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Iconic ship slips past Duluth bridge
The retired iron ore ship William A. Irvin has been docked near Canal Park in downtown Duluth so long that it’s become part of the permanent landscape. Perhaps that’s why so many people stayed up practically overnight Friday into Saturday morning to see the immobilized ship move once again. This YouTube video by photographer Dennis…
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Up in Smoke: Superior disaster reminds why we watch industry
Just six days ago the Twin Ports of Duluth, Minnesota, and Superior, Wisconsin could have been blown to smithereens. A billowing fire engulfed the Husky Oil Refinery in Superior, encroaching just 150 feet from a tank of hydrogen fluoride. An explosion of that tank would have atomized Superior and released a deadly toxic cloud for…
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Refinery explosion rocks Superior, injures several
Today an explosion rocked the Husky oil refinery in Superior, Wisconsin, shaking the whole city and causing several casualties. We’re still awaiting word on the total number of those hurt and the severity of their injuries. Already, this might be one of the worst industrial disasters in recent memory for this blue collar region. UPDATE:…
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Sam Cook retires from Duluth News Tribune
Starting tomorrow, the outdoors page at the Duluth News Tribune will look a little different. Longtime outdoors editor and columnist Sam Cook will retire Friday, April 27. Cook held that post 38 years. Sam Cook is a gifted storyteller. His grasp of details makes any story he writes a portal into whatever forest or lake…
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8th District DFLers walk tightrope on mining as convention nears
The five Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party candidates for Congress in Minnesota’s Eighth Congressional District have just eight days until their April 14 endorsing convention. On April 4, the group participated in a DFL-sponsored forum at Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College in Cloquet. The UpTake covered the event. We’ve already established that, barring something truly extraordinary…
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Breaking ice for the start of Duluth harbor spring
Today is the spring equinox. Here in Northern Minnesota, this event signifies something about daylight but little about weather. We’ve been having arguments with one of our boys about how the “first day of spring” doesn’t legally absolve you from wearing a jacket. But there’s another sure sign of spring on display in the Port…
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Heroes on ice: Team Shuster homecoming today
By now you might know about the dramatic Olympic men’s curling tournament comeback that led to a historic Gold Medal for the United States. Team Shuster returns home to Duluth, Minnesota, today. Team USA was led by skip John Shuster, a Chisholm native now living in Superior, and rounded out by John Landsteiner, Tyler George…
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Duluth gains sharp new arts venue, promise of another
After several years and $18 million in renovation, downtown Duluth’s NorShor Theater reopened this week with a local production of “Mamma Mia,” the ABBA musical. That show is sold out for two weeks. And while ABBA is great, most folks in the Zenith City are just excited for the addition of a dazzling new downtown…
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Top features of new ‘millennial hotel’ coming to Duluth
Duluth may soon get another new hotel, this one targeting a “millennial” clientele with cheaper, smaller rooms and large shared spaces. “Cheaper, smaller rooms” might sound like “Motel 6,” and “large shared spaces” might sound like “an abandoned warehouse,” but this is different. For instance, the hotel is called Tru by Hilton. “Tru by Hilton”…
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Duluth Lakers play zone outside harbor
Basketball fans sometimes wonder, what the heck is a Los Angeles Laker? The well informed might know that this once venerated (now down-on-its-luck) franchise used to be the Minneapolis Lakers, though that still doesn’t tell most what a Laker is. A laker is a ship or vessel confined to a freshwater lake or lake system.…
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MN Sunday liquor basically fine, nothing special
There’s a lady who smokes outside this one liquor store I drive by fairly often. I think she works there. She was out there again last Sunday. That got me wondering, how are Sunday sales going? Well, the local paper was a step ahead of me. I saw this later that day. A Nov. 26…
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Elections nudge Duluth political scene, but not much
Off-year elections generally only get attention because of “what it all means.” The year-round political speculation industry loves a taste of something real to add some heft to the conjecture. So we can look at yesterday’s election and say that Democratic success in New Jersey and Virginia means something. President Trump’s unpopularity seems to be…
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Lake Superior wave breaks records
By now you’ve heard your fill of Gordon Lightfoot’s wonderful but perhaps overplayed masterpiece, “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.” The 42nd anniversary of the iron ore ship’s sinking in an early winter storm will be marked Nov. 10. The song’s iconic line “when the gales of November come early,” was on many lips this…
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State Senator named director of Lake Superior Zoo
Soon, State Sen. Erik Simonson will tame ravenous beasts, feed ferocious predators, and see that no harm befalls innocent tour groups. And then when he comes home to Duluth he’ll run a zoo. Simonson, a Duluth Democratic-Farmer-Laborite, was named the executive director of the Lake Superior Zoo today. He will accept early retirement from his…
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Minnesota bug clouds tripping radar balls?
Here in Northern Minnesota, the deer flies are always bad this time of year. They’re worse this year. Everybody’s talking about deer flies. And they may have even showed up on radar. But first, some thoughts about radar. Every day I pass by the Nashwauk Radar Ball, a mysterious white orb overlooking Highway 65 north…