Not much going on.

There has not been a lot going on around here lately. I do have a few post I will post here soon.

We are watching update.

I have not posted any thoughts yet as I am still gathering some very interesting thoughts from people. About the report.

It did however come out as I thought it would. I would say this right away I disagree with we are watching. It proves that they are not watching out for the whole community they are in it for political reasons.

Check back soon for more. I also have had little time to post this week but will try to do some this weekend even with a very busy weekend. We will see what I can do.

We are watching group.

The "watch dog group" for the county is holding a press conference tomorrow. It is to report on the county and what they group is working for.

I can guess what there report will say but I will wait for tomorrow. I will not be able to be at the press conference however I will have a report up later tomorrow. I maybe able to send some one in my place.

Duluth Mayor?

Well we just elected a new mayor. By the way I think he is doing a good job to this point. I believe he is doing what many mayors before him should have done. Now I don't agree with everything but you can't.

With that said I have already heard rumblings of people possible setting up to run against Mayor Don Ness in 2012. Now these are names I have heard many I don't think will run but have been brought up in conversations.

1. Council Jim Stauber Chane of running 5%

I don't think Mr. Stauber will run. I am not even sure he will run for re-election to the city council when his term comes to an end in 2010.

Stauber has got a lot of his "supporters" upset with many of his votes. I am not one that has been upset with him. Now again I don't always agree with how he votes but I respect his vote. It comes with a lot of fact checking.

2. Councilor Cuneo Chance of running 25%

Well I think Tony would and will run for Mayor some day I don't believe it will be in 2012. He will have just completed his first term on the council, I think he will be viewed as not having enough experience.

Lets be honest this is why the current Mayor did not run for Mayor the time before this. He did not want to have that as an argument against him.

I think councilor Cuneo would be an interesting candidate and one that I believe would work hard for Duluth. I just don't think that this time would be a good time for him to run.

3. Russ Stewart chance of running 3%

A former council of the 3rd district, he chose not to run this last election. Stewart would be the only one as of right that I would vote for other then the current mayor.

Stewart would be an great chose should he run. I however don't know if he would want to do so. If he did run he would be one that would gather support from all people regardless of party affiliations.

Stewart would stand up for the people of Duluth in the Mayor's office.

I have put what right now I believe these people may want to run next to there names. I will change these as I see to. I have heard of other names and will cover them later.

What have your heard and what is the chance of that person running?

City closed.

Well not really but kind of. The city Duluth will in a sense be shut down on Monday the 17th. It is the day of four the city is doing this.

City Hall, Comfort Systems (water and gas), Library will all be shut down for the day. This is an effort to save money and help with our city's finical problem. Well I thing it is sad that the city has come to doing this it is a must. All employee's are not payed on these days off.

The Duluth News Tribune is reporting that Duluth Police and Fire service will still be in operation at full force on the dates the city is closed. Well that is good. Pretty hard to shut down emergency service is it not?

Council filing started today.

Those interesting in filing for Roger Reinerts council seat could start to do so today. I know of a few that did already pick up there application well others have not as of yet. You have to the first of December to pick up an application and return it to the clerks office.

Anybody put Palin in 2012.

Some people have tried to link me to being a huge Palin supported I am not nor was I ever. Yes I defended her when I felt the need to but I have always said that John McCain could have and should have made a better VP pick.

I am going for almost anyone other then Palin in 2012.

Who will get Reinert's seat?

As many of you know Roger Reinert will be replacing Mike Jaros for the state 7b seat. Jaros did not run for re-election. This will leave his seat open on the council.

You may also know that I have said I will file and I will very soon. Now understand that there will be a lot of people filing for this seat. I am excited about this opportunity well I think it will be very hard for me to receive the appointment I look forward to the next few weeks.

Some say I have no chance well that may or may not be true. We will find out in the end. Many are seem to basing this on what they think they know about me. I many times wish people would talk to me before they toss a label on me or anyone for that fact.

Anyway stay here for updates.

sports page.

new post on sports page. Check it out by clicking on the page link on the right side of the page.

The debate on roads is now open.

This was interesting to me. The chamber things that the city should not be in the business of roads, http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/77839/.

Now I agree with part on both sides of this, however right now I have to say I disagree with the chamber. Providing good roads to me is one thing the city should do. Now we are failing miserably at it right now.

This will open the debate once again not only about roads but should the city provide and not provide. Here is in part why I am a bit weary to agree with the chamber if we get out of roads what will be asked to provide? My thought is if we get out of this then why should the city provide anything?

There are also a number of things we need to look into here. Are there any other cities doing this? How many and what is the cost saving? If the city gets out of roads what do they replace it with? There are also a number of others. I will be doing some research on this issue.

Right now I don't agree with the chamber.

New post on.

New post on DP interview and column page. To view it just click the link to the left.

Election over part 1.

I am going to take a break from blogging for a couple of days. It will allow me to unwind a bit. Will return on Friday.

Election over.

I have to say I was very impressed with Obama's speech last night. Now is the time to work together and try to meant the fences.

Who ever was to win last night has a lot to deal with. The econimy is amoung the top issue. Also the war remains on people minds there is much more to deal with as well.

I hope that Obama does try to bring this country together and he will not bring it to the far left. I hate either ultra side of the party's. The far left and far right are both very scary to me.

The Democrats had a good night picking up a lot of house seat along with some senate seats however they did not reach there magic number of 60. They wanted to reach 60 so they could stop fillibusters.

The other thing that I hope president-elect Obama realizes is this he is the president of the U.S.A. not the world. I hope he does not try to be the police for the world. I hope he uses strong action when needed but does not over do it. This counts for military and other action.

Well I was hoping for a McCain win last night I am very hopeful this country can move in the right direction.

Local race went as I thought they would. The Dems retain all there State seats up here with ease. Peg Sweeny won her county board seat back again. I thought that race would have been closer then it was. I am not sure that Sam Haddad would have been any better then Sweeney. The things I learned about him during the election were that he would be about the same as Sweeney. Chris Dahlberg beat 32 year incumbent Bill Kron. Well it seemed that would be the case from almost the beginning. With Dahlberg's strong support in the primary.

My thoughts.

My thoughts on the election as they unfold can be found here. Your as well check back and take part in the conversation.

I was number 889.

I just voted shortly after 3 p.m. and I was number 889 to vote. This is a bit higher then normal but not a lot. I wonder what number you were and if it is higher or lower or about the same?

My wife was voter number 215 and this was at 8 am this was very high when the polls have only been open hour at the time.

I would expect voting to be very heavy again in about an hour or so. I would guess when it is all said and done voting will be much higher then normal.

Sheriff endorsment.

After a busy day of work I am able to blog about the St. Louis County sheriff's endorsement. Ross Litman who has been Sheriff for about six years did his endorsement's at this late hour of the campaign. With just days left to election day Litman endorsed two long time board memebers. Bill Kron and Peg Sweeney.


