picture blog.

Well I was out an about today I thought I would stop at a bus shelter and take a couple of pictures. I send the DTA an email asking there thought on the passed ordinance. I hope to get something back soon.

Ones show the signs that have been in the bus shelters for many years regarding smoking and how far 15 feet is from a shelter.

Holy Cow!!!

Okay so I know these days it does not take that long to update a website. That said the Duluth News Tribune has a new look and it happened in a matter of hours or less. Well I don't remember the last time I went there today before just now. It was not any longer then 2 hours.

I think I like the new look. What are your thoughts on the new look for the online DNT?

Talk of the Town coming to an end?

I believe talk of the town with Tracy Lundeen will be coming to an end. On January 17th Tracy posted a question a on his face book fan page. The question was should I keep doing the ( the radio show)?

When asked if his show is coming to an end, his reply was he will be making an announcement next week.

My guess is that the show will end. If that is the case it is to bad. Tracy has a good show that focus on local business, politicians, and other local stories. The other thing he could do is go to every every other week but again my guess is the show will be ending.

Thanks for the show well you where able to do it Tracy if this is the end.

Still searching.

The search continues for Slyvester "sly" McCurry. He went missing almost two weeks ago. When he left a Superior nigh club by him self. He has not been seen or heard from sense then.

The family was to meet with police today to talk about the next step. The family also is reporting they have received death threats against them. They reported this on a face book page set up to help find Sylvester. It is my hope they report this to the police. It could be a clue in the case and if not it is against the law and it needs to stop.

I know that this site has devoted a lot of time to this case but it is some thing that does not happen here offend. No I don't know Slyvester at all nor do I know any of his family or friends but is the this blog can at all help bring him home then I am happy.

It is my hope he is found safe and sound and returns home soon.

Sports a top priority?

I was reading an article this morning on the Duluth News Tribune web site. The story was about the Minnesota Twins caravan that stopped in Duluth last night. The story made it seem like there where still people real ling from the Minnesota Vikings lose on Sunday.

It made me wonder in today's world where there is so much going on, on so many different levels. Is sports really a top priority to people. Now I love sports and am a huge fan of baseball, football and college hockey. As far as more recreational sports go I love bowling. The PBA and local bowling tournaments are a must for me.

I guess my thought is if you are still in disbelieve from a game that took place days ago then you need to get your priority's straight. Our City, State, and Nation have much bigger issues then what a sports team is doing or not doing. I understand that sports is an out let to get a way from the real world, but lets not try to make it the real world.

Gatorades: New flavors.

Gatorade has announced they will produce two new flavors. They will be exclusive to Minnesota.

The first one will be a sour grape it will be called Purple choke. The second will be a light gold color. It will be a mix of white grape and lemon lime. This one will be called baby Favre .

No smoking near bus stops.

The Duluth City Council passed an ordinance last night, that does not allow smoking with in 15 feet of a bus stop. It passed by a 7-2 vote. Duluth is the first city in Minnesota to pass such an ordinance. There is a state law that does not allow smoking in a bus shelter.

The State law is no enforced and I don't see this one being enforced either. It is hard to enforce unless a cop is right there. What happens some one calls the cops there is some one smoking with 15 feet of a bus stop. By the time a cop gets there they are done with there cigarette and nothing can be done. It is an ordinance if easily enforced I would have been okay with. I don't see this serving any good.

It will not prevent people from smoking in or around a bus stop. I have seem plenty of people smoke in the shelters and downtown at the transit center.

I agree with councilor Jay Fosle this is going to difficult to enforce. It is going to be another wasted law on the books.


Todd Fedora and Jay Fosle where the two no votes.

Favre hater.

Any one that has followed this blog and or knows me, knows I am no Favre fan. I was mad as hell when the vikings signed him. I swore to not watch them all year, which I did with exception of two games. The play-off games. I watch cheering for Dallas and New Orleans.

I watched the Dallas game only because Dallas is one of the four other teams I enjoy watching when I get a chance to. If the vikings would have played any one else I would not have watched. I watched the New Orleans game because I thought it would be a good one, and it was.

Back to why I hate Favre. The number one reason is because he is a Green Bay Packer. He of course played for them for many years and is a big rival of the vikings. I don't understand how a team that plays against a team like Green bay and developed in to one of the NFL's biggest rivalry could go and get there quarter back.

Well many people say Favre is a sure hall of famer I wonder why? Yes he is very good. That said he made just as many stupid plays as he did good ones over his long career. You saw it at the end of the game Sunday.

I am okay with the pass play after the team got a five yard penalty after 12 men in the huddle. The problem is he roiled right and threw across his body to the center to center left of the field. A pass that will be picked off all the time. You can't get enough on the ball. More then that he had a receiver wide open on the right side line at the 20 yard line. He also could have ran to the 30 yard line. At best toss the ball and try the long field goal. He has been in the league far to long to make that mistake and he does it time in and time out in big games.

He makes poor decision just as much as good ones. That is why he is number one in interceptions in the NFL.

Now the talk will go on if he should/will retire or not. I hope he does so I can watch my team again.

More then one reason to hate Favre.

I have a number of reasons I don't like Favre you saw one last night. I will have more later. Most likely tomorrow possible tonight.

One week.

Today marks one week sense Sylvester "Sly" McCurry disappearance. He has not been seen or heard from sense late last Sunday. He and a friend went to a club in Superior. McCurry left the club by him self around 11pm.

The search continues by both family and friends and the police departments of Duluth and Superior. The search has included knocking on doors, searching along rail roads, fields, and woods of Superior's north end.

There is still no leads of any kind to what may have happened to McCurry. The police are ruling nothing out. Family member and the community remain hopeful for his safe return.

If you have any information please call 911. There is also a reward being offered by the family leading to information that leads to McCurry.

This blog will continue to give updates until he is found. I hope safely.

NFL "live" updates here.

Note I will not have updates today. Plans for us have changed and Iam un able to do them.


I will have live updates of today's vikings game, yes that means I will watch it. I may also blog the jets and colts game not sure.

If you are a fan of Duluth Politics on face book I will have short updates there as well. The longer more in depth post will be here. Tune and and chat about the game(s).

Bulldogs and more.

Last night the UMD bulldogs had the first of two games against Bermidji. It is a home and home series, last nights game up there tonight's game at the DECC.

UMD lost 4-1 to a much improved beaver team. Lets hope for a better result at home tonight. Game time is 7 pm.

Speaking of hockey today is hockey day Minnesota. This is the fourth year that the event has gone on. It features three games out side. This years events takes place in Hermantown, just up the road from Duluth Minnesota.

All three high school games will be on state wide television (fox sports north). The games start at 10:30 with two boys games and a girls game is the last of the day. Head up to hermantown and support all the teams that take part in hockey day Minnesota.

Now on to football this weekend. With all of Minnesota's injuries it will be difficult for them to win, much less even be competitive. The only hope I see for them at this point is Brett Favre. As you all know I am fan of his. I see a saints win 31-10. I hope the jets can beat the colts but it will be difficult for them to do that. That said I will go with a jets win 21-17.

Door to Door campaign.

A door to door campaign has started. It is just another effort to find the missing Duluth teen. Sylvester McCurry has been missing sense Sunday.

Friends and family knocked of doors of homes in Superior the effort will continue.

Superior Police say no evidence of foul play.

*******UPDATE****** Well the police found no evidence yesterday of foul play, they still are not ruling any thing out.

At this point there is no sign of foul play. That is what the Superior police are saying after a search today.

Slyvester "sly" McCurry the 18 year old teen left Stargate night club Sunday night around 11pm. He has not been seen our heard from sense then.

The search today focused on the north side of Superior along railroad tracks, woods and fields. There was no sign of him or any sign of foul play this point.

Lets hope he is a live and well.

SMDC and Steelworkers union reach a tentive agrement.

It seems as if the picket will not happen. At least to this point it has been called off. This is because the the union and SMDC have reached a tentative agreement.



The agreement was reached late Wednesday night. The union members will vote on the contract February 1st.



-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------





Please if you have any information regarding the missing Duluth teen call 911. Sylvester McCurry went missing Sunday. He left a Superior night club by him self late that night.

Missing person.

Duluth Police are searching for a missing person. The kid left Stargate night club Sunday night by him self about 11pm.


Sylvester "sly" McCurry disappeared Sunday night he has not been seen or heard from sense then. The last contact he had with any one was 10:45 with a good friend at the club.

There police currently have no good leads.

If you have any information please call 911.

A full story can be found on the Duluth News Tribune web site. http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/

KDAL's line up change.

The once great AM 610 KDAL is again changing there line up. The station use to have mostly local talk. The last couple of years the local talk has been less and less. Now with the line up change the only live and local program is the morning show from 6-10am. The 9 to 10 am is a contention of the morning show. It is an all news hour with Dave Walter and Dave Stranderg, from 9 to 10 am.

The only other local program KDAL had left is now being eliminated. The 1 to 2pm hour use to be a local business show, but that will now go away. It is being replaced by Clark Howard.

