News and Current Affairs Posts

Chester Park restaurant recycles ‘Pigeon House’

Nov 06, 2024 No Comments

A Better Futures Minnesota worker removes shingles from the roof of the ‘Pigeon House.’ The home was purchased and recycled by owners of the nearby restaurant At Sara’s Table / Chester Creek Café. (Photo by Mark Nicklawske)

Deck-side diners at a popular Chester Park neighborhood restaurant are treated to glorious Lake Superior views but staff knew an abandoned house — in a direct line of vision — could easily spoil the scene.

The “Pigeon House” had to go — but not to a landfill.

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News and Current Affairs

Duluth 2024 General Election Results

Nov 05, 2024 No Comments

With 4,103 of 4,103 precincts reporting, here are the statewide general election results for races relevant to Duluth.

—FEDERAL OFFICES—

President and Vice-President of the United States
Kamala D. Harris and Tim Walz – 1,653,657
Donald J. Trump and JD Vance – 1,514,261
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Nicole Shanahan – 24,426
Jill Stein and Samson Kpadenou – 16,669
Chase Oliver and Mike ter Maat – 15,620
Write in – 13,269
Cornel West and Melina Abdullah – 3,508
Claudia De la Cruz and Karina Garcia – 3,423
Shiva Ayyadurai and Crystal Ellis – 3,226
Rachele Fruit and Dennis Richter – 857

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News and Current Affairs, Politics

Duluth 2024 General Election Sample Ballot

Oct 23, 2024 1 Comment

This sample ballot is specific to Duluth’s western neighborhoods. Races for Minnesota State Representative and St. Louis County Board of Commissioners vary throughout the city.

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News and Current Affairs

Minnesota Historical Society acquires Wing Young Huie archive

Oct 22, 2024 No Comments

A collection of 5,000 photographs by Duluth native Wing Young Huie will soon be available online through the Minnesota Historical Society, the Minnesota Star Tribune reports. The images capture a view of community life in Minnesota.

The first part of the collection, 965 images and supporting material, is already available in the searchable Collections Online database and the Gale Family Library. The full archive of 5,000 photographs and related material will become publicly available over the next five years.


Art, News and Current Affairs , ,

El Jefe Bar & Grill brings back flavors of Bucktales

Oct 22, 2024 No Comments

Dee Morales is back in the restaurant business. He opened El Jefe Bar & Grill in early October.

There’s a familiar face in the kitchen of a new eatery in the Town of Superior. Dee Morales quietly opened El Jefe Bar & Grill in early October after closing Bucktales Cantina & Grill in the city of Superior, 12 miles north. El Jefe operates out of the same building that served as the original Bucktales.

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News and Current Affairs, Restaurants

Duluth Grill expands into West Duluth with new chicken eatery

Oct 21, 2024 2 Comments

Mural artists Kevin Ballecer, left, and Mela Nguyen are painting the exterior of Chicken n’ Whaaat?! on Central Avenue in West Duluth. The pair also painted murals for Burger Paradox on Superior Street. (Photos by Mark Nicklawske).

A family-owned restaurant group that helped revitalize Lincoln Park will expand outside the neighborhood for the first time with a new fast-casual chicken eatery attached to a West Duluth gas station.

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News and Current Affairs, Restaurants ,

Northeastern Minnesota Book Award Winners for 2024

Oct 16, 2024 No Comments

Nine books have been recognized for this year’s Northeastern Minnesota Book Awards, which celebrate books that substantially represent the history, culture, heritage or lifestyle of northeastern Minnesota.

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Ursa Minor earns bronze at Great American Beer Festival

Oct 14, 2024 No Comments

Duluth’s Ursa Minor Brewing won a bronze medal for its Equanimity Irish Style Red Ale at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver on Oct. 12. It’s the brewery’s second bronze medal at the festival; the first came in 2019 for Thistle Dew in the Scottish-Style Ale category.

Equanimity also won a gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival in 2022 and another gold at the World Beer Cup in 2023.

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PDD Quiz: September 2024

Sep 29, 2024 No Comments

Another month is in the books: how much of it do you remember? Check your memories of September 2024 headlines with this week’s quiz!

A Halloween-y PDD quiz comes your way on Oct. 13. Please submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at [email protected] by Oct. 10.

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News and Current Affairs

Iconic Curious Goods building for sale in Superior

Sep 26, 2024 No Comments

Taimi Ranta has owned the Curious Goods building for about 35 years. (Photos by Mark Nicklawske)

A widely photographed building on one of the funkiest street corners in Superior is up for sale after a long run as an antique store, warehouse and spare apartment.

The Curious Goods building, 1717 Winter St., just off Tower Avenue, has been put up for sale by owner Taimi Ranta after about 35 years of using the property for her antique and vintage sales business. While Curious Goods featured an enticing and colorful storefront the space has been used only as a warehouse for the past two decades.

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News and Current Affairs

Ichiro Sushi & Ramen wows guests on Miller Hill

Sep 24, 2024 No Comments
plates of food line shelves of a black robot server with cat ears

Bella, the robot server at Ichiro Sushi & Ramen, glides through the Duluth restaurant. (Photos by Melinda Lavine)

A cat-eared robot buzzed around Ichiro Sushi & Ramen. “Bella” sported white digital whiskers up top, and in its fur-less belly sat plates of fried rice and sushi.

After a series of silent maneuvers, Bella stopped at a table of two, where Cody Tesser served fellow humans their orders from the robot’s racks.

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News and Current Affairs, Restaurants ,

Morgan Park church wins place on national registry; highlights historic Duluth properties tour

Sep 13, 2024 No Comments

United Protestant Church member Bob Berg, left, Moderator Marna Fasteland and Pastor Mitch Nelson stand in a back balcony inside the church sanctuary. The Morgan Park church was recently added to the National Register of Historic Places. (Photo by Mark Nicklawske)

A monumental concrete block church constructed by idle steelworkers in early 19th-century Morgan Park earned national recognition last month and will be a stop on a historic building tour this weekend in Duluth.

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Club One Under to replace Rex Bar at Fitger’s

Sep 09, 2024 No Comments

A new bar offering simulated sports such as golf, basketball and hockey is expected to open Sept. 28 in the Fitger’s Brewery Complex. Club One Under will occupy the space that previously served as Rex Bar at Fitger’s, which was a popular nightclub and music venue from 2008 to 2023.

The Duluth News Tribune reports that Club One Under owners Derek, Angie, Mike and Stacy Locker have entered into a long-term lease on the 6,000-square-foot space.


News and Current Affairs , ,

Jugger, a sword-fighting and rugby combo, has arrived in Duluth

Aug 28, 2024 No Comments

Jack Brown, Mitchell Glatzel and Noah Pongratz duel at Leif Erikson Park. When playing jugger they go by the names Dragon, Tumbles and Grub.

There’s a weekly sword fight at Leif Erikson Park in Duluth. Rolling, sliding and dodging blow after blow of foam attacks, three duelists who call themselves Dragon, Tumbles and Grub always draw a crowd of onlookers.

To the uninformed, the spectacle might seem like a form of live-action roleplay. But it would be more accurate to say Dragon and his crew have introduced a new sport to Duluth: jugger.

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News and Current Affairs, Sports ,

New Tweed director thinks of museum as classroom

Aug 27, 2024 No Comments

Tweed Museum of Art Director Julie Delliquanti.

The fall semester hasn’t quite begun at the University of Minnesota Duluth, but the new director of the Tweed Museum of Art has been meeting with faculty in disciplines across campus to examine how the museum can further contribute to intellectual pursuits.

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Art, News and Current Affairs