Free Republic

Duluth made history last week when it became the first city in the state to pass a resolution in support of a constitutional amendment that would essentially overturn a U.S. Supreme Court decision, namely Citizens United vs. the Federal Election Commission. The court ruled in 2010 that corporations are entitled to the same constitutional rights as individual U.S. citizens. A majority of justices also concluded that political spending was a form of free speech and that corporations should be able to spend an unlimited sum of money to influence voters, without disclosing financial details of their activities. Although Duluth is...

The issue of gay marriage will come before the Duluth City Council tonight when Councilors Jeff Anderson and Sharla Gardner introduce a resolution opposing an amendment to the state Constitution that would allow Minnesota to legally recognize only opposite-sex unions. Councilor Todd Fedora criticized the resolution at a Thursday night agenda session, saying: “It has nothing to do with the city of Duluth.” The matter of whether to disallow same-sex marriage will be put to a statewide public referendum Nov. 6, 2012, and Fedora contends the city has no business telling people how to vote. He sarcastically asked whether resolutions...

First Amendment rights don't apply at a bayfront Christmas attraction, the city of Duluth argued in an objection filed Friday in federal court. "Bentleyville is not a public forum, and the nonprofit is not a state actor," Duluth City Attorney Gunnar Johnson said, reading from the city's objection. "The plaintiffs do not have First Amendment rights in Bentleyville." Federal Magistrate Judge Leo Brisbois recommended this week in favor of a temporary restraining order that would permit Steve Jankowski of Duluth and Peter Scott of Hibbing to resume preaching at Bentleyville, at Bayfront Festival Park. Last year, city police told them...

Christopher Neil Bjerkness faces sentencing Nov. 29 in a felony burglary case after a plea agreement was reached Wednesday in St. Louis County District Court. Known as the "Ball Slasher," the 33-year-old Bjerkness originally pleaded not guilty to breaking into the Chester Creek Academy fitness center in May. Bjerkness has several previous convictions for breaking into facilities to slash exercise balls - an action described as a sexual fetish.

A Duluth man continued to say someone else shot him, but nevertheless pleaded for a shorter sentence Thursday by telling the court: "If I shot myself, your honor, I don't need any prison; I need a damn shrink." Judge David Johnson was unmoved and sentenced Alcide Cloutier, 35, to a longer-than-guideline prison sentence of 7-1/2 years. Last month, a St. Louis County jury rejected Cloutier's claim that he was a good Samaritan who was shot by a black man - whom he later described as a white man - while trying to help a woman in Duluth's Lakeside neighborhood in...

Seventy years ago today, on Saturday, May 24, 1941, if you were walking the halls at St. Mary’s Hospital in Duluth you might have run into members of the Zimmerman family. They would have been there for the birth of Abe and Beatty Zimmerman’s first child, a son whose arrival was noted in the News-Tribune five days later:

He just lost the endorsement of the largest newspaper in his area, The Duluth News-Tribune, for the first time in 30 years. Citing the lack of financial restraint by the incumbent, The Duluth News Tribune emphasized Oberstar’s rubber-stamp of Obama’s policies on cap and trade, health care reform, continuation of the war in Afghanistan, and the resulting increase of unemployment.

Is a proposed passenger train line from Minneapolis to Duluth on course for a $700 million derailment? Or is it merely headed toward a $300,000 detour that could delay plans a year? Faced with competition from nine other routes seeking federal funding as well as a possible rerouting of the line's Twin Cities starting point -- to St. Paul, instead of Minneapolis -- proponents of the Northern Lights Express (NLX) have shifted gears.

With just over two weeks until Election Day, several Minnesota newspapers are endorsing the Independence Party's Tom Horner for governor. The Star Tribune's editorial board says Horner has the best chance to overcome partisan gridlock in St. Paul. The Forum of Fargo, the Duluth News Tribune and the Bemidji Pioneer also endorsed Horner Sunday. Polls have shown Horner well-behind both Democrat Mark Dayton and Republican Tom Emmer.

