Today’s Duluth vibe: tweens wearing shorts and carrying Big Gulps playing on giant piles of melting snow.

Here's something you probably didn't have on your 2026 bingo card: I'm the host of a new financial literacy podcast! Plain Money Talk was developed by Forum Communications, the parent company of @duluthnewstribune.com, in collaboration with sponsor Bell Bank.

Is David Salmela to Richlite what Frank Gehry is to stainless steel? "Maybe!" Salmela laughed at the suggestion. That said, "Frank Gehry is much more programmatically progressive. This was just common sense."

"I sometimes forget that it's a puppet."

When we tell our kids about grocery store samples, they’re never going to believe us.

Happy 156th birthday to Duluth feat. Mayor Roger Reinert and Lyric Opera of the North

Another great reason to live in Duluth

Elevator winned

The federal government is holding, without explanation, $1.05 billion allocated to replace the Blatnik Bridge. If the funding is not released, the bridge is projected to close for safety reasons circa 2030.

Any predictions?

"As Taylor Swift says, 'It's been a long time coming.'"

“It’s more important than ever not to just teach students the tools of filmmaking, but make them understand what those moving images mean.”

Paul McCartney must really like secret agents, because he agreed to write theme songs for both James Bond and Austin Millbarge.

Duluth is a city of 87,000, and yet it sustains multiple organizations that offer classes in spoon carving.

Talked with @jaygabler.com about the Minneapolis sound, and how it defined the shape of music to come for his latest piece for @artsmidwest.bsky.social: artsmidwest.org/stories/how-... Still having a real pinch me moment that my quotes are graced alongside quotes from the legendary Dr. Fink!

There’s so much modern dance in the #Olympics opening and closing ceremonies, and yet where are the medals?

As an arts journalist, my favorite #Olympics moment is this closing ceremony DJ being introduced as a “founding member of Eiffel 65.”

I need Rick Steves as an #Olympics closing ceremony announcer, explaining how this all goes back to the pagans

omg they played the Water Drops On Burning Rocks orgy song in the #Olympics closing ceremony

One of the bobsled announcers has an Australian accent and I can only picture Bluey’s dad in the control booth.

"Tina: The Tina Turner Musical" contains two "Tinas," and who would want any fewer?

Well, that’s an awkward way to structure that headline

Intermission at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center. Anyone know where you can get a drink around here?

"There's a large, turtle-shaped hole in our hearts."

I can't believe they played the Jeopardy! theme at the @exploreminnesota.bsky.social conference and no one mentioned the show was invented on a flight out of Duluth. #LocalAngle

"I've read a lot of romance novels in my day. Never one with ghost murder." "There was not ghost sex. Should have been."

"In seeing bodies moving on stage together, and in seeing these different kinds of stories, whether they are joyful or frightening, they remind us of our humanity."

The most important thing I’ve learned from the Super Bowl pregame commentary is that the past tense of “let it rip” is “let it ripped.”

The second @farawaypress.com novel set in the world of Tim Burton’s Batman is even better than the first, introducing a Riddler whose villain origin story includes being cheated out of syndication royalties on his newspaper puzzles. I get it. Thanks Random House for the free book.

Some of these kids have been ski jumping since an age when I couldn't even tie my shoes yet. (Granted, I was a late bloomer when it came to shoelace skills.)

"Sarah Brown, who has been the Zenith Bookstore buyer and store manager for over four years, is dedicated to continuing the vision and values of the store."

"I would challenge you to find anything even remotely similar to it that's this far away from a Trader Joe's, and has this extreme of a climate, and has this kind of arts scene and these kinds of community resources."

"To produce a public festival has just gotten to be very expensive."

"This is impacting Minnesotans from the north to the south to the east to the west."

"The idea of having some superhero to come and save things is kind of nice."

In the immortal words of Sabrina Carpenter, none of this is a metaphor.

Other proposed venue names included Capy-Bar-A, Lemur Landing and The Roar & Pour.

"I want to be a hub for people who are cleaning out an old craft room or something and don't know what to do with all these old threads and bits and bobs to turn around and be able to give them back to the community."

"We can't trust the official government rhetoric of what is unfolding. That hurts me to say that, but I don't think we can." - Venus de Mars

"It feels like we've been flying by the seat of our pants. We have played a lot of places in such a short time, but it's been a ton of fun."

One thing that hasn't changed about the World Wide Web since the beginning: "contact us" webforms are ubiquitous, no one trusts that they actually work, and those suspicions are very often justified.

You could still watch the Oscars, but what's the point? Minnesota's film critics have spoken.

If your Best of 2025 playlist doesn't include "Golden," why do you forsake joy?

Looking back on the year Roger Reinert met the Moomins.

Empire Builder: not a good thing!

Manifesting a mash-up of Die My Love and Train Dreams where Robert comes back from a logging job and Gladys hands him the baby then walks off into a wildfire, naked, while flipping him the bird over her shoulder.

10% of writing is inspiration, 10% is perspiration, and 80% is sourcing photos.

There is no common household task more profoundly altered by having a child than emptying the dishwasher. If you ever want your dishes to see the inside of a cupboard, you basically need to take PTO.

For a movie with so much to chew on, Joachim Trier’s feature moves with efficiency, finding moment after moment of gentle emotional truth.

Our landlord now requires us to file maintenance requests via an AI assistant, and I've never been more motivated to become a homeowner.