As I was on my way to attend the news conference I thought this was a bit odd. I thought this for a couple of reasons. I can never remember an endorsement coming this late from the office. The endorsement never gets play ahead of time. It did this time by print and radio. Well these two things are very very odd for this endorsement.

Well at the press conference a few more things got my eye. The body launge of Mr. Litman was well less then enthusiastic. The crowd behind the endorsed candidates.

More on this tomorrow.

4 days to go.

Well here we are just four days away from election day. For once I can't be happier that the election will be over. I am one that mostly hate to see the election come to an end. This year however the commercials are getting sick, the hype is just that.

Now I believe that we will see some change over all. I think the Democrats will pick up a number of seats in the senate. I am no longer sure that they will however they will win the president. If you asked me a few weeks ago I would have said it is over. Now I think it will be a few tight race.

Local races we will not see much change. Oberstar, Huntley (7A), Murphy (6B), Peg Sweeney (county board) will all be reelected. The only change I can see is a 32 year incumbent losing. Bill Kron is in a fight for his county board seat. I think the challenger will win. The challenger a former city councilor is working hard to win the seat. His hard work to get elected is not just to get elected. He wants to bring change to the board and he will work for the people that elect him.

The new alley.

So today the Duluth News Tribune ran a story about the alley of which Duluth Mayor Don Ness parents live. The story was and is of interest to me. It was in fact of such interest to me I was going to break it here but thought better or it.

I noticed the alley was repaved the day after it was done. I thought boy that was fast, at the time the Mayor Ness was not in office for very long. The fact that this was done almost right after he took office was a big odd to me.

I started to talk to people as I wanted to know there thoughts. As you would expect many were pleased but shocked at the same time. The an alley that has been in such poor shape for so many years would have all of a sudden been repaved. There was talk right away of a favor.

Is this fact of fiction the DNT story tries to lay that out, http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/76930/. Well it is hard for me to see that this was done because Don Ness is now our Mayor it is still possible. Then again anything is possible. What is the likely hood of this being a favor?

I am thinking little at this time but know that the DNT broke the story lets see what happens. The writer or the story was a bit uneasy to do it here is why, http://www.areavoices.com/buzz/. I agree at this point. Well residents may say different things in the end most come to the conclusion that I do. There was no favor. Should different facts come out we will wait and see.

More Predications.

Kron/ Dahlberg county board race:

Well the 32 year incumbent could be in trouble. Bill Kron has not seen a serious challenge for 20 plus years. It seems that many see Kron in trouble. Mr. Kron has been seen around town not looking the best and seeming down and out at times.

Well the challenger has been working hard, his hard work now is not just to get elected if Mr. Dahlberg does in fact win he will work hard on the board for the district. Mr. Dahlberg has worked hard in everything he does.

Dahlberg seems to be out working and fundraising the 32 year incumbent this should be an interesting race. Well many feel this will be a close race I am not so sure it will be.

Predication:

Chris Dahlberg ( you may seen numbers like councilor Fooslie had over Stover in the last council election.)

Huntley/ Stauber

Tom Huntley the state Representative for 7A will win with ease. Huntley has not been doing much that is because he does not have to at this point.

The young Stauber is to be commend on his run. Ryan Stauber the son of city councilor Jim Stauber has ran an out standing race yet it will not be enough. Mr. Stauber just does not have the experience or he money to compete for this office at this point.

Predication:

Tom Huntley

Levy not to include the long range plan.

Well there were a number of people at the school board meeting last night. I was one of them. I was one of two that spoke against supporting the levy. Well the YES YES YES group has a good showing of about 30 people and 20 or so speakers.

Well the board passed a vote last night saying that they would only use the levy for it's intent and not use on the red plan I don't buy it. They can try to sell the public that this levy has nothing to do with the long range plan yet that is a false statement.

Well the Yes Yes Yes group talked about the students being the future of Duluth they fail to understand the tax burden.

I talked about the levy and not the red plan. As many of the yes group advocates attacked member Glass and his views on the red plan.

Here is what I said.

Well the administration and many board members send up smoke and mirrors. The special interest groups will toss out threats on what we will lose if the levy does not pass. It is time that you work with in your budget it is not time to ask tax payers to pay more when we are in an economic down turn.

Notes

Sorry for not post as of late . I have been very busy, there needs to be more hours in a day.

Today I was off work a bit early so some friends and I went and complete a lit drop for a friend of mine running for office. Hard to believe I would have a friend running for office huh lol. It was a great time and a pretty nice day to be outside.

I was suppose to bowl tonight but the team did not need me so instead I am going to the school board meeting.

I have has some emails asking if I am going to talk more about our local races. The answer to that is yes. I hope to start either tonight or tomorrow however both days are busy so it may wait tell Thursday or Friday but keep checking back.

There has been a lot going on as of late but I have been unable to post about it. I might have to do a post called old news just so you know my thoughts on the issues.

An Angry Al Franken.

Last night at the debate you saw an very upset Al Franken at the end. Franken waited to the end of the debate to confront Senator Coleman. Franken got in the senators face as the mics were turned off. Then started to yell at Coleman.

Minnesota Democrats Exposed has video up. You can see Coleman tiring to settle Franken down plus then Frankens wife comes on and takes him off the stage. As I could not get down there fast enough to hear what Franken was upset about, I did have some one sitting much closer tell me what it may have been about. It seemed that Franken was mad at Coleman for telling people that he ( Franken )was for the war first. Also that Coleman tell lies about what Franken stood for. Yet the fact is what Coleman said yesterday was the truth.

Is it me or is Al Franken not sure what office he is running for?

So I just got home a short time ago from the debate at U.M.D. The debate was well attend I will post specifically about the debate soon.

Here however I want to talk about Al Franken and how odd it was to listen to him talk tonight. It almost seemed like he did not know what office he was running for. Talking more about President Bush then Norm Coleman. Franken talked about President Bush and the last 8 years more tonight then I have ever heard him talk about it. I have listened the prior two debates and seen him in many speeches and tonight you would think that Franken was running fro President.

Franken maybe should have thought of running against President Bush four years ago. I think the other two candidates were a bit shocked at the amount of focus on the Bush that Franken did tonight.

Franken also is the biggest chicken I have ever seen. Well both Coleman and Barkley stayed to talk with those that attended the debate Fraken went out the back door and took off.

The left is bitter and can't post a blog with out.......

Man the left is bitter and they can't even seem to post a blog with out swearing in it or at least leaving sign for a swear word. I don't understand why you can't get your point over with out being so bitter? Please explain to me.

http://yellowdoggrannie.blogspot.com/

There are many others as well.

The Dude

It seems as if the Dudes speech was very sort today. I did not attend the rally today at Gander Mountain. From what the paper said however the speech was only about three minutes long. He introduced Senator Norm Coleman.

