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First, Christopher Ingraham called the people of Red Lake County, Minn., 

residents of "the absolute worst place to live in America."

Now he's going to be calling them something else: Neighbor.


The story of his change of heart — brought to our attention by 

 — starts last August, when Ingraham reported on a USDA ranking of the "natural amenities" of every community in the United States.
California and Colorado did great. The Great Lakes region ranked abysmally. And Red Lake County was, well, at 

Ingraham pointed out as much. Then he mocked the county's "claim to fame" as "the only landlocked county in the United States that is surrounded by just two neighboring counties."

To add insult to, well, insult, he didn't capitalize the word county in the county's name.


The result: an uproar. "Hell hath no fury like a Minnesotan scorned," Ingraham wrote in 

He was bombarded with tweet after tweet criticizing the USDA's methodology and showing beautiful images of Red Lake County and other Minnesota regions. (Many other states were ranked poorly by the USDA, but none of them felt the need to correct the record, Ingraham noted.)


"I started to hear from angry Minnesota people probably within about 15 minutes of putting the story up," Ingraham 

"The social media assault, it was sustained, it was consistent — and I will say, the photos that people are sending me, they're absolutely beautiful. ... These glowing golden wheat fields and these scenic rolling hillsides and lakefronts," Ingraham said.


(And that capital "C"? A correction note was appended to the original story, noting it had been fixed — with "special thanks to the residents of 'Indignant Minnesota Twitter' who brought the issue to the author's attention 

 to see those glowing wheat fields for himself. The piece he wrote after his trip revealed a man thoroughly charmed:



And Ingraham was never too keen on Washington, D.C. In his original, anti-Red Lake County post, he questioned the USDA's methods, asking how it was possible "that 

 — home of sweltering summers, miserable winters, swampy humidity and little natural beauty to speak of — ranks higher than any place at all?"
So perhaps it shouldn't be 

surprising that Ingraham has decided to pack up and move to the place he once casually dismissed.
"I kind of fell in love with Red Lake County when I visited last year and we've always wanted to raise the boys in the country," he 

He's particularly excited about the bovine company:

Christopher Ingraham was just describing a USDA ranking when he insulted Red Lake County last summer. But the resulting uproar from Minnesotans led to a change of heart ... and location.

Reporter who called Red Lake County 'absolute worst place to live' is moving there

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