Jay Boller
@jayboller.bsky.social
Co-owner/editor of @racketmn.com • News tips please: jay@racketmn.com • Sign up to support our work: https://racketmn.com/register
racket is five years old!!! i find that fact very hard to swallow and yet it’s true. here’s our fifth annual report to prove it. i feel very, very lucky that this is my job and my life!!!
Racket’s Year in Review: August 2025-July 2026 - Racket
Let’s dig into the facts and figures from Racket’s fifth year of operation.
racketmn.com
I'm getting good feedback on this, which always feels nice, but is particularly gratifying because this was a tough thing for the people I spoke with to talk about, for good reason.
Michaelangelo Matos@matoswk.bsky.social · 7d agoFour shootings around the perimeter of Uptown Minneapolis, three of them close to dance nights. What does the crime wave mean for nightlife? My newest for Racket is now up. (Gift link.) racketmn.com/its-terrible...
A great podcast interview with, how timely, a fire-behavior analyst. Go @jayboller.bsky.social go! racketmn.com/racketcast-e... @racketmn.com
RacketCast Ep. 57: Understanding MN Wildfires Feat. Fire Behavior Analyst Art Gonzales - Racket
What makes fires tick?
racketmn.com
Finally read the story, really good stuff from @jayboller.bsky.social racketmn.com/minnesotas-o...
Minnesota’s on the World’s Largest Lake—Why Don’t We Eat More Lake Superior Fish? - Racket
We posed that verbatim question to fishermen, regulators, fishmongers, historians, documentarians, restaurateurs, and biologists.
racketmn.com
We posed that verbatim question to fishermen, regulators, fishmongers, historians, documentarians, restaurateurs, and biologists.
Minnesota’s on the World’s Largest Lake—Why Don’t We Eat More Lake Superior Fish? - Racket
We posed that verbatim question to fishermen, regulators, fishmongers, historians, documentarians, restaurateurs, and biologists.
racketmn.com
I've spent the last two weeks talking and learning about fish. My findings:
Racket@racketmn.com · 2w agoThe long, up-'n'-down-'n'-slightly-up-again history of harvesting Lake Superior treats from the deep.
🏀 Introducing our brand-new, biweekly MN Lynx column from the great @brittrobson.bsky.social! 🏀
Minnesota Lynx at the Season's Midway Point: A Glorious, Unexpected Ride - Racket
Without superstar Napheesa Collier, Cheryl Reeve's 16-6 squad is digging deep and benefitting from breakout rookie Sylvia Miles.
racketmn.com
We have some opinions about some food we haven't eaten.
New 2026 Minnesota State Fair Food Revealed: Predicting the Winners and Losers - Racket
Let's get all Mel Kiper on the fair's 36 new food concoctions.
racketmn.com
Bought a cheap ticket and checked in with the old guy this week.
Racket@racketmn.com · 4w agoThis was Dylan’s first return to the Twin Cities metro area, aside from his recent Farm Aid appearance, since he played the Xcel in St. Paul in 2017, a fact he acknowledged exactly zero times.
Hey folks, happy to announce that I will be writing a couple of columns per month about the Lynx for Racket. Fulfills a longstanding desire--when I was at The Athletic, they were too slowly assembling a WNBA core staff before branching into team coverage and Minnpost has the very capable Pat Borzi.
we added a new feature to the racket site, STEP UP YOUR COMMENTS ACCORDINGLY (this made me lol @viamarsala18.bsky.social—everyone shop at instant replay sports!!!)
Latest from the "thing-that-annoys-me-to-Racket-pipeline"
MN Restaurants Are Addicted to AI Slop Advertising—Is It Even Legal? - Racket
We asked a lawyer all about it.
racketmn.com
Five years ago four unemployed journalists started this company with $4,000 combined dollars—pretty cool, if you ask me!
Racket Racks Up 8 Trophies at the 2026 Local Journalism Awards - Racket
In today's Flyover news roundup? All we're rounding up is Racket's performance at Tuesday's Minnesota Society of Professional Journalists Page One Awards ceremony.
racketmn.com
Our @madisonmcvan.bsky.social was named "Young Journalist of the Year" by the Minnesota Society of Professional Journalists for her exemplary work in 2025. You can look back at some of that work below. minnesotareformer.com/briefs/refor...
Reformer reporter Madison McVan named 'Young Journalist of the Year' • Minnesota Reformer
The Minnesota Society of Professional Journalists named Reformer reporter Madison McVan the state’s “Young Journalist of the Year” Tuesday for her work during 2025, when she covered a wide array of hi...
minnesotareformer.com
Your buds at Racket took home eight awards from the Minnesota Society of Professional Journalists tonight, including three first-place W’s! Thanks to everyone who read and shared our stories and supported our work over the last year. We just love ya.
If you would like to support the 28 newsroom workers affected by the Strib layoffs, here’s a link to donate: bit.ly/stribworkers
Support laid off Star Tribune workers! | Working Partnerships
Sign in to manage your activity, preferences, & tools.
bit.ly
🚨 50th & Nicollet Lustron house for sale! 🚨 New listing: www.edinarealty.com/homes-for-sa... Racket article from the archives:
Hey, What's the Deal with Those Metal Houses at 50th & Nicollet? - Racket
Only 2,000 Lustron Corp. homes still exist today. Six of 'em are on the same block in south Minneapolis.
racketmn.com
To Gruchow, wild places like the Boundary Waters offered perspective and clarity: Where the dominance of humanity is undetectable, our assumed superiority is lost.
What Are People For? The Imperiled Boundary Waters, Late MN Nature Writer Paul Gruchow, and Me. - Racket
As mining villains creep closer to the BWCA, we look to the wisdom of Paul Gruchow.
racketmn.com
From 2023:
A Vampiric Hedge Fund Is Eating the Pioneer Press Alive - Racket
Alden Global Capital became involved with the PiPress 17 years ago. Minnesota's oldest newspaper has shrunk by over 80% since.
racketmn.com
Frederick Melo, Reporter (TwinCities.com, Pioneer Press)@frederickmelo.bsky.social · 2mo agoAs much as I enjoy my job, the @PioneerPress could really use another local reporter or two. Tell Alden Global Capital we’re thin enough… contract negotiations commence Tuesday. Fair wages and staffing matter! Local news matters! That’s @MaryEDivine agreeing with me! #HedgeFund #localnews
I'm sorry but if some guy with infinite wealth buys a newspaper, that newspaper should never have to worry about $ ever again. Hope Glen Taylor's great-great-grandkids can afford a few more jet skis now.
Racket@racketmn.com · 2mo agoThis sucks.
The Minnesota Star Tribune will cut its workforce by 15% through buyouts and layoffs, executives said Tuesday evening, just a month after the newspaper won a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the Annunciation school and church shooting.
Minnesota Star Tribune cuts jobs and pursues nonprofit ownership structure
The decision to cut 65 jobs underscores the news industry’s ongoing challenges.
startribune.com
