Photo

One of the best nature/wildlife photographers you will find anywhere, Travis Novitsky took this picture of the spring sunset on the Pigeon River on March 29 while hiking the Middle Falls Trail in the Grand Portage State Park. Novitsky said, “I arrived at Middle Falls just in time to catch some really nice clouds over the river.” If you would […]

Sawtooth Mountain Clinic wins award for its work in screening for colorectal cancer


Sawtooth Mountain Clinic has been nominated and then awarded the 2018 Innovator of the Year Award for its work toward increasing colorectal cancer screening rates. The award is a joint recognition from the Colon Cancer Coalition (a national nonprofit aimed at promoting colorectal cancer screening awareness within communities), the American Cancer Society, and the Minnesota Department of Health. According to […]

Poplar River Management Board wins environmental award


The Poplar River Management Board was recently selected as a winner in the Rural Vitality category for the 2019 Environmental Initiative Awards! The Environmental Initiative Awards are an annual celebration of innovative and collaborative people and projects working on solving environmental challenges in Minnesota. In 2004 erosion along the Poplar River’s stream banks and main tributaries were identified as main […]

City of Grand Marais seeks action plan input to combat climate change


In 2016, a local youth organization identified that the City of Grand Marais lacked action against the threats of climate change. In response, the Grand Marais City Council passed the Climate Inheritance Resolution in 2017 and began developing a Climate Action Plan that “significantly reduces Grand Marais’ greenhouse gas emissions to levels that would protect our community’s children and grandchildren […]

Park board sets golf rates; Jones already at work


Even though there were snow flurries earlier in the day, thoughts of golf weighed on the minds of the Grand Marais recreational park board as they convened their April 2 meeting. In fact, park board members spent most of their meeting talking about setting the city-owned Gunflint Hills golf course 2019 membership rates, daily greens fees, and cart rentals, with […]

Takeaway…


For those of you wondering what key takeaway emerged from Joe Fredrick’s WTIP County Update interview with County Administrator Jeff Cadwell–fittingly on April’s annual practical jokes day—here’s a brief synopsis. Joe: Referring to the proposed jail expansion… “So what about the numbers? Do you have the cost-benefit numbers available for people to see?” Cadwell: “We really don’t because we haven’t […]

County administrator should get more public support

I work on several different committees that Jeff Cadwell is also on. I find him to be a very good administrator. He has been very helpful to all of those committees. On projects he has helped us cut back costs until they became doable. I would like to see more support for all he is doing for our county. Frances […]

Springtime with love

When life returns each year in Springthe Earth with all her children singand praise the Sun who from abovesends forth life’s ever-warming love. All creatures big and small beginreviving mysteries within—in flowers dressed the naked Earthshows forth the beauty of new birth. So let us join our Mother’s songwe too believe we are amongthe children of her wondrous worldLOVE’s love […]

Mushrooms no more

When it comes to governing bodies, “Trust but verify” always comes to mind. The aphorism mentioned above seems appropriate more than ever when it comes to our local administration. I point this out because a piece in last week’s paper about the county assessor’s position stated that Cook County “pays at the low end of the scale for this position.” […]

Thanks to Minnesota Public Utilities Commission

Once again the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission has ruled in favor of the Enbridge Line 3 replacement project. Forced to revisit the certificate for need and requests for reconsideration, the commission expressed frustrations with the challenge from the Department of Commerce at the urging of Governor Walz and as Commissioner Katie Sieben stated, “For the department to argue that the […]