News and Current Affairs
Bethany Lutheran Church could become restaurant
Fox 21 is reporting that brothers Chuck and Robert Bagley are working on turning the former Bethany Lutheran Church at 2302-2308 W. Third St. into a restaurant.
PDD Quiz: June 2019
Celebrate 16 years of PDD by testing your knowledge of current events!
The next PDD quiz, on presidential ties to the Twin Ports, will be published on July 14. Submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at aklawite@d.umn.edu by July 11. (more…)
At Sara’s Table expands kitchen, adds second floor
At Sara’s Table Chester Creek Cafe is expanding its kitchen and adding a second story to its building at 1902 E. Eighth St.
Brunch has become so big at a Duluth farm-to-table restaurant that owners are building an addition to help cooks keep up with the French toast and omelette orders.
At Sara’s Table Chester Creek Cafe owner Carla Blumberg said a construction project started this spring will expand the kitchen, add new bathrooms and offer a newly created second floor space with dramatic Lake Superior views. The restaurant was established in 2002 at the corner of Eighth Street and 19th Avenue East on the former Taran’s Food Market site. (more…)
City Girl Coffee in Martha Stewart Living magazine
A profile of “women behind eight American food brands,” in Martha Stewart Living magazine includes a blurb about Alyza Bohbot of Duluth’s City Girl Coffee. “Bohbot works closely with organizations including the International Women’s Coffee Alliance and Café Femenino, a program designed to stop the mistreatment and poverty affecting women coffee bean farmers across the globe,” the magazine notes. “She also sources as much coffee as possible from women-owned or -managed farms.”
West Theater struggles through restoration, opens June 21
Work on the West Theater marquee continued on June 19, two days ahead of a grand opening event.
The West Theater looked nothing like its movie palace glory days when Duluth Reader publisher Bob Boone bought the building in 2016. (more…)
Birds light up National Weather Service radar over Duluth
We were curious what was lighting up our radar screen this morning, turns out a lot of seagulls or lake gulls are flying south across the head of Lake Superior this morning. #mnwx #wiwx #lakesuperior pic.twitter.com/tribeDe2wp
— NWS Duluth (@NWSduluth) June 11, 2019
NWS Duluth also tweeted: “The bird density was about 3-6 birds at a time onscreen all going south. Radar returns are based on the diameter of the scatterer to the 6th power. So the birds look like large hail stones, they really light up the display even though there aren’t as many as you’d think.”
Earth Rider expansion will nearly double brewing capacity
Earth Rider Brewery is located at 1617 N. Third St. in the working waterfront of Superior, Wis.
A Superior brewery will dramatically increase beer production and expand its public event facilities amidst the city’s working waterfront.
Earth Rider Brewery founder Tim Nelson said last week the business will almost double brewing capacity with the installation of new cellaring tanks in July. The company also plans a Cedar Lounge tap room addition and a bigger outdoor entertainment area uniting its campus across a vacated street. (more…)
Duluth 2019 Primary Election Primer
The filing period for Duluth city and school board offices has closed. Below are the positions up for grabs and the names of those who filed. The Primary Election will be held Aug. 13, and the General Election is Nov. 5. (more…)
Missing Person: Wahbinmigisi Robertson
Family members of Wahbinmigisi “Pennie” Robertson reported her missing to the Fond du Lac Police Department on Tuesday, May 28. Robertson was last seen on Mahnomen Road on May 24. Since then, family and community members have conducted searches and reached out to the news media and social media for assistance.
The St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office was notified of the investigation and began assisting the Fond du Lac Police Department today. Anyone with information on Robertson’s whereabouts is urged to call 911 or the Sheriff’s Office Investigations Division at 218-336-4350.
June 2 Update
Duluth News Tribune: Missing woman found dead on Fond du Lac Reservation (more…)
Duluth Coffee Company Canal Park satellite opens June 1
Maggie Gustafson and Eric Faust – Photo by Lissa Maki
A trio of craft beverage purveyors will be sharing space in Canal Park starting Saturday. Duluth Coffee Company is opening a satellite coffee shop in the Ripple Bar on Lake Superior, which is adjacent to Hoops Brewing in the Waterfront Plaza at 325 S. Lake Ave. (more…)
KUMD station manager position still in limbo
Maija Jenson
When Maija Jenson transitions out of her role as interim station manager at KUMD in August it will mark the end of an era that started in 2008 when she was one of three major hires there. What the next era holds will likely be decided in the coming months.
The 62-year-old public radio station at 103.3 FM, operated by the University of Minnesota Duluth, is expected to learn soon whether the college will seek to hire a new general manager to guide it. Whether it does or doesn’t, KUMD will likely continue with its usual programming, but not hiring a new GM leaves its leadership in question and might put grant funding at risk.
