About

Lou Raguse is an experienced, award-winning reporter for KARE 11 News in Minneapolis.

Growing up in Wheaton, Minn., Lou’s love for current events was fostered through a Jeopardy-style game called “Current Events Challenge.” Social Studies teacher Russ Armstrong would give extra-credit points to students who read the newspaper and scored highest in the game. Also at Wheaton High School, Lou and his friends wrote the school newspaper “The War Whoop,” developing a flair for journalism.

That led Lou to the University of Minnesota’s journalism program. His senior year, Lou won the national William Randolph Hearst championship in San Francisco — establishing his place early-on as a national-level storyteller.

Lou spent three years at KELO in Sioux Falls, S.D., reporting on stories such as the state’s first execution in 60 years — a year after it was dramatically halted at the 11th hour. As the cops and courts beat reporter, he covered trials such as Daphne Wright’s killing and dismembering of a fellow member of the deaf community. Pay attention and you might catch Lou talking about the case on various national cable crime shows.

From Sioux Falls, Lou moved to the Sonoran Desert in Tucson, Ariz., along with his wife Emily, also a reporter. In Tucson, Lou helped launch FOX 11 News at Nine, anchoring the newscast for four years. Along the way, he covered the attempted assassination of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, along with many hot-button border issues.

After moving to Buffalo, reporting and anchoring weekends for WIVB, Lou continued to compile awards for his work — through New York State Associated Press, NY Broadcasters Association, and NY Emmys.

But his finest awards came in 2013, when Lou and Emily welcomed home their little Buffalo baby Violet, and in 2016 when her little brother Westley was born.

In 2015 the family moved to Minneapolis where Lou reports at KARE 11, home of the finest storytelling journalism in the country.

At KARE 11, Lou has been at the forefront of some of the nation’s biggest stories, leading the coverage of the death of George Floyd and the trials for the officers charged with killing him.

One particular story that resonated was the kidnapping of 13-year-old Jayme Closs and her subsequent escape after 88 days in captivity. After covering the criminal case that followed, Lou produced an eight-episode podcast, “88 Days: The Jayme Closs Story,” which peaked in the top 10 on the iTunes Charts.

In Feb. 2023, Lou’s first true crime book was published by Post Hill Press. “Vanished in Vermillion” flips the script on the genre and reveals all the ways the 40-year search for two missing teenage girls went horribly wrong.

While free time is harder to come by with a little one in the house, Lou still enjoys playing Tecmo Super Bowl on NES, competing in fantasy football leagues (including one since 1999), watching NFL football, and archiving home movies and photos from the good old days.