle Olson

February 20, 2026

Columnists

Brown: What a 1921 Ford Model T can teach us about today’s tech

It helps explain why everything, and everyone, seems off these days.

Aaron Brown

February 19, 2026

Columnists

Olson: Minnesotans just showed their true character. Legislators, follow their lead.

Surely the Legislature can find a way to work together — just as thousands of average citizens found their collective power with whistles and cellphones.

Rochelle Olson

February 18, 2026

Columnists

Banks: On Jesse Jackson, and the never-ending pursuit of a better world

The civil rights leader died on Tuesday at 84.

David Banks

February 17, 2026

Columnists

Rash: Minnesota has changed the national narrative on immigration

Polls show that here and across the country there’s disapproval of ICE tactics gone too far.

John Rash

February 17, 2026

Columnists

Burcum: Pearl Jam spotlighted this doctor. Minnesota is letting him leave.

Dr. Jakub Tolar, dean of the University of Minnesota Medical School, is taking a prestigious role in Texas. The state is losing a proven physician-leader.

Jill Burcum

February 16, 2026

Columnists

Sturdevant: Leaders, don’t let this be a quiet, gridlocked year at the Minnesota Legislature

Meet both your basic obligations and the urgency of the moment.

Lori Sturdevant

February 16, 2026

Columnists

Banks: We resisted. It should worry us that we had to.

And might need to again. The defense of democracy never ends, whether it’s protesting Operation Metro Surge or other dangers to our rights.

David Banks

February 15, 2026

Columnists

Olson’s Cheers & Jeers: The star staff at Valley View Elementary

Plus: a local Olympian, Michele Tafoya’s diss of Bad Bunny and an endorsement from Sen. Tina Smith.

Rochelle Olson

February 13, 2026

Columnists

Brown: Betsy-Tacy books show the humanity in our immigration story

Maud Hart Lovelace’s books extolled curiosity and kindness, two traits we could use a little more of today.

Aaron Brown

February 12, 2026

Columnists

Rash: Don’t squander U.S. credibility with squalid memes

Altered images, like a fake photo of Nekima Levy Armstrong and a racist video of the Obamas, amplify lies from the Trump administration.

John Rash

February 11, 2026

Columnists

Burcum: The House betrayed the BWCA. The Senate is next.

Congress could hand over Minnesota’s precious Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness to the Trump administration, which has already shown its contempt for science and conservation.

Jill Burcum

February 10, 2026