Hey, all – 

We keep going back and forth between spring and summer, but the Legislature has finished its work, the cottonwoods are shedding fluff and Memorial Day felt like Labor Day (without the humidity), so it really must be summer. We hope you all kicked back and enjoyed some time off and are ready for whatever summer brings.

The Bakken Center has a session coming up on June 17 at noon on Honoring Summer: Inviting Wonder and Aliveness, and I was struck by a phrase they used: “summer’s luminous energy.” Each season has its own light and as I wrote this while the golden evening light streamed through the trees, I felt that energy. Minnesotans definitely are solar-powered. Enjoy the long days, and store up the light for the cloudy ones!

Windchimes at artist and composer JG Everest’s sound garden installation in Marine on St. Croix, Ellen Schmidt, MinnPost.



Scroll on down for upcoming meetups and training, jobs, news of your colleagues, what our students are up to, and some interesting reads.

— Regina



The MJC is: Matt Carlson, interim director, Gayle (G.G.) Golden, associate director of student educational initiatives, Regina McCombs, associate director of outreach and training and Meg Martin, associate director of pretty much everything. Our director, Ben Toff, is on sabbatical this year.

We’re three months in to the new Sidebars series — low-key, drop-in gatherings where Minnesota journalists can hang out, meet each other and decompress. 

A giant THANK YOU to Angie Lee and the Moona Moono team for hosting the first Off the Record meetups, with pastries, games, delicious drinks and, of course, crossword puzzle contests. What a delight!

What’s next? We’ve had requests for an outing at the Bell Museum, an after-work hike, a crafternoon, a trivia night … what else? Share your recs and let us know if you’d like to help us plan — or just reply to this email.

Sidebars are a collaboration of AAJA-MN, MNSPJ, NABJ-MN and the MJC, and are organized by Samantha Hoanglong, Sheila Eldred, Scott Winter and Meg Martin.

Still available: Wellbeing grants, story-sharing and more

🛜 Get involved with story-sharing efforts in Minnesota — Our colleagues at PluckyWire are laying the groundwork for a Minnesota-wide newswire and story-sharing effort. If you’ve worked with the MJC’s Legislative Reporting Project, you’re familiar with Plucky. If not: It’s a free tool that allows news organizations to share their stories and photos with each other.

If this sounds like something your news organization would find interesting, please take a minute to fill out this form to tell the Plucky team what would be most helpful to you.

💸 Get funding for wellbeing and mental health support — What does wellbeing look like for you? Whether we realize it or not, we’re still navigating the impacts of Operation Metro Surge on our nervous systems, our bodies and our daily lives. What might help? 

The IWMF and CPJ’s Minnesota Journalist Rapid Response Fund was designed to give Minnesota journalists access to the things that can help them process the impacts of intense immigration coverage. (Think: Funding to help pay for therapy, yoga, a day off, etc.) You’re eligible for up to $500 in grant funding. Apply here.

🦺 If you’re reviewing your PPE situation and need equipment, there’s a new fund for that — Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has launched a new PRESS fund for U.S. journalists. Fill out this application form to request equipment. You can also still apply for PPE from the International Women’s Media Foundation’s U.S. emergency fund — and don’t miss IWMF’s recently updated PPE guide.

Many of these efforts have come from the suggestions or input of our colleagues around the state. We always want to hear from you! If you want to get involved in the planning, know of a great trainer or resource we should connect with, or have suggestions for topics, approaches or tools, please email Meg at martinme@umn.edu.

— Meg

♥️ ”I Got Your Back: The ICE Surge changed how Minnesotans show up for each other. Let’s talk about it.” Sahan Journal and Mixed Blood Theatre are teaming up for “an event filled with storytelling, informative conversations with community advocates.” Thursday, May 28, 6 p.m. at Mixed Blood Theatre in Minneapolis.

🎙️Kick it with KAXE: Continue the station’s 50th anniversary celebrations at its annual meeting — complete with volunteer awards, updates from the team and music from Keith Secola & The Rangers and The Cactus Blossoms. Thursday, May 28, 5:30 p.m. at Rapids Brewing Co. in Grand Rapids. 

🏅 SPJ: 2026 Page One Awards Banquet, Tuesday, June 16, 5-9:30 p.m. at The Lowlands in St. Paul.

