Author: Pat Brink

Arrowhead Youth Games Give Kids With Disabilities the Chance to Play

DULUTH, Minn. — The weather was perfect Thursday for the Arrowhead Youth Games which gives kids with disabilities a chance to get in on all types of adapted recreational activities. More than 300 students from 24 elementary and middle schools were at UMDs field house. The kids were taking part in events like climbing, dance, parachute games, archery, wheelchair races,…

988: The Mental Health And Substance Abuse Hotline

DULUTH, Minn. — A local group in Duluth is launching a campaign to educate people on the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. “Everyone knows what 911 is, but 988 is the 911 for a mental health crisis or substance abuse crisis,” explained Jerry Thoreson, a member of the 2023 Leadership Duluth class and organizer of the campaign. If you or…

Truck Driver Killed After Rolling Tanker, Explosion

A 31-year-old man from Grand Rapids died Saturday afternoon after the semi truck he was driving rolled and caught fire in New Independence Township, which is in St. Louis County. The crash happened around 1 p.m. near the intersection of highways 53 and 33. According to the Minnesota State Patrol, Xavier Ryan Henson, 31, was traveling north on Hwy 33…

Legalized Marijuana Bill Passes State Senate

Recreational marijuana is now one step closer to being legal in Minnesota. After debating the bill for hours, senators took a vote. As expected, the vote was straight along party lines with the Democrats all voting in favor of the bill while Republicans were unanimous in their opposition. The final vote was 34 in favor, 33 opposed. In past years,…

Minnesota Senate Passes Bill Legalizing Marijuana

DULUTH, MINN. — It’s been years in the making…but recreational marijuana is now one step closer to being legal in Minnesota. After debating the bill for hours senators finally took a vote this afternoon. As expected the vote was straight along party lines with the Democrats all voting in favor of the bill while Republicans were unanimous in their opposition….

St. Louis County Sheriff’s Rescue Squad Practicing Swift Water Rescues

DULUTH, MINN.  –In some years, the all-volunteer St. Louis County Sheriff’s Rescue Squad is paged out to assist more than 400 times per year. The squad can be called out for any number of events, ranging from automobile crashes, and missing persons to swift water rescue.  And it’s the possibility of swift water rescues that members were training for Friday…

City Releases Annual Housing Indicator Report

DULUTH, MINN. — The Annual Housing Indicator Report for the City of Duluth was released and it shows overall things have not considerably changed in the last year. Duluth’s population is just about the same as it has been over the past three decades, nearly 87,000 people. The city has added 176 net housing units in 2022, which includes 167…

DAV Convention in Duluth

DULUTH, MINN.  — Hundreds of Disabled American veterans are in Duluth this weekend for the group’s annual convention. They are from the 32 DAV chapters across Minnesota. As its name says, these people are all veterans who have been injured or wounded while serving in the armed forces. One of the major services offered by the DAV is free transportation…

Ursa Minor Brewery Expanding

DULUTH, MINN. —  What’s the appropriate amount of space you need to make beer? Ursa Minor Brewery in Duluth thinks they have figured it out. They are transitioning to a new facility right around the corner from their taproom in West Duluth. They found themselves slowly adding tanks and capacity, but they were also limited a bit by their taproom…

Duluth Public Schools Graduation Rate Increases

DULUTH, Minn. — Duluth Public Schools reported good news Thursday regarding four-year graduation rates. For the school year of 2022, 76.66% of Duluth Public School seniors graduated in four years, and that exceeds the pre-pandemic level. Superintendent John Magas sees the graduation rates as “significantly improved.” Only one measured group, White students, scored higher than the average. But all groups…

Safety Training for Companies That Work Near Trains

DULUTH, MINN. — Safety training is an important part of just about everyone’s employment. For companies that respond to train derailments, safety training can literally mean the difference between going home and being seriously hurt or killed. Nearly two dozen employees from a handful of environmental companies were training at the train yard behind the North Shore Railroad. The training covered…

Duluth Breweries Do Well in Statewide Competition

DULUTH, MINN. — Four Local Breweries were recently named as winners in the Minnesota Craft Brewers Guild Award Program. Canal Park Brewing Company placed first in the American Wheat & Cream Ales category, with its ‘Clear Waters Cream Ale’. In the Dark Lagers category, Fitger’s Brewhouse’s, ‘Brewhouse Bock’ finished first. Fitger’s also won first in the Strong Ales category for…

Childen’s Mental Health Focus of Conference in Duluth

DULUTH, Minn. –The DECC was the site of the 27th annual conference of the Minnesota Association for Children’s Mental Health. There were 85 different breakout sessions covering issues children are facing.  Three days of educational opportunities offered time to hear from, and talk with, others who work with children and discuss the issues they face. The Communications Director for the…

Sellers of Drugs Arrested in Man’s Death

SUPERIOR, WISC. — After a six month investigation by the Superior Police Department into the overdose death of a 45 year old man, two women have now been arrested and charged. The Superior Police Department says the two women have been charged with being Party to a Crime and Reckless Homicide. Police say the two were responsible for the sale…

