Jim Carlson talks to a television reporter in front of his head shop, The Last Place on Earth, on Sept. 16, 2011. (Photo by Paul Lundgren)
A Duluth head shop owner convicted of federal drug trafficking charges more than a decade ago will have his sentence commuted in a sweeping clemency order issued by President Joe Biden Dec. 12.
Duluth real estate agent Tracy Ramsay published the premiere issue of North at the start of 2024. The lifestyle magazine will increase its territory beyond the Duluth area in 2025 to include northwest Wisconsin, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and parts of North Dakota.
Duluth realtor-turned-publisher Tracy Ramsay and her team are preparing to release the second issue of North magazine. The new lifestyle publication premiered in January, featuring articles about homes in the north country, local culture and more.
The city of Duluth is at a crossroads with its tourism marketing. After years of underwhelming performance from an out-of-town marketing firm, city leaders promised a better process and outcome this time.
City mismanagement, however, undermined that commitment. A poorly-planned and hastily-executed request-for-proposal process, confusing guidance and unnecessary delays have left Duluth with a troubling outcome: A recommendation to hire another out-of-town agency with no knowledge of the city’s tourism industry and significant client conflicts to lead Duluth tourism marketing for the next two years.
Get your brain in gear and test your memory of current events with this week’s quiz!
A holiday-themed PDD quiz skis your way on Dec. 15. Please submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at [email protected] by Dec. 11.
A Better Futures Minnesota worker removes shingles from the roof of the ‘Pigeon House.’ The home was purchased and recycled by owners of the nearby restaurant At Sara’s Table / Chester Creek Café. (Photo by Mark Nicklawske)
Deck-side diners at a popular Chester Park neighborhood restaurant are treated to glorious Lake Superior views but staff knew an abandoned house — in a direct line of vision — could easily spoil the scene.
The “Pigeon House” had to go — but not to a landfill.
With 4,103 of 4,103 precincts reporting, here are the statewide general election results for races relevant to Duluth.
—FEDERAL OFFICES—
President and Vice-President of the United States
Kamala D. Harris and Tim Walz – 1,653,657
Donald J. Trump and JD Vance – 1,514,261
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Nicole Shanahan – 24,426
Jill Stein and Samson Kpadenou – 16,669
Chase Oliver and Mike ter Maat – 15,620
Write in – 13,269
Cornel West and Melina Abdullah – 3,508
Claudia De la Cruz and Karina Garcia – 3,423
Shiva Ayyadurai and Crystal Ellis – 3,226
Rachele Fruit and Dennis Richter – 857
This sample ballot is specific to Duluth’s western neighborhoods. Races for Minnesota State Representative and St. Louis County Board of Commissioners vary throughout the city.
A collection of 5,000 photographs by Duluth native Wing Young Huie will soon be available online through the Minnesota Historical Society, the Minnesota Star Tribune reports. The images capture a view of community life in Minnesota.
The first part of the collection, 965 images and supporting material, is already available in the searchable Collections Online database and the Gale Family Library. The full archive of 5,000 photographs and related material will become publicly available over the next five years.
Dee Morales is back in the restaurant business. He opened El Jefe Bar & Grill in early October.
There’s a familiar face in the kitchen of a new eatery in the Town of Superior. Dee Morales quietly opened El Jefe Bar & Grill in early October after closing Bucktales Cantina & Grill in the city of Superior, 12 miles north. El Jefe operates out of the same building that served as the original Bucktales.
Mural artists Kevin Ballecer, left, and Mela Nguyen are painting the exterior of Chicken n’ Whaaat?! on Central Avenue in West Duluth. The pair also painted murals for Burger Paradox on Superior Street. (Photos by Mark Nicklawske).
A family-owned restaurant group that helped revitalize Lincoln Park will expand outside the neighborhood for the first time with a new fast-casual chicken eatery attached to a West Duluth gas station.
Nine books have been recognized for this year’s Northeastern Minnesota Book Awards, which celebrate books that substantially represent the history, culture, heritage or lifestyle of northeastern Minnesota.
Duluth’s Ursa Minor Brewing won a bronze medal for its Equanimity Irish Style Red Ale at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver on Oct. 12. It’s the brewery’s second bronze medal at the festival; the first came in 2019 for Thistle Dew in the Scottish-Style Ale category.
Equanimity also won a gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival in 2022 and another gold at the World Beer Cup in 2023.
Another month is in the books: how much of it do you remember? Check your memories of September 2024 headlines with this week’s quiz!
A Halloween-y PDD quiz comes your way on Oct. 13. Please submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at [email protected] by Oct. 10.
Taimi Ranta has owned the Curious Goods building for about 35 years. (Photos by Mark Nicklawske)
A widely photographed building on one of the funkiest street corners in Superior is up for sale after a long run as an antique store, warehouse and spare apartment.
The Curious Goods building, 1717 Winter St., just off Tower Avenue, has been put up for sale by owner Taimi Ranta after about 35 years of using the property for her antique and vintage sales business. While Curious Goods featured an enticing and colorful storefront the space has been used only as a warehouse for the past two decades.
Bella, the robot server at Ichiro Sushi & Ramen, glides through the Duluth restaurant. (Photos by Melinda Lavine)
A cat-eared robot buzzed around Ichiro Sushi & Ramen. “Bella” sported white digital whiskers up top, and in its fur-less belly sat plates of fried rice and sushi.
After a series of silent maneuvers, Bella stopped at a table of two, where Cody Tesser served fellow humans their orders from the robot’s racks.
