Did the council break the law.

When I talked to an attorney today it was there thought that it is very possible the law was broke. They said at first look this seemed to be a clear cut case and the law was in fact broke. The attorney said that now the council lead by council President Reinert are looking to cover there steps.

This attorney also said it is sad because he was a democrat and thinks that those involved now are in huge trouble. His thoughts were that those involved in the weekend meeting did in fact have a plan. As far as discussion at the meeting Monday it was to make the perception that there was no set plan.

This was a discussion with an attorney I had earlier today. DP has as few things set up on this issue. Check back for more on this issue and more.

DP was looking into this now the DNT has a story about it.

We here at Duluth Politics were looking into if the law had been broken by members of the Duluth City Council. As many of you know the council offer the weekend had meet about the rental property issue and what could be done about it.

As information about this was coming out issues of the open meeting law were coming up. We here at DP are investigating this but it seems the Duluth News Tribune staff has beat us to the punch. What do expect when the have a much bigger staff lol. We here at DP have three people and they have a lot. Joking a side this is a big issue.

We will continue to do the research and have more later but you can the story in todays Duluth News Tribune. www.duluthnewstribune.com

Clinton or Obama must drop out by June.

The DNC chair Howard Dean said one one of the two candidates must drop out of the presidential race by June. He said this needs to happen because if it does not then the party will be able to unite. If they are not united they will not defeat the right man for the job John McCain. McCain is the republican nominee. McCain has had the party endorsement wrapped up for a while now.

Dean is now the chair of the democratic national committee. Dean of course is famous for a melt down and scream in the last presidential campaign. Dean did not say who should drop out of the race but it is clear who he wants to drop out of the race. He always offers Clinton's name first and it is clear that is who he wants to drop out. All you have to do is listen to him in almost any interview. Dean who was the front runner in the beginning four years ago should understand how hard it is to be a front runner. Yet it seems he does not care about what Clinton's problems are much like he had.

Do you think gas is high enough?

I know this video has been on you tube for a bit now. I however thought it is still good to keep out there. It seems that a U.S. Senate candidate here in Minnesota supports at 10 cent gas increase.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtBHVNlk--g

It seems like this candidate who has a lot of money more then most will ever see is completely out of touch on taxes. Not just a gas tax but all taxes. He would support an increase any time he was given a chance.

A gas increase tax would not only affect Minnesota but it would hurt this whole country. It takes money out of peoples pocket. This candidates party has an agenda. The agenda is not a positive one for this State or Country. Al Franken and the DFL is not looking out for us.

Clinton gives Obama chance to debate with out moderators.

You may recall the whining done by Obama, his campaign and supporters about the last debate they had with Hillary Clinton. They should it was not fair to them. Why because they did not get softball question like they normally do from the media. This however was the case for both candidates.

Yet the only ones that whinnied like little babies was the Obama camp. They cried little punks that just got there ass kicked. Now Clinton has given the chance to debate with out moderators to Obama. If the cry baby team excepts this then the debate would be the candidates asking each other the questions.

Clinton who is urging for another debate before the next primary said this would clear any chance of a negative media backlash. I don't agree much with Clinton but I think this would be a great idea. I hope it happens but I don't think it will. The Obama camp does not want to debate her on any level. They are exposed when they do debate.

Email updates

If you would like email updates on Duluth Politics please send us your email address. You will be updated every time there is a new post on the blog. Also of any special events the blog may take part in. You may also receive other random emails with thoughts on issues from the staff here at Duluth Politics.

You can rest a sure however no one else will get your email. Meaning you will not receive spam. Your email address will be provide to anyone other then the others that sign up for the updates will see your address. What others do with it is out of our control we are not liable for what others may do. Duluth Politics again will not provide your email to any other party.

Again if you would like updates please send us your email address. Email it to us at duluthneedshelp@yahoo.com

If you really really wish to not be in a block email let us know and we will send it out to you personally. Not in the mass email.

