The Minnesota man who tried to bust Luigi Mangioni out of jail is from Mankato, according to NY Times.

Gov. Tim Walz pushed back against border czar Tom Homan’s suggestion that Minnesota is obstructing ICE detainers in jails. “We will honor every single detainer that is in our prisons to turn people over, just like we have for 30 years.”

A man wearing a black jacket has been tackled to the ground after spraying an unknown substance on U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar.

As a journalist, I have concerns about how using words could result in "actions and consequences."

Guardian does an excellent job detailing the brutality of the murder on Eat Street. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

While I also encourage you to follow (& financially support) local news orgs, I also highly recommend @dailyyonder.bsky.social for their coverage of rural areas that are often bypassed (though shoutout to @brianarola.bsky.social at @minnpost.bsky.social for his wonderful work in greater #Minnesota)

Can confirm that ICE took two sub-contractors (at least one reportedly a citizen born in the U.S.) from a construction site in Mankato today. The workers were outside VINE, an adult community center, when federal agents detained them in the parking lot and drove away.

ICE agents are especially active in Mankato, St. James and St. Peter today. Southern Minnesota still seems like the main focus of Operation Metro Surge's expansion into Greater Minnesota.

Mankato City Council members adjourned their meeting tonight as a crowd of 300+ called on them to do more against ICE.

David Mesta, a COPAL organizer, said construction workers were stuck on a roof over the weekend in Mankato as ICE waited to try detain them. At least one other person got stopped leaving Walmart.

More than 300 people are at Mankato’s City Council meeting tonight, where residents are calling on city leaders to protect residents from ICE.

Late last week and over the weekend I saw more and more reports of spikes in ICE activity in Greater Minnesota. Operation Metro Surge, it turns out, isn't limited to the Twin Cities metro. www.minnpost.com/greater-minn...

I'm up in rural Stearns County taking care of some traveling family's animals. ICE is out in small towns, farms, ag. businesses too. Unfortunately not much opposition has been able to organize out in these parts of the state. There's no doubt in my mind "metro surge" has gone statewide.

Groups in Mankato and Rochester demanded ICE agents to stay away from schools. The Mankato group, including educators and students, rallied Friday outside Mankato East High School.

Our Greater Minnesota reporter @brianarola.bsky.social attended a vigil in Mankato attended by ~100 people, and spoke with people involved in similar events in Duluth and Rochester. “Her name was Renee Nicole Good, and we should remember it so close to our hearts."

Purely hypothetically, could Gov. Tim Walz appoint himself to fill a vacant U.S. Senate seat? To answer that question, I looked back on a fascinating period in Minnesota history. www.minnpost.com/fact-briefs/...

Department of Homeland Security agents are in Mankato, according to the city. Mankato has sizable Somali and Hispanic communities. A Somali leader recently told me locals were fearful of ICE coming to town, even though they’re legal residents.

Red Lake is one of only two closed reservations in the U.S., meaning the land is held in common by its tribal members. My Q&A with a man working to connect more tribal youth to the land: www.minnpost.com/greater-minn...

More licensed cannabis transporters need to come down the pipe to get products from cultivation sites to dispensaries. As is, a scarcity of transporters is contributing to supply bottlenecks. www.minnpost.com/greater-minn...

Support MinnPost this Give to the Max Day and help us reach our $25,000 goal! We’ve raised over $14,000 so far - any amount you give will help us get one step closer to our goal AND you'll be supporting our local, independent news coverage. Donate now: buff.ly/6UglJEC

Appleton, a western Minnesota prairie city, lost half its population when a private prison closed in 2010. ICE's interest in the vacant facility for an immigrant detention center has locals weighing economic promise against moral compromise. www.minnpost.com/greater-minn...

Another excellent piece from MinnPost! The end of SNAP benefits would likely lead to the loss of a massive number of rural grocery stores. www.minnpost.com/greater-minn...

Northern Lights shining bright over Mankato tonight.

NDAs, used to keep information from the public, are being normalized in local government, including in connection to a proposed data center outside of Duluth. www.minnpost.com/greater-minn...

MinnPost's newly launched Capitol Conversations Newsletter by @rlyrealmattblake.bsky.social is sure to be a must read. Sign up: www.minnpost.com/capitol-conv...