When will local radio get it? We want local talk.

SMDC and union back at the table.

Saint Mary's/Duluth Clinic and the Steelworkers union are back in talks. When it looked like SMDC was set to not go back to the table for some time.

The two groups are trying to work out a deal that would stop the informational picket that is set to start in five days. The union gave the notice to SMDC that they would conduct the picket and set the date of the 25th to start.

Today the two groups got back to negations with a mediator. This is good for both sides I think. It is best to talk about the issues facing you. If one group choices not to take part it just breaks down in to a bad saturation for both sides.

Correction.

A correction to a story below. The Steelworkers union will have an informational picket not a strike starting the 25th.

Employees are encouraged to still go to work. They are asked to join the picket on days off or when able too. They hope by the union is to bring SMDC to the table with a reasonable offer.

Note to anonymous poster your comment did not get posted. It is clear you don't fully understand the issue not me. Besides when you talk about an issue like this if you don't use your name then I will not post it. Just the way it will be.

MLK Day.

Yesterday was Martin Luther Kings Jr. birthday. A day that this country celebrates because of his work to help provide equal rights to all. King help shape the movement of equal rights, peace and justice.



Duluth has a march and rally every year. This year they was about 500 people who marched from the Washington Center to the DECC. Where the rally took place.



Well this year I thought the crowd done a lot, there is normally a lot more who take part in the march. At least it seems to me, last year there was a huge crowd and in years past I remember much larger crowds. The media is reporting there was about 500 people if that is true it did not seem like that many. Again even if there was that many it seems to have been down to me.



The event was strange to me this year. The program at the DECC was not well attend if there was 500 people in the march most did not go to the rally. It is normally the other way around people wait for the march at the DECC.



The part of the rally that stuck out to me was a part that UMD did. A person by the name of Dan did a piece where he said the police send out crime report about a break in at CSS. The report said the suspected was a black male about 5' 9". He said he fit that description. Making it sound the way they do reports is wrong.

Yet if you think about it they always describe a person of interest that way. They have to it is the best way to relate info about the person. They always use ethnic or color skin to describe the person. It does not matter if you are white, black, or Native American.

Norm Coleman: Not this time.

Former Mayor (St. Paul) and U.S. Senator Norm Coleman will not run for Minnesota Governor this go around.

Norm Coleman used Face book to issue a statement saying he would not run for Governor. He loves the State and public service. He said now is not the time for him and his family.

More later.

Steelworkers give SMDC notice.

Saint Mary's Duluth Clinic and it's largest union have been unable to reach a contract agreement. Therefor the union has given SMDC it's 10 day notice that they will strike.

Steelworkers local 9460 is set to strike on Monday January 25th. The strike would effect 1,400 workers and main departments with in SMDC.

The unfortunate thing is well unions are suppose to stick together and support each other that does not seem like it will happen in this case. Many of the other union workers (that work under different unions). have a no strike cause in the there contract. This in part allowing them to still work well another union is on strike. Many of those workers have said they will continue to work for SMDC.

The good think is that a lot of the hospitals patients are also union workers and they will not cross the picket line at least a large group of citizens have already said so. The union also has a large backing of non union employees across the city.

Should there be a strike in 10 days you can beat the employees will have a lot of support from this community.

The dispute is over out sourcing jobs and a hiring freeze. Well SMDC has given pay increase to none union employees and it's top people they are set on not allowing an increase to the Steelworkers for some reason.

SMDC says they are ready for a strike if they don't reach an agreement in the next 10 days.

Is any one else having trouble.

What good is it to have the paper on line if you can't read it? I have had trouble the last couple of days. I don't know why, I have went to sign in and when I do I get a big long error message.

Is any one else having trouble?

The Police department is hiring who/what?

Last night the council accepted a donation to the Duluth Police Department. The money is going to the K-9 unit. The money will be used for the expansion and up keep of the unit.

The Duluth Police Department plans on hiring 2 new dogs. Wait what, Hire? I did not know that they paid dogs. How much does a dog make these days? I found it odd this morning well listening to the radio and a Northland News report on B-105. The story was phased that way.

I know the dogs play a huge roll in the police department and I am glad we have them. Also glad the department received this money, so they can use it to replace dogs lost last year to retirement.

I just thought the word hire was an interesting way to put it.

Does Mayor Ness run you out?

Does Mayor Don Ness run you out of your job is he does not like you? You could ask any number of people. Byran Brown, Genie Stark, Mark Winson, and more.

Lets start with Mark Winson and the position of Chief Administrator. Winson came back to be the C.O.A. and left after about two month of being back on the job. Winson said that working for the city just was not same and he was going to return to LSC.
To many there was othere issues behind him leaving you heard speculation that he and the Mayor did not get a long. Few answears where given by either Winson or the Mayor making it more suspicious. Yet no one could find any thing out. Also out of COA has been Lisa Potswald, John Ashcraft. Ashcraft was for sure run out by the Mayor. Potswald still works for the city but in a smaller capacity.

Genie Stark was clearing ran out of the city. She worked for 33 years as finance director. She was placed on leave under Mayor Ness in October of 2008. Yet when asked why she never got any answers, city councilors where also concern about the way the Mayor was conducting things. It seems like if you are being investigated at some point you should know for what. That was never the case. Stark retired quietly, but her reputation is at ruined. Yet the Mayor will not give any specifics.

Long time City Attorney Bryan Brown retired before Ness took office this after he was told he would be welcomed under his administration.

If you work for the city don't get on the Mayor's bad side or he will run you out.

Huskies,Bulldogs,birds,cowboys.

It's an all sports post. This weekend was a huge weekend for sports on both the local and pro world.

First lets talk hockey. It was a great for our local college teams. The U.M.D. Bulldogs took on the number 3 ranked team in the country at the DECC. Well the bulldogs are ranked in the top 20 them selves at number 12.

It was #3 Colorado College against #12Bulldogs. The dogs where able to stifle the tigers and take both games. They allowed just 2 goals in a two game series. The bulldogs on the weekend only allowed three goals and 38 shots in two games. The dogs walked away with a 5-2 win on Friday and 4-1 win on Saturday. They allowed just 19 shots both nights to a high powered offence in Colorado.

Well the other college in town St. Scholastic is doing well them self's. They play D3 hockey and started there second half off ranked 5th in the country. They had two games also this weekend. There result was the same as U.M.D. a sweep. Two more wins for the program.

In D3 hockey you don't play the same team two nights in a row like you do in D1. The Saints had two different opponents Friday they took on Hamline a tough team. They where ranked 7th in the country but the saints took it to them beating 4-0
The second night they traveled Bethel and took yet another win to complete there sweep. The saints beat bethel 5-1 but remain ranked 5th in the country after the weekend. The bulldogs have jumped up 6 spots and are now ranked 6th in country.

Now on to the NFL playoffs this last weekend. It was a wild card weekend. I must say I was right about the out come on 3 of the four games. The only one I got wrong was the Patriots game. I just thought it is the playoffs there time to shine. Well that was not true they looked horrible in there game.

The N.Y. Jets defeated the Cincinnati Bengals 24-14. Boy the Bengals looked good for most of the year but after the lose to the Minnesota Vikings they struggled after that. The Bengals had a great and look for a good year next year as well. The only other news note for this game is that the Jets won with a rookie quarter back.

The second game was of the weekend was Dallas and Philadelphia. For the second straight weekend the cowboys made the Eagles look foolish. This time walking away with a 34-14 win. The cowboys and Eagles in one of the biggest rivals in the the NFL. The two teams don't like each other. The Cowboys where able to get back at the Eagles this year. Last year the cowboys lost there last regular season game to the eagles keeping them out of the the playoffs. This year they win the last regular season and the playoff game the following week. How great it must be for Dallas.

Dallas will come to Minnesota next week to take on the Vikings. I would not want to play the cowboys at this point. They are coming off to huge wins, where they looked great. Romo has the boys playing at the top of there game right now. That said however I give the vikes the slight edge only because they are at home. They have yet to lose at home. I think this game will be tight. It could also be very high scoring it the defences decide not to show up. Both teams can put up huge numbers. The score Vikes 27-21. There is a great possibility it is a higher scoring game then that.

The Ravens made the Patriots look silly with a big win 33-14. They came just a wild game. The Green Bay Packers and the Arizona Cardinals. A game I would love to comment on but I can't much because I went to take a nap at the half. The cards where up 27-7 and I thought game over. Nope it was a wild second half I guess. The game went in to over time and the Cardinals won 51-45.

BREAKING NEWS----- The Duluth Airport Evacuated.

The Duluth News Tribune is reporting that the airport has been evacuated. There is a report of an unoccupied bag. The airport is not closed and flights will still come and go for now. There however is not another flight for an hour.

The bag is being investigate now to determine what is in it.

Stay tuned, the Duluth News Tribune will report more and if I find any thing further out I will pass it a long as well. You can read the whole story at www.duluthnewstribune.com

Union rejects worthless offer by SMDC.