The 34th Fitgers 5K Run

DULUTH, MINN. — The 34th Annual Fitger’s 5K was held this morning. Literally, hundreds of people took part in the event. In the Men’s division, Scott Behliing won for the fifth time in the last eight years. He finished the 5K in 15:56 – 20 seconds ahead of his nearest competitor. In the women’s division, a first-time winner of the…

Fire in Duluth Kills 2, Injures 2 Firefighters

DULUTH, Minn. — A fire at an apartment building in the Hillside neighborhood at 631 E 3rd Street Saturday morning left two people dead and two firefighters injured. When firefighters arrived on the scene at about 6:30 a.m., they saw smoke coming from the building and began work to fight the fire and rescue people inside. The name of the…

Duluth Denfeld Robotics Team Enjoying Houston

HOUSTON, TEXAS –The Denfeld Robotics team continues to enjoy its time in Houston at the World Robotic Championships. The team competed both yesterday and today. However, they won’t know if they compete on Saturday until Saturday. The whole team and the driving team gathered outside the convention center for a group photo. We heard from Sarah Shaffer a junior who…

Gary-New Duluth Rec Center Raising Money Through A Rummage Sale

GARY-NEW DULUTH, Minn. — The Gary-New Duluth Rec Center is hosting a rummage sale in West Duluth Friday and Saturday. The rummage sale is open and affordable to everyone. Prices are not marked on the items. Instead, people can pay whatever they are comfortable with. Thanks to the generosity of the surrounding community the Rec Center has received many donations…

High School Robotics Teams in Houston

HOUSTON, TEXAS — High school students from three area high schools are in Houston taking part in the World Championship for Robotics. The team from Denfeld has been sharing some video and photos of what they’re seeing and experiencing in Houston. There are more than 450 teams from across the country taking part in the competition. You can get an…

Who Pays For Damage From Water Main Break

DULUTH, MINN. — In his continuing effort to have the city of Duluth take some responsibility for the damage caused to his home by a broken water main, Paul Zwak has submitted new information to the city. Zwak says he has researched with the Duluth City Engineering Department and found the waterline that broke on April 11th has been repaired…

Fond Du Lac Tribal & Community College Hosts Law Enforcement Career Expo

DULUTH, MINN. — The need for employees is a common theme among businesses throughout the Northland and across the country. But for law enforcement agencies, the need for police recruits is particularly high.  And that was made very clear at a law enforcement career expo held Wednesday in Cloquet. How significant is the shortage of law enforcement personnel in the…

Superior School District To Close One Elementary School

DULUTH, MINN. — The Superior School District will be closing one elementary school for the 2024 – 20-25 school year.  At Monday’s school board meeting the board members voted 3 to 2 to close Lake Superior Elementary Superior School Superintendent Amy Starzecki says the district and the school board did a lot of planning prior to making the decision to…

Otters at Great Lakes Aquarium Turn 10 Years Old

DULUTH, MINN. — What better way to spend a rainy Saturday afternoon, than celebrating the birthday of the otters at the Great Lakes Aquarium? The two otters, who are both female, are named Agate and Ore. They came to the aquarium from Louisiana when they were just six months old. Now nine and half years later they’ve reached the one-decade mark….

Spring Garden Extravaganza

DULUTH, MINN. –The St. Louis County Extension Service held its Spring Garden Extravaganza Saturday at the Depot in Duluth. There were a lot of people on hand to learn about many different aspects of gardening, including flowering shrubs and trees and small fruits. There were presentations from experts in pruning fruit trees, pollinators, and vegetable gardens as well as tomatoes….

Gov. Walz Takes Part in Spring Turkey Hunting Opener

NEAR NORTHFIELD, Minn. — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz began his day bright and early Saturday for the state’s kickoff of turkey hunting. Walz joined by National Wild Turkey Federation Director of Development,Tom Glines, Minnesota DNR Commissioner Sarah Strommen, and two legislators along with members of the Learn-to-Hunt program. The hunting party hunted on private land near Northfield owned by Jerry…

April 13th is Ethel Ray Nance Day in Duluth

DULUTH, Minn. — April 13 in Duluth is officially Ethel Ray Nance Day. Who is that you may ask? Nance was an important civil and women’s rights activist, and she was born and lived in the Central Highlands of Duluth. Thursday morning Duluth city council president, Janet Kennedy read the official city proclamation that proclaims it as Nance’s Day. April…

Preparing For Floods in St. Louis County

DULUTH, MNN. — Four public agencies from St Louis County held a news conference on Wednesday to talk about the spring snow melt and spring flooding. The agencies explained what they have planned and already done to prepare for any flooding that may occur. The warm weather over the past couple of days has greatly reduced the snowpack in the…

Broken Water Main Floods Home in Duluth

DULUTH, MINN. — Generally, a water main break causes pooling of water in the street and perhaps in adjoining yards. But in this case, the water main broke on a slight hill, and that allowed it to flow on Paul Zwak’s property and into his garages and home. Paul and his wife and two of their children spent much of…

