Kristen Leigh Painter

Reporter | Food industry

Kristen Leigh Painter covers the food industry for the Star Tribune. She previously covered growth and development for the paper. Prior to that, Painter was a business reporter at the Denver Post, covering airlines and aerospace. She frequently writes about sustainable food production, consumer food trends and airlines.

Painter has had a diverse reporting career, interviewing dignitaries in Tokyo, rebel leaders in Sudan and slaughterhouse workers in Nebraska. She has a master's of arts in journalism from the University of Colorado at Boulder and bachelor of science degree in history from the University of Wisconsin at La Crosse. She lives in Minneapolis with her husband, daughter and an energetic Labrador retriever named Luna. In her free time, Painter likes to run, read fiction and plan her family's next trip or outdoor adventure.

Recent content from Kristen Leigh Painter

$1.3B defamation suit filed against Mike Lindell, MyPillow

Dominion Voting Systems' federal lawsuit over Lindell's repeated and discredited claims that Dominion helped steal the 2020 election comes after weeks of warnings from the company.

Hormel CEO frustrated by lack of COVID-19 vaccine access for workers

Snee said some states have placed a priority on meatpacking workers, but he is 'incredibly frustrated' overall.

Delta sets up rapid COVID-19 test at MSP for flights to Amsterdam

Delta will offer rapid COVID-19 tests to meet a new requirement from the Dutch government.

Hormel makes its biggest deal ever, buying Planters for $3.3 billion

It's the biggest deal Hormel has ever made and will add more than $1 billion

Sun Country Airlines is going public, will list on Nasdaq

After a transformation, Sun Country reaches a turning point in its ownership.

Accident at Louisiana salt mine leads Cargill to accelerate a closing plan

Cargill planned to begin closing the Avery Island salt mine later this year, but will do it sooner.

Lindell: Twitter ban won't stop his claims of election fraud

Twitter 'permanently suspended' the Minnesota-based promoter of election conspiracies and pillows.

Sun Country sees travel rebound ahead, plans 16 new routes

The Minnesota-based leisure airline is banking on the vaccine distribution and rapid COVID testing to jumpstart air travel again.

MyPillow's Lindell shrugs off distancing by retailers, presses election fraud claim

Mike Lindell said Tuesday he continues to believe voting machine maker, other countries swayed Trump's loss.

How Sun Country, other airlines will handle the new negative-COVID rule on international flights

If you go out of the country and hope to come back after Jan. 26, you'll need to show a negative COVID test result.

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