“We have not made any final decisions yet,” UMD Marketing and Public Relations Director Lynne Williams said in a statement today. Williams is the university’s administrator of KUMD and reports to UMD Chancellor Lendley Black. (more…)
PDD Quiz: May 2019
Another month’s worth of headlines and happenings has nearly passed; how much do you remember? Test your smarts with PDD’s monthly current affairs quiz!
The next PDD quiz will cover Duluth in song; it will be published on June 9. Submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at aklawite@d.umn.edu by June 6. (more…)
Nine final designs chosen for new Duluth flag
Options for the new Duluth city flag have been narrowed down to nine. Finalists were selected by the city’s volunteer flag committee with consideration of input received from an online survey, flag design principles, artist descriptions of the meaning, and overall sense that the flag represents Duluth. (more…)
Thirsty Pagan transitions to new location; grand opening June 8
Photo by Lissa Maki
Thirsty Pagan Brewing entered its 14th year of business on May 1. There was no fanfare, simply because owner Steve Knauss was so busy he forgot. Knauss and his staff have been working around the clock to ready the brewpub’s new spot at 1615 Winter St. for opening. (more…)
Grandma’s restaurant owner buys building in Lincoln Park
The owner of a well-known Duluth restaurant and several other Canal Park properties has purchased a historic building in a Lincoln Park neighborhood booming with new breweries, eateries and art galleries. (more…)
Fly High Duluth Flag
Props to the person who answered “the phrase ‘fly high duluth'” on the city’s flag survey!
I’m also amused by “This town is dying. Thanks.” Savage, yet polite – quintessential Duluth! (more…)
Missing Person: Julian Daniel Decoux
On May 5 an adult foster care home in Canosia Township, about five miles north of the Duluth International Airport, reported a resident was missing. Julian Daniel Decoux was last seen outside the home earlier in the afternoon. Deputies and volunteers from the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office searched the area around the foster home, aided by both canines and aerial drone technology, and did not locate Decoux.
The sheriff’s office is asking for help from anyone who may have seen Decoux or knows where he is.
Decoux was last seen wearing a bright green winter hat, an orange hooded sweatshirt, a black vest, black pants and new grey tennis shoes. Anyone with information should call 911 or contact the Sheriff’s Office Investigative Division in Duluth at 218-336-4350. (more…)
Taco Arcada opens May 5 in Duluth’s Lincoln Park
Jeff Petcoff, Mike Atkinson (pinball mechanic/manager) and Tom Hanson – Photo by Lissa Maki
A new establishment opening Sunday in the Lincoln Park Craft District will cater to adults who like to eat and play. Taco Arcada features an array of classic pinball and video games and will serve up Mexican-style street tacos. (more…)
Superior bakery brings donuts back to Duluth’s Lakeside
A Dozen Excuses owner Melissa Kingren serves up fresh sweet rolls at her Tower Avenue bakery in Superior.
Donuts are coming back to Lakeside. A Dozen Excuses bakery in Superior has leased space to open a satellite location at 4328 E. Superior St. in Duluth. Johnson’s Bakery closed its Lakeside outlet in March 2018 leaving the neighborhood without an independent donut shop for the first time since 1955. (more…)
Honking Tree case remains a mystery 10 years later
Left: July 2001 photo of the Honking Tree from the Two Harbors Forum website. Right: The modern remains of the Honking Tree stump between Larsmont Road and Isaacson Road southwest of Two Harbors. Photo by Mike Creger.
I asked Lake County Sheriff Carey Johnson this month if there was anything new in the now 10-year-old Honking Tree case.
“You mean the white pine murder investigation?” he said straightaway. (more…)
PDD Quiz: April 2019 in Review
Photo by Jim Rosvold
Put your current affairs knowledge to the test with this edition of the PDD Quiz.
The next quiz, scheduled for May 12, will explore Duluth parks. Please email question suggestions to Alison Moffat at aklawite@d.umn.edu by May 7. (more…)
Tweed director Ken Bloom to retire in June
Ken Bloom, director of the Tweed Museum of Art at the University of Minnesota Duluth since 2004, will retire in June. UMD’s School of Fine Arts made the announcement Friday afternoon, noting there will be a nationwide search for a new director.
Bloom will return to his lifelong photography career and continue to offer his accumulated museum and artistic expertise as a freelance curator and consultant. (more…)
Duluth-area beer production nearly tripled from 2014 to 2018
A bevy of craft breweries and brewpubs have found the Arrowhead region of northeastern Minnesota and northwest Wisconsin to be fertile ground for growth. Five years ago, area craft breweries produced almost 20,000 barrels of beer. By 2018 that number nearly tripled to roughly 57,000 barrels. (more…)
Aunt with eventful romantic life lands Duluth in Onion again
Duluth is once again in the dateline of a story on the satirical news website The Onion. According to the article, nephews and nieces of Janine Harrison have confirmed she “managed to somehow both marry and divorce two separate times since the last time they had seen her.”
It’s the 15th time Duluth has been the location of an Onion story, by Perfect Duluth Day’s count. Just 33 days ago Moose Lake was featured.