Duluth hired a mayor, not a campaign
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.
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Howie: Duluth Schools’ referendum will rise or fall on trust
Financial need alone will not carry two operating referendum questions across the finish line Nov. 3. The district must confront a trust issue that has accumulated over two decades and explain why voters should believe the next 10-year, $103 million plan be better than the plans that preceded it.
5 MIN READ
Howie: Durrwachter has become the council’s most trusted voice
The council is not an advisory committee to the mayor. It is a separate branch of city government, obligated to scrutinize administrative proposals, protect public money and represent residents whose voices cannot be heard from behind the closed doors of City Hall.
4 MIN READ
Howie: Duluth should vote yes on both school referendum questions
Duluth Public Schools is not asking voters to finance a cure-all. It is asking for enough stability to protect student learning while the district continues the harder work of controlling costs, correcting financial procedures and reshaping operations.
7 MIN READ
Howie: Reinert must answer Duluth’s $4.5 million budget question
The City of Duluth administration cannot warn taxpayers about a projected $5.5 million deficit while refusing to explain a recurring $4.5 million funding stream redirected from general operations. The account now has nearly $9 million.
5 MIN READ
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Howie Live: Wednesday, August 12
GOOD WATCH: Duke Skorich's Personal Meeting Room, talking regional politics. . . . BREAKING SPORTS: St. Scholastica athletics director Jessica Cherry announced Kyle Yost as the Saints’ next women’s basketball coach. Yost takes over as CSS prepares for the 2026-27 season after earning the program’s first Minnesota Intercollegiate
2 MIN READ
Howie: Jim Oberstar kept northern Minnesota on the federal map
Jim Oberstar understood that roads connected workers to jobs, airports connected employers to markets, ports connected Minnesota resources to the world and research connected traditional industries to new possibilities -- that northern Minnesota could remain strong only if it remained connected.
8 MIN READ