The Star Tribune depends on readers like you to tell us what we should be reporting. We welcome your news tips, on any subject, whether it’s about an interesting community event or individual, an issue in your school or neighborhood or a problem that you think should be investigated.

You can call us, send us an email or a letter or stop by our offices at 650 3rd Avenue South, Suite 1300, in downtown Minneapolis. For information about how to submit corrections, letters to the editor, calendar events or general feedback, click here. Information about how to send us a press release can be found here. 

Sometimes readers may want to pass on sensitive information without anyone else knowing about it. We respect the desire of some tipsters to remain anonymous, and have put in place ways to contact reporters and editors to ensure the communication will be private and secure.

FIRST, FIND THE RIGHT REPORTER

You can find staff bios, with email addresses and phone numbers, for everyone in the Star Tribune newsroom here. To find the reporter covering the beat most relevant to your information, search by keyword (ex. Minneapolis, politics, education, etc.).

If you’re unable to determine which reporter you should send your information to, don’t worry! You can send it to the newsroom and we’ll get it to the right person. You can email tips and story ideas to whistleblower@startribune.com. You can also call the general newsroom line at 612-673-4414 and we can route you to the appropriate person.

If the information you have is sensitive and you’d like to communicate more securely, there are some additional options below.

HOW TO SHARE PAPER DOCUMENTS

There are a number of different ways to send information to the Star Tribune. Consider whether you wish to remain completely anonymous or whether you want a reporter to be able to reach you. Are you sharing paper documents, or electronic files? Your answers to these questions can help determine which method to use.

Mailing paper documents to the newsroom, without a return address, is the most anonymous way to share them. Mail tampering is a federal crime and law enforcement must get a warrant to open mail.

For maximum security, do not use your employer’s mailroom or the post office. Instead, drop it in a random street mailbox, preferably not near your home or place of work. Place your documents in an envelope and mail them to:

News Tips
Star Tribune
650 3rd Ave S #1300
Minneapolis, MN 55488

Do not put a return address on the envelope. If you know which reporter you’d like to receive your package, include the reporter’s name on the envelope before the address. If you would like a reporter to contact you, be sure to include contact information in the package.

HOW TO SHARE ELECTRONIC FILES 

If security is a concern, there are several ways you can encrypt your electronic communications with us. Encryption scrambles the messages, making it extremely difficult for anyone other than the sender and intended receiver to read them.

Some of our staff members are using the encrypted messaging app Signal. It’s free and available for iPhones and Androids, as well as the Chrome web browser. Signal users must share their phone numbers with each other in order to communicate. If you’d prefer to avoid sharing your personal phone number, you can create a Signal account using a Google Voice number. Do not add the journalist’s phone number to your phone’s contact list, but rather use Signal’s “Find by phone number” feature to initiate communications. You can read more about Signal here.

These Star Tribune staffers are on Signal:

Matt DeLong
Digital Projects Editor
Signal: 612-643-0344

James Eli Shiffer
Full Disclosure columnist
Signal: 612-666-0697

Stephen Montemayor
Federal law enforcement and courts reporter
Signal: 612-760-8405

Faiza Mahamud
Education reporter
Signal: 612-492-1548

Mila Koumpilova
Immigration reporter
Signal: 612-916-5957

Mark Brunswick
Military and veterans affairs reporter
Signal: 612-201-7307

Some Star Tribune journalists use Pretty Good Privacy, or PGP, an email encryption program that requires the receiver to use a unique code, or key, to read messages or files. Both sender and receiver need to have each other’s PGP fingerprints (the 40-character codes you will find below).

It will require some effort to set up, and it’s important to note that only the message, whether it's an attached file or in the body of the email, will be encrypted. Metadata information such as the sender, receiver and timestamp could still be seen by anyone who can access your email. If this is an issue, consider setting up an anonymous email account only for use with PGP.

Read more about PGP here and learn how to set it up on Windows and Mac.

These Star Tribune staffers are using PGP:

Joe Carlson
Business reporter
joe.carlson@startribune.com
PGP: 17B6 3099 6A06 6F2B 6D9F C363 6E43 B6F5 3A2B 94D0

Stephen Montemayor
Federal law enforcement and courts reporter
smontemayor@startribune.com
PGP: 968B 465D A84D 76A3 9A72 E4BC 520A 93CC 1823 1B58

Mila Koumpilova
Immigration reporter
PGP: 65DB DD53 2C22 7850 466C CA32 4BF4 9B08 B9E7 EA6F

Mark Brunswick
Military and veterans affairs reporter
PGP: 7B3C 9F88 2006 DC29 6F19 1716 7479 D995 33D2 AF1C

James Eli Shiffer
Full Disclosure columnist
PGP: E509 C57A 4969 8E79 6165 97AF 28D4 C505 AF40 B006

MaryJo Webster
Data Editor
maryjo.webster@startribune.com
PGP: 5EE8 3F00 F074 B05A CEC2 8ABC 8430 71A9 BFC9 AD62

Jeff Hargarten
Interactive Data Journalist
jeff.hargarten@startribune.com
PGP: 3C28 11FC 1FF9 860D 14B8 4EF3 E35E 9A4C 61B3 39DF

Alan Palazzolo
Interactive Data Journalist
alan.palazzolo@startribune.com
PGP: C1B9 EA2A 5C0D CBAB 09F3 7712 7CD7 584F 3BD8 A337

Matt DeLong
Digital Projects Editor
matt.delong@startribune.com
PGP: 86ED 41FD 56E0 EA7C A3B8 9549 7CAA 977D 9268 AD6A

Dan Barnes
Newsroom Technology Director
dan.barnes@startribune.com
PGP: 352E 25D8 4EFF 9EBA A274 6B75 A8EF B950 7F82 D268

If you’re still not sure how best to send information to us anonymously, please feel free to make contact on Signal and we can advise you on how to proceed.
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