News and Current Affairs
PDD Quiz: March 2024
Close out the month of March and see how many newsworthy events you remember with this week’s current events quiz!
The next PDD quiz will preview the 2024 Homegrown Music Festival; it will be published on April 14. Submit question ideas to Alison Moffat aklawite@d.umn.edu by April 10. (more…)
Hermantown Fleet Farm property sold to North Dakota investors
The Fleet Farm property in Hermantown has been sold to a North Dakota investment firm for $30 million. (Photo by Mark Nicklawske)
The Fleet Farm big-box retail store property in Hermantown has been sold to a real estate investment firm based in Fargo, North Dakota for $30 million. (more…)
PDD Geoguessr Challenge #14: Duluth’s Sister Cities – Rania, Iraqi-Kurdistan
Rania, Iraqi-Kurdistan. Photo based on an interpretation of aerial imagery by Microsoft Flight Simulator.
The next of Duluth’s sister cities in this challenge series is its most recent. Rania officially became Duluth’s fifth sister in November 2015. According to the webpage on Duluth’s sister cities, Rania is located in a partially autonomous Kurdish region in Northern Iraq near Lake Dukan. With a population of 95,000, it is about the same size as Duluth. Exchange activities have included a visiting professor from Rania at the University of Minnesota Duluth and a visit to Rania by a Duluth choir group. (more…)
R.I.P. Viking Lounge & Liquor
Fox 21 reports crews were demolishing the Viking Lounge & Liquor building in Superior yesterday. The bar at 1501 N. Fifth St., and its upstairs apartments, were condemned after a Thanksgiving Day fire.
Minnesota hockey hair featured in the New York Times
The New York Times reports this week on Minnesota as the “global hub for hockey hair.” The feature includes the story of Graff Mellin, the junior forward for Hairmantown, who went against the mullet trend with a buzzcut leopard look.
Hawk Ridge housing proposal under scrutiny
The Duluth News Tribune reports there is concern in the community about a proposal to rezone about 4 acres of land in the Hawk Ridge neighborhood for the Bald Eagle Estates housing development. (more…)
Cargill buying spree on Park Point exceeds a dozen properties
Mayor enlists councilors to request Cargills share Park Point plans - Duluth News Tribune | News, weather, and sports from Duluth, Minnesota
As a wealthy family continues to snap up property on the world's longest freshwater sandbar in Duluth, concern and curiosity about their intentions builds.
duluthnewstribune.com
The Duluth News Tribune reports Duluth Mayor Roger Reinert wrote a letter to billionaire Kathy Cargill in February asking to discuss her plans for properties she and her representatives purchased on Park Point. The Star Tribune reports two properties sold at the end of February on Minnesota Avenue’s 1500 and 1400 blocks. Cargill’s limited liability company, North Shore LS, has acquired a dozen properties on Park Point in the past 14 months. The Strib notes “the LLC also owns a home on the point bought in 2021, and a Lake Superior shorefront condo in eastern Duluth.”
Ritual Salad planning mid-March opening
Cori Zastera, left, and her husband Jason, stand in front of the Ritual Salad location at 1802 W. Superior St. in Lincoln Park last summer before a remodel of the building began. (Photo by Mark Nicklawske).
New Lincoln Park restaurant Ritual Salad is slated to open to the public March 17. It will serve salads and soups, and feature a gift shop with crystals, books, jewelry and more. (more…)
Minnesota Presidential Primary 2024 Election Results
Democrat Joe Biden, Republican Donald Trump and Legal Marijuana Now party candidate Krystal Gabel won their respective races in Minnesota’s Presidential Nomination Primary Election. (more…)
Minnesota Presidential Primary Election Primer 2024
Minnesota’s Presidential Nomination Primary Election is on Tuesday, March 5. The state’s three major parties have an array of candidates to choose from. Each party has a separate ballot; voter’s must request the ballot of the party of their choice. (more…)
Wired Whisker Cat Café, Duluth’s first cat-adoption coffee shop, opening later this year
Misha Smith stands outside the future home of Wired Whisker Cat Café, 1823 E. Superior St. The building served as home to Endion Square Children’s Center for 33 years. (Photo by Mark Nicklawske)
Duluth will soon see its first cat café open with a special lounge where customers can drink coffee and meet the “purr-fect” adoptable pet.
Jungle North Holdings purchased the former Endion Square Children’s Center, 1823 E. Superior St., in November and is currently directing a full building renovation. St. Louis County records show the new owners paid $216,000 for the 1,800-square-foot property. (more…)
PDD Quiz: February 2024
Test your memory of February 2024 headlines with this edition of the PDD quiz.
