News and Current Affairs
UMD removes equal opportunity director position
Deborah S Petersen-Perlman PhD, had been UMD’s Director of the Office of Equal Opportunity, since 1996.
What message does this send about how seriously the University of Minnesota Duluth takes reports of harassment and discrimination?
With complaints being redirected to the main U of M campus, how much longer do you think investigations will take moving forward?
How many students, staff and faculty will feel even more intimidated when considering lodging an official complaint which will automatically go to the statewide office?
A Winter Downpour and Three Song Sunday at Carmody
A Winter Downpour and Three Song Sunday are playing a free show this Friday at Carmody Irish Pub to aid in the celebrating of Ryan Dahlberg’s birthday. Ryan is the creator of the local music website the Duluth Scene. Music gets started at 9 p.m.
Public input needed to prioritize parks and trail needs. Meetings scheduled.
The public is invited to attend public meetings which will solicit citizens’ opinions on city park and trail priorities. The meetings will be held 6-7:30 PM on the following dates;
Wednesday, June 22 at the Central Hillside Community Center located at 12 E. 4Fourth St.
Thursday, June 23 at the Duluth Heights Community Center located at 33 W. Mulberry St.
Tuesday, June 28 at the Portman Community Center located at 4601 McCulloch St.
Wednesday, June 29 at the Morgan Park Community Center located at 1242 88th Ave. W.
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American Cancer Society Relay for Life
Join the American Cancer Society at this year’s Duluth Relay for Life at Bayfront Park on July 22.
The event beings at 5:30pm and continues until 6am the following morning. Join us for the opening ceremonies at 6:15pm, the Luminaria lighting at 9:15 or check out Mynx performing from 8-9pm! There will be food for sale, a climbing wall and Japanese Restorative Therapy sessions. Come out and support your local American Cancer Society!
4th Street Arts
NHS Duluth will be starting to get the ball rolling with arts-based streetscape improvements, starting with the placement of hanging flower baskets through a stretch of 8 blocks. Followed by new Hillside Banners to be placed on the street lights from Mesaba Avenue to 14th Avenue East.
The new designs were created by two local artists, who are proud new parents, and live at Washington Studios Artists Cooperative. Their names are Elizabeth Wilcox and Jack Kindt, and were paid $250 for each of their designs. Each banner will have a different theme, one “Hillside” theme, one “Central Hillside” theme and another “East Hillside” theme.
The winning designs were selected out of a pool of over 15 contestants, by a panel of judges made up of representatives of the Hillside neighborhoods, and local arts agencies and organizations.
NHS has released 3 new calls to artists, for (2) bike racks, (2) public benches, and (2) trash cans. Payment of the selected designs will be $750, $750 and $250 respectively. NHS will also be responsible for the payment of the fabrication of each item. More information can be found by clicking here, or by calling Dan at (218)727-8604 extension 207.
OMG! Near collision in Duluth Ship Canal
Runners and their families milling about foggy Canal Park almost got a big thrill this afternoon. The BBC Orinoco nearly side-swiped the South Pier Lighthouse.
I had the best angle, and I was sure this boat was going to hit. More photos in my blog.
Where the hell’s Cooper?
This article was originally published in the June 2006 issue of Minnesota Monthly magazine.
A corner of the Squirrel Cage Bar in Willow River still pays tribute to the town’s most infamous citizen. At the top of a collection of framed newspaper clippings is a computer printout asking a question that once appeared on hundreds of bumper stickers in the area: “Where the hell’s Cooper?”
U. S. Marshals are still trying to answer that question. (more…)
Neighborhood Revitalization Plan Reviews
In 2007 and 2008, after an extensive public process, the At Home in Duluth Collaborative created Neighborhood Plans for each of Duluth’s five core neighborhoods. This year we will be reviewing and updating these plans. Two meetings will be held in each neighborhood. Your voice counts!
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Jeff Anderson announces run for Congress
[This post originally contained an embedded video that is no longer available at its source.]
Green Clothing Recycling Boxes Hurt Duluth-area Nonprofits
This is my first post on PDD, although I have been an avid fan and reader for quite some time.
I am posting today to inform the PDD community of an issue that concerns area nonprofits and people with disabilities. Like many of you, I have noticed these green clothing collection boxes all over town. I also wondered who was responsible for placing them and where the clothing and items donated were going. As the boxes declare, “Recycle Locally” and feature the United Cerebral Palsy foundation’s logo on one full face of the box, I assumed that the boxes were put out on behalf of a local CP nonprofit, in order to raise money for their cause. This, however, is not the case.
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University of Wisconsin-Superior and Labor
Academic staff at the University of Wisconsin-Superior voted today 89-5 to affiliate with the American Federation of Teachers-Wisconsin. The election turnout was 54 percent.
More at defendwisconsin.org: In a First for Wisconsin: UW-Superior Academic Staff Vote “Union Yes”
Dennis Anderson: Celebrating a Career
Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, in a coma, or frozen from the Duluth winter, chances are you’ve heard that the face of news in the Northland, Dennis Anderson, will be retiring soon. In fact, his last newscast will be Wednesday, May 25, so you only have a few more chances to him before Darren Danielson takes over the anchor desk.
WDIO has taken the opportunity to look back at his career on its website. There was a news reunion of sorts, gathering some of the familiar faces of WDIO past to honor Denny. Also included is some archive footage from memorable events in the past four decades, such as the benzene spill and fireworks explosion. They seem to be adding new clips every day or two, so be sure to check back from time to time.
One more free day in Canal Park
Parking meter on Lake Ave. Note the May 15 start date.