What is going to happen to Duluth Central?

It seems that Duluth Central High School maybe saved? As many people know the newest school in Duluth is scheduled to be closed under the red plan. Many citizens and community members have voiced concern over this. If central was to stay open it would become a new middle school. It would be the middle school for the western part of town. That makes perfect sense because central is located in the middle of town.

As of now the site is listed on the short list of for possible sites for the middle school. It however does not top the list. It is listed as the second best site, mainly because it is harder to access because of the step hill it is located on said a member of the board that made the presentation to the school board. It also it a bit smaller then one other site.

The fact of the matter is this is all a bunch of BS. I have heard on more then one occasion that the school will be closed and the site will be sold. Not only will it be sold but there could already be a developer and a project planned for it. This latest is just more smoke and mirrors by the district.

The red plan is an outrageous plan that cost far to much. It also closes to many schools and does not accomplish a better education. After all I thought a better education is what our focus was, but is seems like to this school board and administration all they want to is tear the city apart.

Why is there a group against or at least sounds like they are against c-sections?

Okay this is not really political, well I guess depending on how you look at it anyway. It could be political.

I saw this post on http://www.perfectduluthday.com/ and thought well this is odd, at least to me it is.

Here is the post:


Birth Stories
ICAN of the Northland meets this Sunday, 4/27, at 3:30 p.m.Duluth Seventh-day Adventist Church3210 Decker Road (just above Piedmont)The topic is Birth Stories.
The mission of ICAN (the International Cesarean Awareness Network) is to improve maternal-child health by reducing unnecessary cesareans through education, providing support for cesarean recovery, and promoting VBAC.

My question is this, why is there a group against or at least seems to be against c-sections? My wife had a c-section with our daughter. It was not by chose, but she was not progressing and had very high blood pressure. The c-section however went well and as far as I know she had not problems with it. So anyway just a question does anyone have a response?

I was going to ask at perfect day but every time I clicked the comment button I got this page in stead http://templates.doteasy.com/ErrorPages/error404/.

Why the attack on rental property?

There has always been a discussion about rental property's in Duluth. The discussion over the last few years however has been more an attack instead of a discussion of ideas. The attack many times has come about in the wrong way I feel as well.

By the way I have lived in the district mostly affected most of my live. I have seen areas of town go from family's to rentals and I have seen many positives and negatives with the changes. As some one who grew up living in the East Hillside and then moving to the Central Hillside and back to the area I grew up I understand the events that have happened.

The discussion many years ago was how to integrate the students in to the city, now the discussion seems to be how do we get the students out of here. You hear every politician that runs for Mayor or council say we need to keep the students here, yet they don't practice what they say. When it comes to rentals and students that rent the property's.

Now the discussion has changed to an attack on both rental property and students. Today the talk revolves around what can we do to make our areas less friendly to those tiring to make a living and those going to school. Not only that but those that are on fixed incomes and those looking to start a family.

Duluth has put a limit on how many rentals can be in an area one per every 300 feet. That is about one every block or so. The thing is it does not affect the exciting rentals. There for it is a worth-less ordinance and needs to be repealed. The council also wanted to a moratorium on rentals for one year in an area of town so they could discuss what to do about the problem.

The discussion is all negative about students, party's, noise ect.... the fact is with out collage students Duluth would be in worse shape then we are. I will give you there are bad students however there are bad adults, kids and family's. I have seen more issues with families then I have students. We have focused on the student accept way to long, we need to move passed it. We need to look for real ways to solve this issue. Passing the buck is not the way to do it.

Fact is we all use rentals, Students, single mom's or dad's, seniors, middle-aged. It does not matter.

I will post some ideas I have on how to work on this issue soon. In the mean time if you want to offer your thoughts on the rental property issue go for it.

So much going on so little time.

Please keep checking back to the blog. Right now there is a lot on my mind and there is so much happening in Duluth and surrounding areas. There just is not enough time to post.