Virtual training opportunities

• May 28 at 5 p.m.: Building your Mental Health Toolkit for Journalists
• June 4 at noon: Housing Journalism for Everyone 
• June 5 at 11 a.m.: Climate Reporting 102
• June 9 at noon: Trauma-informed Reporting: A Mental Health Reporting Project 

Bonus: Trusting News and Kent State are hosting a free, summer-long webinar series on creator journalism for high school educators and anyone interested.

In-person journalism events: Meet (and cheer on) your colleagues!

• June 9 at 6 p.m.: Volunteering and Mutual Aid: Taking direct action to meet needs [Winona Post] — Winona County History Center in Winona
• June 9 at 5 p.m.: Press Play on Community: Annual Celebration and Open House [SPNN] — SPNN studios in St. Paul

Mark your calendar

• THIS WEEK — Association of Health Care Journalists in Minneapolis, May 27-30
• AAJA in Minneapolis, June 24-28
• SRCCON in Minneapolis, July 8-9

Find more on our curated calendar — which you can subscribe to or share. And let us know what else to add by responding to this email.

The Aitkin Independent needs a part-time reporter.

AMPERS is looking for contract news producers for North Star Stories and a contract executive producer for Minnesota Native News.

The Caledonia Argus has an opening for an associate editor.

Fox 9 is hiring for a digital content lead and a streaming host producer.

Grand Forks Herald needs a public safety reporter (hybrid remote).

KAAL in Rochester is looking for a multimedia journalist and a newscast producer. 

KARE needs a morning meteorologist and photojournalist/editor. 

KAXE/KBXE is looking for a general assignment reporter. 

KEYC  in Mankato has openings for a digital content producer/news anchor and a multimedia journalist.

KBJR in Duluth needs a morning news anchor.

KSTP has openings for a TV producer and a TV reporter.

KTTC in Rochester is hiring a morning multimedia journalist and a digital content producer/news anchor.

The Marshall Independent needs a sports editor.

Minnesota Monthly is searching for an (entry level) associate editor for their Meetings + Events group. 

The Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder is looking for a digital editor.

MinnPost is looking for an executive director.

The Morrison County Record in Little Falls needs a community editor. 

The Owatonna People’s Press is looking for a managing editor. LinkedIn: Southern Minn editor role still open

Press Publications in White Bear Lake has an opening for a staff writer.

The Star Tribune is looking for an investigative reporter and Moore Fellowship video journalist (Columbia students only).

TC Jewfolk is searching for an audience growth & engagement editor. 

WDAY in Fargo is looking for a videographer, a morning news producer and a reporter/multimedia journalist.

WDIO in Duluth is looking for a Good Morning Northland producer.

The (Worthington) Globe needs a reporter (hybrid remote).

Interesting remote jobs

CatchLight needs a part-time local visual editor.

The Civic News Company is looking for a senior national reporter for its VoteBeat initiative.

Open Campus is hiring an engagement reporter focused on rural communities and their workforces. 

U.S. Right to Know is seeking a science reporter for an investigative project on pesticides and their impact on the environment and human health. 

Freelance opportunities

Conde Nast Traveler called for pitches for their upcoming Bright Ideas in Travel 2026–2027 listing, which “honors the players, places and projects that are approaching travel’s most pressing issues with thoughtfulness and zeal.” Read the call at the end of their guidelines page. Pitch deadline May 29.

Al Jazeera is looking for freelance reporting on business and economics: stories on farming, manufacturing, housing, technology, among other topics, and how President Trump's policies may be impacting businesses and people on the ground, and how that may play out in the November elections. Pay is $400 for a roughly 1,000 word original story with at least three separate interviews, inclusive of two photos (should you wish to take any) and $40 for every additional photo used. For pitches or to brainstorm ideas, reach out to Megha Bahree, Americas business editor.

Fellowships, grants other opportunities

The Society of Professional Journalists is inviting grant proposals for locally driven advocacy initiatives through its First Amendment Forever Fund. The endowment supports efforts to defend journalists’ rights, promote public understanding of the First Amendment, and respond to threats to press freedom, transparency, and accountability. For 2026, SPJ has budgeted $10,000 for grants to SPJ chapters, regions, and interest-based communities. Learn more and apply by June 15.

