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: $10 to see Rep. Fischbach, and they didn’t even get to ask their questions
At a rural Minnesota event dominated by protests and hecklers, Fischbach avoided pressing the flesh.
March 22, 2025
Tolkkinen: Minnesota senators should apologize for ‘Trump derangement syndrome’ bill
In fact, we should all tone it down.
March 21, 2025
Tolkkinen: It’s hard to find sympathy for the worst people in Minnesota
But we need to do better for the inmates of prisons and county jails.
March 15, 2025
Tolkkinen: When the world stopped during the pandemic, we banded together in rural Minnesota — for a bit.
Then the conspiracies started.
March 12, 2025
Tolkkinen: By going after Canada, Trump shows he doesn’t understand friendship
Or maybe he’s jealous that Trudeau is better looking.
March 7, 2025
Tolkkinen: Democrat Keith Ellison visits Trump country
Republican reticence to hold town hall meetings in rural Minnesota has prevented most rural Minnesotans from meeting statewide or congressional elected officials face to face. Democratic Attorney General Keith Ellison bucked this trend by visiting with farmers in rural, conservative Stevens County.
March 6, 2025
Tolkkinen: My column on transgender athletes drew insults, outrage and applause
Some readers were scared to go public.
March 1, 2025
![Protestors on both sides of the argument stand behind Minnesota State High School League board members during Thursday's discussion on eligibility policies for transgender athletes. ] Leila Navidi/Star Tribune](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/DRJ3E3UZKR42WUBRBM4PNGVRTA.jpg?&w=252&ar=3:2&fit=crop)
Tolkkinen: Surrounded by crops in Minnesota farm country, but with little to eat
Very little of what is grown in farm country stays there. And when it returns in packages of ground beef or cartons of milk, it is increasingly unaffordable.
February 26, 2025
Tolkkinen: By going after Canada, Trump shows he doesn’t understand friendship
Or maybe he’s jealous that Trudeau is better looking.
March 7, 2025
Tolkkinen: Democrat Keith Ellison visits Trump country
Republican reticence to hold town hall meetings in rural Minnesota has prevented most rural Minnesotans from meeting statewide or congressional elected officials face to face. Democratic Attorney General Keith Ellison bucked this trend by visiting with farmers in rural, conservative Stevens County.
March 6, 2025
Tolkkinen: My column on transgender athletes drew insults, outrage and applause
Some readers were scared to go public.
March 1, 2025
Tolkkinen: Surrounded by crops in Minnesota farm country, but with little to eat
Very little of what is grown in farm country stays there. And when it returns in packages of ground beef or cartons of milk, it is increasingly unaffordable.
February 26, 2025