Ryan Kern’s vision took flight — and Duluth’s sky hasn’t been the same since
At a time when the city was searching for ways to reinvent itself beyond shipping and snow, Kern dared to see Duluth as a destination. The airshow he created has now become a staple of the summer tourism calendar, injecting millions into the local economy year after year.
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Howie: The hardest truth after George Floyd
History will remember George Floyd’s murder for many reasons. Protest. Rage. Reform. Politics. Division. Reckoning. But the enduring question may be simpler. Did America merely react to what it saw? Or did it finally learn to tell itself the truth?
Howie: What Glen Taylor understood about newspapers that Wall Street didn’t
The question is no longer whether newspapers are dying. The real question now is which institutions survive the transition from industrial-age newspapers into modern digital civic platforms. And whether Minnesota’s largest news organization fully understands what it must become next.
Howie: Don Ness and the reinvention of Duluth
Ness convinced Duluth to stop speaking about itself like a city waiting for the next economic funeral and start speaking about itself like a place with a future worth competing for nationally. Not perfectly. Not without backlash. Not without legitimate criticism. But undeniably.
Howie: John Fedo turned Duluth toward the lake
Modern Duluth continues wrestling with the same tensions Mayor Fedo governed through decades ago. Tourism success created new economic pressures. Summer weekends increasingly made portions of Canal Park feel disconnected from the working-class identity that shaped Duluth for generations.
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Howie: The hardest truth after George Floyd
History will remember George Floyd’s murder for many reasons. Protest. Rage. Reform. Politics. Division. Reckoning. But the enduring question may be simpler. Did America merely react to what it saw? Or did it finally learn to tell itself the truth?
Howie: What Glen Taylor understood about newspapers that Wall Street didn’t
The question is no longer whether newspapers are dying. The real question now is which institutions survive the transition from industrial-age newspapers into modern digital civic platforms. And whether Minnesota’s largest news organization fully understands what it must become next.
Tim Meyer: One Park One Vote built on solid sustainability
Whether residents ultimately agree with every proposal or not, the broader framework behind One Park One Vote deserves to be taken seriously because it attempts to connect housing, sustainability, environmental protection and economic development into one larger civic conversation.
Howie: Minnesota Power electrified northern Minnesota and quietly built modern Duluth
In many ways, Minnesota Power became one of the hidden structural pillars underneath modern Duluth’s entire existence. Because in northern Minnesota, power literally meant power. Industrial power. Political power. Economic leverage. Regional influence. Stability. Survival.