The largest union at St.Mary's/ Duluth Clinic has rejected the last best offer that they will make. What was this great offer by SMDC? Wages frozen and out sourcing of jobs.

The United Steel Workers soundly rejected the offer made by SMDC. It was same contract that the union had voted on a month or so ago. This time SMDC is claiming it is there last offer. They workers also voted to strike if necessary.

Many people pit me as anti union I am not. Sure I don't agree with everything about a union. Yes a speak out against them when I find them in the wrong, I however support them when they are in the right. As I do any group.

This time the union and the workers at SMDC where fully in the right. SMDC should be grateful to have such great workers. Yet they don't show it. When a contract comes up they offer nothing. Yet the heads of SMDC who make well over a million dollars give them self's a 19% wage increase and for what? Sitting in there nice office doing nothing. Well the workers are helping the people.

If a strike happens I will be more then willing to stand it picket with them. Please be aware that your Health WILL be at RISK if there is a STRIKE. You will not receive top medical help like you are use to at SMDC.

Clean up.

I have updates my links and other items on the side bar. I have deleted some sites and added some new ones.

The ones I have deleted for the most part where no longer active. I will add new ones I find interesting sites. If you know of any I may be interested in let me know.

4th street market.

The day has come. The 4th street market is once again open. I believe it opened yesterday. That is when I noticed it any way.

State of the City.

The State of the City was last night. It took place at the DECC as Mayor Don Ness delivered his third State of the City. There was a good crowd by all reports. The crowd seemed up beat and looked forward to the the Mayor's speech.

As speculation was the message was going to be more up beat after last years some what pointed and not so positive message. Last year's message was all items that needed to be brought to the citizens attion however.

Every speech has a title or theme. This years was setting the foundation. Yes I will say it, other will not. Setting the foundation for what? Gee let's see his re-election. This is his final year of his first term. This after he served two terms as a city councilor.

Mayor Ness focused on the good the city has to offer, he also talked about economic development and talked about success stories. Which on of the first things was a new animal shelter. What? The animal shelter a success story sure it is great and it will help them a lot but a success of what? It's an animal shelter.

As he talked about development it seems like he will focus on local business. It almost seems like he will not search to bring in new business for a while. A bad move if you ask. Yes I agree 100% with focusing on business already and helping them however you need to continue to grow business.

More later.

My State of the city report will come later.

This years address was the first one I completely missed in a number of years. I was unable to go to it this year but was hoping to watch it. That did not happen either, I did however have some one go to it for me. They reported back to me and also I have the paper and there story along with some other feed back from people that send me emails.

Change at Fox 21 News?

The quick easy answer yes. Today fox 21 fired there news director Julie Moravchick. Will this lead to more changes to come? Moravchick has over seen the news cast and news department sense 2006. They started there news cast in 2007. She build and hired everyone on the news side at fox 21.

Fox 21 came on the air a blaze. They where hot early. I am okay with the decision by management. Lets hope they get real news going again.

The other person I would be okay with leaving the station is there top news caster. He is an arrogant person that thinks his shit don't stink. Guess what Nick it does just like everyone else's.

I hope the station starts to turn around and get back on track.

State of the City.

Duluth Mayor Don Ness will deliver his third State of the City address tonight at the DECC. Mayor Ness said he hopes this year's message is more upbeat this year then last.

Many people thought last years message was negative, well many others thought he said what needed to be said about what kind of shape the city is in. Well his first speech three years ago was more of cheer leading expedition. Again last year some thought he said what was needed to be said, I however though he kind of beat around the bush. He seemed to touch on issues but not dive in to them.

This year he will be setting up for his re-election. I look for a lot of fluff in this years speech. We will have to wait and see. What are your thoughts? What should his message be?

The speech is again tonight at the DECC it starts at 6:30.

Note: This will be the first State of the City that I will miss going to in a long time. I will however have a report about it tomorrow. I have some one going in my place plus I will be able to listen to just not be there is person. It's a little thing called work that is preventing me from going this year.

Bag's.... yep that's right bags.

Yes this blog post is going to be about bags. Mainly because this is something I never saw my wife and I doing and now it makes more sense then ever.

Okay so for the last number years now place have sold the re-usable bags. It did not matter where you went Wal-mart, cub foods ect... they all have been selling them. Most the time for
$1.oo or less.

My wife and I have fought getting them for ever, we both thought for dump just use the paper or plastic bags, if you really want to you can recycle those. We like many others I am sure have hundred's of plastic and paper bags sitting in our back hall. We don't know what to do with them? Well we use the paper ones for our recycling bin the plastic ones we don't have much use for. We do use them in our small garbage can upstairs however as I said before we have hundred's of them.

Last week we bought our first reusable bag and sense that have bought like 6 more of them. We now are going to use them in stead of plastic or paper. We are using them because they are convent and easy to carry most the time better then paper. Plastic rips to easy.

Well many people have already made the change we have just started. We made it as a way to not keep accumulating bags not so much because other reason's.

Op-ed piece.

Note: Tony from Duluth Citizen link below has provided the link to the DNT story in the comments here. If you care to read the op-ed and see what we are talking about. He also provide a link to another blog and that writers response to it.


A few days ago there was an op-ed about abortion. The writer was some one from the range and he wrote about how most Democrats lie about the issue. You can go to the Duluth News Tribune site and find it or there is a link to the story at http://www.duluthcitizens.com/ .

Now what I found interesting is to me the writer was very vague and pointed to no real evidence to support his point.

My thought on abortion is private. Yes I have my thoughts on the issue. That said I don't believe that abortion should be a political issue, it is a private matter if you ask me.

The other thing about the writer is he seems to be a single issue voter again something I don't like. When you look at a candidate you need to listen to everything they say and pay attion to what they do. No matter what they are under.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year Everyone! As of right now I have no special plans for tonight. How about you what are your plans for the big evening?

As we say so long to this year and the start of a new decade lets look back at some of the big stories for the year and the decade.

The big story has to be the 9/11 attack and the war that came after the attack. The war is still on going in both Iraq and Afghanistan. There seems to be little end in site. The attack and war started under past President George W. Bush. President Bush was the 43rd of this country and served two terms 2001-2009. He was the second President with the name Bush. His Father George H.W. Bush also served as Vice President and President of the United States.

Now as we move in to 2010 the current President Barack Obama is faced with running the war. A war he campaigned to be against. Yet now he is supporting the war by sending more troops. He has upset many of his supporters.

That is about the biggest national story.


The Other story big story of intestrest has to be the election of Barack Obama. Some one I did not support and his numbers have fallen faster then any Presidents. Yes even faster then President Bush's. Obama and the media are claiming he is the first black President elected. He is not he is the first Muslim elected President.

Local story's include a year that is seeing three city councilors not run for re-election, the most I can remember in some time. The three that elected not to run again, Gary Kruase, Gary Eckonburg ( who was appointed after Rienhart won another seat), Greg Gilbert.

Gilbert also is leaving the council after serving 12 years (3 terms). He lost two bids to become Mayor in that same time frame. Gilbert was a councilor that was always endorsed by the AFL-CIO.

Speaking of the council this years election was a heated one. It saw in the final four two men and two women looking to fill two seats. In the end both of the men where elected to the council Dan Hartman and Jim Stauber who will be serving his third term. The at-large was heated because of a number of issues that came up. Beth Olson on of the candidates had her background looked in to. It found that she was arrested at the visit of President Bush. She also is part of the gay community that was an issue for some people. That included local talk show host. The issue did not matter to me.

The other women Becky Hall how has ran a couple of other times and ran good campaign ran a poor one this year. Hall was the big conservative in the race and she finished fourth in both the primary and the general election. I don't believe her problem was her politics for the most but how she ran the campaign. Some also thing a web site hurt her. The web site Duluth Citizens Blog, http://www.duluthcitizensblog.com/ .

Another story was the election Mayor Don Ness who used to serve as Jim Oberstars right hand man here in Duluth. Ness is a young man who most consider the front runner for Oberstar's seat when he decided to retire. I only consider this to be true if Oberstar retires in the next couple of years.

This blog Duluth Politics has 1,233 post to date sense it started in 2005. The biggest year of post came back in 2006 when I had 404 post this year we are getting close to 330post. Next year I am hoping to post a lot too.

As I have said many times I am very proud of this blog and how many readers it has. I wish more people would take part in posting but blogs are much like radio talk shows. Only a small number of people post. On that note if there is something you would like me to talk about here send me an email duluthneedshelp@yahoo.com . I have a couple of ideas for early next year.

This year saw a lot of post about Mayor Ness, the Duluth City Council, unions and more here on the DP.

I look forward to next year and again Happy New Year!

Councilor Greg Gilbert.

Last night the AFL-CIO said good bye to thee favorite city councilor Greg Gilbert. The AFL-CIO was the primary host of the good bye party to councilor Gilbert who will have served three terms (12 years) at the completion of this year.

Well I did not agree with Gilbert much of the time, I want to say thank you for your service. Councilor Gilbert did what he though was right for the city. If you agreed with him or not you always knew where he stood.