The Online News Association’s Women’s Leadership Accelerator is “an intensive program aimed at advancing women and nonbinary individuals in digital journalism.” Deadline May 31.

The Knight-Risser Prize for Western Environmental Journalism provides up to a $10,000 stipend to support the reporting of an enterprise or investigative environmental story in the western United States (west of the Mississippi River). Deadline: June 2.

Retraction Watch Research Accountability Reporting Fellowship offers fellows grants to investigate a local scientific integrity issue, plus mentorship and virtual training on scientific accountability reporting. Deadline: June 1. 

Heads up: Applications for the 2027-28 class of The New York Times's Local Investigations Fellowship will open July 1, 2026. Questions? You can watch the applicant webinar replay. 

Looking for something more? Check out our calendar of training opportunities and newsroom events.

Moves

Big news (and sad news) for us: Dr. Elisia Cohen has been named Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School at University of Minnesota. Current associate director María Len-Ríos has been named interim director, and a national search for the school’s new director will begin shortly. 

We mentioned Belinda Jensen’s retirement last month, but the station goodbye was fun – and moving: Belinda Jensen bids farewell as KARE 11 Chief Meteorologist and Saturday host. The Star Tribune covered her last day on the air: Belinda Jensen says goodbye to KARE viewers with help from famous friends.

All those meteorology jobs are being filled! 

KARE 11 names John Zeigler as chief meteorologist.

MPR News welcomes new chief meteorologist Ben Cathey.

Kit Thomas is the new meteorologist at KSTP. 

Ken Barlow had an accident at home and will now have spinal surgery and will be off the air for about six weeks.

Dirk DeYoung, editor in chief at Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal, is retiring in August.

Natalie Pierre is named the new sports editor at the Star Tribune.

Sasha Aslanian is back from NYC to be the senior editor of investigations for APMG/MPR News. Welcome home, Sasha! 

Also at MPR News, Kenichi Serino is the new deputy managing editor for culture and community.

The Circle News names Robert Pilot as chief editor.

Lindsay King is the new assistant news director at KSTP, and Joey Swanson and Matt Dunn join KSTP.

Chali Pittman has joined Isthmus as its new staff writer. Pittman most recently was the news director at Civic Media, a commercial radio network in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan. 

KDWB's Dave Ryan to retire after 33 years on the air. Congrats to Dave. A number of news folks interned with him over the years! 

Tyler Church has been named the new editor-in-chief at the Minnesota Daily, and Isabella Morden Wheeldon has been named managing editor. In the Know podcast: Meet the new leaders of the MN Daily newsroom.

Richard (Ricky) Weston has been named Vice President of Technology at Twin Cities PBS.

MinnPost has two new staff members through Report for America. Bridget Bennett is joining the team as a visual journalist and Claire Carlson will cover drinking water in collaboration with Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk. In addition, they have added four new full-time staff in the past six months: Cleo Krejci on state government, Trevor Mitchell on metro, Lydia Moran as audience producer and Maddie Robinson on community health plus a bonus newsroom member with Civic Bridgers video fellow Taylor Canas. Jim Bernard is leading the organization on an interim basis. 

Other Report for America 2026-2027 corp members in Minnesota are: Ben Austin, The Timberjay, as a local government reporter; Chandra Colvin, MPR News, covering Native news throughout Minnesota and the Upper Midwest; Stella Mayerhoff, KAXE/KBXE, reporting on Minnesota’s Mississippi River headwaters region; Ellen Schmidt will move to The Associated Press - Minnesota as a photojournalist; and Shelby Swanson, Star Tribune, will report on the business of sports in Minnesota.

Have updates to share in the next MJC newsletter? Tell us! Reply to this email — or send along your notes to Regina at rmccombs@umn.edu.

And more

Staff members at the Minnesota Star Tribune applaud upon hearing the announcement that the paper was awarded a Pulitzer Prize. Renée Jones Schneider, The Minnesota Star Tribune

A Pulitzer for the Star Tribune:

• Minnesota Star Tribune wins Pulitzer Prize for coverage of Annunciation shooting.
• First person from Kristin Painter on LinkedIn: I was in the newsroom when I got the text. A shooting at my kids’ school
• A church shooting shook Minneapolis. The Star Tribune’s newsroom responded together — and won a Pulitzer, Poynter 

Lots of folks spoke to newly-minted graduates this spring. 

