The Star Tribune (often abbreviated Star Trib or Strib) is the largest newspaper in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is published seven days each week in an edition for the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan area. A statewide version is also available across Minnesota and parts of Wisconsin, Iowa, South Dakota, and North Dakota. The paper's largest competitor is the St. Paul-based Pioneer Press, though it competes with a number of other papers in its wide circulation area.

Today's Star Tribune is the product of the merger in 1982 between the Minneapolis Star, an evening newspaper, and the Minneapolis Tribune, a morning newspaper published by the same company.

Several earlier mergers preceded that one by many years, as outlined below. The Minneapolis Tribune was founded in 1867, and operated by the Murphy family between 1891 and 1941. The Minneapolis Journal was founded in 1878 as an evening paper.

The Minneapolis Times was a morning paper starting in 1889; it was purchased by the Tribune in 1905 and its name was used in various forms until 1948. Finally the Minnesota Daily Star began printing in 1920, and later became the Minneapolis Star, distributed in the evening.

Brett Lorenzo Favre (born October 10, 1969) is a former American football quarterback who spent the majority of his career with the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL). He was a 20-year veteran of the NFL, having played quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons (1991), Green Bay Packers (1992–2007), New York Jets (2008) and Minnesota Vikings (2009–2010). Favre is the only quarterback in NFL history to throw for over 70,000 yards, over 500 touchdowns, over 300 interceptions, and over 10,000 pass attempts. He officially retired on January 17, 2011.

Favre started at the quarterback position for the University of Southern Mississippi for four years before being selected in the second round of the 1991 NFL Draft by Atlanta (33rd overall). He was traded to Green Bay on February 10, 1992, for the 19th pick in the 1992 NFL Draft.

Favre became the Packers' starting quarterback in the fourth game of the 1992 season, and started every game through the 2007 season. He was traded to the New York Jets and started at quarterback for the 2008 season before signing with the Vikings on August 18, 2009 as their starting quarterback. He made an NFL record 297 consecutive starts (321 including playoffs).

Elizabeth A. Hodges (born September 7, 1969) is the current Ward 13 City Council member for Minneapolis, Minnesota, and a member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party. In 2005, Hodges defeated Lisa Miller to become the first Democrat to represent the Ward in years. She was re-elected in the 2009 Minneapolis municipal elections.

Hodges grew up in Minnesota. After graduating from Bryn Mawr College in 1991 she attended the University of Wisconsin, Madison where she graduated in 1998 with a Master's degree in Sociology.

In 1998 Hodges moved to southwest Minneapolis. For a few years she worked as Development Director for Progressive Minnesota before serving on the staff of Hennepin County Commissioner Gail Dorfman. She returned to fundraising work in 2003, working for the Minnesota Justice Foundation.

During this time, Hodges became very active in her community, serving on the Linden Hills Community Council from 2000–2005 and as co-chair of the council from 2003-2005. Her experience on the neighboorhood council became a main theme in her campaign for city council in 2005.

Michael John "Mike" Sweeney (born July 22, 1973 in Orange, California) is a former Major League Baseball first baseman. Sweeney played his first 13 seasons in the majors with the Kansas City Royals, originally as a catcher and then moving to first base. Sweeney also played for the Oakland Athletics, Seattle Mariners, and Philadelphia Phillies. On March 25, 2011, Sweeney retired from baseball. He now works as a studio analyst on the MLB Network.

Sweeney made his major league debut on September 14, 1995 as a catcher. He got his first major league base hit against Cleveland Indians' pitcher Paul Assenmacher at Jacobs Field in the final game of the season. While his ability with the bat impressed the Royals, they were less than enamored with his skills behind the plate.

He hit his first home run off Seattle Mariners' pitcher Jamie Moyer on August 12, 1996. It was a three-run shot.

Sweeney split catching duties with Mike Macfarlane in 1997. He belted a two-run ninth inning game-winning home run off then Detroit Tigers's pitcher Doug Brocail on May 15, 1997.