Joe the Plumber talks.

Joe the plumber had a short interview out side of his home today. Here you can listen and watch what he say's http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/27215561#27215561.

Joe seems to be nothing more then an average American citizen tiring to make it. It is clear he has some very pointed comments and wants people to vote for who they believe is the right candidate.

Your thoughts please lets talk about it and see were it gets us.

Early Predications on the election.

As always this is not how I will vote but it is a predication. In fact on most of these I more then likely will not be voting for many of these people.

President:

At this point I have to give the edge to Obama ( God help us all.). I hope things will change but not sure they will. Well most polls have McCain down by 2-4% points one ultra liberal poll has Obama up by 14%. The race will be much closer then that.

I think McCain is in better shape then some think he is. Yet yes I do believe he is behind in the polls. I am one that does not think much of polls and believes the only poll that matters is the one in November.

The media has played a huge roll in this election and it has been very pro Obama. He has gained there support. Now as far as media I think one of two things. News outlets should either not be allowed to have a political leaning or they should have to say what it is up front.

Predication: As of now

Obama

U.S. Senate race:

I also am in in the believe that this race will be close. There was a time that Al Franken was way down and it did not look like he could rebound http://duluthpolitics.blogspot.com/2008/08/sinking-ship-that-is-al-franken.html. Now polls show the race to close to call with some polls having Coleman up and yet others have Franken up by just points either way.

Well Dean Barkley will and has played a roll in this election. Lets be clear he will not win. Barkley a former U.S Senator (appointed) not elected has run a strong campaign. Barkley seems to be taking more support away from Coleman then Franken.

"Negative" campaigning has also seemed to hurt Coleman more well both candidates are doing the same amount. I have said a few times that Coleman should focus on the issues and if he does so I think he would win http://duluthpolitics.blogspot.com/2008/09/coleman-and-franken.html.

Predication: As of now

To close to call, I think however Barkley will be in 20% range or so.

Minnesota voting highest ever.

Secretary of State Mark Ritchie is projecting the highest voter turn out in Minnesota ever. He is projecting a 90% turn out on election day. This would be up from four years ago were the Minnesota turn out was just over 70%.

This is thanks to ACORN http://acorn.org/ and like groups but you will not hear that out of Ritchie's mouth. After all it helps his political party so it is not cheating.

The Dude

The Dude is coming to Duluth. I can't believe I just said dude. I have not used that word sense I was about 7 years old.

Any way the self proclaimed first dude is coming to Duluth tomorrow. The husband of Sarah Palin will be here promoting the ticket of McCain/Palin. The event takes place tomorrow at 2p.m. this is also a Norm Coleman rally.

I am not sure if I will be able to make the event I will however be at the rally tomorrow night.

Lights on or off?

The Mayor has been asking for citizens and business owners to pay to keep street lights on in the city. The the fee is not huge it is another fee or tax that is not necessary. The fee is set to be $3.50 a month for business and just under that for house holds.

The council passed the administrations proposal last night by a narrow margin, the vote was 5-4 in favor of the proposal. I think the council and the Mayor forgot that Duluth already made headlines on the Jay Leno show for tax issues could it happen again?

This is why we pay taxes to keep lights on and keep roads up and have emergency services. We should not be asked or expected to pay a fee on top of taxes. Yet this Mayor and council saw fit that to do this.

I would rather walk a round with a flash light then have to pay this fee.

This is so wrong on so many accounts.

This video is wrong on so many accounts, watch it and let me know your thoughts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DIc8jdra0o

Great thoughts on the union and the Chester Bowl ski hill.

This is the papers view it was in yesterdays paper. This is great. www.duluthewstribune.com.

The union doesn't get itThe lifts were going to remain quiet this winter at Chester Bowl, a ski hill especially popular among children.


The lifts were going to remain quiet this winter at Chester Bowl, a ski hill especially popular among children. Massive layoffs and severe service cuts in the face of an even more massive and severe budget crisis for the city of Duluth claimed the job of the recreation specialist who coordinated ski-lift employees and volunteers, who oversaw snow making and who ran ski programs. He was let go as city officials reached out to the community for ways to pick up slack.
The grassroots Chester Bowl Improvement Club responded with cash from fundraisers and donations to hire the laid-off recreation specialist. Ski programs were back on.
A happy ending, right?


Not if you were the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 66. Union officials blustered because the club’s new employee will be doing basically the same work he had been doing for the city. Rather than hiring him, the union argued, the club should have pressured the city to maintain his position.
“He’s busting his own union,” AFSCME Chairwoman Deb Strohm said in yesterday’s News Tribune.


Only that wasn’t quite accurate. The former recreation specialist is no longer a member of any union. He’s just a guy trying to make a living to support his family.
And the city simply could no longer afford to keep him, not with economic realities dictating dramatic changes in the way business is conducted at City Hall. No amount of pressure from the Chester Bowl Improvement Club or anyone else could have changed that.
AFSCME did what its membership should expect: watch out for them and their jobs. But rather than bumping heads, the union and the city — and the rest of us, for that matter — are more likely to find solutions by putting our heads together.


Tags: our view, opinion

VP debate headflines.

Well as many of you know I was unable to watch the debate. I relied on my views who did a great job of letting me know what was going on thank you.

I also relied on the papers and other news outlets. Here is what the headlines said.

Duluth News Tribune: Biden, Palin both exceed expectations.

That did not seem to be very hard for either candidates. Well all Bidin just did not have to say anything stupid. Palin needed to seem well educated. She is but the fact is she comes from a small State and is not known much.

Star Tribune: A polite face-off

I don't yet know of this was try.


Channel 6 news: Was also reporting that the VP debate did disappoint those that wanted to see a "bad" debate.

Just a question?

Does the union ever stop whinning?

http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/content/type/article/id/74973/

Bowling tonight.

As many of you know I am a bowler. Tonight is one of my two bowling nights. This means I will miss tonight's VP debate.

I would like you to keep me updates here is some of what I would like to know.

1. What kind of question are being and do you think they are good and or relevant to the issues facing the U.S.

2. What kind of answers are being given by both candidates.

3. Who is best answering the questions?

4. Who won the debate?

5. Any other thoughts you may have.

Thanks for your help. Comments will not appear until I return home as I have approve them but still please leave comments.

300 foot rule or no that seems to be the question?

Sense the ordinance passed a few years ago it has been on the hot seat. The ordiance has been under attack for a long time. Well two councilors defeand it to no end others see it harmful. Yet the council has not been able to rid of the 300 foot rule. Is this a good thing or a bad? It depends on who you talk to.

Here is one that likes the 300 foot rule:


Dear City Counselors,
I am begging you to keep the 300 foot rule. My husband and I have lived and raised our family, for the past 33 years, on Garden Street.