ALONG THE SOUTH KAWISHIWI RIVER — Just outside the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilder­ness, deep below the lakes and streams that have defined this area’s value for centuries, lies a fortune to be made. Everyone involved in Minnesota’s copper mining controversy agrees there’s an incredibly rich deposit of nickel, platinum, palladium, copper and other high-demand minerals under this rugged land. “The Duluth Complex is perhaps the world’s largest untapped resource of (copper, nickel and platinum group metals) with multibillion tons of geologic resources estimated to be worth more than $1 trillion,”

DULUTH — A ring-billed gull with a taste for doughnuts has returned for the ninth straight year to the Super 8 motel in Duluth, and he’s brought some friends. The Duluth News Tribune reported that the bird, known at Steven Seagull, still taps on the glass door of the motel every morning looking for doughnuts.

As commander of the Duluth Combined Honor Guard, I have received a number of complaints, belligerent rants and slanderous remarks from our community after the guard posted the colors at the Tea Party rally Thursday in Bayfront Festival Park. The guard posted the colors during the Pledge of Allegiance to our flag and during the National Anthem. The responses I’ve received have been intolerable and unfounded. People really need to inform themselves about the intentions of our honor/color guard before becoming irrationally reactionary.

A Superior woman accused of holding a knife close to the neck of an anti-abortion demonstrator outside of Duluth’s Building for Women last month pleaded not guilty to an assault charge today in St. Louis County District Court. Mechelle Tallulah Hall, 26, is charged with second-degree assault in the alleged Nov. 24 incident. At her initial appearance, last month, Hall told the court, “I know what I did was wrong.” Hall waived a hearing to challenge evidence against her. Judge John DeSanto scheduled Hall’s next hearing for Feb. 16 with a trial scheduled for Feb. 23. The defendant is accused...

Duluth architecture firm donates $5,000 for credits to offset carbon from the Bentleyville light display

Pope Benedict / Bishop Sirba Duluth, Minn., Oct 15, 2009 / 10:34 am (CNA).- On Thursday morning, Pope Benedict named Msgr. Paul D. Sirba, currently vicar general and moderator of the curia in St. Paul and Minneapolis, as the ninth Bishop of Duluth, Minnesota, filling the position left vacant when Bishop Dennis M. Schnurr was appointed as coadjutor of Cincinnati, Ohio in October 2008.Two other bishop's appointments were also announced by the Vatican today: Fr. Fernando Isern as Bishop of Pueblo, Colorado and Msgr. Robert C. Evans as auxiliary of the Diocese of Providence, R.I.According to the Diocese of Duluth, Bishop-elect...

The St. Louis County Sheriff's Office says a man with a self-professed sexual fetish for slashing rubber balls was arrested and has appeared in court. Police started looking for 31-year-old Christopher Bjerkness after surveillance tape allegedly showed him breaking into a fitness clinic in May and slashing exercise balls. Duluth Police said Bjerkness was arrested after he called them from Holiday Mall to surrender and that he now faces burglary charges. Authorities are familiar with the Bjerkness. A criminal complaint released last week says he was convicted in 2005 of breaking into a sports facility at the University of Minnesota...

A Duluth man is behind bars after allegedly stealing a car and repeatedly calling 911 to brag to police that they would not catch him. A police officer spotted the stolen car about 2 a.m. Friday and chased the man, who crashed into a guardrail but then turned off his lights and sped away. Police soon found the car abandoned. Shortly after that, the man allegedly began calling 911 from a cell phone and telling dispatchers he would not be caught because he was "smarter than the police." But about two hours later, a man called 911 to report a...

A Duluth man is behind bars after allegedly stealing a car and repeatedly calling 911 to brag to police that they would not catch him. Police say the 23-year-old man stole gas from a gas station late Friday, then fled in a car he allegedly stole earlier in the night. A police officer spotted the stolen car about 2 a.m. Friday and chased the man, who crashed into a guardrail but then turned off his lights and sped away. Police soon found the car abandoned. Shortly after that, the man allegedly began calling 911 from a cell phone and telling...

A 64-year-old Duluth woman whose heart almost stopped beating and whose body temperature dropped to a dangerous 60 degrees after she was stuck in the cold for hours has survived — and her recovery amazed doctors. Janice Goodger slipped in snow on the afternoon of Dec. 27 and wasn't found until hours later. Near death, she was taken to St. Luke's hospital. One emergency room doctor said her body was as cold as he's seen.