Just a reminder that there will always be at least two post per week. More when I can also I hope with the addition of Garbon and Mommy one that will help as well. I think we average more then two post a week more offend then not.

Wind Power Renewable Energy in Minnesota and Michigan

"They stand like giant white pinwheels on the horizon, 32 of them towering 40 stories over the flat farmland", wrote Mark Hornbeck / Detroit News Lansing Bureau. John Deere Wind Energy invested $100 million in The Harvest Wind Farm located 10 miles from Saginaw Bay in Michigan. This "Farm" has the ability to generate 52.8 megawatts of electricity when the wind is blowing. The energy generated will be used to power 15,000 homes. Gov. Granholm promises to provide 10 percent of the states power by renewable sources over the next 7 years. It is estimated that the state will increase wind powered electricity by 2,150 megawatts over the next 7 years. The power will be provided by 1,300 wind mills. This is the equivalent of 3 coal burning power plants.

Similar to Michigan, the State of Minnesota has prime land space for wind power. The North Shore of Lake Superior is mostly uninhabited. As everyone is aware, Duluth is built on a hill. In fact most of the North Shore is high, steep, rocky hills. There is already a large concentration of television, radio, and other communication towers in Duluth. Why not add a few windmills? If people are concerned about the look of a windmill, why not build them along the north shore? Winds coming off the lake are clean and stronger than winds inland.

According to Skip Pruss, Michigan Renewable Energy Advisor, there is a great potential for Windmills to be build offshore, in the waters of the Great Lakes. Funny enough, officials don't want to put windmills in Lake Michigan because of "tourism" but favor Lake Superior instead. Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Ontario all share Lake Superior. Boating along the northern shore of Lake Superior is very limited. This is an opportunity for Minnesota, especially Duluth. Duluth has been one of the Great Lakes Primary windmill importers and exporters (yes, we still do manufacturing in America).

I advocate for Nuclear power along with cleaner coal burning plans. Coal burning plants take up less space than wind farms, provide more dependable service (you never know when the wind will blow, how strong it will blow, or how long), and the US has tons and tons and tons of coal! However, it is smart to diversify. Along with that people are pushing "green". Why not embrace it?

Republicans worse then Democrates?

A blog that I like to read had a post up yesterday were the blog host complained that the republicans are the of doom and gloom and they are the driving the country down the toilet. The blog is one of my daily reads http://centrisity.blogspot.com/.

Now Flash's blog is called centrisity and he claims to a centrists however he is far from it all you have to do is read his blog and you will get a read that his blog represents the far left. He uses there talking point.

Flash the fact is I would bet that I am more in the center they you are. I would love the opportunity to sit down and chat with Flash some day. I grew up a democrat I saw there error of there ways when I was in Jr. High School and started to change party's. Well in high school I voted for both Democrats and Republicans. I have always voted for the person over the party. In recent years however I have not voted for any Democrats on a national level.

What Flash said on his blog will be in " " and in red writing.

"Now, the Republicans are going to on one hand, campaign on more of the same, but the other, whine that Bush isn't running again and all the Dems are doing is running against someone who isn't on the ballot."

Fact of the matter is if you listen to Obama and even Clinton. all they talk about is President Bush. You and many of your friends will say that is nothing but the same. The only different is the name. That is far from True.

John McCain unlike president Bush appeals to many. People on both sides of the aisle and most importianly he appeals to the truly in depend voters. A lot of President Bush's support came from the right. McCain's will come from all over. A majority of it is going to be republicans yes. After all that is the party he is running under, he will however take a large chunk of those that are in the middle. These voters will be Democrats and Republicans that I believe represent the majority of Americans the centrist.

McCain will not represent every thing the republicans want in a candidate. He does not even represent all of what I want but he was my first chose all a long. There are many things that McCain has supported that I don't. We have all heard most of them I don't need to list them. These are also things that most of the republicans did not support and President Bush did not or would not have had he been in office at the time. NO McCain is not President Bush, No he does not represent the far right or any special interest group. This is why many like him, even thoughts that are part of the far right.

