Pressroom Podcast

Duluth News Tribune readers will now be able to hear the top stories of the day in a quick, easy-to-follow podcast. The "Duluth News Tribune Minute" will feature the most important news from around the Northland, including weather and sports, every weekday morning. Brought to you by the reporters at the Duluth News Tribune, Superior Telegram and Cloquet Pine Journal, the podcast will provide listeners the local news they need to start their day. The first episode will be available Monday, Feb. 1. Subscribe and listen at duluthnewstribune.com, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and Spotify.

Hey Pressroom Podcast listeners. No, we aren't back with new episodes. Sorry. But we do want to let you know about a new podcast produced by the Duluth News Tribune that you might be interested in. One hundred years ago, on June 15, 1920, three black circus workers, Elias Clayton, Elmer Jackson and Isaac McGhie, were wrongfully accused of sexual assault and murdered by a mob. In this six-part series, the News Tribune will look back at one of Duluth, Minnesota’s dark moments in history, a time when an estimated 10,000 people participated in or were witness to a hate crime — then didn’t talk about it again publicly for more than 60 years.  The Duluth Lynchings is produced by the Duluth News Tribune's Christa Lawler and Samantha Erkkila, with reporting by newsroom staff. The first episode airs Thursday, May 14, but you can listen to the trailer here first.

The bad news: We're going on hiatus. The good news: We will be back later this year with even more things Duluth.   In the meantime, if you have suggestions for guests, topics or just want to say hello, you can reach us at podcast@duluthnews.com.   Thanks for listening and we will be back soon. 

She’s been coined the “landless farmer.” Heather-Marie Bloom never set out to be a farmer, but after taking a farming course and leasing some land in Esko in 2011 she was hooked. She now operates Rising Phoenix Community Farm, a CSA (community supported agriculture) south of Floodwood where she leases 2-acres of land. During the growing season, Bloom lives in a tiny house, which she built with the help of her father, on the farmland so she can tend to her crops more easily.

This week we are joined by a Texas native who has quickly become a go-to political authority for Northland media when it comes to analyzing national politics.   University of Minnesota Duluth political science professor, and former journalist, Cynthia Rugeley (rhymes with hugely) discusses Sen. Amy Klobuchar on the debate stage, the Democratic Debates as a whole, and her idea that President Trump’s worst sin is accusing critics of a crime. She also talks about local politics and shares why Minnesota, a purple state in her opinion, is an interesting state to follow on a local level.

This week we have with us a writer who caught a wide audience with his recent Saturday Essay “Why Some Men Kill Women” on Perfect Duluth Day.  After a Duluth man was charged with fatally stabbing his wife not too far away from his home, Chris Godesy felt compelled to share his experiences and thoughts on men’s violence against women.  Godsey, who now works with the nonprofit Men as Peacemakers, shares what we can do to break down patterns of male dominance and how we can become more self-aware of our own behavior.

This week a pair of radio broadcasters whose voices have become a regular part of Duluth summers stop by the newsroom. Duluth Huskies summer broadcast interns Eric Moon and Andrew Murphy, as heard on 92.1 The Fan, share how they got here, what they like best about Duluth and Wade Stadium, and what broadcasters they look up to, which leads us to an impeccable Harry Caray impersonation.

Summer is just ramping up in Duluth and with that comes a full lineup of outdoor concerts at Bayfront Festival Park.  This week, Jeff Stark, head of DECC venue operations, joins us to talk about what goes into booking big names and big community events at the waterfront park overlooking the Aerial Lift Bridge.   Stark’s first job was at the DECC at age 16 and he has been there ever since. He shares a few tales from behind-the-scenes, including a face-to-face interaction with Bob Dylan, and what secret assignment he had during the day of the Trump rally, which was around a year ago.

Being the only woman on the St. Louis County Board can be a “lonely” job. This week County Commissioner Beth Olson, representative for West Duluth, shares what made her decide to run for a position that is predominantly male across the state of Minnesota. She shares how she is supporting other women in leadership roles, what she is learning from her constituents and how she measure success. And make sure you listen all the way to the end to see what Olson is into this week. She is living her best life by fulfilling a longtime dream of hers.