Ted Schlafke's second trip to Alabama turned into what the Minnesota Duluth quarterback called the best memory of his life late Saturday afternoon at Braly Municipal Stadium. Schlafke and the Bulldogs completed a perfect season with the perfect ending, winning the school's first Division II football championship, beating Northwest Missouri State 21-14 in a game that wasn't that close until the end. Schlafke, UMD's All-America quarterback, was instrumental in the victory, throwing two touchdown passes while managing the game in near flawless fashion. Combined with a stifling defense that came up with four turnovers, the Bulldogs celebrated a 15-0 season...

Fitger's Brewhouse in Duluth is updating the old concept of the milkman for beer drinkers. The brew pub says it's the first in Minnesota to offer home delivery of growlers -- half-gallon jugs of fresh beer. The pub plans for weekly and daily routes through Duluth. Brewmaster Dave Hoops says the company will drop off the beer and take the empties away, sort of like and old-time milkman. The growlers are $14 each, or $11 for a replacement. There's a special introductory charge of $1 per delivery, but Hoops says with today's gas prices that will go up. The pub...

Jennifer Randa didn't need to see the official numbers released this month by the Duluth Police Department: crime up nearly 20 percent from 2004 to 2005, with drug crime more than doubling and violent crimes up by 32 percent. From the Union Gospel Mission, where she helps provide meals and clothing to the homeless, Randa monitors the daily fistfights and street prostitution, the bustling drug trade and random vandalism sapping life in the city's Central Hillside neighborhood.

Duluth police issued a citation Thursday night after watching a live contortionist onstage at a troubled historic theater — an act the officer says violated a new state law on adult entertainment. The citation was issued on the only recent night that adult entertainment was offered at the NorShor Theatre in downtown Duluth. "We're back to being just a bar for now,'' said Jim Gradishar, a Duluth adult bookstore owner who also is managing the bar business in the NorShor, which is owned by Duluth physician Eric Ringsred. Gradishar said he believed the Thursday night act was not in violation...

Duluth, Minn. Duluth has become the third U.S. city to become an Eco Municipality. Ashland and Washburn enacted the Swedish-born sustainability program last year. The Duluth City Council passed a resolution last month pledging to move toward four basic principles of sustainability: use fewer natural resources, use fewer man-made or synthetic chemicals, cause no additional degradation to the Earth and meet all human needs.

SINCE 1983, the city of Duluth, Minn., has been promising free lifetime health care to all of its retired workers, their spouses and their children up to age 26. No one really knew how much it would cost. Three years ago, the city decided to find out. It took an actuary about three months to identify all the past and current city workers who qualified for the benefits. She tallied their data by age, sex, previous insurance claims and other factors. Then she estimated how much it would cost to provide free lifetime care to such a group. The total...

SPOONER, Wis. Duluth Mayor Herb Bergson crashed his car near Spooner last night and was cited for driving under the influence of alcohol. The Wisconsin State Patrol says Bergson suffered minor cuts to his face and was taken to the Spooner Health Center after his vehicle struck a guard rail along U-S Highway 53 on his way to a conference in Chicago. Bergson says in an e-mail to reporters that he was charged with operating while intoxicated. He says he made a, quote "terrible error in judgment when I got behind the wheel." Duluth City Councilor Russ Stewart says he...

Homeowners who decorate their yards with life-sized plastic deer are complaining the sculptures are being damaged by those stalking real deer during Duluth's special season for bowhunters. "My decorative doe, Felicity, had an arrow sticking out of her hind quarter," Orval Pussywillow of Hunter's Park complained yesterday. "This has got to stop. We paid good money for our beautiful deer." Pussywillow said his four plastic pink flamingos and a lawn ornament depicting the posterior of a fat woman bending over were unmolested.

More than 100 cats have been seized from a woman's home in Duluth's West Duluth neighborhood. The Duluth Animal Control and Animal Allies are asking for the public's help in finding homes for the cats. There are too many to be housed at the local animal shelter. People can adopt the cats or be foster owners until space becomes available at the shelter. Authorities say the cats seemed to be OK and had enough food and water. The woman living with the cats was taken to a nearby hospital for evaluation. Authorities seized the cats after a complaint by the...