By the way I hate the use of the far right and left but that is the terms damned and used most offend. Many times a person get labeled and it is a wrong label but you can't shake it. The fact is we need to start looking at all candidates as an indavigrial and for there own stands on things. Then make up our mind on who we are going to support. I have supported the idea of getting rid of party's all together. I don't like our current system of politics and getting rid of party's would make a huge stride in improving our country.

" Following 8 years of peace and prosperity we now face war and economic tumult."

President Clinton wanted to spend 7 Billion dollars on a "star wars" defence program. Why instead of going to war in Iraq he chose to try to fund a failed defence system. Yet he knew Iraq was a threat not only to us but the world. We are a safer country and world with our Saddam. We will also be safer once things get settled in Iraq. We had every right to go to war with Iraq. Republicans are not war mongers we are realist. When every thing else fails there comes a time military action needs to be taken. Am I a huge fan of this or any war no. Any way I got a bit off topic will get back on here.

President Clinton lead us into wars as well. We have no fewer allies now then we did 8 years ago. The fact is every one wants us to be there defender yet when we take action our own country can't back the troops. The fact is troops feel let down by many U. S. citizens.

The country when lead by Clinton was in horrible economic shape. The stock market struggled. I am better off financial with President Bush then I ever was with Clinton. The tax and spend democrat took your money at least a few republicans and President Bush want to help with tax breaks and refunds. We should get refunds every year there is not reason for the money this country spends. Both the democrats and republicans are at fault for that.

That is it for now but I might have more later. You can read Flash's post here http://centrisity.blogspot.com/. The title of the post I am referring to is this,Going Down Down Down .

Don't we pay taxes?

It seems like the City of Duluth and it's leaders at least some of them want us to pay more for our roads. One councilor is bringing up when the assessment comes to those that live on the street being fixed, they should pay more then the 25%.

Councilor Stauber said he believes that when assessed citizens should pay more then 25%. He said that some city's don't pay anything and citizens pay it all. This is a hard argument for me to follow as a citizen of Duluth. We pay so much in taxes now and get little for what we pay.

The police are underfunded and we don't have enough cops to police our streets. As crime increases. Our streets are falling apart before our eyes. Main of our streets are worse then wagon trails were. Our infrastructure is one of the oldest in the country.

We pay city taxes for what reason?

check back tonight.

Lots going on. I will be posting tonight and maybe some this afternoon. Tonight however is blog night here. Check us out later.

Combative city.

The Duluth City Council voted to uphold the city's decision to fight a local business over it's air space last night. The vote was 7-1 with councilor Jim Stauber being the only no vote.

The city and the councilors believe that we should go to court over air space that was part of the Voyaguer motel. The city used eminent domain over a parking lot that was owned by the motel. It is now were the parking ramp sites for the SMDC 1st street building.

A court told the city they had to pay 545,600 to the owners of the voyageur motel. This let to a discussion in the city and in that lead to the vote last night. The council apparently agrees with the city officials that is should fight this ruling. The city did make an offer to the owners of just over 100,000 for the space at one time. They declined that offer as they did not feel it to be adequate to the space they would be giving up.

I tend to agree with the owners of the motel and I don't believe the city should fight the decision of the court. Yes we are in hard times but we can't allow our city to be combative to business's that want to operate here.

Our city is already known for it's hard stands against business, it at least has that perception. I think you can argue both ways on this. Yet when we chose to fight common sense decision the
city is at fault. It is clear that just over 100,000 would not be a fair compensation to the owners of the motel. They lost space with would case lose of business. The city needs to very careful when they move on projects. Yes many projects are good, however you need to look at what effects it will have on other business's that have been there for many years.

I also don't see any plus in the city fighting the ruling. It only gives a bigger black eye to the city.

Politically correct move.

