News and Current Affairs Posts

Bald eagle stuck in trap rescued by hunters

Nov 29, 2015 No Comments

bald eagle rescue selfieTwo brothers grouse hunting in Canada rescued a bald eagle with its talon stuck in a trap and then took a selfie with it. They posted video of the rescue on Facebook, the freeing of the talon took about four minutes.

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News and Current Affairs, Outdoors

Duluth City Council votes to oppose Trans Pacific Partnership

Nov 24, 2015 No Comments

Thanks to the Duluth City Council for voting 8 to 1 to oppose the Trans Pacific Partnership. The DNT article is here. 

The TPP has been negotiated in secret for years, and has been called “NAFTA on steroids” and a “corporate coup d’ etat.” If you’ve never heard of it that’s no coincidence. It will offshore jobs, raise the price of medicines, threaten net neutrality, threaten environmental protections, undermine human rights, roll back Wall Street reforms, and perhaps most frighteningly of all it will establish unelected tribunals whose courts will take precedence over U.S. and other national court systems with regard to trade disputes. Laws passed by democracies will no longer be the law of the land. This is an assault on our republican form of government. Please read more about it here and here.

Please email Senator Al Franken and Senator Amy Kobuchar.


News and Current Affairs, Politics

Mayor Ness profiled on MinnPost

Nov 24, 2015 No Comments

Don Ness photo by Paul Walsh“Don Ness doesn’t want to be America’s most popular mayor anymore,” reads the headline of a feature on the Minneapolis-based nonprofit news website MinnPost. “Ness, at 41, is doing what is inconceivable to some: stepping away from politics indefinitely at the height of his career — a move that has left many in Duluth and around the state wondering: Why?”

On Twitter, Ness offers an alternate title for the story:

Ness Twitter


News and Current Affairs

Twin Ports Joyride: Reduced-cost taxicab rides on the west side

Nov 24, 2015 No Comments

Twin Ports Joyride - Good Times Delivered

A program designed to provide $7 taxicab vouchers to tipsy bar patrons in western Duluth and Proctor has been ramping up exposure leading into the holidays. Twin Ports Joyride is funded by participating bars, beer wholesalers and other donations.

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News and Current Affairs

St. Louis River Corridor Parks Survey

Nov 21, 2015 No Comments

slrcCommunity input is being sought by Duluth’s Parks and Recreation Department to develop mini-master plans for eleven neighborhood parks in the St. Louis River Corridor: Historical, Fond du Lac, Blackmer, Smithville, Riverside, Norton, Keene Creek, Grassy Point, Merritt, Harrison and Piedmont. Preliminary concept plans have been developed for the parks following public meetings held in September and October.

An online survey is available at the City of Duluth website.

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News and Current Affairs

Images of Spirit Mountain piping project on St. Louis River

Nov 15, 2015 1 Comment

More videos and images below and in the Google gallery linked here. 

Spirit Mountain’s piping project will draw water from the St. Louis River and pipe it to the lower chalet area where another pumping station will send it into the snow gun system. There are two pumping stations: one at the lower chalet area, the other right next to Tallas Island Bay on the Western Waterfront Trail in the Riverside neighborhood. That is the area these photos were taken.

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News and Current Affairs, Outdoors, Photos, Videos , , ,

Jade Fountain closed; Gannucci’s expansion planned

Nov 11, 2015 10 Comments

Gannucci's Italian Market and Jade Fountain

Within six months of acquiring the Jade Fountain, Bill Kalligher locked the big red doors to the iconic Chinese restaurant. He reached the decision in September, fed up with a dirty kitchen he says he’s still trying to clean, alleged poor product quality from food suppliers and a box filled with bounced checks from customers.

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News and Current Affairs, R.I.P., Restaurants , ,

Missing Person: Jonathan Beckman

Nov 11, 2015 No Comments

Jonathan Kalep BeckmanUpdate: Jonathan Beckman and two other young males who ran from the Northwood Children’s Services West Campus last night were located and brought back to Northwoods by Duluth Police today.


