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Duluth Playhouse names Brandon Raghu executive director

Raghu arrives as the Playhouse prepares to open its 2026-27 season with “A Chorus Line,” scheduled for Sept. 11-27 at the NorShor Theatre. Other upcoming productions include “Disney’s Descendants: The Musical,” “Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom” and “A Christmas Story: The Musical.”

2-minute read
Breaking News

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-minute read
Books

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

1-minute read
Howie

Howie: The Monsters have unfinished business

Willie Howard, the former NFL linebacker recently named the Monsters’ senior consultant, understands that the AF1 carries responsibilities beyond winning. Most of its players are still chasing something. They need film, exposure and an opportunity to demonstrate that they can play professionally.

7-minute read
Howie

The newspaper that started it all

More than five decades later, I am still chasing the same goal I had as a 15-year-old sports reporter in Cloquet. Earn the reader's trust. Everything else is just ink.

4-minute read
Howie

The AI detector economy is chasing the wrong story

Each innovation sparked debate. Each was accused, at one time or another, of making journalism less authentic. Yet journalism endured because the profession was never about the equipment. It was about the work.

5-minute read
Opinion

Howie: Downtown Duluth's next chapter will be built with trust.

The first step is honesty. Residents already know homelessness, addiction and mental illness exist. They also know downtown remains home to exceptional restaurants, successful small businesses, major employers, recognized attractions, a spectacular Lake Superior shoreline and people who work there.

7-minute read
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.

8-minute read
Howie

Duluth's civic theatre at 6 and 10 p.m.

Unfortunately, the new currency of leadership is visibility. You’re judged not by budgets balanced or streets repaired, but by how many times your face appears on a feed. The ribbon-cutting is no longer the celebration of work done; it is the work.

5-minute read
Opinion

Howie: Duluth needs summer more than ever

Duluth residents simply need this summer emotionally. They need concerts at Bayfront and families along the Lakewalk. They need baseball games, festivals and tourists asking directions. They need reminders that life cannot become an endless cycle of bills, politics, inflation, anxiety and survival.

5-minute read