Remember Runaway Bride Jennifer Wilbanks? How could any of us forget the fleeing fiancée, considering the wall-to-wall media coverage we had to endure. Well, now after pleading no contest to faking her own kidnapping, Wilbanks has been sentenced to probation and community service. She's also been fined $2,550 and is repaying the city of Duluth, Georgia, $13,250 towards the $40,000 search tab. In addition, Wilbanks is receiving treatment at a mental health facility. Oh, yeah, did I mention that she's just snagged a book and TV deal for a reported half-million dollars? That's right. According to the New York Post,...

AROUND THE NATION, A RISING TIDE:COMMUNITIES CLAMOR FOR ACTION ON GUN VIOLENCE PREVENTION In Duluth, Minnesota this afternoon, the bells will be ringing. Duluth's citizens are not alone in demanding action. Washington D.C. – In states throughout the nation, the extreme gun lobby and their willing accomplices in public office are getting stiff reactions to their hard-headed refusal to support reasonable steps to protect the safety of American families. Some of those responses: In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Monday, two Senators received a frosty reception for offering no genuine response to combating what has been a terrible year of gun violence. In...

Never has our nation been more united than in our current consensus that Jennifer Wilbanks is officially coo-coo for Cocoa Puffs. I’m talkin’ coo-coo for Cocoa Puffs. Y’know, we can’t seem to harmonize over Iraq, judicial nominees, or what to do with social security, but we have formally joined in one accord and have spewed our national coffee over the goggle-eyed runaway bride, aka, Jenny from Georgia. It seems as if this Georgia peach has officially begun to turn. For what it’s worth, here’s what I propose we require of this damsel who’s hanging on by a thin wire: 1....

I don’t purport to be an authority. But it seems to me having as many bridal showers as Elizabeth Taylor Hilton Wilding Todd Fisher Burton Burton Warner Fortensky has had marriages is an obvious red flag. Things are spiraling out of control. Weddings have a way of doing that. Almost everyone, even those remotely involved, has a suggestion or two. The bride and groom, trying to satisfy as many people as possible, often end up making arrangements they really aren’t happy with. The result is what should be a joyful celebration turns into a nerve-racking, embittering experience. This week’s adventure...

'It's like being stuck in a river getting whisked over a waterfall' ATLANTA, Georgia (AP) -- On the surface, Jennifer Wilbanks was a happy bride-to-be who showed no sign to friends or family that she wanted to call off her extravagant wedding. But underneath, as she would later tell police after running away to New Mexico, Wilbanks was scared and not sure she wanted to go through with her big day. Marriage counselors say Wilbanks' actions are an extreme but understandable reaction to the stress of the wedding and the fear of disappointing others by backing out. "Sometimes it's like...

Those who subscribe to the retro and misguided theories of 20th century psychology believe there is no age at which a person is accountable for his or her actions. No matter how egregious, premeditated, arch or criminal, there is always a mitigating "reason" – which in the "non-judgmental" world of psychobabbling therapists can never be deemed wrong or evil or stupid or a matter of bad character. That reason, the thinking goes, can be traced back to one's childhood and especially one's parents. And no matter how many years or decades have elapsed, no matter what the influence of peers,...

DULUTH, Ga. — Local police are investigating the disappearance of a Georgia woman who is supposed to get married on Saturday. Jennifer Wilbanks has not been seen since she went jogging in Duluth, Ga., Tuesday night, Gwinnett County police said. Wilbanks, 32, described as 5-foot-8, 120 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes, was last seen in the downtown Duluth area at 8:30 p.m. She was wearing a gray sweatshirt, blue sweatpants and blue New Balance running shoes. Her fiancé, John Mason, said Wilbanks left the house around 8:30 p.m. for her jog "in good spirits" and said she would...

DULUTH, Minn. - Investigators were trying to determine on Monday the cause of the Sunday night explosions that destroyed a local ice arena and injured several broomball players and fans. People inside the building said they suspected the explosion came from a room containing an ice-grooming machine, which are often known by the brand name Zamboni. Fire Chief John Strongitharm said after the initial blast in the room, there were at least two subsequent explosions. He thought they were caused by propane tanks stored near the ice-groomer. Ice grooming machines often use the flammable gas as fuel. Strongitharm estimated the...

