News and Current Affairs Posts

Knee High By The…..

Happy 4 July.

Dial 715 for Superior

Beginning July 17, Duluthians must dial area code 715 to call Superior. The good old days are over.

Starting Aug. 14, some new numbers in the 715 area code will be issued area code 534. What are local calls now will still be local calls, but you’ll have to dial the extra numbers, so it’s pretty much the end of the world as we know it.

Tornado Warning

http://www.noaa.gov

Six-story Jesus Struck by Lightning

How did this story not make the PDD headlines?

NorShor sale to DEDA official

From the news release:

The path is now clear for the historic NorShor Theater to again become a focal point for Duluth arts and entertainment activities with the Duluth Economic Development Authority’s completed purchase of the NorShor Theater, Temple Opera building, and Norshor Annex.

Today, Mayor Don Ness announced that DEDA closed on the purchase of the buildings from Eric Ringsred and said plans are already underway to reestablish the NorShor Theater as an important part of the downtown waterfront district.

Is tonight Ladies Night at your favorite bar? Dept. of Human Rights would like to know.

I’m not naming names here, but I know of at least one bar in Duluth that has Ladies Night specials.

Minnesota Daily is reporting that free and discounted drink specials which apply specifically to women may be a violation of the Minnesota Human Rights Act.

“Gender-based pricing violates the Human Rights Act,” says Minnesota Dept. of Human Rights Commissioner James Kirkpatrick.

Five Twin Cities bars are being investigated.

Raw milk is either going to kill us or make us live forever, according to experts

Apparently, according to the Minnesota Dept. of Health, if raw milk from one dairy farm in Minnesota is contaminated with E. Coli, then raw milk in general presents a serious health risk.

And apparently, according to a dairy farm accused of having contaminated milk, there’s no way it could be their fault, even though five people have been hospitalized and the same strain of E. coli found in several animals at the farm in question has been found in the sick people.

Sure, it’s possible that the dairy industry somehow has manipulated the Dept. of Health into scaring people off raw milk from family farmers — after all, it did a good job scaring Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle last month. But isn’t it possible that one farm can screw up without an entire product being considered dangerous?

And let’s not even get into whether raw milk is healthier than pasteurized milk or not, since even that seems to be a major debate, with both sides telling us the other milk is going to kill us.

Anyway, we might as well have the regular people who don’t know anything spout off about it on PDD. So, is raw milk going to kill us or make us live forever? Or is it just as dangerous as other food products and probably not much more nutritious, but comes from a nice little farm where the cows are treated well and that’s good enough?

Speaking of Northland’s NewsCenter …

I am taking this moment to shamelessly plug two stories from last week. Both Renee Passal and myself profiled the Superior-based Genesis Attachments.

The company supplied the gigantic steel shears used to cut the bleeding Deepwater Horizon oil pipe last Thursday.

Fun Fact*

For me, doing this story brought out the unavoidable side of my imagination that creates terrifying, ocean-dwelling robots armed with savage instruments of war.  (Not that they truly exist, but if they did, we humans could outfit them with some crazy shit).

Admittedly, Passal with WDIO had the story first.  And I’m not saying that my version is better.  However, think of it this way:

Could you resist a story about gigantic, robot-controlled, underwater cutting tools?

-MS

Western Middle School site. Discuss.

As a hardcore environmentalist and a Red Plan critic, I am rather befuddled by all the talk of an EIS for the Western Middle School.

To be quite honest, the Western Middle School on the chosen site is the one part of the Red Plan I actually support. As an avid outdoor explorer, I think I’ve made tracks in just about every wild spot in Duluth, this one included. I can tell you the “pristine field” critics talk about is mostly an invasive buckthorn hell. Putting a middle school there, if done right, could lead to ecological restoration and native landscaping to improve a highly disturbed ecosystem.

Putting the BP F*ckup in perspective

What if it was in Lake Superior?

Emergency Protest against Flotilla Murders 5pm Tuesday

On Tuesday, June 1, at 5 p.m., peace and justice activists in Duluth will gather at the Federal Building to denounce the Israeli government’s assault on the Gaza Freedom Convoy and call for an end to U.S. aid for Israel.

Bill and Ted’s Oil Drilling Adventure

Stupid stupid stupid oil industry! If you thought all this crap was bad today, it was equally bad in 1979 (“equally bad” as in “the exact same fucking problem”).

That was Then, This is Then

WTF?!? (Puppy Edition)

A warning to all dog owners out there: some asshole is going around Duluth’s Lakeside neighborhood poisoning dogs (DPD, DNT, Strib, Fox21, MPR). Unlike the dog-napper rumors, this appears to be real.

Watch your doggies, bring them to the vet if you notice symptoms, and keep an eye out for suspicious people giving your pets “treats.”

Three years of road rage (and wide open left lanes)?

Since we have to endure this “mega-project” for so long, we better all get on the same page.

I’m one of those who follows the signs that say USE BOTH LANES when backed up and TAKE TURNS AT THE MERGE, which means take turns at the merge to me. I’m pretty sure these signs, their positioning, and the whole setup have been thought out and planned to make the situation as easy as possible for everyone.

Despite those instructions, it seems a majority of people decide to fall in line to the right, maybe assuming they’re eventually going to have to merge anyway. This creates a very long backup in the right lane and a wide open left lane up to the merge, which leads to angry drivers in the right lane who see others cruising by them in the left lane. If a majority of us would actually drive through this the way I think it was intended, I think it would be a lot smoother, similar to the second merge going west from downtown, where traffic spreads out a little and left laners can seamlessly get right without anyone having to slow down at all.

I bring this up after seeing the attempts by some to take up both lanes and actually getting swerved at yesterday for using the wide open left lane. Thank goodness the kids weren’t in the car. Seriously who “fake swerves” their vehicle at another moving vehicle?

Am I wrong here? And if not, how do we get everyone through this as intended? I’ve seen letters to the DNT addressing this and basically saying the same thing I am, obviously without impact.

2010 Minnesota Governor Race

You’ve got until Tuesday, June 1, to pick a running mate and file your candidacy for governor in Minnesota.

Your list of opponents will surely grow in the next week, but here’s the lineup so far:

Tom Emmer & Annette T. Meeks (Republican)
Ole Savior & Todd “Elvis” Anderson (Republican)
Margaret Anderson Kelliher & John Gunyou (DFL)
Mark Dayton & Yvonne Prettner Solon (DFL)

Congratulations to Ole Savior for being more hilarious than ever this time around.  Elvis Anderson? Really? Wow.

By the way, in Wisconsin the list of candidates for governor is up to 20 already. Lieutenant governor candidates run separately in Wisconsin. There are 10 of them, including Superior Mayor David Ross.

And how about the crazy scramble to run for Prettner Solon’s Minnesota Senate District 7 seat now that she’s running for lieutenant governor? No one has filed yet, but that one is bound to get interesting.

Oh, and I apologize in advance for provoking a discussion of politics.

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