Reason No. 35 why the Star Tribune is worth your time and attention: Carlos Gonzalez’s photos of the Wolves, Wild, Vikings and Twins will take your breath away. Roope Hintz (24) of the Dallas Stars celebrates after Evgenii Dadonov got the puck past Minnesota Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson (32) for a goal in the third period during Round 1, Game 4 of the NHL playoffs April 23, 2023, at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. (Carlos Gonzalez/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

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This weekend, we’re celebrating the 157th birthday of the Star Tribune. We may have been around for a long time, but these days we’re working hard to give you something new. Big changes are coming to your state’s newspaper, which we’re excited to unveil in the months ahead.

We’re a different news organization than we were upon our first publication in 1867, not long after the Civil War had ended, and the year America bought Alaska from Russia for a cool $7.2 million, and Laura Ingalls Wilder was born. Times have changed, and so have people’s habits for staying informed.

So as a birthday gift to you, dear reader, please allow me to humbly offer 57 reasons why the Star Tribune is worth your time and attention in 2024:

1. Minnesota deserves a great news organization.

2. Curious Minnesota is here to answer your questions.

3. Free lip balm at the State Fair.

4. Digital and print products that win top design awards every year.

5. A better way to strengthen democracy than your Netflix subscription.

6. Coverage of the entire state, with more coming soon.

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7. Seven Pulitzer Prizes.

8. Do you really want to go to City Council meetings yourself in order to know what happened there?

9. The best photography of any local paper in the country.

10. Amazing food reviews of an amazing restaurant scene.

11. The comics, of course.

12. Our Essential Minnesota newsletter brings all the Minnesota news you need into one extraordinary daily email.

13. Regular Puzzle Books for games nerds.

14. Laura Yuen’s columns will make you cry (in a good way).

15. Investigative reporting that looks out for your interests.

16. Commentary from every corner of the state.

17. The new Sunday “Remembering” section that honors those we have lost.

18. Insightful business perspectives from Evan Ramstad.

19. A free subscription for every Minnesota high school graduate.

20. An award-winning print edition that doubles as great wrapping paper.

21. Largest newsroom in the Midwest.

22. Great events that bring the community together.

23. Kitschy State Fair T-shirts that will increase your local street cred.

24. Sports coverage of seven (!) pro sports teams.

25. Because social media will never be the best filter for what you need to know.

26. A community with great journalism is a community with great conversations.

27. We help small businesses reach customers and grow our economy.

28. Archives of the state’s history spanning 157 years.

29. Outdoors coverage that gives you a reason to get outside year-round (with more coming soon!)

30. An Editorial Board that helps make sense of what’s happening each week.

31. Thoughtful letters from community members who aren’t shouting at each other.

32. Myron Medcalf’s columns and book club will make you think.

33. Amazing tours of our printing plant in Minneapolis.

34. Strong local news leads to greater voter participation, and less polarization (really — studies show this!).

35. Carlos Gonzalez’s photos of the Wolves, Wild, Vikings and Twins will take your breath away.

36. Our Going Out section is your one-stop shop for things to do in the Twin Cities.

37. High school sports hubs that track Minnesota prep sports, with deeper coverage on the way.

38. Our investigative work on rape investigations, elder abuse, people with disabilities, juvenile justice and child abuse has helped change laws for the better.

39. Great gift idea alert: You can order posters of your favorite Star Tribune pages.

40. Ever wonder what Minnesota’s Best products are? Our annual reader-voted contest has you covered.

41. The best local sports columnists in the country.

42. Jump the paywall: Subscribers can gift articles for free.

43. Our Instagram account is actually pretty good.

44. Our annual Investor’s Roundtable will help you get rich quick (OK, disclaimer, it won’t, but it’ll deepen your knowledge of the market!).

45. Our e-edition lets you see the print layout online without having to pick up a paper.

46. Speaking of paper, we’re one of the top recyclers in Minnesota.

47. Curt Brown’s biweekly stories on notable events and people in Minnesota history will broaden your knowledge of our great state.

48. Chip Scoggins’ Sports stories get to the heart of our humanity.

49. Minnesota transplants: We’re your guide to your new home.

50. We invented the Homer Hanky (and you can buy them online!).

51. Subscribers get four weeks of the Washington Post for free.

52. We have the biggest politics and government team in the state.

53. We advocate for open records and open government.

54. You want back copies? We’ve got back copies, up to 30 days past.

55. We sell books, too.

56. We cover the Wolves — in the NBA, and in the wild.

57. We want to serve you for another 157 years.

Why stop the list at 57, you might ask, and not go all the way to 157? Let’s be honest, you neither needed nor wanted to read a list that long. And we’ve got work to attend to, strengthening Minnesota’s newspaper for a new era in journalism.

OK, wait, there is one more thing to add to this list: We have the best readers of any news organization in the nation. Your stories are shaping the future of our state, and it’s our honor to get to tell them.

Thank you for showing up for us not only on our birthday, but every day. Minnesota deserves a great news organization. It’s our privilege to work hard every day to give you just that.