# Star Tribune *American daily newspaper based in Minneapolis, Minnesota* The Minnesota Star Tribune is a daily newspaper published in [[Minneapolis]]. It carried the name Star Tribune from 1987 until it was renamed in 2024. Wikipedia reports that, as of 2026, it is the largest newspaper in [[Minnesota]] and the seventh-largest in the United States by print circulation. It circulates in the Twin Cities metropolitan area, across the state and in the Upper Midwest.[^1] The paper descends from two titles: the Minneapolis Tribune, first issued in 1867, and the Minneapolis Daily Star, founded in 1920. During the 1930s and 1940s the two were run together, the Tribune as the morning paper and the Star as the evening paper. They merged in 1982 as the Minneapolis Star and Tribune and became the Star Tribune five years later. The paper was sold more than once and filed for bankruptcy protection in 2009, and Glen Taylor bought it in 2014. Reporters for the paper and its predecessors have received eight awards of the [[Pulitzer Prize]].[^1] In the project's record the paper appears mainly as a source, with its reporting set beside primary documents. These include an Attorney General's assurance of discontinuance,[^2] a Minnesota Supreme Court reprimand of a county attorney,[^3] and a Secretary of State canvass.[^4] In a few entries the paper is a participant. One is a county jail that classified incoming newspapers as contraband and gave its general population a single shared copy of the Star Tribune. Another is the [[Minnesota Historical Society]], which cancelled scheduled tours after the paper asked for comment.[^5] Since April 2023 the publisher has been Steve Grove, who previously led a state agency under Governor Tim Walz.[^1] ## Who Colonel William S. King, William D. Washburn and Dorilus Morrison founded the Minneapolis Daily Tribune. Two of them had earlier run other Minneapolis papers, the *State Atlas* and the *Minneapolis Daily Chronicle*. The new paper was intended to bring the local [[Republican Party (United States)]] behind a single newspaper.[^1] Gilbert A. Pierce and William J. Murphy bought the Tribune in 1891. Pierce's share passed to Thomas Lowry and then to Murphy, who became the only owner. At his death in 1918, Murphy left an endowment for a school of journalism at the [[University of Minnesota]]. The Cowles family later consolidated the city's newspapers.[^1] Glen Taylor, a billionaire and former Minnesota state senator, bought the paper in 2014.[^1] Michael Klingensmith served as publisher from 2010 until April 2023, when Steve Grove succeeded him. Grove had headed the [[Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development]] in the administration of Governor [[Tim Walz]]. Before that he was a reporter and then a [[Google]] executive who led the Google News Lab.[^1] Former staff include [[R. T. Rybak]], a reporter who later served as mayor of Minneapolis, and the columnist Jim Klobuchar.[^1] The paper's editorial board appears in the at-issue record below for its account of St. Cloud after the 2016 [[Crossroads Center attack]].[^5] ## What The daily paper has five sections: main news, local news, sports, business, and variety. Weekly sections include Taste, travel, Outdoors Weekend and Science + Health. The Sunday opinion section is Opinion Exchange.[^1] From 1987 the paper printed three editions: one for Minneapolis and the western suburbs, one for St. Paul and the eastern suburbs, and a state edition for Minnesota and the Midwest. In 1999 the St. Paul edition was replaced by a single metro edition, and the state edition continued. In the Twin Cities the paper competes with the St. Paul–based Pioneer Press. The Pioneer Press leads in the eastern suburbs and the Star Tribune in the western suburbs, and the two papers share some printing and delivery.[^1] The paper began publishing online in 1995 and launched StarTribune.com in 1996. It put the site behind a paywall in 2011.[^1] In 2021 the staff won the Pulitzer Prize for breaking news for coverage of the murder of George Floyd, which the prize citation described as "urgent, authoritative and nuanced." The staff won the same prize in 2026 for reporting on the Annunciation Catholic Church shooting.[^1] The paper's reporting on the [[Feeding Our Future]] case is cited throughout the record. It includes a timeline of the investigation[^6] and a preview of the [[Office of the Legislative Auditor (Minnesota)]] report on whether the Minnesota Department of Education did enough to stop the fraud.[^7] It also includes reporting on officials' handling of fraud warnings.[^8] Related coverage includes an audit's finding of widespread problems in the Department of Human Services' oversight of behavioral health grants.[^9] A February 25, 2026 article examined the numbers behind President Trump's repeated claim of $19 billion in Minnesota fraud.[^10] The opinion pages carry both sides of disputes over public offices. A commentary by Grier Weeks of PROTECT stated that "less than 3% of child sexual exploitation cases resulted in prison." The underlying county comparisons are the author's own.[^11] Washington County Attorney Pete Orput replied in a counterpoint that his office "asked for a guideline sentence in 95% of those cases."[^12] The paper also reported that the University of Minnesota signed an agreement acknowledging discrimination against white and Asian students and cut ties with a recruiting nonprofit.[^13] ## When - May 25, 1867: first issue of the Minneapolis Daily Tribune.[^1] - 1878: the Minneapolis Evening Journal begins publishing, the Tribune's first competitor.[^1] - November 30, 1889: fire at the Tribune's downtown headquarters.