News and Current Affairs
Kitchi Gammi Club improves its Lake Superior view
Work has started on a new entrance and east lawn improvements at the Kitchi Gammi Club on Superior Street. (Photos by Mark Nicklawske)
The historic Kitchi Gammi Club is improving its front yard.
The 106-year-old landmark clubhouse at 831 E. Superior St. is undergoing an entrance upgrade that includes plans to improve an east lawn overlooking Lake Superior. The two-phase, $500,000 project broke ground in May. (more…)
Missing Person: Maxwell Willis
Update: Maxwell Willis and his vehicle have been located. The St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office would like to thank the citizen tipsters who contacted law enforcement, which led to his whereabouts.
The St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office is asking for the public’s assistance in locating a missing person from the Ely/Winton area. Maxwell Willis has not been heard from since June 18, and family and friends are concerned for his welfare.
Willis was last seen in the Winton area — about 80 miles north of Duluth — driving a black 1995 Chevy Tahoe with larger tires, bearing Minnesota license 6CD551.
Anyone who knows of Willis’s whereabouts, has seen him or his vehicle, or has had contact with him, is asked to contact the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office by calling 911.
Max Mason pardoned in century-old rape case
Max Mason gets 'long overdue' posthumous pardon - Duluth News Tribune | News, weather, and sports from Duluth, Minnesota
Alabama man with ties to the case of the Duluth lynchings gets his name cleared.
duluthnewstribune.com
The Minnesota Board of Pardons has approved the posthumous pardon of Max Mason, a circus worker convicted of raping Irene Tusken in 1920. The incident in Duluth is better known for the fates of three others accused: Elias Clayton, Elmer Jackson and Isaac McGhie, all three victims of a lynch mob. (more…)
Michael Fedo in Smithsonian magazine
Former Duluthian Michael Fedo was interviewed about the anniversary of the lynchings in Duluth for an article in Smithsonian, the journal published by the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.
Over the years, the horror of June 15, 1920, when three black men were lynched by a white mob in Duluth, faded away behind a “collective amnesia,” says author Michael Fedo. Faded away, at least, in the memories of Duluth’s white community.
In the 1970s, when Fedo began researching what would become The Lynchings in Duluth, the first detailed accounting of the night’s events, he met resistance from witnesses who were still alive. “All of them said, gee, why are you dredging this up again? All of them except the African American community in Duluth. It was part of their oral history, and all of those families knew of this event,” Fedo recalls.
More can be found at smithsonianmag.com.
Duluth 2020 Primary Election Primer
Minnesota’s presidential primary is three months in the past, with Joseph Biden winning the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party nomination and Donald J. Trump unopposed as the Republican Party nominee. Other parties will field presidential candidates on the General Election ballot on Nov. 3, but the Primary Election on Aug. 11 will have no presidential candidates. There are also no city of Duluth or Duluth School Board races, although one school board candidate is running unopposed. (more…)
Selective Focus: Protesting the Death of George Floyd
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307 likes, 1 comments - holdenphilliplaw on May 30, 2020: "Duluth - I Pray That Everyone Stays Safe. #Duluth #Minnesota".
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Protests and riots in the Twin Cities spread to Duluth on Saturday. The death of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer spurred the actions, which were mostly peaceful in Duluth. The notable exception was an incident at the Kwik Trip convenience store on 27th Avenue West and Superior Street in the Lincoln Park neighborhood. (more…)
PDD Quiz: May 2020 in Review
Test your memory of May 2020 headlines and happenings with this week’s PDD Quiz!
The next quiz will be another architectural details quiz, this time highlighting buildings in Superior; it will be published on June 14. Submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at aklawite@d.umn.edu by June 10. (more…)
Duluthian questions if it necessary for protesters to be black
It seems nothing is “too soon” for the Onion. Amid protests and riots following the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police, the satirical news website published a story with a Duluth dateline in which a “local man” questions “the necessity of protestors being black.”
Congdon Park’s historic Millen mansion gets needed overhaul
Tom Buresh and his terrier-dachshund mix, Evealine, pose on a hill outside the historic Millen mansion on Vermilion Road. Buresh and his wife Debra purchased the home in October 2017 and are restoring the property. (Photos by Mark Nicklawske).
Tom Buresh likes to say that shortly after he bought one of the most glorious and historic mansions in Duluth a neighbor told him it came with 40 years of deferred maintenance. (more…)
Mama Roots: A Vegan Food Truck for the Twin Ports
Many restaurants are struggling to stay afloat during the pandemic since dining in has been prohibited. In this time of uncertainty, two bold young women are prepping to launch a vegan food truck the likes of which the Twin Ports has never seen.