In the summer of 1977, an 18-year-old girl from the Iron Range who just wanted to see if she could run a marathon became the first woman to cross the finish line of a now iconic race. On this week’s episode, Wendy (Hovland) Cregg, the first Grandma’s Marathon female champion, shares what it was like to run the inaugural race and what competitive sports were like for women in the 70s when Title IX was enacted by Congress.

He’s on cup 75 out of 100 and still going strong, just like he takes his coffee. Last fall, Duluth City Council President Noah Hobbs started his effort to sit down and drink 100 cups of coffee with citizens of Duluth. On this week’s episode he shares his tales from the coffee shop, of which he’s been to every one in town. Hear how he got the idea, how it’s been going so far and what he’s learned the most from making himself more accessible to his constituents.  

Wedding season is upon us and this week we have a Duluth photographer who takes wedding portraits to the next level. Derek Montgomery has been known to summon the northern lights and conjure up lightning for priceless photos in his clients wedding albums, but he also has a keen photographic eye when it comes to freelancing for area media. Derek tells us about some of his more memorable moments as a wedding photographer, why he always keeps an extra pair of pants in his arsenal and what he likes to photograph most outside of weddings. We also get the origin story of “Hole Boy,” an iconic News Tribune photo of a toddler in a pothole to give it scale.

This week we have with us two movie-minded guys — both filmmakers, film consumers, film curators — Matthew Dressel, a screenplay writer who has taken the lead on this year’s Duluth Superior Film Fest, and Mike Scholtz, a documentary filmmaker whose “Riplist” will open this year’s festival. We talk about Mike’s film and how he came up with the idea to document a celebrity death pool draft. And we ask Matt how he selects movies for the festival and what makes a good movie. The festival, now in its 10th year, runs May 29-June 2. We also heavily debate whether or not spoilers are a good thing. Let us know if you are “Team Spoiler” or Team No Spoiler.” Email us at podcast@duluthnews.com. And while you are at it drop us a note of who you’d like to hear on an upcoming episode.

It's not the "hook and bullet" crowd it once was, says this week's guest News Tribune outdoors reporter John Myers about the outdoor scene in northern Minnesota. While he is still out there writing stories about fishing openers and deer camp, in the first 53 weeks in his new position at the paper he has found people enjoy the outdoors in many other ways too. Such as this Sunday's story about "glamping."  Fresh off a warbler walk, Myers shares some of his favorite stories so far along with a few hidden treasures that may come in handy as you explore the Northland this summer. 

“A little nonsense now and then is cherished by the wisest men,” recites this week’s guest Jim Ouray. The artist behind one of Duluth’s quirkiest events, the Smelt Parade, Ouray joins us on the podcast this week to tell us more about how the event got started, smelting and his background in puppet making. The parade, now in its 8th year, is Sunday, May 12 at 3:30 p.m. in Canal Park. The parade ends with a smelt fry at Zeitgeist Arts Cafe at 5 p.m. Attendees are encouraged to dress in silver.

This week Brittany Lind, creator of Ellipsis Duluth on Twitter and host of The Duluth Local Show on Minnesota Public Radio’s The Current, joins the podcast to share how she takes on Homegrown Music Festival, which is happening right now. Not a musician herself, unless you count playing the bass clarinet in high school, we learn how music became such a big part of her life, how Ellipsis came to be, and her goal of getting local music into the ears of more Minnesotans.  

This week we have with us one of Duluth’s top free agents and a trusted source in a rich history of well-regarded television news anchors who worked in Duluth. Edward Moody, former news anchor at CBS 3 Duluth, has been out of the business for a month now but he is still in the area and he’s still consuming the news. He tells us how he digests and reacts to news now that he’s not in a newsroom and tells us about his future plans. He also recounts his favorite moments and stories from working in television news for 17 years.

Opera, UMD, Sammy’s Pizza, “Brooklyn Nine-Nine”, eating lunch with Bill Paxton, there's not much we didn't talk about during this week’s episode with actor Joel McKinnon Miller.   McKinnon Miller, who stars as detective Norm Scully on the NBC sitcom and visits Duluth fairly regularly, shares snippets of life as an actor in Los Angeles and offers “deep Blu-Ray commentary” on movies and shows he has had a role in. He also shares an epic smelting story from his college days as a Bulldog.

