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Nothing stops viking mauraders, except red tape
By now, many of you may have heard of the woes facing the Norwegian replica longship (aka, viking ship) Draken Harald Hårfagre as it makes its way into the Great Lakes. This ship sails around the world doing exhibitions, and now sails the Great Lakes as part of a tour of historical tall masted sailing ships.…
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The hot, wet violence of Minnesota’s summer
They call it a high pressure dome, hot electric atmosphere more vapor than air, parked over Minnesota like a Ouija board. We get these once or twice a summer, about as often as we get deep freezes in the dead of winter. Days like this remind us that 150 degrees Fahrenheit separate our typical annual…
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Duluth looking to remodel, not replace library
Last year it seemed the city of Duluth was barreling toward the demolition of its distinctive library building along Superior and Michigan avenues in favor of a new $35 million building. At the time, the consultant hired by the city was saying that it would cost $31 million to perform necessary repairs and remodeling to the…
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Duluth Superior Film Festival launches June 1
The Duluth Superior Film Festival opens June 1-5, 2016 in venues across the Twin Ports and even up in the big city of Cook, Minnesota. According to festival organizers, this year’s festival will have a distinctly local vibe: Because of the outstanding rebate and tax incentive program in MN and on The Iron Range, much of…
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Dylan Fest 2016 coming to Duluth, Hibbing
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All local Duluth sitcom ‘Old Lifty’ to premiere
Some say we’re in the golden age of television, a time when the breakdown of the big networks’ monopoly on production creates new opportunities for smaller, independent artists with good ideas. That’s certainly the white-capped Lake Superior wave that producers of a new web series based in Duluth hope to catch. “Old Lifty” is based on a…
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Duluth Homegrown runs today through May 8
The Duluth Homegrown Music Festival opens today and runs through next Sunday. This week-long music extravaganza is the hallmark of the emerging Duluth music scene and boasts more live music in one week than some towns see all year long. Quite simply, Duluth Homegrown is back-to-back live music all week long at more than a…
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Kids love rubber mulch for all the wrong reasons
Playground equipment used to be hellish industrial machinery. Kids would bust their arms just looking at the hand pump merry-go-round. The ground was just that: ground. Heck, you were lucky if it was dirt. It might have been pavement. In a quest to make things safer, many new playgrounds use rubber mulch, bouncy chunks reclaimed…
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Simonson prevails in SD7 DFL endorsement battle
Almost 500 DFL delegates met Saturday in Duluth to endorse a candidate to succeed retiring State Sen. Roger Reinert (DFL-Duluth). After a strong 57-43 percent showing on the first ballot, State Rep. Erik Simonson was endorsed on the second ballot over former city councilor Sharla Gardner. Gardner vowed to support Simonson, unifying the Duluth DFL apparatus…
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UWS student newspaper flap brings back memories
Last Saturday, the Duluth News Tribune ran a story about perceived outrage over a recent edition of the University of Wisconsin-Superior campus newspaper, recently renamed the Promethean from its previous name, the Stinger. It was an April Fool’s Edition in which the paper renamed itself the “Pessimist” and printed made up stories. The story brought…
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Duluth passenger rail project slows down to speed up
When I was writing daily newspaper editorials 15 years ago, I spent a lot of time extolling the virtues of passenger rail service. Looking back, it was a tailer-made issue for an editorialist. It cost money. It had statistics. There were maps. Plus, the opposition would have to go on the record against trains. Since trains are…
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First ‘saltie’ of 2016 arrives in Duluth today
Today, the Port of Duluth welcomes its first ocean-going vessel of the 2016 shipping season. The Dutch-flagged Albanyborg just dropped off some wind turbine parts in Canada and is now set to load winter wheat bound for Italy. The first Great Lakes vessel arrived more than a week ago. Even though Northern Minnesota is firmly in…
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Trump to campaign in Twin Ports
On Monday, Republican front-runner Donald Trump will hold a campaign rally in Superior ahead of Tuesday’s Wisconsin primary. He will appear at the Richard I. Bong airport at 1:30 p.m. Doors open at 10:30 a.m. Ticket information is here. This is the first time Trump has appeared in the Twin Ports of Duluth and Superior.…
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Homegrown ‘invades’ Iron Range this Friday
Duluth’s Homegrown Music Festival has developed into one of the state’s biggest cultural events of the year. This Friday, the second annual Homegrown “Iron Range Invasion” takes place in Virginia, Minnesota. The event features nine Duluth and Iron Range bands at three venues throughout the Queen City of the Iron Range. Here’s the announcement from Homegrown:…
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Duluth’s Gaelynn Lea inspires with NPR concert
Last week, Duluth musician Gaelynn Lea won the annual NPR Tiny Desk concert series contest for emerging artists. This week, she flew to Washington to perform at the famous tiny desk where NPR music writers once stashed piles of music. The desk now hosts countless musicians, both famous and up-and-coming. It’s a beautiful performance, which…