News and Current Affairs Posts

A funny thing happened on the way home from the Duluth Airshow … or is a crash landing not a funny thing?

Jul 11, 2016 No Comments

Plane crash in Stanchfield

From the Isanti County Sheriff’s Office:

On July 9 at 6:50 p.m., the Isanti County Sheriff’s Office Communications division received a report of a plane crash in Stanchfield Township, close to the address of 38045 Lever St. NE. All emergency personnel were started to the crash.

After several minutes we received information that there were no injuries and the pilot and copilot were out walking around.

Upon arrival it was determined that a retired U.S. Navy 630 Bi-plane, yellow in color, had engine failure while flying from Duluth to Anoka.

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News and Current Affairs

Reflections on Race and Community-oriented Policing

Jul 09, 2016 2 Comments

DavidBeard_SEThis is going to begin in Milwaukee, pass through St. Paul, and end in Duluth.

When I was a kid, the Milwaukee Police Department gave away baseball cards. The cards were printed for the police with the Milwaukee Brewers as the celebrities. Each officer carried two, and you had to talk to more than one officer over the summer to collect a full set. It was a great strategy for bringing families and police together. My favorite Brewer was Rollie Fingers, because he had a handlebar moustache. I didn’t know anything, any damn thing at all, about baseball.

Rollie Fingers Baseball Card

The baseball cards were part of a “community-oriented policing” initiative. I was a kid; I barely understood what that meant, but I understood the problem it was meant to address.

In 1981, when I was nine, Ernest Lacy was arrested on suspicion of rape in Milwaukee. According to an account in The New York Times, Lacy was taken into a police van, where “two of the officers then held his legs down by placing their feet on his legs, and a third officer placed his knee between Mr. Lacy’s shoulder blades, forcing him to lie face down with his left cheek pinned to the ground. … Then, one of the policemen pulled Mr. Lacy’s arms up beyond his shoulder blades and over his ears [with] one violent, convulsive seizure and then the black man was absolutely still. … [T]he extension of Mr. Lacy’s arms toward his head interfered with the flow of oxygen to his lungs. … [T]his was fatal.” Lacy was taken alive into a police van and was removed dead, a victim of police brutality.

(Another man was convicted of the rape, if that matters to anyone reading this. It shouldn’t for Ernest Lacy any more than it did for Clayton, Jackson and McGhie.)

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News and Current Affairs

PDD Quiz: June 2016

Jul 03, 2016 No Comments

juicepharmgiselleJune happened. Now, what do you remember? Take the quiz and find out.


News and Current Affairs

Uber poised to enter Duluth market

Jun 30, 2016 4 Comments

Uber logoThe question might not be why Duluth doesn’t have Uber service, but when it will.

“By the end of the year,” said Duluth City Councilor Noah Hobbs. “From my personal end I don’t see anything holding us back from having Uber operating in Duluth.”

Hobbs held the first formal meeting on Tuesday in regard to the ride-hailing web application operating in the city. He met with City Attorney Nate LaCoursiere as a starting point for crafting an ordinance to regulate Uber and other transportation network companies.

Unlike taxicabs, Uber utilizes an online platform to connect drivers in their personal vehicles with riders paying for fares through the touch of a button, no cash. This type of techy transportation is taking place in 476 cities worldwide and counting. Uber started out seven years ago in cities like San Francisco and Chicago, and has recently expanded into smaller communities like Moorhead and Iowa City.

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News and Current Affairs ,

Norshor Theatre renovations begin

Jun 29, 2016 3 Comments

NorShor BarThe deal to restore Duluth’s historic Norshor Theatre has finally come together, and renovation work is underway. Last week, WDSE-TV‘s Almanac North hosts Dennis Anderson and Julie Zenner discussed the project with Duluth Mayor Emily Larson and Duluth Playhouse Executive and Artistic Director Christine Gradl Seitz.


News and Current Affairs , ,

Local casket business dies

Jun 28, 2016 No Comments

Duluth Casket ShopHey, when did Duluth Casket Shop go out of business? Did local media completely fail to produce the kind of headline people get into journalism for in the first place?


News and Current Affairs, R.I.P.

Public comment sought on EAW for Spirit Mountain projects

Jun 13, 2016 No Comments

bermThe city of Duluth is accepting public comments until July 13 on an environmental assessment worksheet that was prepared for proposed projects at Spirit Mountain Recreation Area in 2016-2017. The plans include Nordic cross-country ski trails, mountain bike trails, Superior Hiking Trail extensions, rail-to-trail conversion, and an 18-hole disc golf course.

