Duluth's homegrown columnist. Since 1971.
Editor & Publisher of HowieHanson.com
I write about power, business, sports and civic life in Duluth and across Minnesota. My columns examine the people making decisions, the organizations behind those decisions and what their choices mean for the communities they serve.
My journalism career began in 1971 at the Cloquet Pine Knot. More than five decades later, I'm still reporting and writing from Duluth. I publish HowieHanson.com, an independent site built around original columns, local reporting and Minnesota sports coverage.
My work combines reporting, analysis and commentary. I believe in checking facts, asking direct questions and giving readers enough information to make up their own minds. My reporting and opinions are mine, and I stand behind the words I publish.
I welcome story ideas, questions, corrections and tips from readers. Email is the best way to reach me.
Email: GuyHowieHanson@gmail.com
The Vikings are too talented at receiver, too well coached and too versatile defensively to dismiss. They are also too uncertain at quarterback, center, safety and defensive-line depth to declare a championship contender. The most reasonable prediction is 10-7.
The exhibition will be UMD’s first meeting with the Under-18 team since Jan. 5, 2019, when Team USA defeated the Bulldogs 4-2 at Amsoil. Cole Caufield scored twice for the visitors, who outshot UMD 39-28.
The next challenge for AF1 will be converting its larger digital audience into sustained interest during the playoffs and offseason.
Sandelin's base pay and supplemental retirement contribution was $595,000 last season and $600,000 for 2026-27, before bonuses and other benefits. Financial terms were not disclosed for the new agreement, which adds three seasons and could take him through his 30th year with the school.
My projection is 9-2 overall and 9-1 in the NSIC, with losses at Slippery Rock and Wayne State. That record should place UMD in the conference championship fight and produce another NCAA playoff berth.
MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota will enter the 2026 football season with an established quarterback, a proven running back, one of the Big Ten’s best pass
DULUTH, Minn. — Ja’Vonte Johnson threw two touchdown passes in the final two minutes, including the game-winner to LeDarian McAllister with 22 seconds
Duluth residents should not accept a budget narrative built only around the bad news. Transparency requires more than explaining the size of the shortfall. It requires identifying every option, every revenue decision and every pool of existing or reasonably anticipated financial capacity.
Most of Howie’s readers and many of my friends do not know of the oldest and most heroic woman and widow in America.
Lee and Penny Anderson supplied the $75 million lead gift. St. Thomas described it as the largest monetary donation ever received by a Minnesota university and one of the 10 largest known gifts to a college athletic program in the country.
Early-term labor agreements, sluggish revenue growth and familiar levy politics have left City Hall confronting a projected $5.5 million deficit.
The defending national champion Pioneers have the deepest talent pool, Minnesota Duluth returns college hockey’s best player in forward Max Plante and Miami is positioned to make the league’s biggest jump.
Diggins to play major-junior next season with the Owen Sound Attack of the Ontario Hockey League before enrolling at UMD.
All seven city employee labor agreements were approved after Mayor Roger Reinert took office in January 2024.
There is little mystery surrounding Cloquet’s path to improvement. The Lumberjacks must replace more than half of last season’s rushing production, develop a more productive passing game and avoid another slow start.
A 54-year-old man was arrested Wednesday after investigators said they observed him selling drugs in the 200 block of No. 2 Alley
The 55th annual Park Point 5-Miler and 2-Mile Walk scheduled for tonight has been canceled because of hazardous air quality in Duluth
Super Lawyers, part of Thomson Reuters, selects attorneys annually through peer nominations, evaluations and independent research. No more than 5% of attorneys in each state are selected.
Roger Reinert's winning pitch against incumbent Emily Larson was simple and effective: Duluth, he argued, needed a mayor focused on basics — core services, discipline and execution. However, Reinert’s mayoralty remains heavy on messaging and light on visible results.
The Minnesota Monsters will host the Beaumont Renegades in the Arena Football One regular-season finale at 6 p.m. Saturday at Amsoil Arena.
DULUTH — The Minnesota Monsters have named Willie Howard general manager after signing him to a two-year contract to oversee the arena football franchise’
Minnesota will not stumble into the future by accident. The forces shaping the state’s next 25 years are already visible— demographics that no
The city estimates its recently negotiated labor agreements will increase personnel costs by approximately $9.9 million over three years, according to the 2026 city budget. There is your deficit, dressed in a collective bargaining agreement and scheduled to arrive on time.
The Fran Hubert SummerFest Parade will begin at 11 a.m. on Saturday. An APS-Mesaba customer appreciation event will be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., followed by a Bullyan RV summer barbecue and music by GB Leighton from noon to 3 p.m.
Senst is the athlete younger Hawks can watch and emulate, the teammate coaches can trust and the quarterback willing to accept responsibility. He is already one of Hermantown High School’s finest athletes. His senior year could add another memorable chapter, but it will not define him.
The Minnesota Monsters announced Tuesday that Meadow Lemon will move from general manager to operations director while also serving in an advisory role with
Smoke from the wildfires also is creating dangerous air quality conditions across the region. By Wednesday morning, air quality throughout St. Louis County was expected to reach hazardous or very unhealthy levels.
Hermantown enters the 2026 boys soccer season with something it did not have a year ago: the distinction of defending Lake Superior Conference champion.
OCEANSIDE, Calif. — The Arena Football One franchise in Oceanside has been acquired by local business owners Alberto Gean and Margaret Gean and will immediately
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Arena Football One unveiled its official 2026 playoff and Arena Crown logos Monday as the league prepares for the postseason. The playoff
Shiloh Flanagan is an experienced AF1 receiver who can contribute immediately. His value is as a boundary and red-zone matchup — a 6-foot-6 receiver capable of catching the ball above smaller defensive backs, controlling his body near the walls and turning broken plays into touchdowns.
HERMANTOWN, Minn. — Construction is scheduled to begin July 20 on a section of U.S. Highway 53 between Haines Road and Midway Road, according