The City of Duluth’s Parks Maintenance Division will place clean, discarded wood chips for public use and pick up in bulk at the U-shaped driveway by Tony Emanuel Field at Woodland Park beginning Saturday.
The wood chips, which are an urban forestry byproduct and are untreated, are available on a first-come, first-served basis to anyone wishing to use them. If the pile depletes, parks maintenance staff will continue to refill them until the spring.
The City of Duluth administration cannot warn taxpayers about a projected $5.5 million deficit while refusing to explain a recurring $4.5 million funding stream redirected from general operations. The account now has nearly $9 million.
Duluth residents should not accept a budget narrative built only around the bad news. Transparency requires more than explaining the size of the shortfall. It requires identifying every option, every revenue decision and every pool of existing or reasonably anticipated financial capacity.
Early-term labor agreements, sluggish revenue growth and familiar levy politics have left City Hall confronting a projected $5.5 million deficit.
The agency lowered the Duluth's issuer rating and several debt ratings from A3 to Baa2. Moody’s also reduced the rating on the district’s annual appropriation certificates of participation from Baa1 to Baa3. The district had about $184 million in outstanding debt as of October 2025.
"All signs, including the huge turnout in Tuesday's DFL primary, point to a strong year for Democrats in Minnesota. If that proves to be the case, then Senator Klobuchar should have a smooth path to the governor's office." -- Former Duluth city councilor Joel Sipress
Murray, who turned 29 on Friday, signed a one-year contract with Minnesota in March after spending his first seven NFL seasons with the Arizona Cardinals. Arizona selected him with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2019 NFL draft.
GOOD WATCH: Duke Skorich's Personal Meeting Room, talking regional politics. . . . BREAKING SPORTS: St. Scholastica athletics director Jessica Cherry announced Kyle Yost as the Saints’ next women’s basketball coach. Yost takes over as CSS prepares for the 2026-27 season after earning the program’s first Minnesota Intercollegiate