Last night Duluth City Councilor Todd Fedora made the right move. He removed his resolution asking that Henry Banks be removed from the planning commission. At least politically it was the right move. It would have been interesting to hear the debate about the issue. As I said before however I am not sure if the council should be removing or taking the act to do so.

I believe that councilor Fedora like many are upset and don't understand why Henry Banks said what he said about councilor Krause and him self. I also believe like many others that councilor Fedora believes that this should be more then just a slap on the wrist to Mr. Banks. I also agree with that.

However the council taking action to remove him from the planning commission would have been a slipper slope and I think he realized. I know that some think councilor Fedora should put this behind him. How do you do that when you are accused of something you are not. You have your own kids asking you questions about it.

Should the city council remove city commisners and boards.

This issue is coming about because the comments of one of the planning commissioners. Henry Banks made some comments after a council agenda meeting. Two councilors had basic questions and then Mr. Banks wrote an email to them both saying that the were racist. He also made some other comments.

Now in general I don't believe that the city council should be voting on removing board members from there positions. The board and commission post are appointed by the Mayor and then approved by the city council. In most cases there is no problem with an appointment.

Now as I said in most cases I think the council should restrain from voting on removing board and commission members. I don't think it sets a good standard because like in many cases I think your are opening the door for many questions to your self. I am not saying this would happen but it could. A councilor could have an issues with a board of commission member and they could ask to remove this person from the board.

This case however is different the issue at hand has to deal directly with two city councilors. It also could have long standing effects on the council members. I think that was the point by Mr. Banks. This case also could have an effect on the entire city council and board and commissioner members. You would hope that people would allow time to cool off before opening up an issue that could cause a problem for the city on more then one level.

At this point I am 50/50 on if the council should vote on this or not.

New poll and post

There is a new poll up . Should the council vote on removing Henry Banks from his board? I know this week post were few but I will have some up soon. I try to post at least twice a week more if I can.

A bit more about the NIV and what the shipping industry is doing. Will it help?

This comes from the Superior Daily Telegram.



I found it interesting the story does not go into great detail but has some information about keeping the virus that Garbon brought up. This issue interest me and it should interest everyone that has a connection to the Great Lakes. This has huge inpact on our lakes and our shipping industry. What can be done. We need to learn as much as we can about this issue and try to solve it. Here is the link that Garbon gave us, http://duluthpolitics.blogspot.com/2008/04/novirhabdovirus-latest-on-invasive.html.

Is this a possible solution or at least will it help? Any thoughts on this issue?


Great Lakes shippers take steps to halt deadly fish virus spread


The Daily TelegramPublished Tuesday, April 08, 2008
DETROIT (AP) — Great Lakes shippers say they’re taking steps to keep a deadly fish virus from spreading into Lake Superior through ballast water.
The Lake Carriers’ Association said Monday the measures will reduce the threat of viral hemorrhagic septicemia entering the lake or spreading there. The virus has been found in the other Great Lakes and in some inland lakes.




The group says freighters will try to take on ballast water in deep water away from shore and will re-circulate ballast water in their tanks to chop up any fish it may contain.
Wisconsin state fisheries official Mike Staggs says the measures could help but says ballast water still could contribute to the spread of disease and exotic species.

Leatherheads movie a disappointment!!!!!

This is from http://www.yahoo.com/ your thoughts? Did you see the move what did you think of it. I have not seen it yet.

Clooney football comedy drops ball at box officeSunday April 6 3:16 PM ET
George Clooney suffered a bruising tackle at the North American box office on Sunday as his new football comedy "Leatherheads" failed to kick the gambling drama "21" from the top spot.
"Leatherheads" took to the field in second place with estimated ticket sales of $13.5 million for the three days beginning Friday, said its distributor, Universal Pictures.
"21" logged a second weekend at No. 1 with three-day sales of $15.1 million, enjoying a stronger-than-expected hold, said Columbia Pictures.

