YMCA expands daycare operations to include Cooperation Station
When the Cook County Community YMCA opened its doors in January 2014, providing daycare to the community was not on its list of services to be provided. However, by the end of the first year, the organization had identified daycare as something the community desperately needed. Since then, the YMCA’s role in childcare has continued to expand. When Busy Bees […]
Grand Marais welcomes movie production
The city of Grand Marais got an inside look at the making of a movie this week as several businesses and part of a downtown street became sets for scenes in Virginia, Minnesota, a production of Rushaway Pictures. On Tuesday, September 13, the action was at the GunFlint Tavern. The rooftop overlooking the harbor, normally quiet after the lunch rush, […]
Commissioners struggle to reduce levy
Commissioners peppered Cook County Administrator Jeff Cadwell and Auditor Braidy Powers with questions about possible ways to reduce the pending levy increase at their Tuesday, September 13 meeting. Currently the county is looking at a 26 percent levy increase. The board doesn’t have to submit a preliminary levy to the state until September 30 and it has until December 30 […]
Todd Smith to become new county assessor
When he has receives his accreditation, Assistant County Assessor Todd Smith won’t have to move his desk many feet— should he choose to move it at all—to accept his new position as Cook County assessor. Cook County commissioners voted unanimously on September 13 to offer Smith the position after conducting a search to replace Betty Schultz who resigned late spring […]
Talking helps
I recently received a heartbreaking news release from the Minnesota Department of Health. The email was full of statistics about suicide deaths in Minnesota in 2015. It’s painful to read. The Department of Health reports that there were 726 suicide deaths in Minnesota in 2015, up from 686 in 2014. That equals 13 deaths per 100,000 Minnesotans. And that means […]
Radio Waves is a celebration of community
A big thank you to so many people who helped make our ninth annual Radio Waves Music Festival such a big success! Without the great cooperation and continued support of the Grand Marais Park Board and Park Manager Dave Tersteeg and his fine staff, Radio Waves couldn’t happen. With their help, what started out nine years ago as a onetime […]
Seeking peace in our troubled world
Every year, Sept. 21 is a day dedicated to peace. This comes from a suggestion through a resolution from the United Nations in 2001 right before the World Trade Towers were hit. Ironic. But we, as citizens of this troubled world, are called to think about, hope for, demonstrate, and gather together to promote the ideal of peace in our […]
“The Beatings Will Continue Until Morale Improves”
This sentiment has been expressed on T-shirts, cubicle walls, and social media postings of all kinds. A variation seems to be represented by those who want to deny local tax revenue to Cook County Schools/ISD 166 until the district demonstrates improved performance. I don’t believe we should inflict punishment on current and future generations of students for the real or […]
What is rural Minnesota’s economic pulse?
Is economic recovery being felt by rural Minnesota’s communities? According to Blandin Foundation’s 2016 Rural Pulse survey, released September 12, yes. Sort of. And by some. Commissioned since 1998 by the Grand Rapids-based foundation, “Rural Pulse™ provides a snapshot every few years of how rural Minnesotans perceive their communities and the issues they consider of greatest importance. Blandin Foundation surveyed […]