If all goes as planned, Mama Roots will start popping up in parking lots with its big blue school bus in late June. The mobile restaurant will serve up plant-based, globally inspired cuisine. (more…)
Duluth’s Lark o’ the Lake Café won’t reopen
2016 photo by Lissa Maki
Representatives of Lark o’ the Lake Café announced on Facebook yesterday that their eatery in the Greysolon Plaza will not reopen. It has been closed since mid-March, when Minnesota restaurants were ordered to cease dine-in service as part of the Stay-at-home Order related to the COVID-19 pandemic. (more…)
Duluth musician shares her experience during pandemic
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New regulations during the COVID-19 crisis have forced musicians throughout the United States to cancel live performances, recording sessions and traditional practices. Local Duluth musician Lyla Abukhodair shares the experiences of her band, NorShore Summit, during this unprecedented time.
This video was produced as an assignment for a Digital Storytelling class in the journalism program at UMD. Through an interview conducted via Zoom and footage of previous performances, this video gives viewers a glimpse into NorShore Summit and Lyla’s new way of life.
There is no checkered flag …
On Tuesday, my friend and colleague Devaleena Das and I appeared on the KUMD program Neighbors with Lisa Johnson. It was a great experience, with a great interviewer, talking about a very difficult subject. You can listen on kumd.org. (more…)
R.I.P. Dr. Robert Powless
Dr. Robert Powless (Photo by Ivy Vainio)
Dr. Robert Powless, former director of the American Indian Studies Program at the University of Minnesota Duluth, died on April 25. (more…)
PDD Quiz: April 2020 in Review
Another month is nearly at an end as Duluth inches toward summer. Put your memory in gear for this month’s quiz, which reviews April headlines!
The next PDD quiz will test your ability to identify area buildings based on architectural details; it will be published on May 17. Submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at aklawite@d.umn.edu by May 12. (more…)
Guide to Duluth-area Craft Alcohol During the Pandemic
Ursa Minor Brewing has offered curbside beer and pizza pickup via a drive-by canopy since April 8.
Small businesses have been struggling to stay afloat during the COVID-19 outbreak. Local craft beer, cider and spirits purveyors are finding ways to persist by distributing products through a variety of takeout, curbside pickup and delivery options. (more…)
New York Times: Preus’ new novel for youth “charming”
Duluth author Margi Preus gets positive ink in the New York Times Book Review for her new novel for young people, The Littlest Voyageur.
Fire in Grand Marais: Crooked Spoon Cafe engulfed
A fire broke out in downtown Grand Marais during the noon hour at the Crooked Spoon Cafe, 17 W. Wisconsin St. The blaze spread to two adjoining gift shops, Picnic and Pine and White Pine North. All three buildings were destroyed. (more…)
PDD Quiz: March 2020
Well … it sure has been a month. Take a brief reprieve from everything else going on by testing your knowledge of local headlines.
The next PDD quiz, on Superior parks, will be published on April 12. Submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at aklawite@d.umn.edu by April 9. (more…)
Iconic Jade Fountain will see new life in West Duluth
Kai Soderberg stands outside the Jade Fountain restaurant at 305 N. Central Ave. in West Duluth. Soderberg is leasing the space where he will open a tiki bar this summer. (Photo by Mark Nicklawske)
A long-running and largely unchanged Chinese restaurant — which closed for almost five years — will be reborn under new ownership as a tiki lounge when nightlife returns to normal in Duluth. (more…)
Muddy Trails and COVID-19: Duluth Hiking in Spring 2020
Duluth’s Parks and Recreation division has released guidelines advising citizens how to use city parks and trails in a manner that will reduce the transmission of the COVID-19 virus. March and April are also the months when snow is melting and natural-surface trails can be easily damaged.
So, where is it OK to hike and how is it done safely? (more…)
Missing Person: Patrick Lubina
The St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office is looking for assistance in locating Patrick Robert Lubina to check his welfare.
Lubina was last seen on March 10 at his residence on Strizich Road in French Township, about 90 miles northwest of Duluth. He is believed to have left his residence on foot.
Lubina is described as 6-foot-4-inches tall, 190 pounds with brown eyes and brown hair. He might be wearing a blue jean jacket with a cream-colored collar.
Anyone with information about Lubina’s whereabouts should contact the St. Louis County Sheriff’s office via 911 or 218-742-9825.
Climate>Duluth: Nicolette Slagle
Host Tone Lanzillo interviews Nicolette Slagle of Honor The Earth. This is show #8 in the Climate>Duluth series recorded at Duluth Public Access Community Television’s studio in City Hall.
Lofts planned for historic Lincoln Park furniture building
The building on the corner of 19th Avenue West and Superior Street was home to six different furniture stores during a 120-year span. New owners plan to remodel it for upper-level apartments and street-level retail shops.
A $6 million apartment project has been announced for a former furniture store in the booming Lincoln Park Craft District, the third of three massive neighborhood furniture stores to undergo changes in the past year. (more…)