PDD News Sieve Posts

Missing Persons: Ronald and Mary Tarnowski

Update: On Aug. 5 at approximately 3:44 Ronald and Mary Tarnowski were found deceased. Their vehicle was discovered in a remote location west of Highway 2 in the Brookston area by a U.S. Border Patrol helicopter. The family has been notified. The investigation into their deaths continues, but foul play is not suspected. The death investigation is being handled by the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office.

Bent Paddle buys its brewing plant; plans expansion

Bent Paddle Brewing announced in a news release today it has purchased its brewing facility at 1912 W. Michigan St. in Duluth’s Lincoln Park neighborhood. The $942,500 sale was completed in June. Bent Paddle had leased the 10,600-square-foot warehouse space since 2013.

The news release also mentions “yet to be disclosed plans” for the nearby building at 1832 W. Michigan St., which Bent Paddle has used as an office space for the past year. The Duluth News Tribune reported on Monday that “documents submitted to the city planning commission show a re-imagined home for the city’s largest brewery.” The paper published a schematic design that shows “a new partly covered patio” and notes “Bent Paddle is applying for a concurrent use permit for the deck.” The design suggests a possible move of Bent Paddle’s taproom to the current office building.

Wheel of Duluth

We don’t have a video clip, and the specific air date isn’t known, but at some point in mid-July 2007 — ten years ago — Duluth was the answer to a final puzzle on Wheel of Fortune.

A post in the PDD archives notes the clue was “on the map.” The contestant had just two letters to guess with, making it pretty much impossible, but anyone from Duluth could figure it out instantly.

_ _ L _ T _

Missing Person: Kenneth Gordon

The Duluth Police Department is seeking the public’s assistance in locating Kenneth Jay Gordon. He was last seen on July 18 at approximately 9 p.m. in a small red or brown vehicle leaving the area of the 2500 block of Rice Lake Road in Duluth’s Kenwood neighborhood.

Gordon is described as a 63-year-old Native American male, 5-foot 10-inches tall, 180 lbs., black hair in a pony-tail, facial hair and no teeth. He has a tattoo on his left forearm, uses a two-handed silver walker, and was last seen wearing a cream-colored long-sleeve shirt, grey sweatpants and a worn out baseball cap.

The Duluth Police Department would like to check Gordon’S health and welfare based upon medical health concerns. Anyone having information as to his whereabouts is asked to contact the Duluth Police Department by calling 911.

Duluth 2017 Primary Election Primer

Below are the offices up for grabs this fall and the names of those who filed to run before the July 18 deadline. The Primary Election will be held Sept. 12. The General Election is Nov. 7.

City Girl Coffee in Forbes

Duluth’s City Girl Coffee was featured yesterday in the online version of nationally circulated business magazine Forbes. In the Q-and-A article, City Girl founder Alyza Bohbot shares how her coffee business aims to source from women-owned and managed farms while working to raise consumer awareness of gender inequality in the world’s coffee-producing communities. She also details how she approaches the challenges of small business ownership and explains why social missions should be more than just a marketing tool.

Article link: Small Company, Mighty Mission

Three Downtown Duluth avenues will switch to two-way traffic

Three avenues in Downtown Duluth will convert from one-way to two-way traffic as part of the city’s plans to improve transit and access to businesses. The changes will be made to First, Second and Third avenues west from Superior Street to Fourth Street and intersections between Lake Avenue and Fourth Avenue West.

Trophy Café open on Commonwealth Avenue

Fox 21 News reports a new café has opened in the former Vietnamese Lotus Inn location at 1314 Commonwealth Ave. in Duluth’s Gary neighborhood. The Trophy Café is owned by Mont du Lac Resort and managed by Mike Ohara.

St. Louis County records show Matt Gregg is the owner of the building. He purchased it from Steven D. and Cuc T. Allen one year ago for $40,000. The Allens were proprietors of the Lotus Inn, which they operated from 2003 to 2013, and briefly reopened in 2015 under the name VN Coffeehouse.

Missing Person: Leah Buehring

The Duluth Police Department is seeking the public’s assistance in locating a missing person. Leah Buehring was last seen July 1 in the area of 4000 W. Ninth St. in West Duluth. She is a 17-year-old light-skinned white female, 5’7″ tall, 180 lbs., with brown hair and hazel/brown eyes. She is possibly wearing a knee brace on her right knee. Buehring may also use the name “Angel Faith James.”

Anyone with information pertaining to Buehring’s whereabouts is asked to contact the Duluth Police Department by calling 911, or Duluth Police Department Investigations at 218-730-5560 during business hours or 218-625-3581 at any time.

Pressroom Podcast: PDD on the DNT


Click the lil’ triangle above to hear a 37-minute podcast about Perfect Duluth Day on the eve of its 14th anniversary.

Duluth News Tribune Pressroom Podcast hosts Christa Lawler and Brady Slater talk with PDD grand poobah Paul Lundgren, food and drink reporter Lissa Maki, and PDD co-founder Barrett Chase (who left PDD in 2015 to become a web editor at the DNT).

Perfect Duluth Day’s 14th birthday party is Thursday, June 29, from 5-7 p.m. at Sir Benedict’s Tavern on the Lake. Free coleslaw while supplies last!

Sinclair Lewis’ Perfect Duluth Day

Excerpt of a letter from Sinclair Lewis to Marcella Powers, included in the book Minnesota Diaries:

What a day — the first in Duluth this year completely of the type known to meteorologists as a p.d., or “absolutely perfect day” — cool, the air sweet, sky ringing blue except for lovely lazy clouds, as idyllic and indolent as a Grecian glade, yet full of energy for people from Chicago … the lake a mirror of many kinds of blue and gray glass, some sleek, some delicately wrinkled …

Dylan musical set in Duluth

Perfect Duluth Day reported in early May that a new musical play written and directed by Conor McPherson with music and lyrics by Bob Dylan was scheduled to open at the Vic Theater in London in July. What wasn’t known at the time is the play is set in Duluth.

Audio clips of two tracks recorded as part of a workshop for Girl from the North Country can be heard in the PDD post from May. Three reports verifying the setting of the play are listed below.

From the BBC New story “Bob Dylan: Conor McPherson on writing the musical“:

Conor McPherson has set the play in a guesthouse in Dylan’s birthplace of Duluth in Minnesota. It is called Girl from the North Country, after a track Dylan wrote in 1963.

“Colder than the surface of Mars”

Poet Dora Malech gets all Duluthy in a poem published in the May 29 issue of The New Yorker. It’s more that a reference — the poem is basically set in Duluth.

The text of “I Now Pronounce You” is available online, along with an audio track of the poet reading it.

Malech grew up in Bethesda, Md., and now lives in Baltimore. Her connection to Duluth is unknown, unless it’s as simple as the first line of the poem: “Our friends are getting married in Duluth.”

Reflection, refraction, dispersion: Duluth rainbow pics

Sun showers produced a Father’s Day rainbow in Duluth. Click the thumbnails to view the images at full size.

Photographers: Jamie Merideth (Duluth Harbor), Eric Dubnicka (Old Central High School), Tim Mlodozyniec (Denfeld clock tower) and Erin Anderson (Lake Superior).

Duluth artist Russell Gran dead at 81

Russell V. Gran, a Duluth native best known for his acrylic paintings and role as the unofficial “patriarch” of the Washington Studios Artist Cooperative, died June 14 of an apparent heart attack. He was 81.

“Endlessly curious and driven to create, his curmudgeonly exterior was merely a facade for a wonderfully humorous, sensitive and loving being,” fellow artist and friend Eric Dubnicka wrote on Facebook.

Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!