Essential Minnesota: Your guide to what everyone is talking about

Minnesota is the kind of place where the strangers at your favorite coffee shop become the friends you look forward to seeing every morning. It’s where your family lives. It’s the Boundary Waters, the North Shore and more than 11,000 other bodies of water you can canoe on, swim in and fish from.

Minnesota means something different to everyone, and we’re here to bring whatever that may be on a given day straight to your inbox. Welcome to the Star Tribune’s newest daily newsletter: Essential Minnesota.

My name is Eder Campuzano, and I’m a general assignment reporter here at the Star Tribune. I’m also the lead author for Essential Minnesota, where I’ll serve up the best of what the Star Tribune has to offer every morning. This newsletter is also where we’ll follow along with the conversations you’re having about news, politics, sports and culture — and start some of our own.

We’ll help you get acquainted with some of the journalists who work here. I guess this is my cue to tell you a bit about myself.

I was born in Mexico and lived in Oregon for most of my life. I moved to Minneapolis in 2022 after six years working for the Oregonian in Portland. I wrote about education for the Star Tribune until January, when I joined our digital-first team.

In the 2½ years I’ve lived in the North Star State, I’ve marveled at the breadth of delectable treats and sheer scope of the Minnesota State Fair. I caught some of my favorite bands onstage at First Avenue, including an act that has long made me want to breakdance terribly in every bar along Lyndale.

I even tried my hand at ice fishing on Lake Nokomis once. (Actually I just watched my wife’s coworker cast a line while I clenched my hot cider and shivered furiously. But that’s gotta count for something!)

But living in Minnesota isn’t just about leaf-gazing on the North Shore or having Kramarczuk brats at Target Field.

The state’s public schools face deficits as high inflation hammers salaries and operations just as federal aid sunsets and students continue to struggle in the wake of the pandemic. Drought continues to affect the northwest corner of the state, and a mild winter in much of Minnesota raises questions about the long-term viability of some of our most treasured recreational pastimes and fragile ecosystems.

And much of Minnesota continues to grapple with the role of police in communities and what an equitable society looks like years after the murder of George Floyd.

Here at Essential Minnesota, we’ll bring you all of that and more — an unflinching look at the most pressing issues facing the state as explored by the deep and thorough journalism our staff produces day in and day out.

Each weekday, we aim to bring you:

We’ll also regularly ask for your input. What’s happening in your neighborhood? Who should we be talking to? Where should we go?

Let’s start the conversation.