News and Current Affairs Posts

PDD Quiz: August 2018 in Review

Sister Mary Jo Sobieck

Which headlines caught your eye this month? Which escaped your attention? Mourn the waning summer and the inexorable march of time with this month’s PDD Quiz!

The next quiz, on bygone community events and festivals, will be published on Sept. 16. Please email question suggestions to Alison Moffat at [email protected] by Sept. 12.

Conflicted Feelings: Moose Lake

Moose Lake is close enough to Duluth, I feel like I should have an opinion about the recent court decision that lets the Minnesota Sex Offender Program continue operating as it has been, despite the fact that as of two years ago, “nobody has ever been fully released. More than 40 have died while in commitment. The oldest man here is 94, and several are older than 70” [via PBS].

I don’t know anyone in the facility. I don’t know anyone who works for the facility. I believe in rehabilitation but I might be naive. I believe life sentences should be part of the court’s sentencing, not a civil commitment after, but that might be splitting hairs.

I don’t want to imagine that someone in the government could decide I could never walk free again without recourse to a trial by my peers. But I would not commit the kind of crime these men have.

I could stand some help thinking this through.

R.I.P. Carter Hotel

The Duluth News Tribune reports the vacant Carter Hotel building at 17 N. Second Ave. E. will be torn down. The Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa will replace it with a surface parking lot for its Fond-du-Lac Casino.

Duluth top city for paycheck stretching, according to indeed.com

Indeed.com released a report today entitled, “US Cities Where Salaries Go Furthest: 2018.” Of 185 metro cities, the one that topped the list for stretching the buying power of a paycheck is Duluth.

Will they take the “Duluth” out of the Duluth Harbor South Breakwater Outer Light?

The West Central Tribune of Willmar reports the Willmar City Council is considering bringing the Duluth Harbor South Breakwater Outer Light to the west-central Minnesota community.

Story link: Could a lighthouse soon light the way for boaters on Willmar’s lakes?

New sign celebrates Snively Monument

A new informational sign will be installed at the recently refurbished Snively Monument on West Skyline Parkway. The Duluth Preservation Alliance will hold a sign dedication ceremony on Monday, Aug. 13, 3 p.m., at the Snively Monument, located just east of the Stewart Creek Bridge on the scenic roadway.

PDD Quiz: July 2018 in Review

As another month of summer comes to a close, we look back at the events that made headlines. Quiz on to test your knowledge of July happenings!

The next PDD Quiz, on Duluth murals, will be published on Aug. 12. Email question suggestions to Alison Moffat at [email protected] by Aug. 9.

Cancer battle pushes sale of iconic West Duluth store

Joel Russell stands outside Central Sales, a surplus store his family has owned for more than 30 years.

An iconic and ruggedly unique surplus store in the heart of West Duluth has been put up for sale as its longtime owner prepares to fight a serious health issue.

Silent hero of Boundary Waters blowdown subject of new movie

Official title of "Sultan of Scrape" courtesy of Sultan of Scrape

The heroic story of a man who led one of Minnesota’s largest disaster rescue efforts will be told in a motion picture planned for release in 2019.

Duluth Screen Printing will celebrate Flagship store July 4

Anthony Rogentine, GM, chats with a group of customers as they enter the store. Photo by Alex Byom.

Duluth Screen Printing Co. recently opened a multi-purpose shop in Canal Park called Flagship. The new space is serving as a retail store and office for the company, which has its main production facility in Duluth’s East Hillside.

A launch party for the new Flagship store will be held on Wednesday, July 4. The location is 345 S. Lake Ave., between Adventure Zone and Old Chicago.

Beleaguered Sound restaurant closed, but could reopen soon

Sound, the not-quite six-month-old restaurant occupying the ground floor of the former Duluth City Hall building at 132 E. Superior St., closed on Friday. Dennis Kempton, a public relations professional connected to the restaurant, announced on Facebook today that owner Alison Underthun has backed out of the project. A new group of partners will relaunch the business soon, according to Kempton.

Shanty Bottle Shop will have new owners

Shanty Bottle Shop owner Pam Crotty waves goodbye outside the front door of her business. Crotty has sold the store after nearly four decades in beer, wine and liquor sales.

An iconic, family-run East Hillside liquor store will change hands next month after four generations served the public’s rapidly changing tastes in beer, wine and spirits.

Thirsty Pagan hires new brewer

Kathleen Culhane - Photo by Lissa Maki

Kathleen Culhane – Photo by Lissa Maki

Thirsty Pagan Brewing in Superior welcomes a new brewer this week. Kathleen Culhane is relocating from the Twin Cities to the Twin Ports for the gig. Her official start date is June 25.

PDD Quiz: June 2018 in Review

Plenty of headlines made waves this month; do you remember the details? Quiz on to test your smarts!

The next PDD Quiz, on Buffalo Bill Cody’s dealings with Duluth, will be published on July 15. Email question suggestions to Alison Moffat at [email protected] by July 11.

Challenge: Describe other things like Rolling Stone describes Duluth

The way Ana Marie Cox describes Duluth in her article “A Night Among the Trump Believers Way Up North” really needs its own genre. Here’s a quote from the original piece to give you a sense of it:

Lake Superior’s merciless beauty crashes up against a town whose shoreside skyline is dominated by stolid, brutalist mid-century relics and precarious-seeming industrial shipping contraptions, rusty and mostly silent. Downtown, every surface is covered with a thin layer of grime. It is, in other words, Trump Country.

Genius, right? In the comments, leave your ideas for how Ana Marie Cox would describe other things in Duluth!