[^1] - 1893: the Tribune sends its first Washington correspondent.[^1] - 1905: Murphy buys the Minneapolis Times and folds it into the Tribune.[^1] - 1982: merger as the Minneapolis Star and Tribune; renamed the Star Tribune in 1987.[^1] - 2009: bankruptcy filing; 2014: purchase by Glen Taylor; 2024: renamed The Minnesota Star Tribune.[^1] ## Where After the Cowles consolidation, the papers moved into the former Daily Star building in downtown Minneapolis. The building was renovated in 1939–40 and enlarged in 1946–49, and from 1949 it housed both papers' offices and presses. In the 1980s the Freeman Building annex was built across the street and joined to it by skyway. In 1987 the company opened the Heritage Center printing plant in a historic warehouse district at the northern edge of downtown.[^1] In 2014 the company announced it would leave its 95-year-old headquarters for the Star Tribune Building in the Capella Tower complex. The move cleared ground for development near U.S. Bank Stadium. The last employees moved in mid-2015, and demolition was completed that year. From 2014 the Heritage plant printed the Pioneer Press under contract, and from the following year it printed regional copies of USA Today.[^1] ## How much - 1891: Pierce and Murphy paid $450,000 for the Tribune.[^1] - 1987: the Heritage Center printing plant cost $110 million.[^1] ## How many - The 1889 fire killed seven people and injured 30, and destroyed the building and presses.[^1] - The Heritage Center ran five offset presses.[^1] - Pulitzer Prizes: three for the pre-merger papers (1948, 1959, 1968), three for Star Tribune journalists (1990 and two in 2013), and staff prizes in 2021 and 2026, for eight in total.[^1] ## In the at-issue record The project's at-issue file has five entries in which the paper appears. The file pairs each entry with a 2025–26 presidential action. Those orders are cited below as the file's pairing, not as the source of each entry's facts. - **Sherburne County Jail.** According to the entry, from June 2019 the [[Sherburne County Jail]] treated incoming newspapers and magazines as contraband. It gave the general population one shared copy of the Star Tribune, gave prisoners in segregation nothing, and destroyed a publisher's mailings without notice. A federal suit named the county and [[Sheriff Joel Brott]] personally. It was settled on May 11, 2021, for $98,000 and a rewrite of the policy.[^5] - **Alexander Ramsey House.** In December 2024 the Minnesota Historical Society scheduled four "Victorian Christmas" tours of the [[Alexander Ramsey House]] on December 26. That date is the anniversary of the hanging of 38 Dakota men, executed while [[Alexander Ramsey]] was governor. The Society first said the tours would go ahead with the date noted. It cancelled them the same week, after the Star Tribune asked for comment.[^5] - **St. Cloud.** The editorial board credited the relationships of Mayor Dave Kleis, who said he had "the cellphone numbers of all the individuals I needed to talk to," with St. Cloud avoiding civil unrest after the 2016 Crossroads Center attack.[^5] Kleis had served in the [[Minnesota Senate]] for District 16 (1995–2002) and District 15 (2003–2005).[^14] - **Charter oversight.** The entry records a Star Tribune review finding that 53 of 91 charter school compliance reviews over five years documented serious governance problems. That is 58 percent of the state's own review sample. The figure rests on that single news source.[^15] One of the schools was [[Gateway STEM Academy]] in [[Burnsville]]. The [[Minnesota Attorney General]]'s assurance of discontinuance of December 8, 2023 covers nearly $300,000 in payments. These included $173,602.65 and $117,255 to companies headed by two board members, payments the office described as "not approved, much less discussed, by Gateway's board."[^2] The Star Tribune identified the school's authorizer as Pillsbury United Communities.[^16] - **Stearns charter closure.** The entry notes that the paper reported the closure of a Stearns County charter school within a broader 2024–25 wave of non-renewals and self-dealing findings. The paper made no self-dealing allegation about that school.[^17] The paper reported that the authorizer's January 15, 2025 non-renewal notice for Athlos Academy of St. Cloud cited several problems. Reading proficiency fell from 27% (2021) to 14% (2024), the school met 63% of performance standards against a 70% renewal threshold, and it faced a projected deficit near $800,000.[^18] The school closed in May 2025 after nine years. Enrollment had fallen from 651 (2018) to 248 (2024).[^19] Charter authorizers act under [[Minn. Stat. ch. 124E]].[^20] ## In the Minnesota record ### Who - **Dave Kleis.** The paper reported Kleis's retirement after twenty years as mayor of [[St. Cloud]], the longest tenure in city history. It noted he ran unopposed in 2008, 2012 and 2016.[^21] His tenure ended January 13, 2025.[^22] - **James Backstrom.** The paper reported the retirement of the longtime [[Dakota County Attorney]], who was first appointed in September 1987.[^23] On June 23, 2009, the Minnesota Supreme Court publicly reprimanded him in *In re Backstrom*.[^3] On June 4, 2020, county attorneys met in an emergency session and voted to seek transfer of police-involved death cases to the Attorney General.[^24] The record sources Backstrom's support for that change to Star Tribune reporting.[^25] - **Kevin Magnuson.** The paper reported that the Washington County board appointed Magnuson county attorney on June 7, 2022. Magnuson had joined the office in 2019.[^26] In the November 8, 2022 general election he received 87,218 votes (99.26%), against 649 write-ins.[^4] -