Rochelle Olson

Saint Paul

Reporter at The Minnesota Star Tribune

Reporter

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Articles

Olson's Cheers & Jeers: Just cheers

1 week ago | startribune.com | Rochelle Olson

Opinion editor's note: Strib Voices publishes a mix of commentary online and in print each day. To contribute, click here. Cheers to Gov. Tim Walz who had to confront a fast-moving crisis of a manhunt while taking in and grieving the horrific, unconscionable loss of his ally and friend, former House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark.
In Melissa Hortman, so soon after Kari Dziedzic, Minnesota politics loses another selfless leader

1 week ago | startribune.com | Rochelle Olson

By Rochelle Olson We will struggle to understand the violence. We will be changed collectively and individually in ways we can't yet know. Like Dziedzic, I believe Hortman would want us to get to work. She'd grab another bag of Cheez-Its, as I saw her do last month in the late-session negotiations, and head off to another meeting, looking for ways to make life better, to heal, lift up, plug the gaps and rework the safety net.
Walz skips the sweet stuff for law school grads

1 month ago | startribune.com | Rochelle Olson

Opinion editor's note: Strib Voices publishes a mix of commentary online and in print each day. To contribute, click here. Cheers to Gov. Tim Walz for skipping the feel-good bromides at the University of Minnesota Law School graduation and serving up reality about the state of our legal system under President Donald Trump. "This is what the crumbling of rule of law looks like in real time.
As stakes climb, talks get tougher

1 month ago | startribune.com | Rochelle Olson

Gov. Tim Walz speaks to the press on the last day of the legislative session on May 19 at the State Capitol. (Leila Navidi/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
Firefighters, a fraught fundraiser and a possible pardon

1 month ago | startribune.com | Rochelle Olson

Opinion editor's note: Strib Voices publishes a mix of commentary online and in print each day. To contribute, click here. Cheers and godspeed to the firefighters, many of them volunteers, working to fight the multiple forest fires in northern Minnesota. It's only May with a long, potentially hot summer ahead, so please exercise caution and heed the caution of Gov.
Will Minnesotans be able to legally purchase keys after July 1? The kerfuffle continues.

1 month ago | startribune.com | Rochelle Olson

The House-Senate conference committee should scrub the new law on keys or push out the start date.
Where leadership is and isn't

1 month ago | startribune.com | Rochelle Olson

Opinion editor's note: Strib Voices publishes a mix of commentary online and in print each day. To contribute, click here. Cheers to the Minnesota Supreme Court, especially Justices Sarah Hennesy and Karl Procaccini for the overdue recognition that women's breasts aren't inherently lewd, so merely exposing them isn't indecent behavior. Hennesy and Procaccini wanted to go further by spelling out that under the law, breasts aren't private parts.
Rep. Angie Craig enters U.S. Senate race ready to upset seniority, decorum

1 month ago | startribune.com | Rochelle Olson

By Rochelle Olson Craig's speech quoted Wellstone, but mercifully she didn't use the most famous quote about how we all do better when we all do better. Instead, she said, "politics doesn't have anything to do with left, right or center. It has to do with trying to do right by people."As she concluded, the gun-owning grandmother of three smiled, grabbed the pint of beer by her side and said, "Cheers, everybody, I'm taking a drink."
Olson: It's closing time

1 month ago | startribune.com | Rochelle Olson

Rochelle Olson is a columnist on the Minnesota Star Tribune Editorial Board focused on politics and governance.
Former Walz rival fights for service dogs

1 month ago | startribune.com | Rochelle Olson

Opinion editor's note: Strib Voices publishes a mix of commentary online and in print each day. To contribute, click here. Cheers to two-time Republican GOP gubernatorial candidate, former legislator and Hennepin County Commissioner Jeff Johnson, who continues to engage in important work after leaving public office. Since 2020, Johnson's been executive director of Can Do Canines, which trains and provides free assistance dogs to the disabled.