Nathaniel Minor
@nbminor.bsky.social
Politics reporter for the Minnesota Star Tribune. DM me your tips. Signal: nbminor.08
Well this would‘ve been a pretty big day on the ol’ beat www.cpr.org/2026/04/08/t...
State says it has reached tentative agreements that could build Denver to Boulder passenger train
Agreements must be approved by RTD, railroad and others before design phase can begin.
cpr.org
👀
Andy Kenney@andyknny.bsky.social · 4mo agoDebra Johnson will leave her job next year as chief executive of RTD, ending a difficult tenure that has seen RTD struggle to bring riders — and revenue — back to its buses and trains after a pandemic-era crash. She was offered a contract extension but declined it. denverite.com/2026/04/08/r...
Not good news for Blue Line Extension in Mpls or Federal Blvd BRT in Denver
Yonah Freemark@yonahfreemark.com · 4mo agoThe Federal Transit Administration released its annual report on new transit projects to fund. The report recommends a total of just $1.2 b for existing & new projects, a massive reduction from previous years. The federal role in funding new transit projects is being decimated.
It took nearly a year, but I was able to get "Regional Transportation District" into a @startribune.com story www.startribune.com/transit-plan...
Transit plan could upend Twin Cities’ decades-old suburban system
A bipartisan proposal at the Minnesota Capitol would consolidate a handful of suburban transit agencies that have offered services independent of Metro Transit.
startribune.com
Congrats to Rep. @katiejonesmpls.bsky.social and family, who biked to the hospital last week and came back with baby Hans. Here's what she told me about the ride:
My feed is mostly Denver and Minneapolis folks and they may as well be on different planets rn
🥲 Denverite still doing the lord’s work, aka filing records requests with DOTI
Denverite@denverite.bsky.social · 8mo agoDozens of upset neighbors allege a group of influential residents who were against the road diet gained an unfair advantage by hiring a former DOTI staffer to lobby the city.
Winter also wrote or co-wrote just about every significant transpo bill over the last decade. Funding, speed cameras, etc. She was a giant in that world. What a terrible thing. Rest in peace, Senator.
Andy Kenney@andyknny.bsky.social · 8mo agoFaith Winter is why Colorado has a paid family leave program. My enduring memory: breaking the news to her that the AP had called it and the measure had passed, five years ago this month. She was killed in a car crash today. I wish her loved ones solace and comfort. coloradosun.com/2025/11/26/f...
Had tickets to Neko Case at First Ave and sold ‘em so I could see Sir Paul and I’ve gotta say the man delivered.
Reading up on MN transpo stuff and came across this series from editorial writer Steve Berg the Strib ran back in 2002. Lots of talk of induced demand, freeway blight, etc
NEW: Minnesota rebuffs DOJ demand for voter rolls, says feds don’t have legal right to it --> www.startribune.com/minnesota-re...
Minnesota rejects fed demand for state’s voter rolls
State elections officials say the U.S. Department of Justice doesn’t have a legal right to the state’s voter registration list.
startribune.com
NEW: Republican bill in Congress would explicitly ban federal funding for train between Twin Cities and Duluth, gut grant program that would fund Blue Line extension www.startribune.com/republican-b...
Republican bill would ban federal funding for train between Twin Cities and Duluth
It also would gut funding for a federal grant program the Metropolitan Council is counting on for a planned extension of the Blue Line light rail project and a planned bus rapid transit line.
startribune.com
Coming from Denver, where RTD was somewhere around 70-75% of pre-pandemic service and really didn’t want to talk about it, this is remarkable.
wpb003@wpb003.bsky.social · last yr.With August's changes, Metro Transit says that BRT and local bus service levels will exceed those of 2019, for the first time since COVID.
Former President Biden paid his respects to Melissa and Mark Hortman today at the Minnesota State Capitol. www.startribune.com/joe-biden-vi...
In reading and learning more about the Minnesota State Capitol for return-to-office stories and now security concerns, I was curious how the built environment around the cap has changed over the years. Folks, it's a lot. 1945 at left, current day at right
Gov Walz with some crispy comments at Rep. Jim Clyburn's South Carolina fish fry last night -->
In key 2028 state, Tim Walz says Democrats need to ‘beat the hell out of these dictators’
The Minnnesota governor, who says he’s open to a presidential run, also slammed the “corruption and the cruelty that’s happening under Donald Trump’s watch.”
startribune.com
A St. Louis Co Commissioner says USDOT staff told him last week that federal money was still coming for the Twin Cities-Duluth train. Then MN's four congressional Republicans asked USDOT to eliminate that $. “I’m extremely disappointed," the commissioner said. www.startribune.com/republicans-...
Republicans seek to gut federal funding for three Minnesota transit projects
One project, the Northern Lights Express, has bipartisan support, and the Republican advocating for it said he’s disappointed by the delegation’s letter urging elimination of funding.
startribune.com
Moved to Minnesota just in time to see a men's pro sports team embarrass itself in the playoffs. Good to be home.
TIL that one of the first Buffalo Wild Wings (er, BW3) restaurants was in Steamboat Springs, Colorado www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org?a=d&d=STP198...
Pour one out for the RTD slow zone debacle, June 3, 2024 - May 27, 2025. denverite.com/2025/05/27/r...
RTD ends ‘slow zones’ as a crew of 100 completes a year of repairs
Since last spring, the agency’s trains had traveled at just 10 mph for stretches of some routes.
denverite.com
Local newspaper man rides bus, has a good time (no, not me) www.startribune.com/roper-lets-c...
Roper: Let’s celebrate improvements to the local bus
A lot has changed in the last decade, with more promising upgrades to come.
startribune.com
Rep. Emmer and the rest of the MN Republican Congressional delegation are targeting federal funding for three rail projects here: Northstar, NLX, and Blue Line Extension. Read their letter: emmer.house.gov/_cache/files...
emmer.house.gov
Me, a reasonably experienced public policy reporter, trying to understand and follow the Minnesota legislature's process of debating and passing the state budget
NEW: Minnesota legislators are negotiating their $66 billion budget in private. "It's wrong," one legislator says. www.startribune.com/this-is-wron...
‘This is wrong’: Minnesota legislators negotiating biggest pieces of $66 billion budget in private
Legislators kicked a Star Tribune reporter out of their Human Services working group meeting on Wednesday after initially allowing them in.
startribune.com
NEW: Minnesota legislators are eyeing up a $77 million cut to the planned Duluth-Twin Cities Northern Lights Express train as part of a bigger state budget deal. They say they'll still have enough to match federal dollars, but rail advocates are not happy. www.startribune.com/minnesota-le...
Minnesota legislators eye $77 million cut to planned Duluth train
But they say they’ve left enough state money to still land federal dollars.
startribune.com
Learned today that two important stories I reported last year for @cprnews.bsky.social won an @rtdna.bsky.social Murrow award! This piece: www.cpr.org/2024/07/26/r...
Records show RTD chief of police, now under investigation, routinely drove agency vehicle over 100 mph
If the speeding was not during an emergency response related to his duties as police chief, it violated RTD’s internal rules and the law.
cpr.org
Colorado’s gonna legalize kei trucks
The Denver Post@denverpost.com · last yr.The Senate gave final approval to House Bill 1281, which would allow small cars called "kei vehicles" on Colorado roads (except highways). The lightweight vehicles are common in Japan, but Colorado's law has been "gray" on whether they're allowed here, Rep. Lindstedt said.