The proposed projects would initiate when all permits and approvals are received. They are part of the St. Louis River Corridor Initiative aimed at revitalizing and enhancing recreational opportunities and appropriate development in the western corridor of Duluth.

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News and Current Affairs, Outdoors ,

Tennis courts by MacArthur School coming along

Jun 09, 2016 3 Comments

Tennis Courts MacArthur

Seven tennis courts and a discus/shotput-throwing area look to be almost ready at 725 N. Central Ave. The new courts and field will be used by tennis and track teams from Denfeld, as well as physical education students and other community members.


News and Current Affairs, Sports ,

Cross City Trail section on DWP line almost done

Jun 01, 2016 1 Comment

DWP trail paved

Last week the pavement went down on a new section of the Cross City Trail that runs on the former Duluth, Winnipeg, and Pacific Railroad line behind the Lake Superior Zoo — part of the DWP Trail. The paved section runs from Greene Street to the zoo, a distance of about one mile.


News and Current Affairs ,

Historic heart of Superior’s East End faces changes

May 31, 2016 8 Comments
Walter Haugen stands outside the former East End Drug store his father operated for almost 70 years in Superior. The set of buildings on East Fifth Street are planned for demolition this spring.

Walter Haugen stands in front of buildings on the 2100 block of East Fifth Street, all planned for demolition this spring.

Walter Haugen stood inside an old corner pharmacy his father operated for close to 70 years on Superior’s East End. A junk pile was pushed near the plate glass front windows. Empty shelving units displayed old merchandise tags. A pungent mercurochrome smell filled the dusty store.

He pointed through a hole in some foam panels overhead. The hole exposed a tin ceiling most likely installed when the building was constructed in 1878. Dozens of silver, square tin tiles decorated the ceiling.

Haugen said someone could be hired to take down the tin, which could be sold for a hefty price to antique dealers or architectural salvage specialists. But it won’t be done.

“It would be like gutting a relative,” he said. “It would be like if you had a pet deer that you raised and someone asked you to chop it up and sell them the meat. You just wouldn’t do it.”

The East End Drug Store, on the corner of Fifth Street and 22nd Avenue, anchors a collection of storefront buildings in the oldest business district in Superior. The 19th Century buildings are expected to meet the wrecking ball in the coming weeks, opening a prime corner to commercial redevelopment.

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History, News and Current Affairs

PDD Quiz: May 2016

May 29, 2016 No Comments

2016FirstTickMay 2016 isn’t quite over, but it’s over enough to quiz you over it. Here are some questions to see if you’ve been paying attention.


News and Current Affairs

Maria Bamford: Lady Dynamite of Duluth

May 22, 2016 5 Comments

Maria Bamford Duluth Maria Bamford - Lady Dynamite

With all the posts on PDD about References to Duluth in TV and Film we shouldn’t neglect to mention the newest and most obvious example. Lady Dynamite, starring Duluth’s Maria Bamford, premiered Friday on Netflix.

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News and Current Affairs ,

Parking Crunch in Canal Park

May 20, 2016 6 Comments

The season for enforcing paid parking in Canal Park has begun (see the DNT article here). Parking in Canal Park will get tight and expensive.

Lake Superior Magazine image

Lake Superior Magazine image

The photo at left is of pre-redevelopment Canal Park, not parking this weekend. But you get the idea.

If you are reading this and remember life in Duluth when this was the beach, I’d love to hear stories.

Meanwhile, parking…

I used to meet friends at Endion Station, which was the (I think) last cheap place to park in Canal Park until the meters were upgraded.

And for a while, I joined the Great Lakes Aquarium because the free parking given members of the Aquarium was cheaper than parking in Canal Park. Plus the Aquarium is awesome.

What is the last secret of the local for getting into Canal Park this summer with a car?
 


News and Current Affairs

The Story of Hairmantown: ESPN Clip

May 10, 2016 No Comments


ESPN’s E:60 premiered its Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournament feature tonight, they released this clip on their website specifically about the Hermantown Hawks’ pursuit of the class A championship … and excellence in flowing locks.
 


News and Current Affairs, Videos ,

Upset Duluth: Brevator Township Edition

May 09, 2016 No Comments

The Duluth News Tribune reports a proposed tire-recycling facility north of Cloquet has a few people upset. Photo by Steve Kuchera.

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News and Current Affairs, Photos