News and Current Affairs

The big, fat EIS

Nov 06, 2015 No Comments

NorthMet Mining Project and Land Exchange Final EIS 2015The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. Forest Service have released the final environmental analysis of Minnesota’s first proposed copper-nickel mine. It’s 3,576 pages long. Click here for an overview on the DNR website and to find links to download the full 263 MB of wholesome review process. A 30-day public review period begins Nov. 13 and ends Dec. 14. Update: Deadline for submitting comments has been extended to Dec. 21.

PolyMet proposes to develop an open-pit mine and processing facilities for the extraction of copper, nickel and platinum elements, with an estimated 20-year lifespan for mine operations. The proposed mine would be located in the St. Louis River watershed on the eastern edge of the Mesabi Iron Range, about 6 miles south of Babbitt and about 1 mile south of the existing iron-ore Northshore Mine. Processing of the ore would take place at a former industrial site, the LTV steel plant in Hoyt Lakes.

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News and Current Affairs

Cirrus parachute deployed in Arkansas

Nov 04, 2015 No Comments

Note: CBS News has removed its video of this report, therefore PDD has removed the embed. There is a different, non-embeddable video at cbsnews.com.

Former Walmart CEO Bill Simon was piloting a Duluth-manufactured Cirrus SR22T heading from Bentonville, Ark., to Waco, Texas, when he ran into engine trouble shortly after takeoff. As CBS News reports in the clip above, the airplane began to lose altitude and Simon made a split-second decision to deploy the safety parachute. He glided to the ground and landed on a stretch of road, the entire aircraft still visibly intact.


News and Current Affairs, Videos

Duluth 2015 General Election Results

Nov 03, 2015 6 Comments

Duluth Election 2015 Emily Larson Chuck Horton

Emily Larson cruises to victory in the mayoral race. Elissa Hansen, Noah Hobbs, Gary Anderson and Em Westerlund are new city councilors. Alanna Oswald, David Kirby and Nora Sandstad join the school board.

With all 34 precincts reporting …

Duluth Mayor
Emily Larson – 15,352 | 72%
Chuck Horton – 5,862 | 27%
Write in – 125 | 1%

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News and Current Affairs, Politics

Arts & Economic Prosperity in Duluth

Oct 28, 2015 No Comments

Creative Minnesota Duluth

A study released on Monday suggests the nonprofit arts and culture sector in Duluth generates over $36 million annually in total economic activity. Arts & Economic Prosperity in the City of Duluth, MN is a follow up to the statewide study Creative Minnesota: The Impact and Health of the Nonprofit Arts and Culture Sector. Highlights are above, fine print is below, and the full text of both studies are linked in the sentence previous to this one.

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Art, News and Current Affairs

“Fighting for Duluth”

Oct 27, 2015 11 Comments

A very unofficial Chuck Horton campaign song made by an anonymous local musician.


Music, News and Current Affairs, Politics, Videos

Scrap Tire Mulch on Duluth Public Schools’ Playgrounds

Oct 27, 2015 No Comments

Last week Duluth Parents for Healthy Playgrounds presented the results of a test conducted by St. Paul-based Legend Technical Services on a sample of rubber mulch from the playground at Lester Park Elementary School. The test found 12 chemicals listed by the Minnesota Department of Health as “chemicals of high concern,” but the chemicals were at levels not considered hazardous.

From the report’s executive summary:

Our test does not account for possible interactions or “synergistic” effects of the 12 “chemicals of high concern,” nor for carbon nanotubes. Given the variety of chemicals different tire manufacturers use, and the variability of the tire brands in Rubberific mulch, the eight grams from Lester Park Elementary that were tested may account for only a few of the estimated 12,000 tires in the whole playground.

Link to the full report: Scrap Tire Mulch on Duluth Public Schools’ Playgrounds (PDF)


News and Current Affairs

Question 3: Method for setting fee paid to Duluth city councilors

Oct 20, 2015 2 Comments

Duluth Charter Amendment - Method for setting fee paid to city councilors

After publishing the Duluth 2015 General Election Sample Ballot, a question arose. We’ve been hearing a lot about ranked-choice voting and Lakeside liquor sales, but what’s the deal with question #3?

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News and Current Affairs, Politics ,