I still have a lot to learn. What do you think I need to know? What issues in the Twin Cities need a reporter's attention? Tell me: 📨 kstokes@minnpost.com 🗨️ Signal +1 612.234.2611 🐦🐘📸🧵 @kystokes-DMs open Here's to six more great months, MinnPost readers!
11/ A reporter's job is to learn — and I'm only able to spend the time and effort it takes to learn about complex issues because appreciative MinnPost readers **became members.** If you're able to give $8/month, I'd deeply appreciate it:
10/ The Twin Cities are an interesting place to cover the "missing middle" housing debate. Minneapolis has (for now) the 2040 plan. And from reporting on St. Paul, I learned just how personal the idea of building a duplex can be:
A change to the city’s zoning laws, which could take effect later this year, could soon allow triplexes on single-family lots.
9/ I've learned about the challenges of serving some of our community's most vulnerable people
Since the pandemic, demand for food, cash and health programs has surged. But applicants have faced long waits on phone hotlines.
8/ I missed a lot more while I was gone — like the trash war in St. Paul? Totally missed that was a thing. I learned a lot about that⚔️ ancient battle ⚔️ , which is still playing out in at least one way:
The city council’s vote this week highlights just how much St. Paul has changed on this issue in a short amount of time.
7/ After a decade away from MN, watching the 2020 uprisings in my hometown from afar motivated me to move home. While some of the damage has been repaired, I've learned that in many ways, the deeper wounds still aren't healing:
The Minnesota Legislature approved millions of new dollars to help boost businesses and redevelopment projects along several corridors in Minneapolis and St. Paul that saw the worst destruction.
6/ I learned a lot reporting this story. It’s about the City of Minneapolis' troubled Black History Month expo, and the ex-employee in charge of it. I think the lessons are about diversity, power, and the responsibility that comes with spending public money:
The controversy is raising questions about who holds power in City Hall and what will become of the city's Racial Equity, Inclusion & Belonging Department.
5/ The first day I visited Minneapolis City Hall, my goal was just to find Council chambers, not write a story. Not a good day to be a rubbernecker. That day, they voted to demolish Roof Depot. I'd later learn a *lot* about that bitter, complex fight:
An occupation-style protest against tearing down an East Phillips warehouse — and a judge’s last-minute order halting demolition — were new twists last week in a drama that's lasted almost a dec...
4/ The first issue I learned about? After moving from Los Angeles (where it basically doesn't ❄️ in winter)… Back home to Minneapolis (where it always ❄️s in winter)… In the middle of the third-snowiest winter ever? Yeah, of course it was snow.
With complaints about snow and ice already mounting with more weeks of winter ahead, some city council members are renewing a push for a municipal sidewalk-clearing program. But at what cost?
3/ I've already got interesting 2023 election stories in the works — and I hope to learn a lot more about what Minneapolis & St. Paul voters are seeing. Are you getting mailers or ads already? Send them to MinnPost & Southwest Voices 📬
MinnPost and Southwest Voices are collecting election mailers — whether they arrive in the mail or in your social media feeds — to better understand how campaigns are framing the 2023 city electio...