Joining him as councilors that are retiring (did not run for re-election). Gary Krause and Gary Eckonberg.

Vike Queens do it again.

The Minnesota Vike Queens have do it again. They have lost 3 out of the last four games. The three loses have all came during prime time games, they also have all came against very poor teams. This time they lost to the hope less bears in over time. The vike queens had but them self's in a hole at half being down 16-0. They came back and tied it, they headed to overtime tied at 30. Only to lose off an Andiron Peterson fumble.

The vike queens are lead by the number one teamvestite Brett Favre. Favre played the victim in Green Bay when he was not. He had turned in to a cry baby and the team was ready to move on. He then retired and came back and played just one year playing for the Jets. He stared hot there and then fizzled and the team did not even make the playoffs. He then retired again to only return again this year as a vike queen. The team started off hot and is in the playoffs but is playing bad at the wrong time.

The team had controlled it's own destiny now they don't. They could have still possible got the number one seed in the playoffs with a win, at least they would have locked up the number two seed. With the lose they could drop all the way to the number four seed in the playoffs, they could also still be the number two seed but would need to win next week and have the Philadelphia lose to the cowboys. I think Dallas will win but the vike queens will lose next week to the giants. This possible dropping them all the way to the number four seed.

Christmas wrap.

Christmas was great fun at our house. I hope you all had a good one as well. The kids enjoyed then self's. We have two kids one 4 years old and one 18 month.

Santa was cool this year when we came down stairs by the tree was candy canes and packs of cookies spread out all over the floor. Then came present opening, both kids got a bike from Santa. They will be able to ride them this summer together. They both got very nice toys from both sides of the family.

Christmas eve we where at my wife's dads house and Christmas day we hiked up to my parents house. As we live close and the snow was gong to prevent us from driving to works. The kids jumped in the sled and we pushed them up the hill to my parents. They had a great time with that.

Duluth Police say park on the right side of the street or get towed.

After the 5th largest winter storm the Duluth Police have a message for everyone. Park in the right side (odd) street or get towed to them it is that simple. There seems to be on little thing they are forgetting.

Most places have no where to park on the odd side. Most streets still remain with little to no parking available on them because of the storm.

Christmas Eve day.

Today I woke up and we had snow on the ground. That was a very nice site to see. We have about four inches of new snow. Up to today we had very little. It makes it so beautiful out side. It will also help Santa get around tonight.

Santa will visit kids all around the world tonight. He will make little boys and girls dream come true with presents and the magic he shares with everyone. It is truly a wonderful time of year no matter your age.

I hope you all have a very enjoyable Christmas!

Merry Christmas from Duluth Politics.

There has been a lot going on however. Also Random thoughts.

There has been a number of things happening the last couple of days. That said however they are not good news and at this time of year I am not going to report on the bad. I am looking for good positive stories at this time of year.

We are just a couple of days out from Christmas and still little snow is on the ground. They say we may get up to 6 inches Christmas Eve and Day but also are now saying it may stay farther south so who knows.

I love how 6inches over two days is now a storm it never use to be but at any rate it is what it is I guess.

An update on the 4th street market, they will now open in January as the construction has taken longer then thought. I can't wait for them to open. Best wishes to the Potters on there new store.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!!!

4th street market set to open.

4th street market will again be open. It is set to open just days before Christmas. There grand opening will be December 21st.

Funny and uh-0oh stuff.

Dam it that is where my pet goat went!!!! The Superior water treatment center has a goat on it's property yes a goat. The goat has been on the lose in Superior sense Sunday night. There are people from animal control and Dan's feed bin on site to try to catch the goat.

The goat has a broken rope around it's neck and the best guess is it came from a farm just out side of Superior.

The Miller Hill Mall closes. A water main brake near the Miller Hill Mall has forced the closer of the mall. The water main broke this morning. The break took place on the Decker road and it the water was turned off to the area.

The water has been restored to the mall now, it was mid afternoon before it was turned back on to the mall. Some stores will open today again at 4 pm, it is not clear if all the mall will open or if just some stores will.

The closer came with just 11 shopping days left till Christmas.

What is the rail car doing? Duluthians bitch about nothing again. Some people have complained about rail cars blocking the view of the lake on I35.

People need to get over them self's. You are not guaranteed a view of the lake ever. That said yes I want to see it and yes I don't want to lose places to see the laked, however this site is being used for a purpose to the trains and it is not pruminet. The trains are there because it is a turn around and the site they sit at when not in use to head to Bentlyville.

The trains will be stored else where after December 23rd when the trains stop running to the light display.

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

Still here.

Hi everyone sorry for no post as of late. I am still here and doing well as I hope everyone is this Christmas season. With the season comes many events and family things going on, I will post as I can. The posting may be light till the new year but check bad offend and as I will do my best to post.

There also has not been a lot going on. A couple of things came up last week but I choice not to comment on them as they were pretty out there. You had two councilors whining about various things. Gary Krause cried like a little baby about Bentlyvil and being on there "naughty list". There was one other councilor on that list Jim Stauber. The reason they both voted against funding the light display at Bayfront.

Councilor Gardner once again whined about her sister city issue.

President Obama's Christmas wish list.

President Obama released his Christmas list today. It was a simple request. The wish list had just one thing on it.

President Obama's Christmas wish list, His poll numbers improve.

His Christmas reality his numbers will continue to decline.

Random post.

Just some things to mention here in this post.

Winter weather may finally be on the way to the northland. Most weather reports have up to six inches possible Tuesday night in to Wednesday. This would be great let's hope so. Then I take the kids out sledding and stuff. Plus we will then have a white Christmas.

The vikings sucks last night, sure glad they put on prime time. They played so well NOT!!!
Dallas took a hart breaking lose yesterday to the NY Giants I hate the Giants.

The 4th street market is set to open soon. Well I heard the 9th is no longer the date it seems as if it may be. Potter has it as the Grand opening on his facebook page yet then says they hope to be open by Christmas. Either way I can't wait for them to open.

It is hard to keep on schedule when you are opening almost a brand new store as they with all the remodeling they are doing. I will keep you updated on the open date.

Both Minnesota and Wisconsin deer hunting season saw a big decrease in the harvest.

There where fewer deer shot in the gun hunting season's for both Minnesota and Wisconsin. Wisconsin which only has a 9 day hunting season saw a 50% decrease from last year. Minnesota was also down from last year.

Many hunters say it is because of wolves but is it? The Wolf population is back on the rise as many know. However there numbers are still low and I don't think they play a significant role in the fewer deer being taken during the season's. There are a number of issues as to why the season was down in both states.

One has to be the weather it is hard to track deer with out snow it is also much harder to see them in the woods with out snow, they blend in better. The other major is has to fall on the DNR and the hunters.

Both the Minnesota and Wisconsin DNR gave out doe permits like they where candy, and hunters where gobbling them up. There where more doe's taken the last couple of years and it is hard to reproduce with out a female. I know the effort was to control the deer population. That said however the DNR had to take in what may happen in the other elements of a deer's life. Such as being hunted by other predators and deer killed by humans other ways, such as hit by a car. Age of deer and just plain death by natural cause. The failed to do this and it extra permits only hurt the deer population farther.

That is my take.

Shopping for Christmas watch out.

When you are going to buy things it is important to watch what you are getting. There has been an increase in illegal items being sold around the country. Knock off name brands are being sold at some stores.

As you may remember about a month ago the Duluth Police along with the Federal agency's found three Duluth stores selling counter fit items. Fred and Marks sport located at the Miller Hill Mall, also two stores downtown, New U Clothing, and Christopher's Clothing. Two of the three have gone out of business. One remains open that I know of. At least it was as of a couple of weeks ago.

All three were selling name brand clothing at unheard of prices. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency says if the price is to good to be true it more then likely is. Use good judgement and really look at the item.

A few good ways to tell if the item is not authentic is if logos are upside down, the items are looking bad such as bad sticking and strings hanging from the items. You would think these items would be easy to spot fact is they are not. Many times people are in a hurry or just don't take the time to look. Also some times you have to really look as the item may look good but the defects are on the inside of the clothing.

The illegal company's that produce these items are causing troubles for everyone. It drives up the price of the real items. It also has another effect on you the buyer. You think you are getting a great deal on a sports jersey and what you have is really only worth five dollars.

Neither the Duluth Police or the feds would say if there is other stores they are watching only that the investigation in to the three places about a month ago is on going.

Tiger Woods the #1 golfer and #1 ass?

The world's best golfer got in a car crash last Friday and is saying very little about it. He has canceled meeting with the police three times. He is saying the crash is private along with other information.

Sorry Tiger but when the police are called like they were for your crash it is no longer a private matter. You owe to the the police to meet with them to wrap up there investigation of the accident that happened at about 2:30 am. The police have already said that liquor did not play a role.

There are reports out that he has been cheating on his wife and there was an argument and Woods was leaving the house. There has also been reports that Wood's wife went after him possible causing the accident.

If we don't get the real story I hope people are upset at Woods. The way he has handled this is wrong.

