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Good morning, Minnesota! What are your plans tonight? Me, I'll be running in slow motion to "Dice" by Finley Quaye as the clock strikes midnight. Real ones know 🎉 On to the news 📢

Jeff Wheeler/The Minnesota Star Tribune

Let's leave complaining in 2024 — specifically, complaining about how hard it is for transplants to make friends in Minnesota. It's true, but in 2025 we're going to do something about it.

That's the kind of energy my esteemed colleague Zoë Jackson is putting out into the world today. We asked her and three more Minnesota Star Tribune staffers to weigh in on what we should collectively leave behind in 2024 and what we should take with us into the new year.

Here are just a few:

In: Visiting Uptown.

Out: Being "Minnesota Nice."

In: Watching more women's sports.

Out: Parking and driving in the bike lane — I don't care if you're just "gonna run inside real quick."

Want more? Well, Jackson, Rachel Hutton, Michael Rand and I have the full list for you at the link here.

What do you think Minnesotans should leave behind in 2024 and take with them into 2025? Let us know at essential@startribune.com.

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Minnesota Star Tribune staff photos

Here's an incomplete list of big, big things that happened in the North Star State in 2024:

• The Pohlad family, which has owned the Twins for the last four decades, decided to sell the team.

• Vice President Kamala Harris whisked Gov. Tim Walz from St. Paul and put him on the campaign trail as her running mate.

• Speaking of St. Paul, hometown hero Suni Lee brought home not one, not two, but three gold medals during the Paris Olympics.

And that's just the stuff I can remember off the top of my head. Zoë Jackson rounded up a few more of the biggest Minnesota moments of the year. You can read all about them by clicking or tapping on the image above or following the link here.

Danger_Zone06 via Reddit

As my colleague Elliot Hughes reported yesterday, Minnesota law enforcement agencies are on high alert this week. New Year's Eve and New Year's Day are typically the busiest holidays for impaired driving. Good thing the state Department of Transportation put up this Very Minnesotan public service announcement, as spotted by Reddit user Danger_Zone06.

And with that, we end the final edition of Essential Minnesota of 2024. Your friendly neighborhood newsletter writer is taking a few days off to rest and recharge. We won't have an edition tomorrow, but Zoë Jackson will be your pilot on Thursday and Friday.

Stay safe out there. See y'all in 2025!

Eder Campuzano, reporter

David Taintor, editor and birthday boy