It’s been about a year since he retired from a long career as the News Tribune’s outdoors reporter. This week, we catch up with Sam Cook to see if he set a new record of nights slept on the ground. Cook, who still writes a weekly column for the paper, fills us in on his retirement adventures, what (if anything) he misses about reporting, and the great mustard purge of 2018.

Hockey continues into April. For the third year in a row.   This week it’s a crossover episode between the News Tribune’s two podcasts. Sports reporter Matt Wellens, host of the Bulldogs Insider Podcast, joins fellow reporters Christa Lawler and Brady Slater along with KDAL radio guest Bruce Ciskie for a tournament primer as the UMD Bulldogs make a run in their third consecutive NCAA Frozen Four. We talk about the four teams in the tournament, the secret to UMD and the NCHC’s success in the postseason, and what the chances are the defending champs win it all in Buffalo, N.Y.

We blame him when we get dumped on with snow and call him a liar when it rains when he said it would be sunny. But that’s what comes with the job title says WDIO chief meteorologist Justin Liles. He’s been forecasting the Northland for 14 years and he’s learned a thing or two along the way, like how Lake Superior influences the weather in the strangest ways. In this episode, Liles recalls some of his favorite obscure weather events, shares how he works with the big lake to provide more accurate forecasts, and lets us know if winter is indeed over.

In 2018, the St. Louis County Rescue Squad responded to over 400 emergency calls, 73 of which were missing persons cases.   “It’s very easy to get lost,” said this week’s guest, Captain Rick Slatten, about St. Louis County.   Slatten leads the 66-person volunteer squad made up of engineers, OR docs, funeral directors and college students all responding to their “inner Saint Bernard.” He shares the origin story of the squad, which was started by his father in 1958, recalls a few of his more memorable missions, and gives us a few pointers so we don’t become a person that needs rescuing.  

"We are all just people," says our guest Duluth Mayor Emily Larson on this week's episode. It's a theme she keeps referring to when talking about people's opinions about the city's search for a new flag, or their opinions about women in leadership roles, or their opinions with her end of year column.  We explore those opinions, in which we get an apology out of Brady, and get to know Mayor Larson better with some more trivial conversation, like her idea to measure the temperature only in "feels like" units. 

When she first moved to the Twin Ports, Jessica McCarthy said it was really easy to find drugs. All she had to do was one loop around town and in about a half an hour she had access to opioids. Now the opioid technician with the Duluth Police Department, McCarthy is tasked with getting overdose victims immediate interventions. This week on the podcast, we learn more about McCarthy’s job,  the opioid crisis in the Northland, and her own struggles with addiction.  

This week we have with us two winter enthusiasts unafraid to take a dip in Lake Superior — even if it means cutting through the ice. Rich Narum and Troy Rogers take a leap into the big lake once a month no matter how cold the temperature. Partaking in this ritual since 1995, Narum is a veteran jumper. Rogers on the other hand is a little more relaxed on his meetings with the big lake. But on this they both agree, each dip is a memorable one.

Back in town after living in California for awhile, Actual Wolf, aka Eric Pollard, stops by the podcast this week to talk about his new music and a wide array of other topics. The new dad and regular sauna goer offers sound parenting advice (“just keep ‘em alive and be nice”), the theory of adulthood, his take on social media, and the best people to come out of Hibbing (sorry Kevin McHale, not you).

She’s been teaching us about the port for the better part of a decade. This week, Adele Yorde, recently retired marketing specialist with the Duluth Seaway Port Authority, gives us an inside look at the port and the people who work on the vessels and on the docks. Not knowing much about the shipping industry before she started the job, Yorde says it took her “about two days” to fall in love with the port and the “characters on the waterfront.”

This week’s guest calls her recent teaching experience “faith restoring” and a good reminder that “innocence still exists.” Back from a five month stint in Belarus, Fulbright Scholar and Lake Superior College English teacher Jocelyn Pihlaja shares her experience with us. From starting a lending library with books written in English to navigating the squat toilets in fancy shoes, Pihlaja opens our minds to what life is like in the Eastern European country.