A basketball-themed quiz drives your way on March 17 in honor of March Madness. Submit question ideas to Alison Moffat aklawite@d.umn.edu by March 14. (more…)
Historic Lutsen Lodge destroyed by fire
Minnesota Public Radio reports Lutsen Lodge, also known as the historic lodge at Lutsen Resort, was destroyed in a midnight fire. Resort officials say it’s a total loss. (more…)
Falastin will take over former New London Café
Palestinian Cafe, Market To Open In Former ‘New London Cafe’ Building
Fox 21 reports a Palestinian café and market will replace the New London Café at 4721 E. Superior St. in Duluth’s Lakeside neighborhood.
Lyla Abukhodair and her mother Ann have operated a Palentinian pop-up restaurant called Falastin for more than a year. They plan to open their brick-and-mortar location later this year. (more…)
PDD Quiz: January 2024
The first month of 2024 is almost at an end; see how much of it you remember with this week’s quiz.
A PDD quiz about the movie Iron Will sleds your way on Feb. 11. Submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at aklawite@d.umn.edu by Feb. 8. (more…)
Why escape rooms didn’t last long in Duluth
Solve Entertainment launched Duluth’s first escape room on Nov. 28, 2015 with a game called “Silent Night.” Pictured here is the first team to play. (Photo via Solve Enterntainment’s Facebook page.)
Duluth was right in step with the escape-room trend when it began to boom across the United States eight years ago. The city’s first escape room opened two days after Thanksgiving 2015. By the next summer, a second had opened. Both saw solid booking numbers early on and both made it through the pandemic, but by early 2022 both were out of business. (more…)
Mayor Reinert puts hold on Duluth library plan
Northern News Now reports Duluth Mayor Roger Reinert is asking city councilors to rethink future plans for the Duluth Public Library.
PDD Quiz: 2024 Coming Attractions
Take a peek into the future with this week’s quiz, which previews anticipated events and openings of 2024.
The next PDD quiz will review headlines from Jan. 2024; it comes your way on Jan. 28. Submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at aklawite@d.umn.edu by Jan. 25. (more…)
Duluth Art Institute continuing search for new space
Duluth Art Institute plans for year of continuity amid change - Duluth News Tribune | News, weather, and sports from Duluth, Minnesota
The nonprofit will be leaving its longtime galleries in the St. Louis County Depot, but is searching for new space — and continuing programming at its Lincoln Park building.
duluthnewstribune.com
The Duluth News Tribune reports the nonprofit Duluth Art Institute is searching for a new home as it prepares to leave the St. Louis County Depot, where it has had galleries and workspace since 1975.
Mixed-use development planned for downtown Grand Marais
Minnesota Public Radio reports a 30,000-square-foot proposed development in Grand Marais seeks to replace three businesses that were destroyed by fire in 2020. Plans for the project include a restaurant, bar and retail space on the ground floor. The second floor would have 10 short-term rental units and an event center with a rooftop courtyard.
Roger Reinert sworn in as mayor of Duluth
Roger J. Reinert was officially sworn in today as Duluth’s mayor during an inauguration ceremony at Duluth City Hall. City leadership and staff, community members and various elected officials gathered at noon in the first-floor rotunda to mark the occasion. (more…)
PDD Quiz: 2023 in Review
Bid farewell to 2023 with this edition of the PDD Quiz, which looks back on headlines and happenings from the past year.
The next PDD quiz will preview 2024’s coming attractions; it comes your way on Jan. 14. Submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at aklawite@d.umn.edu by Jan. 10. (more…)
About 50 housing units planned for Silver Bay development
Silver Bay, a city on the shore of Lake Superior about 50 miles northeast of Duluth, is planning for the second-largest investment project in its history. Minnesota Public Radio reports the nearly $25-million plan includes “a mixture of townhomes, vacation rentals, and seven residential lots, along with an event center.”
Trifecta of restaurants opened in Duluth’s Lincoln Park in 2023
Dan Lefebvre at Burger Paradox
Duluth’s Lincoln Park neighborhood has burgeoned with new businesses of late. Three new restaurants opened there in 2023, including Bali Asian Cuisine, Burger Paradox and Oasis del Norte. A fourth, Ritual Salad, is slated to open in early 2024. (more…)
Sunshine Café leads the list of 2023 restaurant casualties
The Sunshine Café in West Duluth closed at the outset of the pandemic in March 2020. Owners announced this year it will not reopen. (Photo by Mark Nicklawske)
One of Duluth’s most significant restaurant closures of 2023 technically happened in 2020. The Sunshine Café closed more than three years ago as COVID-19 swept the country. What was considered a temporary closure at the time was finally announced as permanent in September 2023.
The Twin Ports restaurant scene has stabilized and grown as the pandemic has wound down, but the closure of the beloved diner at 5719 Grand Ave. in West Duluth can be seen as evidence the coronavirus fallout lingers. The Sunshine Café had been a neighborhood gathering place for more than three decades. (more…)