MaryJo Webster's Avatar

MaryJo Webster

@maryjowebster

Data journalist at the Minnesota Star Tribune. Mom to teenagers and two dogs. Passionate about investigative reporting & access to public data. #journalist #watchdog. www.maryjowebster.com Send tips via Signal: maryjowebster.88

3,463
Followers
328
Following
129
Posts
08.11.2024
Joined
Posts Following

Latest posts by MaryJo Webster @maryjowebster

Preview
Moriarty: State ‘in good shape’ to consider charging federal agents in slayings of Good, Pretti The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office continues to pursue federal evidence that is being kept from state investigators, but Mary Moriarty said there’s “no mystery” about how Renee Good and Alex Pretti died.

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said state prosecutors and law enforcement have gathered enough evidence to consider charging decisions against the federal agents who shot and killed Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

18.02.2026 19:53 👍 263 🔁 113 💬 14 📌 4
Preview
Minnesota released a report about social services fraud. Most of it is blacked out. The Department of Human Services said the redactions are to protect trade secrets and security information. Lawmakers looking for answers to state government’s fraud problems are frustrated.

www.startribune.com/minnesota-so...

18.02.2026 14:18 👍 5 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0

If my followers have been inspired by the fierce resistance the Twin Cities has put up to ICE, you should make it a point to take a trip here (April through October 😬), enjoy the wonderful things MN has to offer and support our small businesses. It continues to be a really tough time for them.

12.02.2026 00:49 👍 17142 🔁 3353 💬 572 📌 165
Preview
Star Tribune analysis: Feds disobeying judicial orders on immigration detainees The federal government cites a glut in cases and low staffing as reasons for violating court orders.

The Minnesota Star Tribune has identified 17 instances of federal officials violating judicial orders related to people detained in Minnesota.

28.01.2026 21:00 👍 495 🔁 240 💬 11 📌 26
Post image

Tomorrow's front page of the Minnesota Star Tribune: Jan. 27, 2026

26.01.2026 23:30 👍 424 🔁 147 💬 7 📌 6

The day all of these monsters finally leave MN I feel like the most Minnesotan thing to do is have the biggest potluck in state history. Bars as far as the eyes can see. The power grid being strained by the collective energy being used by a million slow cookers. A Hamm’s pony keg on every corner…

26.01.2026 21:40 👍 162 🔁 44 💬 5 📌 12
Photo of a man shoveling, and this caption: We are starting to build a huge ICE OUT sign on Lake Nokomis.  100 foot letters for MSP flights to see.  By day snow letters, by night we’ll light w/ candles in white paper bags

Send this out widely. 

Tonight we will get it outlined.  Tomorrow night we’ll light if up and keep it going all week.

Helpers needed w shovels now   Candkes starting tomorrow.  

(Candles and paper bags will removed when done recycled/composted)

Photo of a man shoveling, and this caption: We are starting to build a huge ICE OUT sign on Lake Nokomis. 100 foot letters for MSP flights to see. By day snow letters, by night we’ll light w/ candles in white paper bags Send this out widely. Tonight we will get it outlined. Tomorrow night we’ll light if up and keep it going all week. Helpers needed w shovels now Candkes starting tomorrow. (Candles and paper bags will removed when done recycled/composted)

A map of the Minneapolis area with an arrow pointing to which Lake this is referencing

A map of the Minneapolis area with an arrow pointing to which Lake this is referencing

“We are starting to build a huge ICE OUT sign on Lake Nokomis [in Mpls.] 100 foot letters for MSP flights to see. By day snow letters, by night we’ll light w/ candles in white paper bags

Send this widely.

Tonight will get it outlined. Tomorrow night we’ll light it up and keep it going all week.“

25.01.2026 21:08 👍 1041 🔁 325 💬 13 📌 32
Post image Post image Post image Post image

Hundreds of Minnesotans protested in downtown Minneapolis on Sunday a day after federal agents fatally shot Alex Pretti in the city.

Demonstrators called for an end to the federal immigration operation in the state following two fatal shootings of U.S. citizens.

📷️: Jeff Wheeler

25.01.2026 22:54 👍 372 🔁 114 💬 15 📌 3
Video thumbnail

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara: "People have had enough. This is the third shooting in less than 3 weeks. The MPD went the entire year last year recovering about 900 guns from the street, arresting hundreds of violent offenders, and we didn't shoot anyone ... this is not sustainable."

25.01.2026 15:47 👍 50065 🔁 16343 💬 1159 📌 633
Post image

Tomorrow's front page of the Minnesota Star Tribune: Jan. 25, 2026

24.01.2026 20:49 👍 3178 🔁 1258 💬 124 📌 67
Video thumbnail

Protesters flooded the intersection of Nicollet Avenue and W. 26th Street in south Minneapolis, near where Alex Pretti was fatally shot by federal agents Saturday morning.

Video by Aaron Lavinsky, Genevieve Ross, Kyeland Jackson and Louis Krauss.

24.01.2026 23:21 👍 1107 🔁 427 💬 27 📌 16

The reporting I've seen from @startribune.com over the last few days is a great endorsement of the need for quality local journalism, which is suffering from fiscal setbacks across the country.

24.01.2026 23:24 👍 861 🔁 123 💬 4 📌 4

ICE thinks Minnesotans will eventually give up, it’s like they’re unfamiliar with Vikings fandom

24.01.2026 01:05 👍 3921 🔁 677 💬 49 📌 40
Post image

in case you're curious about how angry Minnesota is about ICE, it was -20 today

24.01.2026 00:38 👍 50065 🔁 14414 💬 968 📌 852

So proud of how my newsroom is taking on this massive news story, esp. since we are all a bit burned out from covering 2 other massive news stories in past 6 mths. If you don't already subscribe, please help us out, even for 1 month. Or donate to Local News Fund. www.startribune.com/essential-re...