It was always a good place to live, until rental housing began.
On Friday and Saturday evening, of this past weekend, we were awaken at 2 am with kids walking by, drunk and shouting. On Saturday they also were pulling up the parking signs up and down our street. I caught two of them in front of our home. I was not able to fall back to sleep until 5 am and had to get up at 6:30. I will tell you that this is not a isolated incident. We spend every Sunday picking up garbage from the weekend.

If you allow rentals to increase all you have to do is look at what has happened to 21st Avenue and Woodland Avenue. It's is embarrassing when you drive by. Houses are not maintained, garbage is laying around. It is beginning to look like the slums. Is this what you want people coming to our city to see? Please don't allow this to happen to our neighborhood.
Why should you repeal a rule so people can make money and the expense of those that are trying to continue to make this our home. Why should we have to sell our home to live in peace. It's absolutely not fair!!!

We have a home at 135 Garden Street and we would like to stay here.
Thank you for your effort in keeping our neighborhood a civilized family neighborhood.
Sincerely,Mike and Shirleen Hieb

source: Duluth News Tribune

Yet there have been many other thoughts in the paper against the 300 foot rule.

Here is an example from the Duluth News Tribune today:


For the past half-year, Pat Shelton lost $800 a month as one of his homes in the Chester Park neighborhood sat empty. The owner of Viking Properties said the economy has been so poor that until recently he had been unable to sell it. And, because of Duluth’s 300-foot-rule, which forbids new rental licenses within 300 feet of an existing one, he had been unable to rent it.
“That the city won’t let me generate income off of it is ludicrous,” he said. “I don’t understand the philosophy. I just don’t get it.”
Shelton and others have been lobbying the Duluth City Council to get rid of the controversial 300-foot-rule.

As a person who has lived in the East and Central Hillsides all my life this issue is of interest to me and many others. I will have more later but for now chew on this and get your thoughts flowing on what you think of the issue.

Mayor Ness at last weeks Obama rally.

Here is part of what Mayor Don Ness said at the Obama rally last Wednesday. Remember this was on city time in the middle of the day.

"This election must be a referendum on the failure of republican politics. Whether it's the reckless deregulation of the financial industry that requires a bailout of billions of dollars, hundreds of billions of dollars on the backs of working men and women, exploding budget and trade deficits that have weakened the American dollar, an energy policy written by oil lobbyists that has resulted in $4-a-gallon gas, or an unprovoked, pre-emptive war, they all undercut the integrity of the principles that make this country great. This election is about big ideas, it's about big direction that our country is headed, and it is time for a change. And it's the Obama-Biden ticket that represents that change. The only change that we've been hearing from the McCain ticket is him changing his positions on the very fundamentals that have created this financial mess that we're in today."

Now I wrote about this last week when it happened http://duluthpolitics.blogspot.com/2008/09/mayor-ness-represents-obama.html. I say the quote on Brandon Stahl's blog http://www.areavoices.com/buzz/. Brandon made an interesting assessment of the speech. He said it was a site of the Mayor we don't see much of. I would say head over to Brandon's blog and read it. Then form your own thoughts. Mine remain what I wrote last week.

sports page updated.

There is new post on the DP sports page. You can check it out at www.dpsportspage.blogspot.com.

Amoung the story's are the Twins and Soxs game to see who heads to the playoffs and who goes home. Jim Lelands lack of respect. Leland is the manger for the Detroit tiger. Plus more.

Doug Johnson supporting who?

Long time DFL ( now retired) Staete Senator from Tower is going to support and vote for an unlikely candidate. Johnson always votes for the DFL candidates. Johnson said the this is first time if 40 years ( ten years longer then I have been alive) that he is voting for a republican.

Well the star trib article http://www.startribune.com/politics/state/29866779.html?elr=KArks:DCiU1OiP:DiiUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUU , does not say why he is not supporting Franken it does say that he things Coleman is the candidate to work with both sides of the aisle.

Johnson said this is the only race he is voting for a republican. He will vote for the Democrats the rest of the ticket.


More he as wellhttp://www.virginiamn.com/articles/2008/09/28/news/doc48def75a38cfc857117666.txt . DP will have any updates on this story. More on this later tonight as well.


Johnson is a well respected Democrat in Northern Minnesota and the State as whole. This endorsement is huge for Coleman.

700 billion dolllar bailout rejected.

Today the house bailed out of bailing out the lending markets. As I don't know a lot about the bill today but what I found interesting is that the bill was opposed by mostly republicans. The one thing I do know is the bill did not have much help for home owners like it should.

What lies head who knows, both the democrats and republicans said they would continue working on a bill that would work for both sides.

Duluth News Tribune rate increase.

The Duluth News Tribune will go to 75 cents starting Monday well the Sunday paper will remain $1.50. The paper has been struggling with this decision for some time now. As papers around the country continue to lose hard copy advertiser's. Also many papers have an online service. Many chose to advertise that way.

There is not only a decline in advertising dollars but there has been for a number of years a decline in reader ship of the DNT and papers across the country. As people us the computer more and more to get there news. You can read the DNT online at http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/. Many people choice to do this and get there information from many other online sites. That range from papers, to magazines and political sites.

Monday UPDATE: Today there were a lot of people complaing about the increase. Even when I explained why they did not seem to care. I wounder how many calls the DNT got today?

Sunday: At church

Well as many do head off to church today they may or may not have a different type of sermon. As a group is calling for pastors and ministers to comment and criticize some candidates around the country. In this case the group that called a Duluth pastor was a conservative christian group.

The pastor in Duluth thankful declined to do so, I have no idea nor does it matter if this pastor is republican or democrat. I don't thing on the pulpit. I know that many churches hold a political view. That is fine but I don't think the pulpit is the right spot to make a statement.

I hope that many pastors refuse this type of sermon today or over the next few weeks. I am more then interested to know what others think. Again it should not matter if your church is one that believes along the lines of democrat or republican the Sunday service is not the spot to make a political statement. I believe like all other people do that pastors have every right have there views.

The winner is!!! Drum roll please.

No one!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I believe that no one won the first debate. Both Obama and McCain were bad. Neither one of them seemed fit to be president in that debate. Both talked over the top of each other like little kids. Both I thought were very unprofessional. I wish the moderator would have done a better job of interupting this action. We wonder why many don't vote.

Well much of this debate focused on the Iraq war (yawn). The fact is the Iraq war is a very little issue in this election. The American public in surveys say that the war falls low on the major issues facing this country. Many groups want it to be the focus but it just is not to most Americans.

Both candidates made there points on these issue however as far as I saw it there was no clear winner. It is much of what we heard all campaign. Obama continued his assault on the Military and getting out of Iraq with a set date. Well McCain does not believe in a set date to with draw.

Many pendants say McCains strong point is military issues. If you believe this then you may give Obama a very slide lead after this debate.

