Erica Pearson

2 weeks ago | startribune.com | Erica Pearson

More than 120 years after its founding, St. Paul's Como Zoo is home to a menagerie of hundreds, including Samson the gorilla, Ivy the young giraffe and an anaconda called Xena. But the state's oldest zoo began almost by accident in 1897, with three whitetail deer. Those deer have been on Max Murphy's mind recently, as he plans a move from St. Paul's Lowertown to Como Park.

3 weeks ago | startribune.com | Erica Pearson

By Erica Pearson Before 1969 regulations, burn barrels were a part of city life in Minnesota. The Minnesota Star Tribune March 28, 2025 at 11:30AM When John Wood thinks about the chores he did as a kid in 1960s Minneapolis, one job sticks out. He and his older brother would take out their family's household trash and burn it in a barrel in their driveway, he said. His neighbors all did the same thing, sending clouds of stinky smoke into the air.

1 month ago | startribune.com | Erica Pearson

Is the IDS Center really Minnesota’s tallest building? Ranking Minneapolis' skyline gems is more complicated than it may seem. The sun sets on the city skyline, showing silhouettes of Capella Tower and the IDS Center. (Anthony Soufflé/The Minnesota Star Tribune)Minneapolis has one of the most impressive skylines in the Midwest, with two buildings rising above the others: IDS Center and Capella Tower. Which one is taller?

1 month ago | startribune.com | Erica Pearson

What’s the story behind Minnesota’s UFO car? A 1979 close encounter near Warren mysteriously damaged a deputy’s squad car. The approximate location of the crash was about a half-mile from the intersection of County Road 5 and Hwy. 220. (Alex Kormann/The Minnesota Star Tribune)Many see evidence of an extraterrestrial encounter in the cracked windshield and bent antennas of the amber-colored Ford LTD squad car permanently parked inside a museum in Warren, Minn.

1 month ago | startribune.com | Erica Pearson

75 years ago a plane crashed into a Minneapolis family’s house. What happened? The crash of Flight 307 took place during a March 1950 snowstorm. Workers searched through debris in south Minneapolis after the 1950 plane crash. The creekside block where Emerson Avenue meets Minnehaha Parkway in south Minneapolis was peaceful on a recent afternoon — the only sounds coming from dog walkers and planes passing overhead. But on a snowy night here 75 years ago, all was chaos.