“The farmers need it, there’s no doubt, but it’s kind of been self-inflicted by the president’s policies." www.minnpost.com/greater-minn...

A club ‘no one asked to be a part of’: Two decades on, Rocori shooting survivors reflect on lingering trauma www.minnpost.com/greater-minn...

Ahead of today and Wednesday's Nobel Conference at Gustavus, I spoke with researcher Ulbe Bosma about his work researching sugar's bitter role in history. www.minnpost.com/greater-minn...

Outside of a clinic in North Mankato slated to close in December, the DFL organized a rally Friday highlighting Republican cuts to Medicaid and the ACA, which party chair Richard Carlbom says will lead to more hospital and clinic closures and rolled back services.

Local grocery stores are lifelines for small towns. If the one in Greenbush closed, residents would have to travel 50 miles for other options. Cuts to food assistance will hurt these grocers and rural Minnesotans. www.minnpost.com/greater-minn...

Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth doesn’t rule out gubernatorial run, but says her current role feels like the right place to be.

MinnPost collaborated with Rural News Network on Sowing Resilience, a project exploring food insecurity in rural communities. For it I visited remote areas of Minnesota to learn how vital grocery stores are to quality of life. www.minnpost.com/greater-minn...

Farm Aid 40 in Minneapolis was a day I won’t forget. Great story/photos by my MinnPost colleagues www.minnpost.com/arts-culture...

Court rulings and/or legislation seem inevitable to clear up disputed interpretations of Minnesota's cannabis law by cities.

Any goodwill derived from Minnesota lawmakers having to work together more last session will be tested by gun control debates. www.minnpost.com/state-govern...

Two tiers of Minneopa Falls.

Enjoyed this interview with @jaygabler.com about the @duluthnewstribune.com's upcoming Edmund Fitzgerald podcast.

Fewer Canadians are coming to Minnesota this year amid strained U.S.-Canada relations. Last month I crossed the border for an interview with the Fort Frances mayor to hear how he's maintaining friendly relations with his American neighbors in International Falls. www.minnpost.com/economy/2025...

Print is not dead! Greater Minnesota reporter @brianarola.bsky.social wrote about three local, family-owned newspapers in a western Minnesota county that are hanging on in part through collaboration: www.minnpost.com/greater-minn...

Long story short, the last photo before my car broke down along Minnesota’s northern border was of Willie Walleye in Baudette.

O Canada! Giving myself a new, unofficial title as MinnPost’s international correspondent after today’s visit to Fort Frances, Ontario.

I ate my way through Minnesota’s biggest county fair, the Steele County Free Fair, over the weekend. Read on for highlights from one of my favorite events in Greater Minnesota.

Two Minnesota GOP congressmembers told me they want transparency when asked about the Epstein files, but what they'll do to ensure the Trump admin releases information remains to be seen. www.minnpost.com/national/202...

Gov. Tim Walz rocking a Mankato River Ramble hat at Farmfest today.

These 13 Minnesota cities applied for cannabis muni licenses. www.minnpost.com/greater-minn...

While in Montgomery for an assignment recently @photoellen.bsky.social and I got swept up in preparations for Kolacky Days, a celebration of the city's Czech heritage. Her photos at a bakery 100+ years old are the real highlight here. www.minnpost.com/greater-minn...

An Albert Lea man didn't want to sue the city, but may do so after Councilors defied state law by denying his cannabis business license Monday. www.minnpost.com/greater-minn...

In defiance of state law, the Albert Lea City Council denied a cannabis retail license by a 4-3 vote Monday. The consequences of this could be withheld state aid and lawsuits, according to the city’s manager and attorney. Council members voted against it anyway.

Here's the sign-up link for my Greater Minnesota Newsletter, where you'll find the latest selection of stories by me and my colleagues, plus other news from around the state. Why not sign up for all @minnpost.bsky.social newsletters while you're at it? www.minnpost.com/newsletters/

Trump-led cuts to public broadcasters, backed by Minnesota Republicans in Congress, were aimed at NPR and PBS. But community radio and TV stations in Greater Minnesota are likely to pay for it most. www.minnpost.com/greater-minn...