Karen Tolkkinen

Columnist

Greater Minnesota

Karen 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.

Karen 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.

Contact

Karen.Tolkkinen@startribune.com

612 673 4007

Latest from Karen Tolkkinen

Greater Minnesota

Tolkkinen: Amid the Trump chaos, egg prices are still $7.50

Trump promised to bring down food prices on Day 1, but he’s not addressing it.

January 30, 2025

Greater Minnesota

Tolkkinen: Minnesota benefactor runs out of funds and energy to help Afghan families who aided U.S.

Caroline Clarin worked with Afghan men on a USDA agricultural program.

January 25, 2025

Greater Minnesota

Tolkkinen: Trump faces high expectations from rural Minnesota

Rural Minnesota voted for President Trump because of high grocery prices, because they feel transgender rights are trampling the rights of cisgender girls and women, and because people at home need help. Their hopes for his administration are high.

January 21, 2025

News & Politics

Tolkkinen: At age 5, he wanted to be New York Mills mayor; he was just sworn in

Mayor Marsha Maki stepped aside and Latham Hetland, now 29, ran unopposed.

January 17, 2025