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Opinion

Howie: This isn’t a scam. It’s just a smart utility deal.

Howie: This isn’t a scam. It’s just a smart utility deal.

This isn’t a hostile takeover or a backdoor privatization scheme. This is a well-structured financial agreement that delivers capital, safeguards ratepayers, and pushes the utility deeper into the renewable energy era without turning it into a monopoly Frankenstein.

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Howie: Duluth's billion-dollar hospitals — and the neighborhoods left behind
Howie / HowieHanson.com

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.

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Essentia strike deepens: Patients caught as union, hospital dig in
Nurses picketed outside Essentia Health earlier this week. Howie / HowieHanson.com

Essentia strike deepens: Patients caught as union, hospital dig in

It’s a heck of a look for Essentia, a system that prides itself on community stewardship yet has poured millions into temporary travel nurses to keep hospital beds staffed while turning around and padlocking places like the Solvay Hospice House.

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Howie: Look at this political football, folks
Picketers rallied outside Essentia Health today in Duluth. Howie / HowieHanson.com

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.

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Duluth’s story deserves local storytellers — and local investment
The Duluth Harbor Monsters Arena League indoor football team plays a summer schedule at the Duluth Arena at the DECC. Howie / HowieHanson.com

Duluth’s story deserves local storytellers — and local investment

Mayor Roger Reinert has wisely steered Duluth back toward local control of its marketing by restoring Visit Duluth’s contract. Now there’s a chance to finish the job: to keep more of that marketing spend right here.

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Opinion: Duluth should fast-track sports dome, new Fryberger Arena to boost local economy and youth opportunities
Wheeler Field dome illustration. AI

Opinion: Duluth should fast-track sports dome, new Fryberger Arena to boost local economy and youth opportunities

By HOWIE HANSON Editor & Publisher DULUTH, Minn. — If there was ever a moment to lean into Duluth’s momentum as a regional youth sports capital, it’s now. The City of Duluth — under the proven, forward-thinking leadership of Mayor Roger Reinert — should immediately begin plans to finally build our

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Dan Hartman’s bold vision reinvigorates DECC

With strategic growth and bold imagination, the DECC and Bayfront could become the heartbeat of a city redefining itself—not just as a gritty port town, but as a premier northern destination for arts, entertainment and innovation.

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Convert St. Mary's Medical Center into senior housing

Why isn't the former St. Mary's Medical Center being easily and affordably converted into affordable senior housing units? Needed plumbing and electrical conversion costs would be minimal, compared to new construction to help to meet this growing need in our community.   Remember are few years back

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