Political clout: The pull of special interest

Sept. 11, 2002

Few Minnesotans realize how much the outcome of the November election will be influenced by two of the most powerful interest groups in the state.

Heroes: Behind the scenes with Minnesota's emergency workers

Sept. 11, 2002

After the terrorist attacks, Americans gained a better understanding of the challenges that are part of the job for public safety workers. Their actions defined what it means to be a hero. Now come behind the scenes for an interactive look at the lives of Minnesota's own local heroes: the firefighters, police officers and paramedics who work each day to keep us safe.

Double play: The Joe and Jake Mauer story

June 4, 2002

Joe and Jake Mauer. A year ago they made big-league headlines when they both were drafted by the Minnesota Twins. Since then the brothers have dealt with the realities of starting at the bottom. Follow along in this multimedia project while we spend a year with the Mauers as they try to climb the minor-league ladder, seeking their major-league dreams.

Connie's Garden Tour: Twin Cities public gardens

Ongoing

The Twin Cities area is blessed with an abundance of gardens -- rose gardens, rock gardens, Japanese gardens and wildflower gardens. Startribune.com offers a series of tours of some public gardens, with Star Tribune Home & Garden Editor Connie Nelson. Check back often for new gardens.

Spirit of the Lone Eagle

May 19, 2002

When Charles Lindbergh coaxed the nose of The Spirit of St. Louis off a New York runway 75 years ago, he was a lanky kid from Minnesota . When he put the wheels down on a Paris airstrip 33 1/2 hours later, he was a larger-than-life celebrity and hero to millions who saw themselves and their dreams brought to life in him. In an interactive, multimedia presentation, startribune.com recalls Lucky Lindy's achievement, with video from the takeoff and the celebrations after he landed, audio from people who remember the flight, a trivia game and much more.

America the Beautiful

After 9/11, the song 'America the Beautiful' rang out with new significance. Our four-part series on America reflects on the song, and begins in the "fruited plains." The series, running in four parts (April 28, June 30, Sept. 22, Dec. 15) features Flash slide shows, original fiction and poetry by local authors, local musicians' versions of the song and a photo gallery.

Life in a small town

April 21, 2002

To capture the rhythms of small-town life, staff writer Chuck Haga moved to Olivia, Minn., in April. With photographs by Brian Peterson, the series consists of 12 segments and includes multimedia slide shows and a reporter's audio journal.

Stories by Chuck Haga

Doing the math: An occasional series on school spending

An occasional series

This Star Tribune series seeks to answer a deceptively simple question: How do Minnesota schools spend their money? We hope this series will answer your questions about school spending.

Tracks on the Land

Feb. 25-25, 2002

Riders of all-terrain vehicles love the freedom to drive in most of Minnesota's state forests. But the powerful machines are ripping up the land and pitting outdoor enthusiasts against one another.

Stories by Tom Meersman; photos by Brian Peterson

The identity crisis

Feb. 10, 2002

Identity theft has become a booming criminal enterprise, damaging personal reputations and threatening the nation's security. Law enforcement can't keep up, and everyone is vulnerable.

Stories by Dan Browning and Chris Graves

Footprints of Family

Dec. 9, 2001

In this four-part series, more than a century after its ancestors landed in America, a Minnesota family returns to its Scandinavian roots to find relatives and reclaim its heritage.

Stories by Larry Oakes

To be a doctor

Nov. 25, 2001

Members of the University of Minnesota Medical School's Class of 2004 will be the state's doctors until the middle of the 21st century. Most have been going to the head of the class since junior high.

But now they're in a pack of curve-setters, and they're learning that a high grade-point average isn't the only thing - and maybe not even the most important thing - that defines their success.

Photos by Judy Griesedieck

Spending the tobacco money: Is this what the court had in mind?

Nov. 18, 2001

A non-profit organization was given a straightforward mission -- to help smokers quit -- by the court order that created it. But it has taken a radically different path.

Stories by David Phelps and Deborah Caulfield Rybak

Voiceless and vulnerable

Oct. 25, 2001

Minnesota has often failed in caring for its mentally retarded citizens, whether they lived in institutions or now in group homes. "Voiceless & Vulnerable" is a six-part investigative series by the Star Tribune looking into the system of care provided to the 17,000 mentally retarded Minnesotans living in state-licensed facilities.

Stories by Paul McEnroe

Voices for the Land

August, 2000 - September, 2001

In late 1999, a committee under the name Voices for the Land put out a call for Minnesotans to write 400-word essays about places they love, places they would want to pass on to the next generation, places they would miss if they were gone. More than 750 writers responded, and this past spring, Milkweed Editions published 25 of the essays in a small book called "Voices for the Land."

Assorted authors | Photos by Brian Peterson

Breathless

August 12, 2001

Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome, an illness that afflicts 150,000 each year, struck Jon Tevlin's wife without warning and left her in a coma. This is Jon's story about the battle to keep Ellen alive.

Stories by John Tevlin

The State We're In

Dec. 16, 2001

In 1973, Gov. Wendell Anderson was pictured on the cover of Time magazine holding up a northern pike, depicting what Time called "The Good Life in Minnesota." But the lives of Minnesotans, even then, had been changing the habitat that we so often touted. In this four-part series, we explore how our lifestyles conflict with our perceived commitment to the land, and how that has changed the state we're in.

Stories by Dennis Anderson

Peanuts on Parade

September, 2000

St. Paul honored native son Charles Schulz by displaying 101 statues of his beloved beagle, Snoopy. Local artists decorated each dog, and no two are alike. If you missed one or two or twenty, here's the place to see all the dogs on parade.

Photos by Regina McCombs

Bricks 'n' Clicks

July 7, 2000

It's almost a tale of two cities, the last city of the East, with stately older buildings, and the first city of the West, with buildings that look as though they sprang up yesterday.

Make mine an Old Fashioned

Feb. 4, 2000

Tending bar has no ceiling on retirement, as we found out when we asked readers to help us find the Twin Cities' oldest working bartenders. And these bartenders have plenty of stories to tell.

Story by Vickie Casey | Videos by Regina McCombs | Photos by Bruce Bisping

The Minnesota River

Dec. 12, 1999

It runs from South Dakota to the Twin Cities though Midwestern prairie lands, but pollution threatens one of the nation's most beautiful rivers.

Stories by Tom Meersman | Photographs by Brian Peterson