BREAKING NEWS: Another drug bust in West Duluth.

There is very little information out but there is yet another drug bust in West Duluth. It just happened this morning. When more information becomes available I will have it for you here on Duluth Politics.

****UPDATE**** Two people where arrested. A search of both a house and vehicles was conducted. Again more as it becomes available.


*****UPDATE #2*******

The drug bust happened at 9am this morning in West Duluth. It seems like a much smaller scale then the other two. The house has been being watched by the police for some time. They found many bags of something, most likely marijuana

Thanks to my source on this issue I will have more if it becomes available once again.

It's December 2nd.

Well November came and went, with little snow and non that stayed. With highs in the 40's for most of the month. Now here we are December 2nd still no snow on the ground. It is going to get closer to normal temps today around 30 degrees.

There is snow in the forecast for the next couple of days but nothing that is going to stick. I hope we have some for Christmas.

Drug bust of last week

As many of you know there was a big marijuana bust last week here in Duluth. A house on 56th ave West was growing more then 200 plants.

There has sense been three arrested in the case and they have all seen there first day in court and have asked for public defenders. Two of them had jobs well one did not. The three arrested where James Lyons, James Lyons II and his girlfriend. Lyons II said he worked at Sam's club well his girlfriend worked as an adult forster care giver. The Dad did not work and lost his disability some time ago. James Lyons has an extensive criminal record mostly dealing with illegal drugs.

The drug bust more then likely came as a tip from a drug bust a few weeks earlier. This is being recorded as one of the biggest bust in Duluth history.

In some circules it has opened the talk once again on if the drug should be made legal. What are your thoughts?

Happy Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. I hope you enjoy and the time with family.

SMDC contract or lack there of.

St.Mary's and the Duluth Clinic along with many of it's employees are in contract talks. Today the union workers went to vote on a contract that SMDC I am sure hopes passes. I am sure it will not.

The deal set out by SMDC was basically an extension of the current contract. No pay increase or any help to benefit packages by the hospital. The contract gives the employees little to no benefit it passed. It sounds like a clear defeat to the first offer by SMDC.

As expected Snocross will be held at a later date.

Much I like I did with Fourth Street market opening I was going to beat the DNT on the snocross announcement. I however went to bed instead after working overnight. At any rate many people knew that there was a chance the snocross would be canceled or re-scheduled do to lack of snow and warm temperatures in the Duluth area.

As temps have been in the 40's during the day and no snow it has called on the promoters to postpone snocross. Even with cooler temps and maybe some snow coming later in the week. It is just to late to hope on the snow fall and Sprite mountain may not be able to make enough in time for the event this weekend.

Snocross at Spirit mountain has been the first race of the season for a long time, it also is the first qualifying event for the winter x-games. The event traditionally takes place the weekend after the Thanksgiving holiday and draws thousands of people every year.

This years event has been moved to December 11-13th it will still take place at Sprit Mountain.

Update on Breakfast with Santa.

The event at OCB starts at 8 am and goes till 10 am. Kids under 12 eat free with paid adult.

Again it is a great time for the kids, plus you get a pretty good meal out of the whole thing.

Country Crossroads Craft Sale.

The Country Crossroads Craft and Bake sale will be held at Lakeview Christian Academy.It has more than 50 vendors from across the upper midwest.

It offers everything from fry bread tacos to olive wood coasters from Jordan to designer purses to handmade butcher block tables.

The event runs from 9-6 Friday and 9-7 on Saturday at Lakeview Christian Academy 155 W Central Entrance. Admission is free and all procedes go to LCA's scholarship fund.

I am thinking of hitting this up this weekend my self. I have always been a community event blog as well as politics. I am happy to promote this event.

First swine flu death in Northland?

As you know the H1N1 has been a big deal this year. There has been a lot more cases this year in the northland then last year.

Now it seems as if the first possible death has occuered from the swine flu. A 58 year old man who has been ill for the past two weeks before passing away in a Duluth Hospital on Sunday. Test are being done to see if the death was a resuld of the H1N1.

The man is from the the Bayfield Wis. area.

More at www.duluthnewstribune.com

Hartman for Mayor?

There has already been rumours abound that he will run for Mayor. Keep in mind he is not even on the council as of yet. He seems to of the same mold of current Mayor Don Ness.

If he does run at some point I am not sure he will run against Mayor Ness. I would expect him to run at some point.

Dan Hartman I believe is groomed to run for the Mayor spot.

The 4th district recount.

The fourth district recount that was requested by Gordon Grant happens today. If I get any information on it as it happens today I will post it.

As I said before I don't really see why he requested this recount, I don't see much changing. It may change a few votes one way or the other. I don't however see it changing by over 135 votes.

Christmas events this weekend.

Of course Friday is the big parade. The Christmas City of the North parade. The parade starts about 6:20 pm.

Once again the Old Country Buffet up at the mall will be hosting breakfast with Santa. Santa starts his time at the Mall on Saturday. The kickoff for the last few years has been the breakfast event at O.C.B.

That event starts at 8am and I think goes till 10 am. It is busy but a lot of fun for the kids plus you get a decent meal out of it. They have also dropped the price in there breakfast. I believe it is $5.99.

Hey Minnesota Power. What is that in your court yard?

Minnesota Power has a tree every winter in it's court yard out side of it's building in Down Town Duluth. Up till about three years ago the tree was known as a Christmas tree for the Christmas season. For the last two years it has been a holiday tree. 

Well this year they are called it a holiday tree at the open ceremony Wednesday night. This year however they have said the tree has no real name and people are free to call it what they wish. I am sorry Minnesota Power but it is a Christmas tree, it is not a holiday tree or anything else. 

Substituting the word holiday for Christmas pisses me off. I think the world of political correctness has gone way to far. The word holiday means what as far as the tree goes? By the word holiday instead of Christmas to me means I could leave a tree up in my house almost all year long. 

The tree's that go up in peoples houses and around downtown's in this country have for long been a Christmas tree and they will always be that way to me. The trees for the most part go up any where between the month of November and December 25th which is Christmas day. 

The attack on the Christmas tree and the word Christmas needs to stop. It is a fight I have taken on here for the past few years. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS  EVERYONE

Not much going on.

Not a lot going on, just a quick up date on a store re-opening.

The 4th street market is now set to open December 9th about a week later then thought. As you can imagine there is a lot going on in to the store and it 's re-opening.

The store will be under new management when it does re-open in December. The Potters who own the ICO on 6th ave east have bought the market. I am hoping to get to have a conversation with one of them soon.

Recount on in district 4?

It seems as if the 4th district race is not yet over. The Gordon Grant campaign has asked for a recount.

Grant lost by 153 votes to Kerry Gauthier. The Grant camp did not lay out an specifics as to why they have asked for the recount. They are just saying they think it is important.

I don't really like this, I am not sure it needs to be done. There is little information as the why they want it. 153 votes is a lot to over come. Yes no one will deny the race it was close. In fact closer then most thought it would be. At this point with out specifics I don't see the point of a recount.

Burgers and Chicken.

There are two new restaurants at the Miller Hill Mall. One has not yet opened another has been open for a short time.

Five Guys burgers is set to open November 16th. They are a franchise http://www.fiveguys.com/home.aspx.

It seems to be a simple sit down and take out place. It looks good and I know I will try it. If I like them I will keep going.

The only problem I see for them is them is they don't appear to have a mall entrance. They only have an out side entrance. There is only one other restraint that does this at the mall. It should be a concern to the owners. I don't know how many people will take the time to go back out side of the mall to eat there. If they had an entrance from in side the mall they would do better business it would seem.

I hope it goes well for them. I sure will try it and I hope you do to.

The other place I want to talk about is a place called chicken now. It opened a bit ago where the old burger king was at the mall.

It never seems busy, it is also pricey I think. Has anyone tried it yet? What did you think. The people that run are pushy I waled by and they kept saying come eat come eat you look hungry. I am not the only person that has said this a number of friends have told me they have been approached as well. It is a place I don't expect to last long.

Why Dan Hartman got the top spot Tuesday.

It was not much of a shock to me that Hartman got the top spot on Tuesday. Well a lot of people thought Beth Olson would get it, I did not. Olson finished first in the primaries.

I knew the people voting in the primaries where for the most part big time supporters of a candidate and or special interest groups. These are the people that always go out and vote in a primary. Well most of the general public stays home. Something I have never understood. People always say I wish I had a chose. The fact is you do. A lot of good candidates get knocked out in the primary because people don't go vote.

Anyway Hartman got a lot of support from moderate republicans in the general election. I hope he see this and stays in the middle of the road on his decisions. I hope he does not become a puppet for one side or the other.

I know he is a democrat but as I have said many times he is a more center candidates then was Olson or Hall. I believe Dan will look at both sides of the issue before making his decision.

That close....

Well the school board race went the way I thought it would. It split between the red plan foes and the current board members. Cameron and Wasson both won there seats back. Well Kasper and Johnston both beat the incumbents.

