MinnPost is significantly expanding its coverage of Minneapolis and St. Paul government with the launch today of a new daily feature we’re calling Two Cities.
Two Cities, reported by Karen Boros and Joe Kimball, will focus on developments in Minneapolis and St. Paul City Halls. Karen will report on the people and issues in Minneapolis City Hall, and Joe will do the same across the river in St. Paul.
And both reporters know their way around city government.
Joe, familiar to MinnPost readers, is a former reporter and columnist for the Star Tribune and has covered St. Paul City Hall for many years.
Karen has just joined MinnPost’s team of journalists. Karen started her journalism career covering Minneapolis politics for the Sun Newspapers and later became the City Hall reporter for WCCO-TV. She also worked as a reporter in the Chicago bureau of CBS News and has reported for Minnesota Public Radio and Twin Cities Public Television. (You can read Karen’s engaging essay introducing herself to MinnPost readers here.)
We’ve asked Joe and Karen to dig into what’s going on in city government, whether it’s purely city-level activities or how the cities are affected by county, state or even federal action.
On occasion, Two Cities will also include neighborhood-level stories, if they are of interest beyond that neighborhood. Stories about city government matter most, of course, to the citizens of that city, who use local services, pay local taxes and elect local officials. But our goal for Two Cities is to report stories that will appeal to a broader audience.
Two Cities will have fresh, brief and newsy reports every Monday through Friday about what’s going on in the two city halls. In addition, each week Two Cities will feature an in-depth article, often focusing on how Minneapolis and St. Paul compare, how they compete and how they cooperate.
Two Cities coverage is made possible in part by a grant from the Saint Paul Foundation.
If you have news tips or other suggestions for our City Hall reporters, you can contact Karen at kboros@minnpost.com and Joe at jkimball@minnpost.com.
In the meantime, check out the first installment of Two Cities here.
Roger Buoen is co-managing editor of MinnPost.
Two superior reporters. And each of them has a University of St. Thomas connection. Joe graduated in journalism from there. And Karen taught in the Journalism Department.