It’s been almost a year since his team took home the gold in South Korea. This week we catch up with Olympic curler John Shuster to hear how his life has changed since his team embraced their underdog story, took out the competition and climbed to the top of the podium.   The Chisholm native tells us about his whirlwind year and how he tries not to get used to the pinch-me moments, which have included a White House state dinner and celebrity golf tournaments where he is the celebrity.   We also get answers to your top questions. Will there be a movie? Is another Olympic trial in his future?

Find firewood, carry firewood back to camp, split said firewood, place firewood in stove. Repeat. Sounds like a lot of work, but for those who enjoy winter camping it’s all part of the experience. This week we are joined by Molly and Shannon Solberg of Duluth who started winter camping years ago by digging a hole in a snowbank and crawling inside for warmth. They’ve since graduated to a tent with Thai curry simmering on a wood stove. The Solbergs share their tips and tricks to camping in the cold. Tip: Cotton is rotten. And what’s the main draw. Think no bugs, no people, lots of fish and lots of stars. And maybe a wolf or two.  

If you want to hang out with Jessica Rossing you better be up for something active. The seven-time amateur Team USA triathlete turned boutique fitness studio owner did something she doesn’t normally do. She sat. She sat down with us this week to help us focus in on our fitness goals for 2019. Rossing, owner of Movo Studio, which she described as a “high intensity complimented with yoga,” space in Duluth, shares some tips and tricks to hold yourself accountable in the new year.

No matter how you pronounce it, northern Minnesotans love their saunas. But if you don’t have one in your basement or at your cabin then you might be missing out on the Finnish steam bath. Until now.   This week on the podcast we meet Whitney and Kelby Sundquist, who own Duluth’s new portable sauna Hiki Hut. Hear about how their new business works, how they renovated an old ice house, and where you can find them around town.

We are taking a quick break, but we will be back next week with some hot new content. 

A presidential visit, a giant refinery fire, bringing home Olympic gold, winning national titles, an historic theater reopening. The list goes on and on. 2018 was a very newsy year. This week we discuss those top stories, how they were covered, and how they affected our readers with News Tribune executive editor Rick Lubbers and managing editor Peter Baumann.

This week we are catching up with a Pressroom Podcast veteran. Duluth musician Rachael Kilgour’s new song, “Holy Are We,” recently attracted the attention of Rolling Stone magazine. They may have spelled her name incorrectly and used the same word twice in one sentence, but Kilgour says she is pleased with the recognition. We talk about the song, her upcoming EP and what life has been like since we last visited with her in March of 2017.

This week we talk with an adventurer who recently drove more than 6,000 miles in 28 days visiting 14 states and flying in 11 of them. Whitney Horky is a paramotorer — she tours the sky from something she has described as a “glorified lawn mower and a bedsheet.” When she found herself “less employed than usual” this fall she packed up her paramotor and traveled state to state on a solo “recommended trail” flying with other pilots/hobbyists she met along the way. Whitney tells us about her trip, what it’s like up there and what she thinks about when she is flying on this week’s episode.

Whether you paddle, pole, pedal or plod (that's hiking), Jake Boyce and his team of adventurers has you covered. Boyce, co-owner of Day Tripper of Duluth, has turned the North Shore into his playground and takes the public along for the ride. But it’s his love of surfing on Lake Superior that he keeps all to himself. On this week’s episode, the native Duluthian shares what it’s like to surf on the big lake and what new thrill seeking ideas he has up his sleeves.

Whether you know him as Bob King or Astro Bob, everyone’s favorite photographer is retiring in December after a 39 year career at the Duluth News Tribune. Bob tells us how a guy from Illinois with a German major got into photography. He shares some of his favorite assignments and the great lengths he has gone to in order to get the perfect shot, including the famous grave digger photo.

Zipper merge, window tint, dogs in laps, feet on the dashboard, quotas and much more. Sgt. Neil Dickenson stops by the podcast and answers your traffic questions. The face of the Minnesota State Patrol and one of our most read columnists, Dickenson answers your pressing questions and shares stories of what he has seen while on duty. “I’ve seen a lot of bad crashes. I've seen the devastation out there on the roads,” he said. “Ninety-four percent of the crashes that we deal with are preventable.” Also, Christa stumps him with a question.

