Howie: Downtown Duluth embraces for another long winter
You can’t police despair. You can shuffle people from doorway to doorway, but that’s optics, not safety. The folks drifting between shelters and liquor stores aren’t statistics.
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Howie: The Great Duluth Spin Parade: Everyone’s cheering, nobody’s buying it
It’s civic theater, and everyone knows their lines. The officials announce. The media nod. The television anchors beam. The advertisers clap. And the citizens — the actual audience — sit at home wondering if they’ve accidentally tuned into satire.
Howie: We’ve seen this movie before. Same script, different salesman.
The old fellas at the café won’t need a study to understand it. They’ve seen this dance too many times before. They’ll sip their burnt coffee, shake their heads, and say what they always say when the next “big thing” blows through town: “Should’ve just built another rink.”
Howie: Downtown Duluth plan isn’t the problem, the roadblocks are
Duluth has a plan. The question now is whether it has the guts — and the will — to knock down the roadblocks standing in the way.
Howie: If Hubert Humphrey were Minnesota’s governor today
At the 1948 Democratic National Convention, when many in his party wanted to avoid alienating Southern segregationists, Humphrey, 37, strode to the podium and declared it was time to get out of the shadow of states’ rights and walk forthrightly into the bright sunshine of human rights.
Howie: Don Ness set the bar for Duluth leadership
Plenty of mayors cut ribbons. Ness cut liabilities. He took on the most challenging problems and proved that authentic leadership isn’t about comfort but courage.
Howie: Three wins, two QBs, one big mess
That’s Vikings football. Never boring, rarely logical, always exhausting. The highs, the lows, the quarterback merry-go-round, the running game that doesn’t exist, the offensive line held together with medical tape — it’s the same play, different actors.
Howie: Hermantown finally rolls up its sleeves and plays Hawks football again
Howie's column is powered by Lyric Kitchen · Bar Hermantown spent the first month of the season feeling a little out of sorts, like a team searching for itself. Flash one week, finesse the next, but not that old Hermantown brand that used to make opponents wince. On Friday
Howie: Minnesota’s Top-10 of the last 50 years — and the young lions on their trail
Howie's column is powered by Lyric Kitchen · Bar The hardest part about living in Minnesota isn’t the weather, it’s pretending we don’t care who’s the most important. Of course we care. We argue about it in deer stands, at hockey rinks, on fishing boats,
Howie: City of Duluth levy up 52% in eight years
In 2025, for instance, they raised the levy by 1.85 percent but declared it a “0 percent” year for current taxpayers because new development supposedly absorbed the increase. But that’s a shell game. The levy still grew by nearly $800,000.
Howie: The Duluth Transit Authority is knocking again
The DTA’s union contract, signed in 2022, runs through 2026 and requires $2.5 million a year in pension contributions. That wasn’t fine print. That was bold type. They knew it, signed it, and now pitch it like an act of God.
Howie: The Sunday morning NFL traveling circus
Respect the game? That would mean staying home, keeping the shield where it belongs, and remembering that football is supposed to be a sport, not a traveling carnival. But the owners can’t hear you. They’re too busy counting the money.
Howie: Write the Minnesota media industry obituary
And the only voices that still carry weight are the hyper-locals, the independents, the ones who refuse to let their towns go silent. That’s where the future is. That’s where the trust is. That’s where the eyeballs and ears are. And no rebrand, paywall, or quarterly reorg will ever change that.
Howie: Essentia Health report shows $4.5 billion Twin Ports economic impact
Regional economists note that health care remains one of the most resilient sectors in northern Minnesota. Essentia’s presence is expected to stay central as Duluth pushes for downtown revitalization, expands housing options and attracts new residents.
Howie: Gov. Tim Walz leans on Hennepin, Ramsey dominance as third term looms
Can Minnesota’s governor break the third-term curse, or will a weak GOP field finally stumble into competence? County by county, the map still favors the DFL.
Howie: Vision for live-work housing targets wide range of residents
Advocates describe the proposal as part of a broader trend in U.S. cities adapting to hybrid work and shifting housing needs. For Duluth, they say, it may offer both a solution to a tight housing market and a strategy for long-term downtown revitalization.