• Chao Xiong, Sahan Journal, delivered a moving address at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism ceremony.
• Chase Davis spoke at Mizzou’s graduation. 
• Jana Shortal led the convocation at Carleton College. 
• Selah Jacoway, multimedia journalist at Valley News Live, spoke at MSU Moorhead.

Minneapolis-based Cecilia Reyes has been named a 2027 Nieman fellow.  

Minnesotans for Open Government presented Jane E. Kirtley with the John Borger Lifetime Achievement Award. The annual John Finnegan Freedom of Information Award went to all community observers who videotaped and documented federal immigration agent activity.

CNN’s McKenna Ewen releases a children’s book, "The Biggest Splash."

Mukhtar Ibrahim will be a Spring Point Partners’ Learner in Residence.

Former Star Tribune books editor Laurie Hertzel talks about her new book, The Ghosts of Fourth Street, on KAXE’s morning show.  

Kyra Miles was elected to the Public Media Journalist’s Association board. 

Congrats! Love blossomed on KDWB’s Dave Ryan Show for Twin Cities broadcasters Vont Leak and Alyssa Figueroa.

Jon Collins of MPR News spoke at the World Press Institute conference in Sofia, Bulgaria. He talked about Operation Metro Surge and building trust with the community. 

There are lots of good things happening at MinnPost. 

• They are working with Jackie Renzetti and City Bureau along with a growing list of newsroom partners like North News at Pillsbury United Communities, and have relaunched Minneapolis Documenters as Twin Cities Documenters with plans to expand to St. Paul. 
• Open Campus announced MinnPost will be among three newsrooms working collaboratively on in-depth accountability reporting on community colleges.

The 2025 Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism Winners for Television and Video Reporting — Short Form (All Sizes) include an honorable mention for KARE 11 Investigates: A Natural Death, A.J. Lagoe, Kelly Dietz, and Gary Knox.

American Public Media announces new digital audio advertising network, Morningstar 

Minnesotans are among the 2026 James Beard media award nominees! For the Craig Claiborne Distinguished Criticism Award: "Lake Street Phoenix"; "Dynastic"; "Beyond Pastry" by Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl in Mpls. St. Paul Magazine; the MFK Fisher Distinguished Writing Award for "Cooking Forward" by Hannah Agran, Midwest Living; Lifestyle Visual Media, Relish, TPT Originals; US Foodways (books) Turtle Island: Foods and Traditions of the Indigenous Peoples of North America, Kristin Donnelly, Kate Nelson and Sean Sherman.

Rough Cut podcast interviews Katie Grace Nelson about coming home to cover Operation Metro Surge.

Ellen Schmidt spoke at CatchLight's Visual Storytelling Summit in San Francisco.  

Alex Kormann demonstrates one of those times when being a photojournalist is the best job in the world. 

Magnum Foundation presented “Twin Cities: Held Together,” an exhibition featuring works by Minnesota photographers documenting the recent surge of violent immigration raids in Minnesota, at the International Center of Photography in New York City during the 2026 Photobook Fest. It featured local photographers Drew Arrieta, Jaida Grey Eagle, Tim Evans, Xavier Tavera Castro and Patience Zalanga.

ThreeSixty Journalism is one of five recipients of API-Knight grants to deepen youth engagement.

Nieman Journalism Lab continues to highlight the great work – and increase in local traffic – during Operation Metro Surge: Minnesota — and MPR — kept everyone’s attention at the start of 2026 and When ICE came to Minneapolis, readers turned to The Minnesota Star Tribune’s free live blog

Georgia Fort wins an IWMF Courage in Journalism award and the NABJ’s Ida B. Wells award. Plus: The Trump administration arrested this journalist. She says the censorship is ongoing, Washington Post 

Minnesota journalist Jill Burcum is back in the saddle, ‘thrilled’ with rural life, UMN Extension 

How Roosevelt High School students reported on the ICE surge in Minneapolis, MPR News 

Related: As threats to the press grow, student journalists are rewriting the rules, Poynter 

Grace Praxmarer, Sophia Arndt, Georgia Jensen and Owen McDonnell line up to receive their diplomas. Regina McCombs, HSJMC


Graduation on May 17 was a joyful ceremony (as usual) where filmmaker Scott Z. Burns (B.A., English, ‘85) offered this commencement advice: forget about what you will do for the rest of your lives and instead think about what you will do next. We aren’t sure about the scope of students’ thoughts, but we know a few are immediately heading into jobs, some are bound for internships and others are still waiting and looking for that next step. It will come. We wish all well. 

