In Minneapolis, the immigration enforcement story has tested not just what reporters and editors cover, but how quickly a newsroom can pivot when events unfold faster than traditional rhythms. Over the past month, national attention focused on unrest in Minneapolis while local journalists reported on shootings and enforcement actions tied to immigration efforts, including the death of ICU nurse Alex Pretti on Jan. 24 and a later episode involving Renee Good.
The article said that the Star Tribune had invested in its newsroom enough to respond in real time, including through digital tools. Steve Grove, the paper’s publisher and chief executive, said: “If you hadn’t invested in the newsroom, you wouldn’t be able to react in that way,” linking the outlet’s readiness to its prior staffing and digital transformation choices.
Grove’s comment came as the paper’s leadership described why Minneapolis journalism has been able to compete for attention. Kathleen Hennessey, the Star Tribune’s senior vice president and editor, said the outlet operates within what she called “the whole ecosystem is pretty darn good,” adding: “and I think people are seeing that now.” She pointed to Minneapolis’s journalism tradition, including public radio and television, and said Sahan Journal, a digital newsroom focusing on immigrants and diverse communities, has also distinguished itself covering President Donald Trump’s immigration efforts and the public response.
The story highlighted how local reporting teams assembled material quickly by relying on proximity and community knowledge. It said the Star Tribune’s Josie Albertson-Grove was among the first reporters on the scene after Pretti was shot dead, noting she lives about a block away and used her familiarity with neighborhood networks to help reconstruct what happened. It also described how other reporters—Liz Sawyer, along with colleagues Andy Mannix and Sarah Nelson—developed sources that helped the outlet report on who shot Good.
The article described the visual impact that quickly spread beyond Minnesota. It said Richard Tsong-Taatarii’s photo of a prone demonstrator being sprayed point-blank with a chemical irritant became defining, describing the scene in detail: two officers holding the man face-down with arms on his back while a third released a chemical from a canister close to his face, with bright yellow liquid streaming onto his cheek and splattering onto the pavement. The photographer, Richard Tsong-Taatarii, was quoted saying: “I was just trying to document and present the evidence and let people decide for themselves.”
Beyond immediate coverage, the Star Tribune’s immigration reporting also moved into explanatory and documentary reporting, the article said. It described stories that identified 240 of an estimated 3,000 immigrants rounded up in Minnesota, finding that 80% had felony convictions while nearly all had been through the court system, been punished, and were no longer sought by police. The article also described work by Christopher Magan and Jeff Hargarten, plus collaboration with Jake Steinberg on a study comparing the size of the federal force with that of local police.
The reporting also included accounts and analysis of fear and personal risk for residents watching immigration enforcement expand. Columnist Laura Yuen wrote that her 80-year-old parents began carrying their passports when they left their suburban townhouse, calling it “quiet, pervasive fear” in the Twin Cities, and she described downloading her own passport to carry on her phone, saying: “A document that once made me proud of all the places I’ve traveled is now a badge to prove I belong.” Other coverage, the article said, addressed health consequences of chemical irritants used by law enforcement—while noting that questions about what specifically was deployed went unanswered.
As the paper’s newsroom changed its workflow, Grove and Hennessey described how coverage roles and formats adjusted. The story said the Star Tribune rearranged staff to cover the episode aggressively through a continuously updated live blog on its website, offered free to readers, and put greater emphasis on video, including forensic studies on footage from the Pretti and Good shootings. Grove also described performance outcomes, saying traffic to the website had gone up 50 percent, paid subscriptions had increased, and the company was receiving thousands of dollars in donations from across the country.
The article framed the moment as part of a broader transition the paper has tried to make. It said under Grove, a former Google executive, the Star Tribune attempted a digital-first transition, turning over about 20% of its staff in two years and shutting its Minneapolis printing plant in December while moving print operations to Iowa. Grove said: “We face every single headwind that every local news organization in the country does,” but he also described a sense of fortune in scale, saying it was “the largest newsroom in the Midwest and it’s part of the reason we’re able to do this now.”
In the newsroom, reporters said the work has carried an emotional toll even as it drew audience engagement. The article said Sawyer described readers’ sharing and support as lifting her spirits and characterized it as public-service journalism, but she also said she and her husband, Star Tribune photographer Aaron Lavinsky, have a baby daughter and stagger their coverage to avoid being tear-gassed or arrested at the same time. Sawyer was quoted saying: “I think both residents and journalists in this town are running on fumes,” and: “We’re tired of being in the international spotlight and it’s never for something positive. People are trying their best to get through this moment with grace.” It said the newsroom’s leaders told staff there were “no normal beats anymore,” as multiple teams contributed to the immigration story.