With a gentle but strange rain falling outside, a packed house of supporters inside, the Nordic Nature Group presented the IMatter Climate Report Card to the Grand Marais City Council on Feb. 22. The mission of the Nordic Nature Group (NNG), said Olya Wright, age 11, “is to help nature in good ways and take care of the earth. Our […]
Commissioners approve agreement with YMCA
Cook County Administrator Jeff Cadwell presented a new management agreement between the county and the YMCA to the Cook County commissioners on Tuesday, February 21. Under the new terms, the county is responsible for cleaning and the maintenance of the building (which it owns), and the Y will be responsible for programs and services. The hope is that the new […]
Greater Minnesota workforce housing bill “working” its way through the legislature
Cook County isn’t alone in its shortage of employee housing, and the county is expressly mentioned in a workforce housing tax credit bill that looks like it has some legs in the legislature. The bill authored by Rep. Rod Hamilton, R-Mountain Lake, if passed, would create a refundable workforce housing tax credit. It would also allocate $40 million (spread from […]
Two pedestrians struck in Grand Marais
A 2012 Ford F150 pickup truck driven by a 53-year-old Grand Marais man hit and injured two pedestrians near the SA gas station on Saturday, Feb. 18, at around 1 p.m. The accident happened as Donna Kay Rudman and Barry Lee Rudman, both age 46, from Forest Lake, were walking across the entrance of the gas station and Mark Oltean, […]
Is more Isle Royale wolf study really needed?
Thirty killer wolves wanted by Isle Royale National Park. These wild wolves are needed to kill moose which are over-browsing the island, disrupting the balance of nature, according to park managers. Neither wolves nor moose are indigenous to Isle Royale. Moose arrived in 1905. Wolves arrived in the early 1950s. Without predators the moose herd exploded to about 3,000 animals […]
Reader fires back at conservative stand
I was amazed to read in last week’s News-Herald that we did not have an election in November, that we instead had an all out winner take all war, and that “liberals” were vanquished, at least that was the story according to Lloyd Geillinger. Liberals, according to his fiat, have no right to exercise their freedom of speech, they cannot […]
Commissioners hearing opinions not facts
A friend who gives presentations during the comment portion of the Cook County commissioners’ board meetings wanted me to listen to WTIP Radio where on Wednesday, Feb. 15, Jay Andersen interviewed Commissioner Doo-Kirk. The commissioner claimed that the taxpayers who speak during the comment period of their meetings are using mostly opinions and not facts in their comments. She also […]
Affordable Housing
Local EDA president Howard Hedstrom is correct when he suggests, “Problems associated with housing were determined to be the most significant economic development issue facing Cook County.” Hedstrom was referring to the 2013 findings from the Cook County Go Team’s research study conducted by The Northspan Group of Duluth, a nonprofit economic development consulting group. A year into my term […]
New faces in different places at Grand Marais State Bank
While recently retired Grand Marais State Bank president Mike LaVigne is rumored to be spending plenty of time gleefully chasing golf balls around Arizona golf courses, several people have been promoted to fill openings at the century-old bank he left at the end of January. Filling Mike’s large shoes is Mark Youngdahl, who was named bank president, becoming only the […]