If you think that Canal Park belongs to Duluthians and not just to the tourists, you have one more day to freely utilize that right. Emphasis on the free. Paid parking goes in effect this Sunday, at least at the meters and presumably at the paid lots as well.
Stroll the piers. Gawk at a 1000-footer. Deconstruct the meaning in public art. It’s your birthright, Duluth.
For today, you don’t have to worry about the gatekeepers at the hotel parking lots and their clipboards.
You don’t yet have to worry about the eager tow companies in the private lots, who will boot, tow, or just flop upon every car whose driver heads to Coldstone before hitting Caribou Coffee.
Toss some rocks at the beach at the corner of the lake. Enjoy your city. Without a roll of quarters in your pocket.
Duluth on Boing Boing
Hooray! Duluth got a shout-out on Boing Boing today.
Boo! It was because of the ball-slasher guy.
Sex Trafficking in Duluth
This post originally contained a video from WCCO-TV that is no longer available.
Tarryl Clark Moving to Duluth to Take on Cravaack
I had been wanting to see if we could have a somewhat level-headed informed and nuanced discussion on the challenger pool for Chip Cravaack in MN 8th Congressional District. I figured I’d wait until after the homegrown fog burned off to post anything, but this morning the Duluth News Tribune has a bombshell from John Lundy saying Tarryl Clark is running for the seat. Was that a bombshell for anyone else besides me?
Before I knew about Clark’s bid, I wanted to talk about other un-announced candidates. In addition to Daniel Fanning and Jeff Anderson who appear to be in Pawlenty mode, that is, campaigning-but-not-campaigning not officially in other words. Here are the people who are not campaigning but that I think might make the race interesting: Tom Rukavina, Tom Bakk and Don Ness (Donny says he doesn’t want the job and that is fine with me, I’d like to keep him as mayor for a term or 3 more). The DNT identifies a few other candidates in the article that I did not know were considering a run, including Yvonne Prettner Solon, but most of them I don’t know so I can’t comment (but you can).
So we’ve already got a half dozen “local” candidates mulling a run and then Clark rolls in from St. Cloud and changes the entire chemistry of the race. Or does she? Banter away PDDers but please save the frothy mouthed passion for the Troll Zone thread. I’m looking for thoughts and analysis here, not bile. Thanks.
Update: I discovered that MN Brown Iron Range writer/college instructor Aaron Brown, already wrote about this a couple of months ago, including the possible Clark bid.
Also, I forgot to add Karen Diver, Chairwoman and CEO of the Fond du Lac Band to my potential candidates list. She has a great deal to recommend herself for the position and to me, she’s actually the most interesting potential candidate, although I have no idea if she or anyone else besides Tarryl Clark is actually gonna run.
Update 6/14/11
“I filed today my paperwork to seek the office of the presidency of the United States today and I very soon will be making my formal announcement.”
Michele Bachmann last night on CNN one of her classic headline stealing moves that has to have Tim Pawlenty’s stomach all tied up in knots today. But this means that Bachmann can not run for her 6th District seat and president at the same time.
So Today MinnPost is asking the same thing I want to know: Does this mean Tarryl Clark will give up her bid for the 8th District so she can run for an open seat in the 6th? She recieved 38% of the vote there vs. Bachmann’s 52% in 2010 according to those geniuses at wikipedia
Northeastern Minnesota Book Awards
May 19–Winners of the 23rd annual Northeastern Minnesota Books Awards (NEMBA) will be announced in an evening celebration on Thursday, May 19, in UMD’s Kirby Ballroom. The free community event will kick off at 5 p.m. with a book fair and dessert reception. Barton Sutter, Duluth’s first poet laureate, will emcee the formal program beginning at 6:30, featuring best-selling children’s author Mary Casanova as guest speaker. Book fair continues until 9 p.m. Free.
More info: https://www.d.umn.edu/lib/nemba/index.htm.
Mary Casanova, a best-selling children's author, will keynote the NEMBA program
Once bitten, ship escapes Duluth pirates at dawn.
The BBC Orinoco slipped out of Duluth this morning at first light. Was the Ukrainian/Filipino crew concerned about ANOTHER pirate attack? Turns out the same boat and crew were attacked just six months ago on the Arabian Sea.
Paging Johnny Depp.
Homegrown Banners
It’s that time of year again, the time when we magically change the secret folder that makes random silly pictures appear at the top of the PDD page. We’re looking for your Homegrown photos! So follow the same guidelines for submitting photos, but send us Homegrown-related images. You know, people drinking beer, playing rawknroll, hanging out, scans of your long-form birth certificate, and so on. We’ll rotate homegrown images during next week’s festivities.
Call for Photos – Homegrown Photo Show
For those of you who have been waiting and wondering… will there be a Homegrown Photo Show (it was inadvertently left out of the schedule)…
The answer is YES. (more…)
Is this you? Then we want you on film!
I am making a mini-documentary about people who live in the Twin Ports but do not drive a car. The goal of this project is to tell the people’s story about the other side of transportation. If you rely on walking, bicycling, or taking the bus, I’d love to interview you! I’m particularly interested in interviewing seniors, parents with kids, students, and ethnic minorities who get by without an automobile. I would also like to do one interview with a professional in economics or geology to discuss the future of energy.
I’m free almost every afternoon, and my schedule is pretty flexible. Just email me when and where you’d like to be interviewed, and let your voice be heard! My email is: lesem002@umn.edu
Fukushima’s Potential Fallout for North America
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGonec787ME&feature=player_embedded
This is from the Norwegian Institute for Air Research for April 14 through 18. You can adjust the model to run for radioactive Iodine, Cessium, etc. Here. There is no “safe” dose of radiation, according to Dr. Helen Caldicott