Rebecca Lewis of DSGW Architects of Duluth talked to the Cook County North Shore Hospital board on October 18 about renovating the hospital complex, which is now older than the average age of Minnesota hospital facilities. Lewis said the size of the building doesn’t need to change as much as how it is configured. The “cornerstone” of the plan her […]
Schroeder Township readies for winter
The plow truck the township of Schroeder bought from the county is in good repair and ready to go for the winter. At the October 9 Schroeder Township board meeting, Supervisor Roger “Bill” McKeever suggested that they use it as little as possible. The township will be asking some local contractors for bids on plowing the township’s roads. Whoever gets […]
ISD 166 looking to Finland’s success with education
The federal government of Finland does not dictate to its schools how they should educate their students, Superintendent Beth Schwarz told the ISD 166 school board at its October 25 meeting, held in Grand Portage. The country’s educational system, she said, is based on trust—between communities and their schools, between the adults in each school, and between those adults and […]
Down Memory Lane
10 Years AgoNov. 8, 2002 Sawtooth Mountain Elementary hosted the first annual Reader’s Digest National Word Power Challenge in grades 4 and 5. This new national vocabulary bee is for students in grades 4-8. All the Sawtooth fourth- and fifth-graders participated in the preliminary rounds as they attempted to move into the final five within each classroom. The classroom finalists […]
Thunder Bay area strategizing for regional mining plans
A meeting that started with smudging and drumming at Fort William First Nation Community Hall in Thunder Bay on September 17 proceeded without much conflict despite the somewhat controversial topic. The topic was mining, and it was being discussed after Thunder Bay lost its bid for a chromium processing plant that went instead to Sudbury, Ontario. In light of losing […]
Public utilities need to prepare for local power generation
With advancements in technology and interest growing in renewable sources of energy, the way public utilities do business may need to change. On October 24, Grand Marais City Administrator Mike Roth shared some of what he learned about this at a Southern Minnesota Municipal Power Agency (SMMPA) meeting he attended. Grand Marais is in the SMMPA collaborative. Roth reported that […]
Did that really just happen?
On November 2 the kids had a day off from school. Our exchange student Tim had never been to the Mall of America so we thought this would be a way to make a day of it. Because he is new to our country I was more aware of what we were seeing and experiencing as we walked through the […]
Economic challenges and opportunities in Cook County
Cook County’s economy could use a boost. Helping everyone do better was the focus of a “Go Cook County: Creating Sustainable Prosperity for All” initiative discussed at a Business Networking Luncheon at Cook County Higher Education on October 31. Jim Boyd of Cook County Higher Education explained that the initiative was launched about six months ago when a “small group” […]