DULUTH -- A Duluth hockey arena was destroyed and at least two people suffered minor injuries Sunday night after a Zamboni ice-resurfacing machine exploded during a broomball game, starting a major fire and sending players and spectators fleeing. "It looked like the Zamboni doors flew off onto the ice," a player told KDLH-TV in Duluth, referring to the doors of the enclosure in which the Zamboni sat while waiting to go on to the ice. The explosion happened about 9:40 p.m. at Peterson Arena, 3501 Grand Av. in west Duluth. The witness said the explosion started ceiling insulation on fire,...

DULUTH -- In a part of Minnesota where many sportsmen distrust Sen. John Kerry and many union workers distrust President Bush, their running mates sought to shore up support and ease uncertainty Thursday.

This letter appeared in the Letters To The Editor column in the Duluth News-Tribune Tuesday, October 5, 2004: Bush, Rumsfeld trying to reinstate military draft If you are a parent of or are close to someone between the ages of 18 and 26, please consider the following: There is pending legislation in the House and Senate (companion bills: HR163 and S89) to implement a renewal of the military draft as soon as next June. The Bush administration is quietly trying to get these bills passed now, while the public's attention is on the elections. Information can be found in detail...

July 14, 2004 -- DULUTH, Minn. — President Bush yesterday tagged rival John Kerry as an "out-of-the-mainstream" Hollywood liberal by pointing to last week's New York fund-raiser in which Whoopi Goldberg reeled off an X-rated Bush-bashing rant. "The other day my opponent said, when he was with some entertainers from Hollywood, that they were the heart and soul of America," Bush told crowds in the Democratic but socially conservative towns of Marquette, Mich., and Duluth. "I believe the heart and soul of America is found in places right here," Bush added to cheers from two giant crowds as he sought...

Duluth becoming a hot campaign stop for presidential hopefuls The Associated Press 7/11/2004, 5:27 p.m. ET (AP) — The presence of both major presidential candidates in the Duluth area within two weeks shows the region's significance — a major media market that covers parts of three battleground states for the 2004 election. President Bush is scheduled to visit on Tuesday and Sen. John Kerry was recently in nearby Cloquet. Nothern Minnesota residents are enjoying the attention. "Prior to 2000, we tended to be a place where only vice-presidential candidates came, if anyone," said Craig Grau, political science professor at the...

DULUTH, Minn. (AP) - A Ten Commandments monument that stood on the lawn of City Hall for 47 years has been removed after a federal judge said its presence violated the separation of church and state. The 1,600-pound hunk of granite was taken Friday to a garage that houses the city's historical memorabilia. Calls to the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota, which had sued the city to have the statue removed, and the city attorney were not immediately returned Saturday. The monument was donated to Duluth by the Fraternal Order of the Eagles in 1957. The Eagles gave similar...

ALBERT LEA, Minn. -- A few evergreen trees partially conceal the stone Ten Commandments monument in this southern Minnesota town's Central Park. It might be hard to find, but it's nearly identical to a monument that has caused citywide controversy in Duluth. They are both on city-owned land. Duluth city council members recently voted to remove their monument after the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota filed a lawsuit claiming the monument was an unconstitutional violation of church and state. There no similar lawsuits planned for the Albert Lea monument because no plaintiffs nor attorneys have been lined up by...

SAN DIEGO – The San Diego-based Tarawa Amphibious Ready Group will leave today on a six-month deployment to the Western Pacific, Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean, carrying a 2,200-member Marine Corps unit from Camp Pendleton. Although the group's departure coincides with a buildup of U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf in possible preparation for a war with Iraq, Lt. Charlie Brown, a Navy spokesman, called it a regularly scheduled "routine deployment." Besides the USS Tarawa, an amphibious assault ship that looks like a small aircraft carrier and is used to land troops onto hostile shores, the group includes the USS...

Ship celebrates family as storm clouds gather Relatives, friends join forces with crew By Jeanette Steele STAFF WRITERJanuary 4, 2003 Nine-year-old Vincent Ramirez pulled his younger sister close as they posed for pictures yesterday in front of the Marine helicopters their father fuels. "I'll be the man of the family," Vincent said, his big eyes sad under the beige baseball cap he wore low. That will be the boy's job starting Monday, when his Navy father, Vincente, sails for a six-month deployment – probably to the Persian Gulf, and to possible war with Iraq. It was family day on one...