Howie: Hold the line, Roger. And council, don’t flinch.
Because Duluth doesn’t have a revenue problem. It has a spending addiction — one enabled for years by a City Council that rarely met a levy increase it didn’t like. That can’t happen again.
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Howie
K.J. Felder Jr. might just have one of the biggest hearts in Duluth
“Oh, my biggest strength is my speed. Knowing how to hit gaps, vision, and just being a playmaker. Being a dog. My size doesn’t stop me from doing anything.” -- K.J. Felder Jr.
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.
Howie: Duluth's billion-dollar hospitals — and the neighborhoods left behind
Duluth’s health care transformation didn’t come free. It was paid for with public subsidies, neighborhood sacrifice, and long-term tax invisibility. The systems at the center of it all proudly proclaim their commitment to the community — even as the community quietly disappears around them.
Howie: An open letter to Justin Jefferson
The Wilfs — and let’s just call it like it is — chose not to invest in your prime. They picked the cheaper path, then wrapped it in branding and buzzwords and Kevin O’Connell’s “quarterback lab” fantasy. You’re now the face of a franchise that seems more focused on optics than outcome.
Howie: The quiet collapse of the Vikings brand — and the question every fan should be asking
Are the Wilfs actually in this to win? Because if you strip away the branding, the marketing jargon, and the empty optimism, the facts paint a troubling picture: the ownership group is acting like financial strategists, not football visionaries.
Howie: The Wilfs are budgeting. Jefferson is bleeding
Let’s start with the truth no one in Eagan will say out loud: the Wilf family doesn’t want to spend real money on a starting quarterback. Not this year. Not when they can pitch a rookie lottery ticket, cash in on “development” buzz, and pocket the difference.
Howie: McCarthy starts, wallet stays shut — welcome to the new Vikings
But let’s not pretend McCarthy walked into this job. The Vikings didn’t sign a bridge quarterback to block him — they didn’t even really try. They rolled the dice on him winning the job by default, not dominance. And in 2025, that might be enough.
An Open Letter to Elon Musk
Duluth’s the perfect sandbox for your off-book genius experiments. Want to pilot direct wind-to-HPC microgrids? Try novel battery chemistries that need stable cool ambient temps? Prototype closed-loop lake-assisted liquid cooling that halves compressor hours?
Reinert, Hartman and the Big Duluth Bet: Finally, leaders who think like entrepreneurs
We can’t bet the farm on whether it rains for Grandma’s Marathon. We need long-haul industries, fresh tech, world-class freshwater diplomacy, and new-school manufacturing. And we need to protect Lake Superior like it’s the last ace we’ve got — because in many ways, it is.
Howie: An open letter to Zygi and Mark Wilf: cc: Kwesi Adofo-Mensah
Extend Ham for two more years. Let him keep blocking, keep mentoring, keep representing everything you claim to value as an organization — hard work, humility, community.
Howie: So how’s ‘Risky Roger’ doing? It turns out, no risk. It's just good old-fashioned Duluth leadership
His opponent tried to tag Mayor Roger Reinert with that clever little campaign jab last fall — “Risky Roger.” Like slapping a caution sticker on a snow blower: handle with care, might chew your hand off. But turns out the only real risk was if we hadn’t elected him. Because
Howie: Now, the Vikings will lean on a rookie QB to finally break the curse? Please.
So buckle up, Minnesota. Stock the fridge. Keep the jumper cables handy. And get ready to add one more page to our scrapbook of heartbreak. Because odds are, by next January we’ll be saying the same old line we’ve polished to perfection: “Hey, at least it’s almost Twins season.”
Howie: Why would any smart newspaper keep printing? Nobody reads — or pays — for a paper anymore.
If I were running a local news outfit, I’d drop print tomorrow. I’d shove every last nickel into being the most relentless, indispensable, hyper-local digital news shop this side of the Mississippi. I’d break stories first, tell them sharper, dig harder than any neighboring outlet.
Howie: Look at this political football, folks
Essentia’s playing lawyer ball with the National Labor Relations Board’s Health Care Rule, which basically says: hospitals and clinics shouldn’t be smashed into one bargaining zoo because, you know, patients need care.