Howie: Reinert has failed Downtown Duluth
The library debate generated plenty of noise and no resolution. Skywalk conversations took up oxygen without producing a clear direction. The broader Imagine Downtown Duluth effort exists, but still feels like a $300,000 plan waiting for a moment when it becomes real in ways people can’t miss.
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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
City of Duluth labor deals collide with 1% growth, squeezing the 2027 budget
All seven city employee labor agreements were approved after Mayor Roger Reinert took office in January 2024.
9 MIN READ
My latest book: Minnesota 2050
Minnesota will not stumble into the future by accident. The forces shaping the state’s next 25 years are already visible— demographics that no longer replenish evenly, an economy increasingly anchored by health care, housing that determines who can work where, climate pressure that moves people quietly, and institutions built
1 MIN READ
Duluth searches for budget ‘bloat,’ but labor costs dominate projected shortfall
The city cannot eliminate a multimillion-dollar structural deficit without confronting employee costs, service levels or taxes. That is where the money is — and where the difficult decisions will be.
3 MIN READ
Latest
Howie: Minnesota’s primary map points to Klobuchar, but gives Demuth a path
"All signs, including the huge turnout in Tuesday's DFL primary, point to a strong year for Democrats in Minnesota. If that proves to be the case, then Senator Klobuchar should have a smooth path to the governor's office." -- Former Duluth city councilor Joel Sipress
5 MIN READ
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