Physical altercation today at Duluth Denfeld
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Howie: Here comes Duluth Public Schools Red Plan Jr.
Debt service already consumes about 60 percent of the school levy. With this addition of $38 million in bonding debt, Duluth is entering a decade in which the school system will spend more paying off debt than teaching future students.
Howie: Duluth Public Schools still drowning in Red Plan debt
Since 2008, Duluth Public Schools has paid more than $300 million toward Red Plan debt service, with $175 million remaining. By the time the bonds are gone, Duluth will have spent half a billion dollars servicing a plan that shrank the district, buried its budget, and doubled property taxes.
Howie: Duluth Schools' formula for levy creep
Duluth Schools' levy creep isn’t an accident. It’s a feature of the system, baked into Minnesota law, and the district has leaned on it harder than any of its neighbors. The taxpayers? They’re the audience at a rigged show, asked to clap politely while the board insists there’s no other way.
Howie: Trust and integrity are cornerstones of public education
Multiple referendums have been floated in recent years asking voters for more funding — and taxpayers have responded with a clear and resounding no. Not because we don’t support kids. We do. But because we no longer trust the system to spend responsibly.
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Howie: Duluth moved $695,000 in tourism decisions out of City Hall. Now the public deserves to see the scorecard.
If tourism funding is now driven by measurable return, then measurement should not stop at the application stage. Duluth should see which organizations applied, which received funding, how proposals scored against criteria, what outcomes were promised and what results were delivered one year later.
Howie: Why Pete Stauber keeps winning — and what it would actually take to beat him
For now, the political formula in Minnesota’s 8th District remains remarkably consistent. Duluth votes. The Iron Range votes. Then the rest of northern Minnesota votes. And the rest of northern Minnesota is usually enough.
Howie: The Wild found a bouncer. Now they need a sniper like Boeser.
If Kirill Kaprizov ever gets a true sniper riding shotgun -- Brock Boeser? -- the rest of the Western Conference might suddenly discover something Minnesota fans have suspected for a while now. The Wild are closer than they look.
Howie: What Duluth is really asking for in St. Paul this year
Duluth and St. Louis County are not asking for luxury investments. They are asking for help maintaining systems — water treatment plants, shoreline protection, waste management infrastructure — whose costs exceed what local taxpayers alone can reasonably sustain.