She said the pre-release tracking looked strong in the film's target demographic of older movie-goers, a group that does not rush out to theaters on opening weekend. More than half of the audience was aged 40 and older, the studio said.
RISKY BET


Clooney, 46, directed and starred in "Leatherheads," a $58 million farce set in the early days of American professional football. He claims he also rewrote much of Duncan Brantley and Rick Reilly's script, which had been languishing for 17 years, introducing its screwball tone. But his request for credit was denied by the Writers Guild of America and he resigned from the union as a voting member in protest.


Critics have savaged the film, particularly the script. According to Rotten Tomatoes (http://www.rottentomatoes.com), a Web site that aggregates reviews, only 36 percent of top critics liked the film.
Despite his fame and fortune, Clooney is a risky box office bet. He was last in theaters with "Michael Clayton," which earned $10.4 million during its first weekend of wide release in October. The acclaimed legal thriller finished with a disappointing $49 million but did pick up seven Oscar nominations. Other films, such as "The Good German," "Intolerable Cruelty" and "Solaris," also stumbled badly.


Clooney's biggest success was with the 2001 caper "Ocean's Eleven" and its two sequels, in which he co-starred with heavyweights like Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and Julia Roberts.
"Leatherheads" marks his first mainstream film as a director. His previous efforts were 2002's "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" and 2005's "Good Night, and Good Luck," which found favor with critics and discerning audiences.
His publicist did not return a message seeking comment.


After 10 days, "21" has earned $46.5 million, and should end up in the $70 million range, said Columbia, a unit of Sony Corp. It cost about $35 million to make.
"Nim's Island," released by News Corp's 20th Century Fox, met the studio's expectations. The $37 million movie, based on Wendy Orr's 2002 novel, stars Abigail Breslin as a girl who lives on a remote volcanic paradise.


Also new, at No. 5, was the horror film "The Ruins" with $7.8 million. It was produced by DreamWorks Pictures and released by Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom Inc.
Martin Scorsese's much-hyped Rolling Stones concert film "Shine a Light" enjoyed a solid opening in limited release, pulling in $1.5 million from 276 theaters. The movie, drawn from two New York theater shows in 2006, was released by Viacom's Paramount Classics.
(Reporting by Dean Goodman; editing by Bill Trott)

Red plan or not?

I recieved this email from Harry Weltywho blogges here http://www.lincolndemocrat.com//.

If you don't agree with the red plan I would strongly urge you to email the people in this post. There are local State Representatives. You can also call and write them as well. Now is the time to take action. Here is the email. Also check out the let Duluth vote web page. There link is in the email as well.


Our chance of voting on the Red Plan is better than ever . . . if you help!
Let Duluth Vote's petition will be sidetracked to the Minnesota Attorney General for a few weeks so the School Board can ignore it a little while longer. But they can't ignore Mike Jaros' bill, HR 4127, which will force a vote on the Red Plan that counts!
Three local legislators must be contacted to co-sponsor Mike's bill. Call them. Write them. Email them. You have about two weeks. And copy the URL for this page ( http://www.letduluthvote.com/ ) and email it to all your friends. Tell them to do what this page says to do.


Tell these legislators that you want to vote on the Red Plan and tell them why.
Senator Thomas M. Bakk (DFL) District 06 email 75 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.Capitol Building, Room 226St. Paul, MN 55155-1606Capitol office 651.296.8881 (Home 218-666-5041)
Thomas Huntley (DFL) 07A email* 585 State Office Building100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.Saint Paul, Minnesota 55155(651) 296-2228 (Home 724-6568)E-mail: rep.thomas.huntley@house.mn


Senator Yvonne Prettner Solon DFL District 07 email75 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Room G-9St. Paul, MN 55155-1606Telephone: 651.296.4188 (Home 727-3997)contact Prettner's assistant. Legislative AssistantMarnie Burau Keslermarnie.burau@senate.mn(651) 296-4188


And consider thanking Mary Murphy for joining Mike Jaros: (Mike doesn't need our email)
Mary Murphy (DFL) 06B email* 343 State Office Building100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.Saint Paul, Minnesota 55155(651) 296-2676 (800) 890-5428 (Home 729-6399)
Also: Be sure to bring all your friends to speak or back up speakers at the next School Board meeting in Old Central at 6:30 PM on Tuesday, April 15th.
Enter here for more information about Let Duluth Vote and the Red Plan
You can find this page at: http://www.letduluthvote.com/

This story stinks.

