Karen Tolkkinen

1 week ago | startribune.com | Karen Tolkkinen

CLITHERALL, MINN. - Remember when you were a kid and some classmates were being noisy so the whole class got yelled at? That's kinda how it feels in rural Minnesota right now.

2 weeks ago | startribune.com | Karen Tolkkinen

ALEXANDRIA, Minn. - They had the numbers. Nearly half a mile of protesters lined one of Alexandria's busiest streets, carrying signs supporting parks and forests, Social Security and veterans, the Constitution and democracy and Medicaid and Ukraine and trans rights. They were from Alexandria and Forada, Fergus Falls and Wadena and Morris and at least one all the way from Browns Valley next to South Dakota. Some had carpooled. Some met up with people they only knew from social media.

2 weeks ago | startribune.com | Karen Tolkkinen

In late January, Erica Drum of rural west-central Minnesota got almost the worst news a parent can receive. Her son, Jackson, had been badly injured in a hockey game in Canada. A slam into the boards had broken the 17-year-old's neck and left him paralyzed. Doctors told them that the fractures in his C-1 and C-2 vertebrae were complete, meaning that he was a quadriplegic and that he might not ever breathe on his own again.

2 weeks ago | thebrunswicknews.com | Karen Tolkkinen

By Karen Tolkkinen, The Minnesota Star Tribune FERGUS FALLS, Minn. -- When Rita Nau moved to Fergus Falls during the pandemic, she didn't know a soul. It can be hard to make friends in America, and greater Minnesota is no exception. But Nau has found ways. In January, the former restaurateur began baking bread and making soup for neighbors, friends and friends of friends - really, anybody who wanted to swing by her home on a Wednesday evening.

2 weeks ago | miamiherald.com | Karen Tolkkinen

FERGUS FALLS, Minn. -- When Rita Nau moved to Fergus Falls during the pandemic, she didn't know a soul. It can be hard to make friends in America, and greater Minnesota is no exception. But Nau has found ways. In January, the former restaurateur began baking bread and making soup for neighbors, friends and friends of friends - really, anybody who wanted to swing by her home on a Wednesday evening. "I feel like we're going into a very difficult time in our country," Nau said.