23 for '23: The most-read opinions

The following excerpts are from Star Tribune Opinion commentaries and editorials published in 2023 ranked by highest online readership. To read them in their entirety, use the embedded links.

(1) "Goodbye, Minnesota," by Howard Root: "I was born in Minneapolis, graduated from the University of Minnesota and have lived in the Twin Cities essentially my entire life. So when I sold my business and took early retirement in 2017, planning to get away from the Minnesota winters, I always thought I'd remain a resident of the state I love that had provided me so much. This year, though, I'm moving my residency to Florida."

(2) "Systemic insecurity: Saving Twin Cities light rail," a special report by the Star Tribune Editorial Board: "Declared the top rail system in the country by the American Public Transportation Association in 2016, Metro Transit's light-rail lines have become among the nation's more problematic. A reset is needed."

(3) "A promising life derailed by marijuana," by the Star Tribune Editorial Board: "Catherine Mayberry was an honor student at Minnetonka High School. An award-winning artist. A varsity tennis player who also loved skiing and softball. A loving sister and daughter. On Oct. 8, at age 24, she died from an accidental overdose of meth mixed with fentanyl. Sadly, her parents, Trent and Jane Mayberry, consider this her 'second death.' "

(4) "A less-than-fond farewell to the University of Minnesota's Joan Gabel," by the Star Tribune Editorial Board: "Disappointment and frustration are appropriate responses to University of Minnesota President Joan Gabel's announcement Monday that she is leaving that post to lead the University of Pittsburgh. The reason: the dreadful timing of this departure."

(5) "It's time for the pro-choice people to come clean," by Matt Birk: "I am pro-life. Abortion exists. As a pro-life advocate, I'm less concerned about the law (although this is important because laws shape culture, and vice versa), and more focused on helping create a system where unexpectedly pregnant women are respected and supported. Folks on the other side of this issue call themselves "pro-choice" — but are they?"

(6) "A life of service draws to a close," by the Star Tribune Editorial Board: "Former President Jimmy Carter, who at 98 halted medical treatment and recently entered hospice, rightly has been held up as an exemplar of what post-presidential years can look like. Since leaving office in 1981, his life has been one of extraordinary public service and good works, large and small."

(8) "In the end, there's no good reason to legalize marijuana," by John Hagen: "In his State of the State address, Gov. Tim Walz vowed to make Minnesota the best state in the country in which to raise a family. Now the governor and his allies are poised to diminish Minnesota's public health and quality of life by legalizing recreational pot."

(9) "The disgraceful lies of Fox 'News,' " by the Star Tribune Editorial Board: " 'We Report, You Decide' was among Fox News' marketing mantras when the then-upstart network was challenging CNN. A more truthful slogan these days would be 'They endorsed' — the admission, made under oath by Fox Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch, that several of his network's hosts knowingly lied to their audience by embracing conspiracy theories about the results of the 2020 presidential election."

(10) "What my family learned after a St. Paul carjacking," by Patrick Connolly: "Last year, around this time, a group of teenagers followed my wife and my daughter home on a weekday morning after she went to the local pharmacy. After my wife pulled into our garage, three teenagers rushed her with masks on, pointed a gun at her, and took her purse and keys."

(11) "I'm leaving Minneapolis schools over cellphone chaos," by Laura Kimball: "I have come to the conclusion that I cannot stand by and support a system that does not stand up for the rights of our children by saying 'no.' No cellphones, no earbuds, no distractions from devices. Parents entrust us to care for their children and we are not holding up our end of the bargain."

(12) "Frustrating futility on long COVID," by the Star Tribune Editorial Board: " 'Desperate' isn't a word used often in the sterile language of elite medical journals. Yet that word alarmingly appears twice in a recent editorial from the Lancet publications about the lack of long COVID treatments."

(14) "We need action, we need help: a plea from Uptown," by Farzad Freshtekhu: "I have been a small-business owner in Uptown Minneapolis, primarily the Lake and Hennepin area, since the fall of 2000. Having observed the changes over the last two decades, I must express my disappointment and frustration to our city's leadership. This is not meant to be a political post, but our city has faced a tragic downfall."

(15) "Biden, Trump both mishandled documents," by the Star Tribune Editorial Board: "President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are both being investigated over their handling of classified materials. While publicly disclosed information reflects that the cases are clearly different, the investigatory processes should not be."

(16) "Why we can't support DSA-backed City Council candidates," an open letter by several DFL leaders: "We cannot support these candidates, and we feel compelled to support their competitors, as we cannot allow the Minneapolis City Council to gain a morally bankrupt, ideologically rigid and quite likely antisemitic majority."

(17) "Take note, seniors: RSV vaccines are coming," by the Star Tribune Editorial Board: "In what health experts have described as a needed step forward in medicine, adults over 60 will be able to be vaccinated this fall against RSV, a virus that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates to cause between 60,000–160,000 hospitalizations and 6,000–10,000 deaths among older Americans per year through respiratory illness."

(18) "Half the Golden Valley police force quite. Crime dropped," by Radley Balko: "At the very least, the steady stream of Justice Department reports depicting rampant police abuse ought to temper the claim that policing shortages are fueling crime."

(20) "Twin Cities would be better without an I-94," by Elizabeth Wrigley-Field: "We in the Twin Cities are lucky: We have a once-in-a-lifetime chance to radically improve our air pollution. As a mortality demographer, I know the research that concludes that air pollution kills hundreds of people in the Cities every year. But I'm also a new parent, and it's thinking about my baby that makes me the most excited about this rare chance to make our metro better."

(21) "I fled to the U.S. for education, not indoctrination," by Abdulrahman Bindamnan: "When I fled to the United States from Yemen, I sought a liberal education through which to reconsider the retrograde views I learned as a child. I came here to learn how to become a scholar who independently investigates subjects fraught with moral ambiguity."

(22) "The devil's bargain on eliminating PFAs," by David Clement: "If U.S. chip producers end up having to import PFAS to produce chips, the U.S. will be setting the table for a scenario eerily similar to Europe's reliance on Russian gas."