Republican U.S. Rep. Pete Stauber, standing beside President Donald Trump, was introduced as a “great hockey player” in front of thousands of adoring fans in Bemidji last month. Weeks later at another rally in Duluth, Trump counted Stauber among the GOP’s “real warriors.” Around the same time, Stauber’s DFL opponent, Quinn Nystrom, was getting a boost from Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, who also made a stop in Duluth, the largest city in northern Minnesota’s sprawling Eighth Congressional District. The district, once a DFL stronghold, has the distinction of being the only one in […]Read full article >

A handheld emergency declaration device was all that kept a man from freezing to death while camping alone deep in the northern Minnesota wilderness. The adventurer sent out an electronic SOS from deep within the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCA) on Saturday, and rescuers answered the call and brought the man out just in time amid temperatures in the teens, according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR). “It was still snowing heavily when they initially found his campsite” at Nina Moose Lake, roughly 25 miles north of Ely, said DNR spokesman Joe Albert. “Most of the clothes the man had were […]Read full article >

U.S. Sen. Tina Smith tested negative for COVID Monday after learning that a person at one of her campaign events last week tested positive. Smith, a Democrat, tweeted Sunday night that she would self-quarantine until getting the test results. She tweeted her negative test results on Monday morning and said she would be headed back to Washington, with the Senate in session this week. She noted that the campaign event was outdoors, that masks were required and that she was never in close contact with the person who tested positive. Smith’s Republican opponent, former Rep. Jason Lewis, has quarantined himself several times in recent […]Read full article >

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court is agreeing to review a Trump administration policy that makes asylum-seekers wait in Mexico for U.S. court hearings. As is typical, the court did not comment Monday in announcing it would hear the case. Because the court’s calendar is already full through the end of the year, the justices will not hear the case until 2021. If Joe Biden were to win the presidential election and rescind the policy, the case would become largely moot. Trump’s “Migrant Protection Protocols” policy, known informally as “Remain in Mexico,” was introduced in January 2019. It became a key […]Read full article >

Sports 572788841 Sid Hartman talks with Patrick Reusse about his many Minnesota sports memories In a series of videos, fellow Star Tribune sports columnist Patrick Reusse sat down with Sid Hartman to talk about his memories of all things Minnesota sports.  October 19, 2020 — 5:26am […]Read full article >

Sid Hartman was, for all of his 100-plus years, a hometown guy. Born on the North Side of Minneapolis on March 15, 1920, he worked for newspapers in his hometown for nearly his entire life, until his death on Sunday afternoon. From a humble start selling newspapers on the street in 1928, he wrote about sports for the Star Tribune for the ensuing decades. He was still writing three columns a week, his final one appearing on the day he died. “My father’s extraordinary and resilient life has come to a peaceful conclusion surrounded by his family,” his son, Chad Hartman, tweeted early Sunday afternoon, announcing his passing. […]Read full article >