What it means is little will change. The red plan votes will now be closer as 4-3 but the plan will still move forward. The people against the red plan needed to get three candidates elected. They came close with two but fell just short.

It will however mean that the conversation of the red plan will be more balanced. It may also mean the plan could see some changes. They however would not be significant I don't think.

More center candidates please.......

The election last night showed that Duluth would prefer to have more center candidates run. Beth Olson and Becky Hall (both seem to be very nice people.) lean to far one way or the other. Well the two candidates that did win Jim Stauber and Dan Hartman are more center candidates.

The closeness of the 4th district race only shows that people where split. If one of the two candidates in that race would have been more center they would have easily won. The race was less then two hundred votes in a win for Kerry Guithier.

I think both Hall and Olson could have done some things different to better represent them self's. Olson needed to be more aggressive against people that railed her for being arrested and having an alternative life style. Olson instead just wanted to sweep the issue's under the rug. Unfortunately for her it did not work out. A more aggressive approach could have put her in office.

Hall only needed to do two things and she would have been a shoe in. One is instead of just saying she will brings jobs to Duluth she needed to tell us how. She did not do so. Her background in business is well known however she just said she has the experience to bring business. If Hall would have taken the time and effort to explain her plan she also could be sitting on the council come next year.


The other thing I think hurt her is that she did not ridicule a message board more. DCB a right leaning board that has talked up Hall. I think that is okay however some of the things said on the board were down right uncalled for. I think Hall needed to come out and say. People have a right to voice there thoughts. I However don't agree with name calling and attacks on other candidates.

Did the board play that much of a role in her lose? I don't think so however it may have had some factor. The board has been under new ownership for a while now and sense then has gotten out of control.

Would these suggestions have changes the out come of the race I don't know. As I said Olson and Hall both lean further to the right or left then both Hartman and Stauber. The race was very close. So I don't know if these would have helped either of them but it is a thought.

That said I am okay with the results in this race.

It's election day coverage.

I will have much more either later tonight or tomorrow but now the wife needs the computer.

10pm: Some reaction to the results. Jeff Anderson ( current councilor). Said he was a bit shocked at the results. He thought Beth Olson would have came out on top. That Olson and Hartman both would have won a seat. He said he was pleased with Hartman getting elected and the he worked very hard for a full year.

Hartman was thrilled and all he could say was awesome. He had worked hard for a year to get the spot.

Beth Olson did not bother to show to party.

Stauber was delighted he won a fourth term. He is looking forward to continuing his projects and move Duluth Forward.


9:50pm: Just returned home for being out at campaign parties. I did not want to take the computer in case I left it some where. knowing me I would have.

Three out of four people I voted for won tonight. That is the best in a long time for me. I am okay with the results. Well I would have hoped that Grant would have won I did think it would be tought for him to do so. It was much closer then most thought.

Stauber and Hartman are the top two in the the at-large seat. The women are left out. Well it was a very close race between the four.

I must say the two hardest working candidates won in this election. After the primary results Stauber and his crew worked hard to come in either first or second. They where not going to be denied. I think Olson was a bit lacking her attempt to derail criticism of her. Hartman worked hard all year long.

The Boyle Wagner race not much to say other then I told you so.

6pm: Polls close in two hours. If you have not got out and voted yet do so. The numbers in most polling places have really shot up. It seems we will have a good turn out. That is not much of a surprise for Duluth.

5pm: The sign waving is fast and furious.

Just a note if you don't see any updates at any point today it is because I am and about at party's. I will still have updates for a while. If I do go out tonight check back for updates later.

3:42pm: Setting up interviews for tonight.

3:02pm: I have noticed some sign waving has started again at busy street corners. You can expect that to go on till as late as 7 tonight. This election is very important.

The numbers are on the increase at the polls. This is a good thing. It means for more interesting races. I think a higher turn out could mean different results then some are thinking. As I said before however only time will tell.

1:01pm: The lunch rush should be over for the most party now. I checked out four polling places. Three of them where busy and one was dead only about four people there. I think the voter turn out will be just fine. A slow start but I expect a good rush after work.

Reports I have heard from my sources also report that voting is starting to pick up. Thanks to all that are giving me updates by phone and here at the blog. It is a huge help.

East Duluth and West Duluth polling places where fairly busy over the lunch hour.

11:50am: Where will you be watching the results come in? Are you going to a candidates party? Where, when and who's?

10:45 am: This is the first of many post coming today. Newest updates will appear at the top. To read older updates scroll down.

At any rate, my sources are telling me that voter turnout is low to this point. The morning rush was not that big. In fact at my polling place I was only voter number 35 at 8am. We normally have any were between 60-75 by that time. It seems to be slow almost every were. I have talked with a number of people and the numbers seem to be about the same.

Now there will be another rush where voting is heavier at lunch time and the again after work. Lets home that people get out and vote.

If it is a lower turn out who does it favor do you think?

What are your thoughts on the election tomorrow?

Post your thoughts here on the election tomorrow. All post will be approved as long as they are clean and respectful.

Vote tomorrow.

Well I feel like shit today. That said tomorrow is election day in Duluth. You can bet I will drake my butt to my polling place if I have to. There is no way I am missing out on voting. This election is to important.

Get out and vote tomorrow. I don't care who you vote for just VOTE.

I will also have election coverage tomorrow. Depending on how I feel will determine how much time I put in to it.

One Republican is out.

Paul Kolhs has suspended his race for Governor. He said that the party is lining up behind other candidates. He also said others may get in the race. He was far behind in the straw poll.

There are still 8 candidates in the race running for the republican endorsement. The only other person that I could thing of that would enter the race at this point is Norm Coleman.

Wagner in the paper again.

There was not a bunch of pressing issues related in the story. Not a lot new information however if you want to read it then here is the link.

http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/150371/

I do not have a lot to comment on this. I think I made my comments earlier on this. I do agree with the judge.

Duluth Central wins.

Last night started high school football play-offs. There was over 100 games in the State. There was three local games two at Public School Stadium. One at Cloquet. That is the one I want to talk about this post.

It was #1 Cloquet against #8 Duluth Central. Central had not won a game all year they were 0-7. That said they were close to four wins, they lost by a touch down or less.

Last night there defense came out playing hard. They caused all kinds of trouble for Cloquet. Central was up 20-0 at the half. They held on for a 20-14 win.

It was a big deal for the team. As many of you know Central will close next year should the red plan keep going forward.

Police endores Hall.

The Duluth Police union has endorsed Becky Hall for city council. I think the endorsement means a lot in the lines of who is going to work for public safety.

That said I don't know how much it will help. The endorsement normally does not come with much money or help to a candidate.

4th district council race over?

Today saw a big blow to the Gordon Grant campaign. Former candidate Heath Hicock endorsed Kerry Gauthier. Hicock finished third in a five person race. Fourth was Matt Potter and fifth was Celia Scheer.

Potter and Scheer endorsed Grant. Grant was working on receiving all three of there endorsements. Today he feel short of that.

The biggest of the three candidates outed in the primary was Hicock. Today he endorsed the DFL backed Kerry Gauthier. Grant said it is was sad that it seems like Hicock is setting up for the 2011 election. Grant thinks that Hicock is setting up to receive the DFL endorsement for an at-large run in 2011.

I think it is now safe to say that this race is over. Gauthier will win. Grant sure does have an up hill battle by not receiving the endorsement.

Vote yes to question one and no to question 2.

On the November 3rd ballot Duluth will elect 2 new at-large councilors and 2 new district councilors. You also will have two proposed changes to the city charger to vote on.

The first question to me pretty clear. I would encourage people to vote yes on it. After the Mayor should be able to chose who is going to work best with.

The second question I would vote no on. The question to be pits people against people and it is going to allow things I don't like to open up.

To view the question and an entire sample ballot click the link: http://www.duluthmn.gov/clerk/voting/sampleballotNov2009.pdf

Northern Liberty Alliance forum last night.

The Northern Liberty Alliance held it's first ever candidate forum. The forum was held for both school board and city council candidates. The group stated at the beginning of the forum that they are not a pact and they don't endorse candidates. They are applying for a non-profit status.

The school board forum was not well attended by candidates. There was a board meeting and all the current members were of course at that meeting. The three candidates that did show where, at-large candidate Tom Kasper, 4th district Art Johnston and 1st district Marcia Stomgren.

The city council forum was much better attended. The only candidate that did not show was 4th district candidate Kerry Gauthier. All others where at the forum.

All candidates got the questions a head of time and were given a chance to answer in writing. They where then put in to a book that people could take. Again these people did not take the time answer in writing.

council candidate Kerry Gauthier

School board candidates

Mary Cameron

Nancy Nilsen

Maureen Booth

Tom Kasper, he was at the forum.

Marcia Stromgren, was at the forum.

Ann Wasson

Laura Condon

The forum was good last night. I think it is important for all groups to hold such events. It allowes there members and the public to learn more about the candidates. More later.

Gordon Grant's statement.

At the forum last night Gordon Grant made a statement I thought was a bit odd. He made a wide open statement and gave no clarification on it.

