News and Current Affairs Posts

Give me your Twin Ports Halloween events!

I will post them on HauntedDuluth.com for free! If it’s a major Halloween bash or a tiny haunted garage on Halloween night, I want to add it to my site!

Post your event info as a comment in this post, or email me from the HauntedDuluth.com contact page.

NorShor Theatre Preliminary Designs

Six-page PDF of NorShor Theatre preliminary schematic designs

2011 Duluth General Election Sample Ballot

Brush up on your referendums, kids. The city and the school district have some wordy questions for you. (By the way, you should be able to click on the images below to see them larger and read them more easily. The city question is the back side of the ballot, and is a separate image below.)

Another note about the ballot: As usual, depending on what neighborhood you live in, you might also vote on a district city councilor and/or school board member. This ballot has the district council race blanked out and does not include a district school board race.

Last Place on Earth raided

JimCarlsonAt 1:02 p.m. today Duluth Police executed a search warrant at the Last Place On Earth, a head shop at 120 E. Superior St.

According to police, the search warrant is part of an ongoing investigation into the sale of “illegal synthetic marijuana,” and Last Place will remain closed until investigators have cleared the scene.

No arrests have been made, so whether illegal products were being sold along with legal ones is yet to be determined.

Designer drugs were the subject of cover stories in the Duluth News Tribune and Star Tribune on Sunday.

DNT: Synthetic drugs bring new rush hour to downtown Duluth
Strib: Bath salts hit U.S. ‘like a freight train’

Duluth Dinkytown?

Anybody have thoughts on this?

Duluth School Board authorizes sale of Woodland site; developer envisions mini ‘Dinkytown’

I know the family that lives on the east end of the wooded area. They have been trying for over a year to purchase some of that land to leave as green-space and a buffer. They were assured that the developer would take the neighborhood “into consideration.” Can anybody fire up their crystal ball and see how this plays out? Or should I invest in vinyl siding as it takes a lot of plastic to wrap buildings over 21 acres.

New Skyline Parkway signs

Duluth 2011 Primary Election Results

With 36 of 36 precincts reporting and 6,620 total ballots cast:

At-large Duluth City Councilors
(Two positions; top four candidates advance)
Emily Larson – 4,918 | 40%
Linda Krug – 4,860 | 40%
Tim Riley – 947 | 8%
Chad Smith – 645 | 5%
Eric Edwardson – 446 | 4%
Gareth W. Bates – 442 | 4%

Fourth District Duluth City Councilor
(Top two candidates advance.)
Jacqueline Halberg – 695 | 44%
Garry Krause – 649 | 41%
Ryan Miles – 134 | 9%
Wallace Newquist – 59 | 4%
Travis Silvers – 29 | 2%

At-large Duluth School Board Member
(Top two candidates advance.)
Michael Miernicki – 3,783 | 61%
Ryan Stauber – 1,882 | 30%
Doug Frisk – 515 | 8%

Anti-Human Trafficking Trainings in Duluth

Local Perspective on 9/11

Tomorrow (9/9)  at 10am KUMD 103.3 FM will air a panel discussion called “Reflections of 9/11.”  Hosted by Northland Morning’s Lisa Johnson, the program includes Paula Pedersen from the UMD Psychology Department, Dan Martin from the UMD Sociology Department and Nik Hassan from the Twin Ports Muslim Center.

The show will re-air on Sunday morning at 7.

KUMD will also be airing songs inspired by 9/11 throughout the day tomorrow.

Million Minute Family Challenge

Join the Duluth Area Family Y in celebrating the 11th Annual, Nationwide: Million Minute Family Challenge!  Board games and card games offer true face-to-face interaction that is disappearing in daily in the lives of our families across the nation.   Playing a game creates a relaxed environment to converse, laugh and really get to know one another.

Register online at millionminute.com to receive a free organizer kit and game ideas.

Gather your friends and family for a Sunday Afternoon of free play at the Y!  The game center will be open from 3:30 to 4:30  on Sundays starting Sept. 11 through Dec. 18. Any and all ages are welcome to participate!

Sept. 11 Northland Community Observance

Join the community on Sunday, Sept. 11 at 1 p.m. at the DECC auditorium to remember the victims, honor our brave, and promote peace and understanding.

News release (pdf)

* Free parking provided courtesy of the DECC.
* Sign language interpretation provided by Amy Norris.

Opportunity knocks.

“Greek Police Smash Violent Doughnut Ring”
THESSALONIKI – It took an undercover operation, but Greek police have blown a hole in a ring of alleged crooks who had cornered the doughnut market in a beach resort.

I hereby call upon Mayor Ness to offer asylum in Duluth to these industrious, probably misunderstood people, with an eye toward improving our own disastrous local donut market–their violent tendencies would presumably remain latent due to the absence of any competition to intimidate.

What’s that thing in Canal Park?

I keep wondering every time I go to Canal Park — what is that structure being built in the northeast corner of Canal Park, just across from the Endion Station building on that construction site over there. Does anyone know?

Cravaack to Hold Town Hall Meeting in Duluth, After All

Via MPR News Polinaut blog and MPR’s Dan Kraker…

Amid mounting pressure, 8th District GOP congressman Chip Cravaack has announced he will hold an open town hall meeting at 4 o’clock tomorrow afternoon at the Duluth airport.

Iran continues to be Iran

Associated Press via the Washington Post: “Iran sentences two American men to eight years in jail in blow to hopes for freedom