This is a story from the Duluth News Tribune, http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/articles/index.cfm?id=63888&section=homepage. It deals with how this administrations wants to start to fix the sewer system.

I will have more on this later in fact it maybe a few days. I am going to do some research on this. I command the Mayor for looking at oppositions but I think there are more then just this one. It is very costly to both a home owner in the city and to the city it's self.

I hope that the city comes to realize that people will move out of the city if they need to. This just adds more cost to living in Duluth and to business's as well. We need to take a good look at what our chooses are.

Bonding Bill

I sent an email to Governor Tim Pawlenty yesterday. I asked him to veto the entire bill. Some thing he should use the line item veto. I could see that but I don't believe that will send as strong of a message to the DFL.

I am as big of a supporter as anyone to get the DECC expansion. I however am not willing to compromise values to get it. Please understand that even if the Governor did veto the entire bill we could still get the DECC expansion this year. It would be a longer process but still very possible.

The DFL tents to think that they can just disregard any warning by the Governor. He has urged them to keep it with in a specific amount yet again those chose to not do so. The bonding bill affects every Minnesota. Yes well projects maybe put at jeopardy by a veto we must understand that it needs to be done. We need responsible spending and the DFL in this case is not willing to a bit by this. In a time were Minnesota and the Country are heading toward a possible recession it is time we demand our government protect us.

I believe that a complete veto sends a much stronger message then line item veto does. I also believe it gives him the power he needs to hold there feet to the fire. Trust me when I say I believe this a lot of Minnesotans feel. Governor Pawlenty protected us last bonding season and I hope he will do it again. Now is the time to control our money.

This is what my email focused on. It went more in depth. As of now I only got the thank you for contacting our office message. Will keep you updated if I get anything back.

Lake Superior low

A report just came out that Lake Superior dropped in March. The water level dropped a full inch in March. This is not a typical drop for the month of March, it is normally does drop in March however it only drop 1/2 inch or so. The dry weather (lack of snow) sense December is the problem. Well we had the cold this we failed in the snow category.

If the lake levels keep dropping what will this do to shipping industry? Duluth and many ports re lie on there shipping season.

New look again.

I know that I just changed the look of the blog at the beginning of the year, however some one asked that I change it. They said it was hard to follow with the lay out of it. I hope this is better for some people let me know.

Superior City Council

Yesterday was election day in Superior. Our friends across the bridge had there chance to vote on City Councilor's and that they did. There was only about 20% voter turn out, however in council races were there were challengers the voting was heavy.

The city of Superior will see a new look council much like Duluth has. As you remember in our last election we elected five new councilors. Superior last night elected four new councilors only one incumbent that had a challenger was able to hold on to there seat.

The fresh start for the City of Superior will start soon. I hope that they elected people that will bring positive change to there city. I hope it is not just a promise like I believe some of our city councilors did. They promised change and I am not sure will get that. Yes it is still early to tell but it is a gut feeling I have.

Sky dome to close it's doors for good.

The next time that the Golf Sky Dome is deflated will be the last time. The sky dome is set to close it's doors April 18th's. This is not a late April fools joke either. The golf sky dome opened in 1998. There is already plans to replace the dome with six sand volleyball courts.

David Kolquist who owner the dome sited two reason's for the closer. The raise in cost of heating the dome and differences with city officials not allowing the dome to stay up year round. Mr. Kolquist is now looking for a buy of a ten year old dome. If you know of anyone I am sure he would like to hear from you.