He said he would look in to selling anything the city did not need to be in. That included parks. It was left at that.

I thought okay so what are we talking about here? Well I had intended on asking him after the forum was over I did not get a chance. Most candidates got out pretty fast, plus I was talking to other people. Any way back to the thought.

Here is what I am wondering? Did he mean he was willing to look at selling parks such as the golf courses that are currently part of the Duluth Parks and Rec department. Or did he mean he would be willing to look as selling a park such as Grant park, Bayfront, ect...

If any one has a thought let me know. If Mr. Grant happens to view this I would be interested in his thoughts.

Beth Olson's out and out lie.

Okay so I try not to be critical of any candidate on this blog. In fact let me remind people that I was just supportive of Beth Olson when the paper raised a question to her in there forum. That said last night at the Northern Liberty Alliance forum she told and out and out lie. That I can't let stand.

She said that Wal-Mart is a business that Duluth not want because they don't have health insurance, benefits or even sick time. That is simple not true. I know people who work at Wal-Mart and they have all of these benefits.

Wal-Mart came up as councilor Jim Stauber used it as an example of the way Duluth chases away business, Olson then said the above comment when it came her turn. She also added that they don't pay well. I agree with that ( unless you have been there for a while) that said she must understand that we need these type of jobs to attract the big time paying jobs.

What I would have said if I were her is one of two things. Not used Wal-Mart as an example at all, or just say that I don't like the way they do business and leave it at that.

Wal-Mart does not have the best reputation as a work place I know but to out and out lie is wrong. It makes you no better then the company.

Note: If you are going to comment on this please be careful I will be picky on approving post on this one. This will not turn in to a base on Wal-Mart or Olson stick to the issue raised. I will not allow comments about Olson if they do not protein to her comments nor will I allow comments just bashing the Wal-Mart company. Again be careful.


Link to other Olson post: http://duluthpolitics.blogspot.com/2009/10/privacy-question-asked-of-olson.html

Police report: Explosives in car.

Below is the police report on the incident by the twins bar.

The Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) team from the Minnesota Air National Guard 148th Fighter Wing assisted the Duluth Police Department with the removal of explosives from the trunk of a car. On Monday, October 19, 2009, at 2:08 PM, a male called 911 and stated that he had just picked up some “dynamite” from a friend and was going to help the friend by disposing of it for him. The explosives were in the trunk of the caller’s car which was parked in the 500 Block of East #5 Alley. The caller said he had second thoughts about disposing of it himself and called the police. A one block area around the car was cordoned off and evacuated until the EOD team arrived and removed the explosives. The EOD team will also dispose of the explosives. The incident is under investigation by the Duluth Police Department.

Not much else is known and it is under investigation by the police department.

4th street market.

The very popular fourth street market is going to reopen soon. The Market closed because the previous owners did not run it right. This after long time owner sold it to move to Florida.

The new owners have experience in this type of work as they own the the ICO gas station on 6th AVE. East and 6th street. The Potters will be the new owners. I hope they can make a go of it. One word of advice. Don't run it like a big convenes station, that was tried with Tarens market and it did not work. Please run it like a grocery store. Keep your prices competitive and offer lots to customers to chose from. This should keep the store open for a long time.

The store is expected to open some time in November.

Interviews.

These are interviews that I did for a story you can read athttp://duluthpolitics.duluthcitizen.org/2009/10/19/is-the-school-board-vote-importain/ . They are with school board candidates and Harry Welty from Let Duluth Vote. I may get more interviews in today or over the next couple of days I will add them.

Harry Welty interview: Let Duluth Vote

1. What is so important about this election?

Duluth Voters will be telling the world whether they support a School Board that denied them the right to build the biggest school construction project in Minnesota history without a referendum. I believe voters have a responsibility to mete out the most serious penalty they can to this school board even if they support the Red Plan.

2. What does your group see are positive about the red plan (if anything)?

Personally I think that it made sense to go to two high schools.

3. What are the negatives of the red plan?

This is my short list. It was not given to the voters to decide. It was too big. It has relied on a school board that ceded all power to the Superintendent and to a construction company that had no incentive to pinch pennies. It has been sold with faulty data. It will burden taxpayers for twenty years and has hidden time bombs which will only be revealed in future years because they were carefully concealed to avoid criticism.

4. Why should the voters vote out the incumbents?

Because the incumbents have acted ignorantly, arrogantly and have offered virtually no oversight of the biggest thing to hit the Duluth schools in the last hundred years.

5. Anything else you would like to add?

I was grateful that other candidates who honored


Mary Cameron interview: At-Large board member

1. What is the importaince of this election?

As with any election, it is important for citizens to elect those individuals that they believe will listen, study the issues and make tough decisions, with the goal of doing what is best for the students in this community taking into consideration the taxpayers. The ultimate goal of any board member or school district should be assuring that all students receive the best education possible so that they are able to thrive in a world that is more diverse and global than ever before.

It's unfortunate that this particular election is centered around the LONG OVERDUE Long-Range Facilities Plan (LRFP).

This election is also important because there are alot of people criticizing the LRFP. It's easy to do so, but difficult to come up with a betterplan. Citizens really need to study the Alternative Plan that is out there. It will cost them more and will does less. It will also further instability within the district (keeping open all schools, making quick fixes, then after 10 years bring a committee together to decide which schools to close).

It is also important because citizens need to investigate what the cost to them will be if those who want to stop the LRFP are elected. Not to complete this plan would not only be a fiscal calamity that would negatively impact all students and taxpayers enormously for many years to come, but it would also deprive our students of quality academic options unattainable in under-populated, wasteful buildings.

2. The major issue seems to be the red plan. You are a supporter of the plan why? What is possitive about the plan?

The plan is long overdue. I have lived in Duluth all of my life. I'm a product of the Duluth Public schools as our my children and siblings. Right-sizing our building infrastructure has been a painful conversation for me and others. It is a conversation that has been on-going for over 20 years, and I've been part of a board who bucked under community pressure when we were trying to implement a plan. This plan will allow us to close buildings that we do not need due to declining enrollment. It will allow us to allocate savings from operating cost into our classrooms, the plan will bring equity across the district, allow students to have state-of-the art technology and be in energy efficient and safe buildings.

3. Do you see any negitives in the plan?

No plan is perfect, and not one would satisfy 100% of the Duluth community. However I do believe that this is the best plan for Duluth.

4. What does your experince on the board give to other board members?

I bring experience, I am currently serving my 3rd term. I have served as chair of the board, co-chair, clerk,have chaired the education committee, and am currently serving as chair of the human resources committee. I am a human resource professional. I serve on the DeSeg Council, as well as the budget subcommittee, recruitment and retention and monitoring subcommittee.

I have introduced and have had implemented Innovations in Education which created the labor management team, have advocated for student representation on the board since my first election and because of my board experience, I have grown and learned how to respect other board members even though we may differ on various and numerous issues and respect the majority vote.

5. Any thing else you would like to add?

Thank you for asking these very important questions.


Art Johnston interview: 4th district candidate


1. Why is this election so importain?
The Red Plan was poorly justified, voters were disenfranchised, it was poorly planned, and it was way too expensive. This happened on the watch of the current Board, and they have been asleep at the wheel. This is a question of elected officials lacking trust, honesty, and accountability. This is why we have elections--to remove elected officials that have failed.

2. What are the negitives in the red plan?
First of all, its justification was based on an exaggerated claim of building defects of our existing schools. Anyone who has looked at our schools knows they don’t need nearly ½ billion dollars in repairs. Perfectly good schools are being closed and given away at pennies on the dollar.

Secondly, it claims to be “reducing” square footage to “save money”. The actual square footage reductions of the buildings are only a fraction of what they originally claimed. And these miniscule saving are undocumented and we are spending $438 million to save pennies.

Thirdly, whole city blocks are being razed, streets being widened with houses bought with the threat of eminent domain. At the same time they are giving away (for nickels on the dollar) the Central High School site that has plenty of excellent room and the newest schools.

Fourthly, this plan builds buildings at the expense of educational programming and academics. The Red Plan “savings” are by eliminating 50-100 program and teacher jobs permanently from the schools. That is not the way to improve education.

3. What are the postivies if you see any?
None. If hard pressed, the only positive that I can see are the right and left political movements in Duluth have come together to elect a new school board.

4. What was one or two top resons you decided to run for the board?
I wanted to bring attention to the facts that the Red Plan was based on poor and misinterpreted engineering and financial data. I wanted to emphasis smaller, safer, saner, successful neighborhood schools that have the trust of our community.

5. Anything else you would like to add? The poor discourse, the poor journalism, and biased reporting that the Duluth media have done on this issue have been very sad to see. An informed electorate depends on an informative media, and Duluth has failed at that. And this does not bode well for intelligent and wise decision-making

Interesting story.

I would love to know people's thoughts on this story. Is the school district right or wrong?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/12/education/12discipline.html?no_interstitial

Minnesota Twins 3 and done.