Peep Artwork on Display in Superior

Superior, Wisc. — A sweet new contest at the Fairlawn Mansion in Superior is happening Saturday and preparations were underway Friday. It’s called Studio One Photography’s first annual Northland Peeps Art show where you can enter peeps-themed art into a contest to win fun prizes. There are around 20 works of art including a ‘peep-eroni pizza’, a statue of liberty,…

Grandma’s Marathon Security Preparations

DULUTH, MINN. — Grandma’s Marathon is just two months away and that means more planning is happening. Friday, more than 15 agencies including the police and fire departments, public works, ham radio operators, homeland security, and even the Coast Guard got together to review and improve security plans for the race. On the morning of June, 17 runners will set…

Cenovus Energy Working to Restart Refinery

SUPERIOR, WISC. — Now that the plant has been rebuilt by its new owner Cenovus, the company says it will restart operations within the next couple of months. We talked with the Fire Chief of the Superior Fire Department to find out what preparations the department is taking in advance of the reopening of the plant. It was five years ago…

11-Year-Old Sales Whiz Makes the Register Ring

DULUTH, MINN.  –Whenever you attend a show such as the Arrowhead Home and Builders show, you will undoubtedly run into some sharp salespeople. That is the case this year as well at the Home show, but the talk of the show is a young lady selling marshmallows. “Would you guys like to try some Minnesota Marshmallows? You won’t regret it,…

April is Distracted Driving Month

DULUTH, MINN. — Since 2019, Minnesota has had a hands-free law in place for driving. The law is designed to keep people from being distracted while driving. Yet, in 2022 distracted drivers caused at least 126 injuries and 22 deaths.  Today, the Department of Public Safety and the Minnesota State Patrol kicked off Distracted Driving Enforcement and Awareness Month. Although…

National Legislation Would Ensure Firefighters’ Cancer Deaths are Treated as Line-Of-Duty Deaths

DULUTH, Minn. — There’s legislation at the federal level called the Honoring our Fallen Heroes Act that would expand line-of-duty deaths to include firefighters who have died from cancer. That means families of those who have died from the disease would receive the benefits of a line-of-duty death. The legislation is being co-sponsored by Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar and North…

Former Duluth Councilor Speaks Out Against ‘Lincoln Park Flats’ Partial Hotel Conversion

DULUTH, MINN. — Former Duluth city councilor Joel Sipress says the news that P&R Properties plans to convert 24 rental units into hotel rooms at Lincoln Park Flats did not please him. “I voted for this with every expectation that what the development agreement called for is what would happen. And I am very disappointed and in fact, appalled that…

Rosie The Riveter At The Bong Center In Superior

SUPERIOR, Wis. — The Bong Center played host this weekend to Rosie the Riveter, the woman from World War II who represented female workers of that era. The group Border Town Betties were on hand to talk with visitors about the role that Rosie played in the 1940’s and the role she continues to have empowering women Saturday. “Rosie was…

I-35 Closure Leads to Many Delays

DULUTH, MINN.  — Interstate 35 is closed this weekend through 6 PM Sunday. If you were trying to get somewhere today and you usually used I-35, you learned that first hand. There were traffic jams heading south on I-35 as cars backed up for quite a ways on the highway as they waited to get off to Michigan Street. They…

Much of Miller Hill Mall Now Open

  DULUTH, MINN — It’s been eleven days since the roof at Miller Hill collapsed in the area of Caribou Coffee. Most of the stores in the mall were closed for at least a week. Saturday it’s quite a different story….at least 50 of the stores are now open according to the Mall’s Facebook page. People were seen going into…

Duluth Mayoral Candidate Reinert Addresses Larson’s ‘State Of The City’

DULUTH, Minn. — Duluth Mayor Emily Larson’s leading opponent in the mayoral race is Roger Reinert.  On Thursday evening, one day after Larson’s State of the City Address, Reinert held a formal press event at Clyde Iron Works to respond to that address. About 100 people were on hand to hear Reinert’s thoughts on where the city is and where…

Repairs to Clarifiers are Needed at Western Lake Superior Sanitary District

DULUTH, Minn.  The Western Lake Superior Sanitary District (W-L-S-S-D) is asking the Minnesota state legislature for millions of dollars to fix some components that treat our wastewater. Raw sewage was being dumped into the St. Louis River until the 1970s, heavily polluting the waterway. Since then, W-L-S-S-D has been treating the sewage using four clarifiers that separate the solids and…

Duluth Schools Superintendent Reacts to Free Lunch

DULUTH, Minn.  — Beginning next school year, school breakfasts and lunches will be free for all students in Minnesota public schools after Governor Watz signed the bill into law last week. Every year, Duluth Public Schools serves about 400 thousand breakfasts and 800 thousand lunches. Currently Duluth Schools have about $70 thousand dollars in unpaid lunch debt Duluth schools superintendent…