Minnesota Star Tribune

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Columnist Ka Vang writes about sitting down with her children to talk about the viral video of a St. Thomas student. They had already seen it. “My children learned that their belonging in this country is conditional. Others learn that they may set the conditions,” she writes.

startribune.comVang: St. Thomas student’s viral hateful comment brings back painful memories“Go back to your own country, bitch.” A University of St. Thomas student was filmed hurling these words at a protester outside a Turning Point USA event with Riley Gaines earlier this month.

In Star Tribune Opinion’s new series, Minnesota writers make affirmative closing arguments for their choices in high-profile races. The goal is to give voters thoughtful perspectives to consider as they make their decisions.

From Wisconsin, the billionaire Richard Uihlein has poured money into Minnesota’s race for governor to benefit Republican Lisa Demuth. The Uihleins have contributed more than $130 million to conservative causes during the 2026 election cycle, according to Politico.

startribune.comThe biggest political donors in Minnesota races this election seasonMany of the ads now appearing on TV and social media are funded by a web of political committees and major donors whose connections are often difficult to trace.

The Minnesota attorney general race has also attracted substantial outside spending. Minnesotans for Justice, a Republican-funded political group, had spent more than $2 million on advertisements and text messages criticizing Keith Ellison by mid-September, according to MPR News.

startribune.comThe biggest political donors in Minnesota races this election seasonMany of the ads now appearing on TV and social media are funded by a web of political committees and major donors whose connections are often difficult to trace.

In northern Minnesota’s largest school district, officials are floating a worst-case scenario of school closures, consolidation of two high schools’ sports teams and the elimination of a cherished language immersion program.

bit.lyDuluth schools face closures and deep cuts if voters reject excess tax levyDistrict officials blame a weak economy and inadequate state funding for its financial hardships. But some voters say they’re weary of paying higher taxes.

A mother cougar and her three kittens were captured on a trail camera in northern Minnesota. It’s an extraordinary discovery that could signal the return of a big cat that hasn’t been known to breed in the state for more than a century. 🎧 bit.ly/4tx3ZFJ

Allision Lussier’s relatives never stopped believing the 47-year-old Native woman died in a domestic killing, at the hands of an abusive ex-boyfriend. Today prosecutors charged that man, Charles H. Foss, with second-degree unintentional murder and stalking.

bit.lyMurder charge filed in Allison Lussier’s death after years of family advocacyLussier’s ex-boyfriend, Charles F. Foss, has a long history of domestic abuse and was named by police as an original person of interest in her 2024 death.
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Following publication of the Journal’s report, her campaign said Flanagan “remembers being unable to afford the membership fee” but that universities and donors often cover the fees for students who can’t afford them, which is what eventually happened in her case.

startribune.comPhi Beta Kappa says Peggy Flanagan was an honor society memberThe Democrat running for U.S. Senate said in a 2016 Minnesota House committee hearing she was a member, which was called into question Wednesday.

“I can verify that Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, having been inducted in 2002 at the University of Minnesota,” Amber Cox, associate secretary and chief operating officer of Phi Beta Kappa, said in a statement.

startribune.comPhi Beta Kappa says Peggy Flanagan was an honor society memberThe Democrat running for U.S. Senate said in a 2016 Minnesota House committee hearing she was a member, which was called into question Wednesday.

Flanagan said in 2016 that she was a Phi Beta Kappa member. After the Journal asked about that claim, her campaign told the paper she was nominated but did not actually belong to the prestigious honors society, citing the cost of membership.

startribune.comPhi Beta Kappa says Peggy Flanagan was an honor society memberThe Democrat running for U.S. Senate said in a 2016 Minnesota House committee hearing she was a member, which was called into question Wednesday.

Meet the new baby cougars at Minnesota’s Wildlife Science Center: Lysandra, Elide and Gavriel. They arrived at the center from Washington in August; the now 5-month-old kittens were orphaned after their mother was killed by a landowner while preying on goats.