News and Current Affairs Posts

Condemned Esmond building gutted by fire

Jan 10, 2022 1 Comment

The Duluth Fire Department tweeted this photo at 7:55 a.m. noting a heavy fire on the second floor of the Esmond building.

The former Seaway Hotel, more recently known as the Esmond building, burned for seven hours today while fire fighters struggled in sub-arctic temperatures to extinguish it. The condemned structure at 2001 W. Superior St. in Duluth’s Lincoln Park neighborhood has been vacant since 2020 with future plans for demolition and redevelopment.

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Two Superior warehouses destroyed by fire

Jan 06, 2022 2 Comments

Warehouses at 1507 and 1515 N. First St. in the North End of Superior were destroyed by fire this morning. The Blatnik Bridge was temporarily closed due to smoke from the blaze.

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News and Current Affairs, R.I.P.

Superior looking to save Princess Theatre

Dec 30, 2021 No Comments

The building at 1310 Tower Ave. in Superior — known in modern times as the home of Frankie’s Tavern — is the subject of a feasibility study to determine the cost of saving it. The Superior Telegram reports it was built as a theater.

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News and Current Affairs

Great Lakes Now: Resilient Duluth

Dec 27, 2021 No Comments

“Great Lakes Now checks in with Duluth mayor Emily Larson in an update on the improvements being made to the Lake Superior city’s waterfront, which resiliency efforts were featured in a ‘Resilient Duluth’ segment in June. “


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PDD Quiz: 2021 in Review

Dec 26, 2021 No Comments

Put your memory to the test in this week’s year-in-review quiz!

The next PDD quiz will preview upcoming events for 2022; it will be published on Jan. 16. Submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at [email protected] by Jan. 12.

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News and Current Affairs

LEAN Duluth Citizen Blotter: December 2021

Dec 23, 2021 No Comments

The Citizen Blotter is the monthly newsletter of LEAN Duluth — Law Enforcement Accountability Network — a volunteer-run data-analysis group and public communications resource for organizers working for police accountability. To support LEAN’s work, email leanduluth @ gmail.com.

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News and Current Affairs

New Lincoln Park housing takes over old furniture row

Dec 22, 2021 1 Comment

The Anderson Furniture Building, 2032 W. Superior St., was recently purchased by a Duluth developer. The building was constructed in 1910 for use by the Otis Elevator Company. (Photos by Mark Nicklawske).

A historic “Furniture Row” anchor store in Duluth’s Lincoln Park Craft District has new owners who plan to renovate the building and add more housing and retail space to the booming neighborhood. The former Anderson Furniture building at 2032 W. Superior St. was purchased earlier this year by Ohana Holdings LLC of Duluth. St. Louis County property tax records show the company purchased the three-story, 37,000-square-foot property for $500,000.

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News and Current Affairs

Sherman Associates plans to develop Duluth Armory

Dec 21, 2021 No Comments

Plans are in place for the Duluth Armory at 1305 London Road to “serve as an economic, cultural and entertainment hub for northeastern Minnesota,” according to a news release from the Armory Arts and Music Center. The organization announced a partnership on Monday with Minneapolis-based Sherman Associates to rehabilitate and develop the armory building, targeting an opening in 2024.

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News and Current Affairs

Missing Person: William Terry

Dec 09, 2021 No Comments

Update: Deputies from the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office located the deceased body of William Terry today. He appears to have died by suicide. Terry was reported missing from his residence on Munger Shaw Road in Grand Lake Township on Dec. 6; he had not been seen since Nov. 27. The township is adjacent to Hermantown, about six miles northwest of Duluth.

Deputies had searched Terry’s home on Dec. 6, but after receiving new information concerning the layout of the residence, a follow-up search was conducted and the body was located in a previously undiscovered hidden room. No foul play is suspected.


News and Current Affairs

R.I.P. Ben Boo

Dec 08, 2021 No Comments

Former Duluth mayor and Minnesota representative Ben Boo died on Dec. 1 at age 96.

Boo was Duluth’s 35th mayor, holding office for two terms from 1967 to 1975. He served in the Minnesota House of Representatives from 1984 to 1992. He also directed the Western Lake Superior Sanitary District and the Upper Great Lakes Regional Commission in between his political terms.

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News and Current Affairs, R.I.P.

Duluth’s Best Bread announces second location in soon-to-be former Blacklist space, crowdfunding campaign underway

Dec 06, 2021 No Comments

Brothers Michael and Robert Lillegard of Duluth’s Best Bread say customers are eating faster than they can bake. The video for a new crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo includes the long-anticipated announcement that the Lincoln Park bakery is adding a second location in the Downtown Duluth space presently occupied by Blacklist Brewing. Blacklist is planning a move into the former Carlson Book building.

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Cross-country skiers push for Duluth to be ‘fluoro wax-free city’

Dec 03, 2021 1 Comment

As the national SuperTour race hits Spirit Mountain in Duluth this weekend, Minnesota Public Radio delves into the potentially harmful effects of per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances found in the fluorinated ski wax used by elite cross-country ski racers.


News and Current Affairs, Sports

KUMD is now WDSE 103.3 FM “The North”

Dec 01, 2021 1 Comment

After 64 years of affiliation with the University of Minnesota Duluth, 103.3 FM is now a product of the Duluth Superior Area Educational Television Corporation, the public media organization that also owns WDSE/WRPT-TV, the Duluth area’s PBS affiliate.

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PDD Quiz: November 2021 in Review

Nov 28, 2021 No Comments

Shake off the post-Thanksgiving slump and exercise your brain with some current affairs trivia!

The next PDD quiz will look at Twin Ports Christmases of yore; it will be published on Dec. 12. Submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at [email protected] by Dec. 9.

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News and Current Affairs

Kingsbury Creek has a new bridge, snowmobile trail restored

Nov 21, 2021 No Comments

The bridge over Kingsbury Creek in West Duluth that was washed away in the Historic Summer Solstice Flood Disaster of 2012 has been replaced. The snowmobile route that runs across the bridge and snakes through the hillside south of Interstate 35, roughly from Keane Creek to Knowlton Creek, has also been restored after years of neglect. The lost ridgeline snowmobile route is part of the St. Louis River Corridor snowmobile trail system and links to the Hermantown trail system.

Duluth’s Parks and Recreation Division and the Hermantown Night Riders are hosting a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the bridge on Dec. 17.


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