23.01.2026 15:26 👍 10 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Preview
Wrongful detainment complaints spike during ICE surge The number of immigrants suing for wrongful detention jumped as federal agents deployed to Minnesota.

344 unlawful detention petitions filed in Minnesota since Dec. 1st -- 288 of them just since Jan 1. The filings dwarf everything that came before. During Trump’s first term: avg 5.5 cases per month; Biden presidency: avg 1.5 cases per month

www.startribune.com/wrongful-det...

22.01.2026 14:50 👍 12 🔁 7 💬 0 📌 1
Video thumbnail

This video filmed by Ben Luhmann shows the moment a federal agent sprayed chemical irritants directly into a man's face in south Minneapolis.

Three agents already had the man pinned to the ground when a fourth agent walked up and sprayed the irritants.

22.01.2026 01:41 👍 10376 🔁 6069 💬 755 📌 643
Video thumbnail

U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Cmdr. Greg Bovino is seen deploying a gas canister at Mueller Park in south Minneapolis this afternoon.

Video by Ben Luhmann.

21.01.2026 23:57 👍 3808 🔁 1921 💬 693 📌 645
Preview
‘Saturday Night Live’ tribute to Minnesotans gets zapped at last minute NBC has made Tommy Brennan’s editorial available online.

SNL cast member Tommy Brennan, who grew up in St. Paul, poked fun at ICE in a segment only released online.

“Minneapolis is a city of immigrants and that’s what makes it great,” he said. “I grew up playing on all-immigrant soccer teams, and let me tell you, it is not easy to catch those guys.”

21.01.2026 22:30 👍 98 🔁 32 💬 5 📌 10
Several agents hold a person down and sprays them with pepper spray.

Several agents hold a person down and sprays them with pepper spray.

An observer arrested in Suth Minneapolis. Photo by Richard Tsong-Taatarii/The Minnesota Star Tribune

21.01.2026 21:18 👍 8687 🔁 5002 💬 850 📌 1561
Preview
Cold as ICE: Subzero cold bears down on Minnesota protests Cold as ICE: There is such a thing as bad weather, and Minnesota has the forecast to prove it.

The next few days in Minnesota will be interesting. This is EPIC cold that's coming. The kind we don't get super often. The kind that even us die hards struggle with.
www.startribune.com/minnesotans-...

21.01.2026 18:26 👍 8 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0

it is -10 here today. I was supposed to go do a volunteer shift standing outside loading groceries into people’s cars to deliver to families stuck at home. just got a call not to come in because they have too many volunteers already. if you were wondering if the cold would stop us.

19.01.2026 17:09 👍 7414 🔁 1529 💬 82 📌 95

too many people seemed to learn the wrong lesson about minneapolis from the George Floyd uprising–— that it is just a bad, place with racist cops.

the real lesson should have been that people in minneapolis actually care about their neighbors and are willing to do something about injustice.

07.01.2026 18:48 👍 779 🔁 161 💬 6 📌 3
“Renee was one of the kindest people I’ve ever known,” she said. “She was extremely compassionate. She’s taken care of people all her life. She was loving, forgiving and affectionate. She was an amazing human being.”

“Renee was one of the kindest people I’ve ever known,” she said. “She was extremely compassionate. She’s taken care of people all her life. She was loving, forgiving and affectionate. She was an amazing human being.”

The woman killed by ICE was Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year old who was the mother of a 4-year old child whose father already died a few years ago.

The Star Tribune talked to her mother. www.startribune.com/she-was-an-a...

07.01.2026 22:38 👍 7007 🔁 2610 💬 162 📌 159
Preview
MNOG News: Appeal in ‘coaching’ lawsuit; legal fight over 911 call transcript Read more about what Minnesotans for Open Government is doing, including a free webinar next week on how to use the DPA.

Did you sign up for our new newsletter yet? MNOG's newsletter aims to warn you about dangers to public access in MN & to spotlight occasional victories. Check out the first edition here: minnesotans-for-open-government.beehiiv.com/p/mnog-news-...

11.12.2025 15:49 👍 0 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
Preview
How are opioid settlement funds being spent in your state? You can use FOIA to find out Over the last six months, MuckRock teamed up with a class of investigative journalism students at West Virginia University to request opioid settlement spending documents from all 55 counties in West…

MuckRock's latest guide explains how to use FOIA requests to track opioid settlement funds in your state.

01.12.2025 18:44 👍 1 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
Preview
Minnesota snowfall tracker: Track daily snow totals this winter Compare snowfall across the state to past seasons.

Minnesota friends: Are you wondering how this year's snow stacks up to years past? We've got you covered: www.startribune.com/minnesota-sn...

This updates every day -- all winter!

01.12.2025 16:00 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Today is Give To the Max day in Minnesota. Please consider donating to this small, but mighty, organization!

20.11.2025 15:21 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Preview
The deadliest roads in America The number of pedestrians killed by vehicles has increased in the U.S., with road infrastructure and inadequate safety measures among key contributing factors.

Great analysis, resulting in powerful story: www.washingtonpost.com/business/int...

19.11.2025 20:08 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Preview
How ProPublica Investigated a Bird Flu Outbreak in America’s Heartland Early this year, bird flu ripped through 80 farms in Ohio and Indiana. Using genetic markers, wind simulations, satellite imagery, property records and more, we found that the virus could’ve been airb...

Very cool. www.propublica.org/article/meth...

19.11.2025 20:07 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0