For students still in school, the Hubbard Reporting Experience cohort has been selected. Twenty students will come together in late July through early August for a 10-day “boot camp” of journalism skills covering neighborhoods around the Twin Cities campus. We are expanding the HRE-26 faculty reach this year with NBC News correspondent (and Hubbard School alum) Adrienne Broaddus, who will offer lectures and guidance to our newscast group led by Scott Libin. We will also have a sports focus led by the talented Scott Winter. Students will again be guided in investigative reporting by Chris Worthington. Other expertise will come from Hubbard faculty, including organization by G.G., photo oversight by Regina, Sara Quinn designing and managing the amazing website, and Matt Cikovic, working with the newscast and multimedia.

We have coordinated an internship for student Jess Keairns, who will assist the communication staff during the annual convention of the Association of Health Care Journalists May 27-30 in Minneapolis. Jess will help with social media and other coverage of the convention, which draws health care journalists from around the world.

With the Sahan Journal, we are delighted to sponsor Hubbard student Sara Hussein for this year’s 10-week internship. Thank you Chao Xiong, Trisha Collopy and the entire Sahan staff for their invaluable support. 

As our six students Report for Minnesota head to various areas of greater Minnesota to start their work on June 1, a big thank you goes out to the West Central Tribune, the Brainerd Dispatch, KAXE public radio in Grand Rapids, the Mankato Free Press and our two new partners: a joint reporting venture with the Austin Daily Herald and the Albert Lea Tribune; and another joint venture with Henning Publications, where a student will report largely for the Frazee- Vergas Forum and the New York Mills Dispatch. Editors and mentors at these organizations help students succeed. We’ll have more on the mentors in the next newsletter. 

Meanwhile, thank you ALL for your continued support of students. 

– G.G.

During his sabbatical, Ben Toff is doing some interesting research on news habits for the Pew Research Center with a recent report, What types of news do Americans seek out or happen to come across? As the name suggests, any understanding of the contemporary news audience has to examine both how people come to news and how news comes to people. A majority of the news audience still indicates that they seek out either in-depth information or the latest headlines, but they also stumble into a great deal of news, especially opinion and humor. The report provides a deeper look into the divide between those who seek out news purposefully and those who see news embedded within the larger torrent of digital content. 

Note: Ben is on sabbatical in Washington, D.C., in 2026, joining the Pew Research Center for the year as a visiting principal researcher on the News and Information team. While he is away, journalism professor Matt Carlson is helping out with the MJC’s research. You can reach Matt at carlson1@umn.edu.

Insights: Five steps to effectively track newsroom impact, Report for America 

People are stressed out by most news that isn’t local news, according to a new study, Nieman Journalism Lab

Disappearing before our eyes: One photographer's passion project of capturing local newsrooms, AP News

Project Optimist talks about adopting solutions journalism in Minnesota.

‘More Stories, More Inventory’: Inside the Backlash to McClatchy’s AI News Tool, The Wrap

Poynter launches new research service to boost reporting and save time for newsrooms, journalists and creators, Poynter

Who supports journalists after the story? New efforts tackle trauma, care gaps and burnout,  Editor and Publisher 

A few articles on financing news: From Rebuild Local News, Creating a Community News Investment Fund, a new model for closing the capital gap; El Tímpano releases Civic Partnerships Playbook to help local newsrooms build sustainable revenue, a resource that shows outlets serving immigrant and low-income communities how to generate income and impact through partnerships with government and nonprofit agencies; and from Press Forward, Catalytic Capital for Local News: Financing Resilience.

If someone shared this newsletter with you, you can sign up for your own copy here. 



“Summer afternoon — summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.” ― Henry James