I feel for Mr. Kolquist the man has been forced to take down a dome that has fast became a staple to the Hermantown and Duluth area. Many golfers used it to keep up on there game during our winter's.

I understand that the issue's with the city of Hermantown was a lesser issue then heating the place was. However as many know Duluth has many problems in dealing with officials and I think business's in Northern Minnesota face many challenges to succeed. Having to have justify your self every turn of the way to a city is not good policy. I understand that government needs to have some rules and regulations in place. My question however is who knows how to run your business better? You or the government, I think most people will say the person running the business does.

The city sited that fire codes stood in the way of leaving the dome up year round. Here is a question if there were supposed fire code issues would they not be in effect the three or four month that the dome stands? I wonder how much of this is the city thinks that dome is an eye sore. I would not buy that argument either.

I am going to try to get in touch with both Mr. Kolquist and some Hermantown officials and see if there would be willing to comment on this issue. In the mean time your thoughts welcome.

Novirhabdovirus - Latest on Invasive Species

Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia (VHS). Also know as “Egtved virus” in Europe.

By now everyone has knows about Zebra Mussels. We all know that theses are bad. They have cost many businesses a small (or rather large) chunk of change and headache. They clog pipes, wash up on the beach, and forms large clusters on just about anything.

Maybe some of you remember the Sea Lamprey. This pesky little creature attaches itself to the side of a fish and eats away until the fish dies or it gets full. Many times the fish eventually dies from its wound.

There has been the Asian Carp and a whole slew of other invasive species. The latest, and greatest, Non-indigenous species (NIS) to hit the scene is the Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia (VHS).

This little devil doesn't affect the Great Lakes like Zebra Mussels do. It is a new type of NIS. It causes a viral infection in fish. Currently, there are 50 fish identified that are susceptible to this infection. The problem is "our fish" on the Great Lakes do not have immunity to this virus. Only time will tell what toll this virus will take on the Great Lakes.

So you ask your self, well what does this have to do with Duluth Politics?

Recently Michigan passed legislation regarding ballast water procedures for ships sailing in Michigan waters. Minnesota has followed up with talks of their own legislation. More to follow...

Until then, look for signs of VHS in your local paper. It's inching it’s way it's way across the Great Lakes.

Poll question.

I have a poll question up on my bowling blog, www.teamrathebowling.blogspot.com. If you want to vote go there and check it out.

The question is who would win a bowling match you have four people to chose from. You have to go there and see who they are. I also have some thoughts on a couple of bowling events that went on just a few days ago.

This was a weird cloud or something.

If you did not see this head over to Perfect Day Duluth blog and look at the two shots they have up,http://www.perfectduluthday.com/. I saw the circle as just a plain circle at one time in the sky and thought it was a bit odd. I did not see the second pic some one got and then posted on PDD.

I did however notice this circle changed many times. It was one very odd occurrence. Do you have any thoughts on this? Please lets be realistic here.

What is good for one project is not good for another according to one blogger.

I find it funny that John over at the cheerleader blog http://shiningreputation.com/blog/ has an issue with one project but not another. Yet when you think of it the second issue should come to question before the one he talks about.

The cheerleaders issue is with the Heritage Center. Here is the link to his posthttp://shiningreputation.com/blog/?p=41.

Well my question runs with yet another project that apprenly take it's sweet old time. My question is about an arts and music center, http://www.armorycenter.org/. I don't remeber when this project started but by looking at there recoeds it was 2002. I however thing it was even before that. The Duluth Armory sits there well nothing is going on. Unlike the Duluth Heritage Center were ground breaking and construction have started.

The other issue I have with the Armory center is that you have heard nothing about it for a number of years. Yes they have the web site but other then that nothing at all. The first couple of years they were out in the public and taking donations and being vocal. Now it is like the project is dead.

If that is the case we should move on take back control of the property and do something with the property. In stead the building sits there collapsing more and more. When and if the group does come back to the City they will ask for huge amounts of money just to get the building ready to renovate.