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Howie: Bayfront still may be Duluth’s best idea

Bayfront remains one of the few places where the city still functions the way a healthy city is supposed to function: as a shared public space where people continue gathering together because they genuinely want to be there. Every summer, Duluth remembers that again.

5-minute read
Howie

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?

6-minute read
Howie

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.

6-minute read
Howie

Howie: Why independent voices are winning local media

Readers today follow trusted voices first and institutions second. That is the modern reality of local media whether legacy newsrooms fully enjoy admitting it or not. The old ecosystem was built around control of distribution. The new ecosystem revolves around control of attention.

4-minute read
Howie

Howie: FOX 21 delivers a masterpiece inside Maurices

The feature arrived at an important moment for Downtown Duluth. Public discussion surrounding the downtown district in recent years has often centered on vacancy concerns, economic anxiety and uncertainty about the future of the urban core.

5-minute read
Howie

Howie: Reinert has failed Downtown Duluth

The library debate generated plenty of noise and no resolution. Skywalk conversations took up oxygen without producing a clear direction. The broader Imagine Downtown Duluth effort exists, but still feels like a $300,000 plan waiting for a moment when it becomes real in ways people can’t miss.

4-minute read
AF1

Howie: Arena Football One reports surge in early-season digital viewership

AF1 is a professional arena football league, the circuit of the Minnesota Monsters, focused on high-scoring gameplay and fan accessibility. Games are streamed live each weekend on the league’s official website, with additional content available across its social media platforms.

2-minute read
Howie

Howie: FOX 21 surges as Northland news habits shift online in real time

In March 2026, the newly redesigned FOX21Online.com saw nearly 100 percent growth in web traffic compared to March 2025. That number is the kind that doesn’t happen by accident. It happens with volume, speed and a willingness to treat digital not as a side product, but as the front door.

5-minute read
Events

Howie: The music they refused to silence

Inside the camp, conductor Rafael Schächter secretly assembled choirs, staging performances with limited resources and even a single smuggled score. These were not just artistic exercises — but acts of resistance, a way for prisoners to assert identity and dignity in a system designed to erase both.

4-minute read
AF1

Howie: AF1 opens with Albany atop Fan Zone rankings

The structure of the opening weekend leaves little room for gradual buildup. For Albany, it is a chance to reaffirm its position. For Minnesota and the rest of the field, it is an early test of whether preseason projections hold or begin to shift.

2-minute read