I agree with Lori Swanson

Today the Minnesota Attorney General send out a press release. The release was about the Minnesota Power hike increase. She thinks that the increase is far to much. I agree 100%.

Yes I agree with a democrat, this is not the first time either. It may not happen a lot but it sure does happen. Now here is why I agree. At this point in time the increase is far to much. The overall increase is 45 million dollars with 2/3 of it going to residents and small business. At this time when people are struggling to make ends meet is not the right time for this increase.

The other question I have is what is the increase for? Is to provide better service? Or is it to continue the laugh able research to develop other sources of energy. Fact of the matter is we know all we need to know about other sources of energy. We don't need to be spending money on research.

Also we must understand that it will many many many years before any other energy shores hit America we re lie on what we have now far to much. An increase now makes no sense for something we won't have for at least another 30 years, at that point I will be 60 years old.

McCain agrees to debate.

Though I agree with McCain suspending his campiagn the other day and possile postponing the debate tonight. I think he needs to be very careful. He can not suspend his campaign again.

If he does so it would be a bad thing and look like he is just playing politics. At this point I think the two times he has suspended his campaign have been for the right desions. I also feel if he does it again he will strike out in this campaign. For me that is not good thing.

John McCain suspends campaign

The republican candidate for president has suspends his campaign as of 5p.m tonight. He also asked Barack Obama to reschedule the debate that is to take place tomorrow night. Well Obama did not agree to do this.

McCain has asked to do this because of economy and what is going on he believes that we need to concentrate on the issue ahead of us. It seems that Obama is only out for him self and not this Country but that should not come a shock to anyone.

Mayor Ness represents Obama.

Duluth Mayor Don Ness attend a Barack Obama rally today. Now I know I have said this before but I have also been consistent on it.

Well at the event he was introduced as Duluth Mayor now I don't thing that Don Ness should be representing the city as a whole at these type of events. As not everyone in the city will be voting for Obama. I also don't think that the Governor should have been campaigning for McCain as Governor. When these politicians are introduced it should be by name only.

Now I understand that the reason they are asked to be part of the campaigns is because of there positions. Still I believe that they should not represent the whole city or State as being introduced as Mayor or Governor ect....

Budgeteer News Article: Ralph Doty

Ralph Doty wrote an article in the Budgeteer this last weekend. I have it up on interview page if you have not yet read it please do so. You can go here to do so, dpinterviewpage.blogspot.com.

If you have read it I want to know what you think of it? Leave your comments here.

I have a lot of them but right now will say this. I think he is wrong in the most part. Mr. Doty likes to go on the attack over politics.

Coleman and Franken.

I think it is time for Coleman to stop with the ads against Al Franken's jokes. Well I think it worked well in the beginning it seems to be costing him now. Franken has cut into the lead and almost made this a dead heat race. Something I thought would never happen.

I thought Coleman would walk away with this race hands down. I however now thing that the people are just sick of hearing about the bad jokes and the not paying taxes of done by Al Franken. Yes I believe that his jokes our rude and crude and I personally agree with the ads that Coleman has out but now is the time to talk about issues.

Right now it seems almost like the voters are sympathetic to Franken I am not sure why that is. Because at the beginning it worked well. It may be an over kill.

I think if Coleman can get back to the issues he will win hands down. Franken is hard pressed to have an idea of what do about anything. He is much like Obama voting present in major votes in the Chicago.

In a flash!!!!!

In the blink of an eye the stock market plummeted on Monday with news of a trouble in lending fields. Then over the last two day the Market jumped back up. Like a flash the market is back up from were it ended last week and we gained more then what we lost on Monday.

Yet some think the market is in a flat linehttp://centrisity.blogspot.com/. Fact i the market has done what it does in a normal sarcoma stance.

Talk radio changes.

Well if you have not noticed there have been changes in the local talk radio seen. KDAL radio has changed almost all there local talk. They got ride of Joe Souchery and replaced him with the awful Rhonda Grusendorf and a former City Councilor Russ Stwart. Well Stewart's show is just getting going I think it can be a good show. I think he needs to show a bit more emotion on the air and raise and lower his voice at the right times but it will come with experience. He has little radio experience. Rhonda is on 1-3 and Stewart is on 3-5 p.m.

Also on the KDAL is a brand new show that started today and I don't remember when I heard her on. Corrinda Horton is on I believe it was 11 A.M. or so. The KDAL web site does not have there right line up on there page, plus they still have all the old on air staff still on there page. There page has always been a joke.

WDSM is the Conservative talk station of the North now it seems. There line up all day and night is those that believe in the republican agenda. Which is fine by me you get some of both on both of these stations. WDSM has local talk as well with Lew Latto from 7-9 A.M. and Brad Bennette from 9-11 A.M.

Well this leaves many people to wonder if Joe Souchery and GL will be back on Duluth radio. As the show had a huge following in the norhtland. The rumor is it will be back on it's original home of WEBC with in the next few weeks. This is just a rumor at this point.

Minnesota a swing state again this year?

The last two presidential election Minnesota was in the news a lot. As we were viewed as a swing or battle ground state. Well the state both times went the way we all thought it would Democrat. However President Bush has respectable numbers in the state.

This year it looked different. It looks as if Minnesota would get little to no exposer except for the Republican convention. Even that was put on hold the first night because of hurricanes. The numbers looked like the Democrat candidate Barack Obama was going to win the state handily. Just a month ago Obama was up in Minnesota by 15% points and was polling away with the state.

Then all of a sudden yesterday the Star Tribes poll has the two in a dead heat at 45% each. This again making Minnesota a battle ground state of the final 50 days of the election. The Republican candidate John McCain has make a huge effort to cut into the lead of Obama in Minnesota and it is clearly working. McCain has picked up support over the last month in almost every voting category. Young people, , men, women vote totals are all up in the last month.

This means you will see a huge increase of advertising, grass roots efforts and even possible more visits to the fine state of Minnesota by the candidates and or there VP picks. The next 50 or so days will be very interesting for Minnesota. What will be more interesting is will Minnesota vote for a republican for the first time in many years. I believe the last republican presidential candidate that was a republican to win the state was Richard Nixon.

Union had there convention.

The AFL-CIO has said many times they don't think they are a political machine. If that is the case then why would have you a convention? This convention is set up just like the two major political party's conventions are set up. This years Minnesota convention was held right here in Duluth, http://www.mnaflcio.org/.

Now if you were not a political machine then again why have a convention? I guess that doing what you are suppose to do as union does not matter as long no one is watching.

I will have more later. I will also pass this information on to others.

Today after work.

Today's after work I am hoping to be able to blog a bit. I am hoping to blog both here and on the sports page of DP.

There is not a lot political going on right now of course as always the financial troubles the city is in is a topic. The primary is behind us and the candidates that won look a head to the general election.