For the second straight season the Minnesota Twins had to play an extra regular season game. This is because they were tied for the division championship. Last year the Twins lost that game. This year the Twins beat Detroit. There prize for winning the division to face the New York Yankees.

The Minnesota Twins have not fared well against the NY Yankees recently. This season they played three series against them, the Twins were 0-9. Under coach Gardenhire the team has posted just two wins in 24 games against NY.

This play off season was no different the Twins went just three games in the best of five series. Losing them all now dropping there record to 2 and 25 all time under Grady and 0-12 on the season.

I have heard a lot of talk about Grady should be the manager of the year. Are you kidding me you need to find a way to beat the big teams before you should be awarded manger of the year. The Twins struggle against the two big teams they play a lot. The Yankees and the Red Socks.

Also the Twins made many base running errors this season. You saw a number of them in the playoffs. The head coach at some point needs to address that and it is clear Gardy has yet done that.

Local sports show comes to an end.

*****UPDATE****** The sports show could possible come back at a later date. For now today was the last show for now.


The only local sports talk show that I know of has came to an end. The popular Saturday Morning Sports show will end today. The show that had aired on ESPN Radio 560 WEBC saw the last show today.

The show had been hosted by Corey Carter who has left ESPN and Gap West Broadcasting. It was co-hosted by Mark Marette who hosted today's final show.

The reason is because of money and the fact the show went to just one host. The show was very popular especially now. With interviews of high school hockey, football, and basketball coaches. The show also covered all local sports.

It is to bad to see yet another local show fall by the way side.

Privacy question asked of Olson.

There was a question directed to Beth Olson at the DNT forum yesterday. The question was as follows:

How much of a candidate’s personal life should be public? Is it only what a candidate wants known? And have there been things in your personal life that you haven’t been completely forthcoming about in this campaign?”

Well all the candidates got to give an answer it was directed to Beth Olson because of her arrest and also her being a member of the GBLT community.

I think the question was uncalled for and wrong. You never see a question like this asked at a community forum. I understand why it was asked but it would have been better if it was not asked.

Well I believe her arrest is a news story it also does not need to be beat to death. The issues of her being gay should not be an issue. The issue came up because of right leaning blogs (not this one.) and local talk show host.

Brad Bennett a local talk show host who brought the issue up said yesterday that he does not want any one elected that is going to have a special agenda or then protecting the tax payer. He also said it now seems that Olson is trying to hide be a member of the gay community. He said her web site had links to gay story's and other related sites but after the primary were she finished first they have been taken off.

DFL Governor debate today.

11 of the 12 DFL candidates running for Governor will be in Duluth today. They will take part in a debate at the DECC. The debate is sponsored by AFSCME local 5 and to attend it live you must be a member. The debate is from 2-4 pm today.

DNT forum winners.

There where two people that I thought did well in the DNT forum yesterday. These two did a good job of answering the questions.

The first person who I thought did well was Jim Stauber. Stauber is the only incumbent running in this race. He has served 8 years and is looking to win a third term.

Stauber did a good job of outlining what he has and can still do on the council. When asked question he could also reference things he has done. He also could spread light on issues from an "insiders" point of view. That is something the other three candidates could not do.

Stauber is the consumed pro and professional. He showed respect to others and expects the same. One of the biggest assets Stuaber offers the council if re-elected is his experience. Remember if he does not get a seat on the council there will be no one with more the four years of experience.

I ask that people consider voting for Jim.

The other person who has impressed all a long is Dan Hartman. Hartman has been out in the public more then anyone has this campaign season. Well I did not agree with all of his statements yesterday I found him to be very knowledge able about the issues. Let me point out here before people jump on me. There where a number of things I did like that Hartman said.

Hartman was going to run for the 3rd district council seat four years ago but dropped out after he did not receive the DFL endorsement. That went to current councilor Sharla Gardner. Hartman also is the program director of the Veterans' Memorial Hall at the Depot.

Candidate forums.

Forums are a good way to learn about a school board or city council candidate. There are three I would like to let you know about.

The Duluth News Tribune and Fox21 are hosting one today at 1pm. It is to take place at the Inn on Lake Superior. If you can’t make it in person you can watch it on the Duluth News Tribunes web site at http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/. Note it will not be live there you can’t see it tell after it is completed. I am not sure of the question they will be asking at the forum.

A group called FUSE is also holding a speed forum today at the Depot that starts at 5pm.

The last forum is being held by a Political Action Group. They are not yet registered as a PAC. The Northern Liberty Alliance is holding there first ever forum for candidates. They will be holding a school board and city council candidate forum. It will take place October 20th at city hall in the council chambers. It start’s with the school board forum at 5:15 the council forum will start at 6:45.

I have the list of questions for both of those forums if you would like them let me know. For some reason it is not allowing me to post them here.

Cross posted at duluthcitizens.com and duluthcitzen.org

Badger Careless program.

Governor Doyle has said they will suspend applications for there new Badger Care program as of noon of Friday. They are already full just three month after the program took affect. Badger care is state controlled health care program. Much like Minnesota Care.

Governor Doyle stated that this was a clear example of why national health care reform is needed. Well I believe everyone has a right to health care I don't believe that a state or the Government should provide it. The fact is that these programs don't help the middle class.

They help those that don't have or want jobs. You can find a job if you look, even if it is at a fast food place. This at least has income coming in to your house. Many of the people that applied for Badger Care had NO INCOME.

Now lets be fair yes the job market is tough. You however need to put an effort in to your job search. I am not saying on this program has not done that but at least take a less desirable job in the mean time. I know people have pride but some times you have to suck it up.

Can't watch the Twins game Tuesday?

If you will be at work or out and about for the Minnesota Twins game on Tuesday here is a solution. Why not listen to the game on ESPN Radio 560 WEBC. They will be broadcasting the game on Tuesday.

Game time is 4p.m. it is a play in game. Both Detroit and Minnesota ended the season tied for first place. The winner goes to the playoffs well the loser has there season end. The game will be played at the Dome. This is because the Twins have the head to head battle between them won.

LET'S GO TWINS!!!!!!!!!

Becky Hall is advertising on Stahl's blog.

One of four Duluth City Council candidates has chose to advertise on a local blog. The blog happens to belong to Duluth News Tribune reporter Brandon Stahl. You can get to the blog by clicking this link if you wish, http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/pages/buzz.

My question is this some have said that advertisers lead to the way a reporter or blogger writes. Do you believe that? I know Brandon and he is a great writer and person. I don't think he has a bias in writing one way or the other. I do personally believe he is a democrat( I could be wrong in this guess.) but that is fine. His writ tings never show a bias one way or the other. That is the way it should be when you write for a paper.

Stahl now has two right leaning advertisers. NLA and Becky Hall who is the candidate advertising on Stahl's blog. Well the NLA is not a PAC they are a group of citizens concerned with the way government is going. The group also has a number of people involved in it that are democrats but lets be fair and say that most are Republicans.

I have not seen any differences in Stahl's writing nor do I expect to. I think people like to pick fights some times. Advertising does not nor should it have a role in how a person writes. If it does then you are not getting a true and fair story.

Format change at the Bridge?

Corey Carter may be set to change the format at the bridge radio station. The biggest hint to this is that long time radio personality Tim Roubix was released from his morning show duties on the bridge.

The format change I am sure would be to a hot ac like Mix 108 is. That is the station that Carter came from. I would look for a format change in the next few month if it is to happen. If the change does happen I would look for Carter to be on the air again. He currently is not on the air at Mid-West.

A side note they are looking for an AM radio station programmer. I am guessing for 710 WDSM.

Jim Stauber will he win re-election?

There are a couple of things I have thought about here. One he is now the longest sitting city councilor. Now that both councilor Krause and Gilbert have both decided not to run for re-election. Stauber also makes no bones about being a republican however if you watch him he is more the willing to work with both sides of the aisle on the council.

Stauber finished third in the primary election. Two candidates finished in front of him. Beth Olson and Dan Hartman both are endorsed by the DFL and the labor unions. In a non-partisan race.

Stauber however was a very close third. He was less the a full % point behind Hartman who finished second. The vote total was just 285 votes. I think that is possible to make up. That said it is a bad sign for him that he lost his own district. I don't believe he has ever lost his own district.

Well I thought that Dan Hartman was once a lock to win a seat on the city council this time I am not so sure. He finished second in the primary. Many people have told me that was a set back to him. He wanted to finish first. Again that said he is still the one candidate out there working hard. Not only did he finish second but he did not totally run away with second place. Stauber was a close third. That said however Stauber is the incumbent in the race, possible another bad sign for Jim. He as an incumbent would have liked to finish first or second. However lets also be honest that most the people that voted in a very low turn out primary were those that represented the unions and DFL as they got there people out to vote.

In a general election there will be a larger voting population out. You will see more of the republicans and those that are not aliened with any party out voting. This is a benefit to Jim Stauber as long as he gets the message out that he is the longest standing member of the board and his experience is important at this point time. If he does not win a seat in November then there will be no councilor with more the four years of experience. I think this is what Stauber needs to get out as his message.

I will have more later but feel free to comment.