Duluth MN News and Current Affairs from Perfect Duluth Day

The big, fat EIS

Nov 06, 2015 No Comments

The 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.

News and Current Affairs Mining

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.

Duluth 2015 General Election Results

Nov 03, 2015 6 Comments

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%

News and Current Affairs, Politics Election Information

Arts & Economic Prosperity in Duluth

Oct 28, 2015 No Comments

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.

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 Chuck Horton

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 Duluth Public Schools

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

Oct 20, 2015 2 Comments

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?

News and Current Affairs, Politics Election Information, Queries

Project manager wanted for 10-month media collaboration

Oct 19, 2015 2 Comments

The journalism program at the University of Minnesota Duluth is looking for a part-time project manager to assist in coordinating the “One River, Many Stories” media collaboration project.

Funded through a Knight Foundation Fund grant from the Duluth Superior Area Community Foundation, the project will test ways media collaboration can inspire innovation and nurture engagement among professional journalists, educators and citizen storytellers in the Duluth-Superior community. In April 2016, the media in northern Minnesota and northwest Wisconsin will give special attention to one topic: The St. Louis River. Newspapers, television and radio stations, local bloggers, photographers, videographers, university, college and high school journalism programs, and citizen storytellers will produce news articles, documentaries, podcasts and other media about the historic St. Louis River corridor.

Link to full job description

News and Current Affairs Help Wanted, Media

Duluth 2015 General Election Sample Ballot

Oct 19, 2015 5 Comments

News and Current Affairs, Politics Election Information

Duluth’s Mark Sertich on CBS Evening News

Oct 16, 2015 No Comments

Tonight Mark Sertich became the second Duluthian to be featured on the CBS Evening News in the past month. Just 18 days after St. Scholastica Saints kicking coach Sister Lisa Maurer was profiled on the program, Sertich was featured in a segment with “On the Road” correspondent Steve Hartman.

Sertich is a 1939 Denfeld graduate and World War II veteran who, at age 94, still plays hockey with a group of Duluth firefighters.

News and Current Affairs, Sports CBS, Denfeld High School, Hockey, Television

Duluthians cause trouble in North Dakota

Oct 08, 2015 2 Comments

News and Current Affairs Media

Visit Uptown Superior … or Downtown Superior or the North End

Oct 04, 2015 2 Comments

This past summer a new marketing effort was launched in Superior to attract people back to the downtown area, which struggled through a long Tower Avenue reconstruction project in 2013. The strip has seen a number of new businesses spring up on the fancy new avenue, but also still has numerous vacant buildings. It’s a work in progress. The joint effort of “collected businesses promoting each other” to “highlight the diamonds in the proverbial rough” is called Visit Uptown Superior.

Why is the downtown now the uptown? Isn’t “uptown” a word to describe a residential area? Well, this part of Superior is the North End, and people tend to think of north as up … and maybe these businesses intend to “Uptown funk you up.” Let’s not overthink it. Below is the back of a promotional postcard highlighting the collective businesses in said Uptown.

News and Current Affairs Superior

Know Your Duluth Liquor Laws!

Oct 02, 2015 5 Comments

Over the next week or so, Zenith City Online is publishing five separate stories on the history of Duluth’s liquor laws so that voters and elected officials can better understand the historic context of the issue they face in this November’s citywide referendum. I have included links to all five stories below so you can read them now. This issue is embedded in misinformation and myth. In fact, former Mayor Herb Bergson recently told Zenith City Online he vetoed a 2007 City Council resolution to request the repeal of the 1891 law because he believes that all of Lakeside and Lester Park was a gift to Duluth from the philanthropic Marshall sisters (Julia and Caroline) and that Myrtle Marshall, who fought to keep the law in place in 1973, was one of those sisters—none of which is true. So here’s a chance to catch up on Duluth liquor history so you can make a well-informed decision on this issue.

Not in Our Neighborhood, Part 1: Buying Booze in Duluth 1934-1973
Not in Our Neighborhood! Part 2: The Battles Over the Lakeside Liquor Law, 1973-Today
The ‘Grande Dame’ of Lakeside (A profile of Myrtle Marshall, whose effort to keep the 1891 law in place has been mythologized.)
Tempered by Temperance: Duluth & Liquor, 1870-1919 (Includes the creation of the 1891 Lakeside Liquor Law.)
And Never on Sundays (Covers 1934-1973 liquor issues concerning music, dancing, women, etc.)

History, News and Current Affairs, Politics Beer and Breweries, Lakeside, Lester Park

#notsaintpaul

Sep 30, 2015 3 Comments

So I’m finishing work tonight and my friend says, “meet me at the Brewhouse.” I tasted a flight of three and ordered the dopplebock. The drink coaster just made it too easy for me.

Great American Beer Festival Awards Winners 2015

Don’t get me wrong, I love St Paul, but it appears as though the judges have spoken.

From the Great American Beer Festival, Duluth takes two awards!

To me, it’s gotta be extra special bitter. (How often can a drink coaster be mightier than the billboard)?

Silver – Double Porter | Bemidji Brewing Co., Bemidji (Baltic-style porter)
Bronze – Lonely Blonde | Fulton Beer, Minneapolis (English-style summer ale)
Silver – 14° ESB | Bent Paddle Brewing Co., Duluth (extra special bitter)
Silver – Procrastinator Doppelbock | Fitger’s Brewhouse, Duluth (German-style doppelbock or eisbock)
Silver – Pumpkin Grinder | Mankato Brewery, Mankato (pumpkin)
Silver – Size 4 | Steel Toe Brewing, St. Louis Park (session India pale ale)
Bronze – Firebrick | August Schell Brewing Co., New Ulm (Vienna-style lager)

News and Current Affairs, Recommendations Beer and Breweries, Bent Paddle Brewing, Fitger's Brewhouse, Great American Beer Festival

Minnesota North Shore Fall Colors Report 2015

Sep 23, 2015 No Comments

With today the first day of fall there is no better time to post the MN Fall Colors map for 2015. We are really starting to see pockets of great colors in Duluth and along the North Shore. You can also use the MN DNR interactive map by clicking here to help track the colors as they change. What are you seeing in your area? Post you favorite tree picture as it changes in the comments.

News and Current Affairs, Outdoors Fall Colors

News and Current Affairs Posts