In sports well there is a bit going on the vikes lose, as packers rout the lions. Much more as well.

Before I can blog however I will be bringing our little boy or 4 month into the urgent care he has had a cold for some time and we just want to make sure there is not something else.

Election results.

Well I thought that Roger Reinert would win the primary on Tuesday night I was surprised how handily he won the seat. I think what we are seeing is a vote against the union being so political. We started to see in the last general election with Becky Hall doing so well. Also others getting elected like Todd Fedora. Now with this vote the same thing.

Marsh Stenersen the union backed candidate only got about 36% of the vote well Reinert got about 56% of the vote. There were also two other candidate in the race that finished well off the pace getting about 2% of the vote each.

Stenersen may have also had the kiss of death backing of the incumbent Mike Jaros.. This may have been as equally a vote against Jaros and not wanting his type of leadership at the State level. Marsh came from the same mold as did Jaros. He also stands and believes to not work with the other side much like Jaros did.

Other races of interest pit Bill Kron the 3rd district county board member against Chris Dahlberg. The 32 year incumbent got barley 50% of the vote in the primary. Well a well known candidate in Chris Dahlberg who served on the city council from 1992 to 1995 received 42% of the vote.

I think this race will be very close. As Dahlberg is running a great campaign and Kron who served for 32 years has issues facing him.

Duluth Remembers 9/11

Today's event has been moved from out side at Bay front park to the Depot at the great hall. This is because of the rain.

The event futures Duluth Mayor Don Ness among others to remember the event 7years ago today.

Judge rules against the AFSCME

Today the city picked up a win in it's effort to try to balance the budget. As a result of the judgement by the St. Louis County judge it saves 40 jobs. It also makes the 21 full times jobs that were laid off yesterday permanent. At least at this point. The attorney's for the union have already said they will pro sue other angles in court.

Well I am pleased with the judges decision it still sadness me that some workers must lose there jobs. It is clear however that this is a big way to help solve the issue and set up long range planning to continue solving the budget issues facing the city.

We need to stop making sort term solutions that is in part why we are in this situation now. We must work on a long range plan and stick with it.

I know this is not real but it is funny and interesting. Check it out here http://www.inews3.com/topstory.php?id=48617272797c57656c7479.

I of course found it on Harry Welty's blog first, http://www.lincolndemocrat.com//

Law suit updates will be on this post.

1:33 breaking news: The Judge says he will have a decision with 24 hours. It looks like it could come even some time today. Both sides were in court this morning. The disagreement again is if lays happen it should be part timers first then full timers if needed. That is at least the unions point of view. Well the city says most of the part timers are being keep'ed because they are in jobs that are not full time spots.

4:03 If the word comes after 5pm tonight I will have it up when I get home. I will be leaving for a while. I hope we hear something in the next hour but don't know if we will.

Red plan

Tonight there will be a special school board meeting. The meeting will take place at old central the central administration building. The meeting will start at 6:30 tonight.

The special meeting is about the red plan. Member Glass wants the a public vote on the red plan. He said we want to separate the construction cost from the operational cost of the plan.

This is the second time that Glass will have brought this issue sense being elected in the last election.

As thunder storms roll into Duluth.

As we have thunder storms rolling into the city, John McCain's camp has a potential storm brewing.

It seems like the vp pick of McCain had some dirt after all. Here it is, ready it is big news. Her 17 year old daughter that is getting married is having a child. Oh no what ever do we do with our self's now? Way to go left media. Who cares?

Home today.

Well as I am home today. I will be following some news worthy story's in the city of Duluth. The city is being suit by the union and it's leadership. The complaint is that part timers must go before full timers.

This is being heard today by the court if anything happens I will have it for you here. Also much more to come today.

New Poll

There is a new poll up. I have not done one for a while but here it is.

Would you give 23 cents a day for a year to the city? You can vote on the right side of this page.

Would you give 23 cents a day to the city?

The Duluth News Tribune has a story in today's paper about yet another plan to try to solve the city's budget problems.

One man thinks that there is 60,000 that can afford to give 23 cents a day for one year in side the city of Duluth. I point out here that there is 85 thousand that live in Duluth. That means of 20 thousand would not have to take part in this project. That is wrong if one does everyone should.

The other point is we already pay we already pay taxes that are suppose to go to services. Yet they go ever were but to what they should. They have for years. Now to ask for extra money on top of taxes is the wrong time.

Part one on budget meeting last Monday.

I wanted to post this much earlyer but have been busy. I will have much more later.

At Mondays Duluth City Council meeting there were a number of resolutions talked about. It is unfortunate that none of the resolutions were in support of the administrations plan.


At last nights council meeting there were a lot of special interest groups and others that had an invested interest in the lay offs and cuts proposed by the Mayor and his administration. Many of those in attendance at the meeting were there representing the AFL-CIO.



City councilor Greg Gilbert’s resolution does nothing to solve the issue’s facing the city. Councilor Gilbert’s plan was for the very short term and this is a longer term problem facing the city. The administrations plan will set us up for 2009 and beyond. Well we will more then likely still be facing a deficit for 09’ under the mayor’s current plan. At least it sets up for a lesser issues facing the city for the upcoming years.

If I would have known

We are out of town this weekend. We are in the cities for a wedding and just relaxing. If I would have known however I would have been posting yesterday as a lot happened. I will post when we return home later today.

Obama picks running mate.

Obama picked his running mate however many knew the choose days before the announcement. The senator picked another senator. This will be the first time sense Kennedy ran that two senator's will be on the same ticket.

Obama made a safe pick by picking Joe Biden to be his running mate. I don't think it was the right chose.

More to come later.

Some councilors don't like the layoffs.

As most people councilors wish layoffs did not have to happen. I also am sad by the news of layoffs it is never a good thing. It happens in the private sector when needed it should happen in government when needed as well.

Some councilors came out against the cut backs. The interesting part to note is that those councilors that came out against the layoffs were endorsed by AFSCME during the election. The three councilor with issues are 2nd district councilor Greg Gilbert, 3rd district councilor Sharla Gardner and at large councilor Jeff Anderson both above.

I will have more on this later.

Duluth Mayor Don Ness Layoffs have to happen.

As everyone is well aware by now last Friday Duluth Mayor Don Ness said lay offs were going to have to be part of the city's plan to reduce the deficit it faces. Among the hardest hit was the Duluth parks department. 169 employees would be laid off in all from the city. Again most cuts happened to parks and rec and the library.

I am hoping to have a short interview with the Mayor. I don't know if he will agree to do one or not. We will soon find out. He is normally pretty willing to take part however.

Lots of post coming tonight.

There is and has been a lot going on. I will do my best to get things going here tonight.

Blues Fest

As I brought up in an earlier post could this next year be the beging of the end for the festival? Not having any in side information I think it could be. At very least in it could be the nearing the end to be held in Duluth.

It sure sounds like the changes being made are not positive for the festival also if you listened to the press conference or read the paper the tone there was not the best either. The lose of a day and a stage instead of an increase of five or ten dollars a ticket is alarming to me. I could deal with the lose of either a day or a stage but not both at the same time.

They also have said that attendance has been down to the festival in the past number of years. Well this is for one reason and mainly only one reason. I have had hundreds of people tell me this. Their has not been a major act to the festival for years (James Brown) was the last big one. How he is blues is beyond me but you know. Festival goers need more then a beautiful place to go and see good music. It is great that they bring in these acts from the cities but when you can go and see them any weekend you wish down there what is point of paying to see them up here. It is the major reason for a decline.

More to come =.

Chicken can do?

Gosh I am so proud that Sharla Gardner is my council person . She seems to be in favor of having chickens in city limits. She said that because of the rising cost of everything including food it makes sense. What?

Okay I understand the rising cost of food and yes, I am okay with people using the land in the city that they can use. You can grow your own food. You can do a number of things. There are also other ways to save money well shopping.

This idea of raising chickens in side city limits however makes no sense what so ever. The regulation are long and they should be. There is not enough room between houses to do this that should be a major factor but it will not be. There is a nuisance law in tact as well but what is going to qualifie for it.

Fact is the city is no place to be raising chickens if you want to do this move to a farm.

I could say much more on this but I won't, I am going to let it go. I hope it does not take up a lot of time because the city faces larger issues.

The sinking ship that is: Al Franken

Al Franken trails by 15 points in the latest polls. He has lost ground from the start of this election. It is clear that Minnesota does not want him as there senator.

To add to all the problems he is having he held an event on Friday in St. Cloud were just one veteran showed up. http://www.sctimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080809/NEWS01/108080047/1009.

He thinks he is a funny person yet what is even funnier is his campaign. You can bet from now that the Franken team will plant people at there events to make sure there are people there. Next time you hear of a big crowd at his event you need to think how many of them are plants by the Franken campaign.

The beging of the end?

With the changes coming to next years blues fest could it be the beginning of the end? The changes are as follows so far. No Thursday start time the festival will not start tell Friday. There will also cut out a stage and go from three to just two stages. This will also effect how many acts are able to come to the event.

More on this later.

To funny!

The Duluth News Tribune has became the Duluth Blues Tribune well the big blues fest has been going on here in Duluth.

It started Thursday and ends tonight. What is kinda of funny is that I am sure people are having fun with header.

It made me laugh when I first say it because I thought of all the nay say's of the paper and thinking they are blue when they read it. I have always enjoyed the paper and yes at times have be critical of it but you can't agree with a paper or a person ect... all the time.

I however believe in general the paper does a good job and many times is wrongly criticized.

Jack Shepard interview.

The Jack Shepard interview scheduled for today will go on. He is giving me a call around 10 this morning. I hope to have it up both here and on the interview page around noon if not before.

Update 2: Jack called back and left a message. Giving me a little background of him self. You can find more out about Jack if you wish on his web site. Listed in a previous post.

update: The interview with Jack is not going to happen. He called and was not the friendliest Person so I just thought it was best to not conduct the interview. He was combative right off the bat. This is something I don't believe in. I am always fair and not combative with those that I interview. I expect the same back.

Duluth Maritime Festivale.

Well it seems like it was a great event it also seems like there were some problems. The event drew more then Grandams Marithon and the Bayfront Blues fest. However just days after the festivale has ended complaints seem to be coming in.

Many of those that came had to wait in long lines and many people thought there was little to no orginzation of the event. Accouting to a story in Duluth News Tribune today. You can read the whole article at the papers web site www.duluthnewstribune.com.

I am hoping to get a hold of Gene Shaw for his take on this. I think the event was great and hope that if there were some problems they can be worked out for the next event. I was unable to get down there durning the weekend but did get there on Monday to take a look at the remainng ship. There was still a lot of people this is great for the community.

Republican party to open campaign office in Duluth.

Today the republican party of Minnesota announced they will open an office in Duluth. The office will be located in the plaza shopping center next to Great Harvest Bread company. The office will open on Wednesday and be used right away as there is a call bank session that night.

Interview

I will be interviewing Jack Sheperd tomorrow morning. I am grateful that Mr. Sheperd has agreed to the interview. I have told him that I don't agree with him but that does not mean I can't be fair. I have done a number of interviews with people I don't agree with and we walk away friends most of the time.

If you have a question you would like me to ask him you can leave a comment here or email it to me at duluthneedshelp@yahoo.com . As always I will have finale say on the question.

Mr Sheperd is running against Norm Coleman in the republican primary. Once the interview is complete I will post it here and on the interview page.

LOL

This lady Priscilla Lord Faris is running against Al Franken for the Democrats. She has been a long time DFLer. See is not happy that Al is so far behind. In the latest polls Coleman is 15 points better the Franken. Coleman would be well better then that is this lady was there candidate.

Progressive action to host 7B forum.

One of the far left groups in Duluth will host a forum for all the 7B candidates. The forum will take place on Aug.13 5:30 to 7 pm and it will take place in city council chambers. They say that no candidate will be given the question early. Yet we all know that is not true. All six candidates have said they will be there.

As the politcal season keeps moving foward be sure we will have the coverage.

I have not been able to post as much as I would like to as of late. However that will change and you will see more posting in the next few days. Not only then but as the political season picks up we will have the coverage here for you.

I will also post on our other pages. I also hope that the others that are involved in the board will post as well.

It seems like the Democrats put in one of your own in the GOP party.

This guy is running against Norm Coleman in the republican party, http://www.jackshepardforsenate.com/. What a joke he will not get more then 2% of the vote.

It seems like the Democrats found one of there own that would pretend to be a republican and run against Norm. Yes I know that Norm was once a Dumocrat but then he say the light and came to the good side. Yes politician's change party's all the time but it is clear this that Jack Shepard is the farthest thing from a republican.

One of the first people he apples to on his web site is Democrats and independents he wants nothing to do with the party.

Tonights huskies game

You can get live updates on the huskies on the sports page. www.dpsportspage.blogspot.com

Also more news will be posted here at least we are hoping. So check out both pages tonight.

Gas plumits 30 cents.

Gas has dropped over the last 10 days to 3.75 or 30 cents from its all time high of 4.05. It looks like gas for the mean time will continue to drop.

Leno takes on Mayor Ness.

Late night talk show host Jay Leno tells Mayor Ness how it is. Leno took the opportunity to tell the Mayor like it was in a joke. Leno used Duluth and Mayor Ness's ordinance change making people pay for some emergency services.

Leno said is that not what we pay taxes for. It most have took this to open the Mayors eyes. After the joke Mayor Ness very quickly took his ordinance off the table that was then accepted by the council.

Now I wonder if the talk show host will take issue with the police and fire doing the two jobs together. I sure hope so.

Talk of the Town.

I was not able to produce the show this weekend as I worked at my main job. Tracy had Brandon Stahl on talking about Burgers.

The thing that caught my attion was Roger Reinert who is running for the vacated seat of 7B Representative. Jaros is not seeking re-election this time. Reinert a Duluth City Councilor was the first to announce he was running for the seat.

I was impressed with what he said I did not agree with everything. I do however think he is the best DFL candidate at this point. If that is the way you vote.

I will have more later.

Duluth News Tribune

I thought this was kinda of funny and clever by the DNT. If you picked up a hard copy of the paper you would have seen it.

One of the front page story's were how the food shelves are having troubles keeping up with demand because of gas prices and just not enough donations. Now everyone is going to have troubles with the gas prices going up and up. Here is what I thought was clever. Right above that story they had a grocery bag with a money sign and it said over $119.00 in coupons.

Now back to the story if you can help with donations to the food shelve please do. We have a huge need for the food shelve.

Gas hits four dollars a gallon.

Well it happened gas hit four dollars yesterday in Duluth. Gas went down in the morning to $3.95 but then in the afternoon took the 10 cent jump to over four dollars a gallon.

The gas stations in Duluth were doing all they could to not go to four dollars a gallon, but with a barrel of oil hitting yet another all time high they could no longer hold out. The average around the country has been around $4.17 well it had held steady in Duluth at $3.98 for some time.

The new poll will be up and have to do with gas prices.

Tony Snow gone at the age of 53.

One of President Bush's former press secretary has died at the age of 53. Tony Snow was the third spokesman that served under the Bush administration.

Snow retired his post because of the colon cancer the cancer won out and took his life far to early. Snow was also a writer and worked for Fox news and Fox radio.

My thoughts and prayers go out to Snow family.

Jesse Venture to run for Senator?

The political version of Brett Farve would be Jesse Venture. Venture a former Governor of Minnesota (unfortunately). May or may not run for Senate seat currently being held by Norm Coleman. http://www.colemanforsenate.com/

Current Senator Norm Coleman already has one challenger the democrat endorsed candidate Al Franken, http://www.colemanforsenate.com/. Franken a former talk show host on Air America and comedian has had trouble as of late. He has had many issues face him head on in his big to unseat Senator Coleman. The race however is long from over.

There could be more challengers on top of the former Governor Jesse Venture.

More to come later.

Marsh Stenersen

Marsh Stenersen was at Bayfront yesterday campaigning at Fourth Fest. Here is what I find very interesting.

His slogan is people not politics yet that is all he has done his life is politics. How can anyone expect him to work for all of 7B?

More later.

Notes

This last week when I had time to post there was not much going on. I could have went over a bunch of old stuff that I never got a chance to go over but did not think that would be to interesting to many of you so I did not do it. As I said please be keep checking back I post when I can. I try to make at least three post a week I have not been able to lately but should be able to start again soon to do that and more.

However with that we stayed in town last night to watch the fireworks but will be leaving for a mini vacation this am and will return Tuesday. After this morning there will be nothing tell Tuesday or Wednesday.

The Herbie book.

I had heard rumor of a Herb Bergson book for some time. Yesterday the Duluth News Tribune confirmed this in a story they did about Bergson.

The book is two talk about being mayor of two city's Superior and Duluth. It seems that the first number of chapters were easy for Bergson to write but now it has slowed down. He is apparently take his time on the last years of his Duluth Mayor part of the book. This is because of the contrivers he faced along with tough issues that faced the city. Also expected in the book is why he fired Mark Winson the way he did and the Drunk driving charge he received well Duluth Mayor.

I am not sure I would ever by a book about this man however I am sure many people would. Bergson is an interesting person that is for sure.

The experince.

Well it seems like the Norshore is in the news again. This time police are asking that the city revokes it's liquor linces.

The police are alleging that they have made 49 calls to the place in question sense September. The allegations include drug sales, drug use, thefts, fights and vulgar sex acts.

Now it is clear that the city never wanted the Norshore to be come a gentleman's club. That was made very clear at the beginning by many. I have never been to the place but I was also not against it opening. After all it is a private building and as long as the business is legal they do what they want with any building. A gentleman's club is legal. It may not be my type of thing but that does not mean they can't operate.

Jim Gradishar is the president of the Norshore Experience and he said he is willing to work with the city on the issues.

Mr. Gradishar attorney said this and I agree with him in part.

“It took a federal court injunction to get this establishment open, and it’s clear that the city has never been comfortable with that injunction and is obviously trying to trump up anything it can to get the place closed down,’’ Tigue said.

To me this quote from police chief Gordon Ramsey only ensures what the attorney is saying.


“Our law enforcement efforts are based on what the community desires,’’ Ramsay said. “If you talk to businesses on that block and in that surrounding area, it’s obvious there’s a problem there. Look at our calls for service in that area.’’

More to come later. Some info is from the Duluth News Tribune, www.duluthnewstribune.com

Notes- Still here.

I have gotten a number of emails the last couple of weeks asking if I was still going to post. Simple answer yes. I have not had the time to post as much as I would like to. I am working a ton right now. I am working 80 hour work weeks give or take an hour either way. Therefor leaving little time to post. I will however post when I can.

There has been a lot going on and I have to a lot to say so I hope to be doing post here today and tomorrow night for sure.

Grandmas marathon is offer, I will have more on that on the sports page later as well. The Huskies finely snap there losing steak and start a winning streak. Also will be on the sports page later.

Coming up here later, the lose of a fire truck? The cut that mayor is asking for and my thoughts and more.

Stay tuned!!!!

Play front park.

I am glad that the park will be staying at Bayfront park in Duluth. Some city officials and residents wanted to move the park. It would have been a shame to not have a park at Bay front.

The park will see some much needed upgrades. The park is getting old and needs to be updated but I hope they don't go to the all plastic like so many parks are now. The wood sets the park a side and fits in well with the setting of the rest of the area.

sports page.

The sports page has some new story on it. check it out by clicking on the sports page link. The Huskies are tops on the list.

Walgreens looking into Kenwood site.

I have a lot to say about this but for now go to www.duluthnewstribune.com to read about it. I am on the way out the door. More very soon.

We are watching

Below is a statement from the we are watching groups web page. http://watchingslc.blogspot.com/.

We Welcome Contributors!
If you'd like to contribute to the blog, you can comment on posts that exist, or, write a quick email to WeAreWatching@northernmnnews.com and we'll quickly add you to the list of approved commentators.We welcome you and we want your views.

That is unless you disagree with. Have you ever noticed that it is one site that does not like to discuss the issues. I have always been more then willing to allow all view points on this blog. Some just don't.