The Duluth Folk School is now your one-stop shop for learning how to sharpen your chainsaw, making your own foraged tea, decorating an egg Ukrainian style, and grabbing a cup of coffee and a bite to eat at the new Dovetail Cafe and Marketplace. Director and co-founder Bryan French tells us how his vision for the handcrafting and community building school in Lincoln Park came to fruition and what big plans he has for the future.

This week’s guest is “vaguely well-known in a small part of the country.” His words not ours. On a visit to the big city Aaron Brown, voice of the Iron Range with his blog Minnesota Brown, talks with us about his journalism background, national media descending upon the Range during the political season, and his lifelong connection to the communities there.    We recorded this episode before the election, so there won’t be any politics on this episode. You’ll have to check out duluthnewstribune.com or his regional blog for election results.

During the month of September our guest created only a mason jar full of garbage. And it took her six days to make any trash at all. April Hepokoski, the mind behind the Zero Waste Duluth Facebook page, shares how her journey to sustainability began, what first steps she made in eliminating plastics, and what things we can do in our own lives beyond bringing reusable bags to the grocery store.  She also offers some zero waste insight for the upcoming holidays. You know, the season full of wrapping paper, ribbon, and bubble wrap. 

This week we have with us a famous face from Fox 21 News who recently landed in front of a national audience on NBC. Anchor Dan Hanger was involved with a moment of awkward banter during a newscast that caught the attention of Jimmy Fallon.   We talk about that moment, but that's just the tip of the iceberg in an episode full of insight into the television news business, Hanger's personal life and how he balances his two worlds.  Make sure you listen to the end because the "What we are into" segment goes off the rails. We're talking a total derailment and it's great. 

To some she is known as "the sticker artist," but local watercolor artist Sam Nielson is much more than that. After successfully starting her business and selling her art on Etsy.com, Nielson decided to become a full-time artist last spring. This week, Nielson shares what Duluth scenes inspire her to create new sketches, what it's been like to fully invest in her watercolor art and how her work appeals to a wide range of art lovers. 

This week we have with us a natural-born talk show host who has been interviewing people in front of a live studio audience since he was in high school. Recently, WDSE has picked up his show "Twin Ports Tonight." Andrew Kirov talks the writing process, pitching sketch ideas, what's funny and how he captures the "weirdness" of the Northland into a talk show meets Saturday Night Live type of local show.  He even gets into character for us as an Eveleth men's hockey league coach whose team is losing to Babbitt. 

One of Duluth's most visible - and busiest - artists Adam Swanson recently returned from an artist residency aboard the research vessel Falkor, where he captured images of science with art.  Swanson, who recently finished a giant owl mural in Duluth's Lincoln Park neighborhood, joins Christa Lawler and Barrett Chase on the podcast this week to talk about his recent assignment at sea and how that work re-energizes him once he returns to his home studio. 

It's not all ghosts and goblins, Duluth has a dark history all its own without needing to dive into stories of paranormal hauntings. Although those stories have their place, too. During the month of October, The Duluth Experience offers a Dark History tour which explores the city's lesser-known mysteries. Dave Grandmaison and Nick Schutz stop by this week to let us know what to expect on a tour and where their favorite spooky spot is in Duluth. 

Jake and Valerie Scott discovered the craft cider scene while living out east, and decided to bring it back to Duluth - where both graduated from the University of Minnesota Duluth.  Before venturing into the cider business, the couple always enjoyed making beer together, they even made their own beer for their wedding.  On this week's episode, the couple share their origin story, the history behind their taproom, and most importantly what type of cider they will be making - it's nothing like that sweet, carbonated stuff you find in the store. 

Abigail Mlinar and Melissa LaTour, two of the people involved with creating Femn Fest, join us this week to discuss feminism - what common misconceptions people have about feminists - and what they have in store for year two of the festival. Billed as "an unapologetically feminist festival," the two-day event is made up of female-identifying performers, presenters, and business owners. The second annual Femn Fest is Sept. 21-22 at Sacred Heart Music Center in Duluth.

This week we have with us Alexandera Houchin who, in early July, was the female winner of the 2,745 mile Tour Divide - a bike race from Banff, Alberta, to the Mexican border. Alexandera, a senior at the University of Minnesota Duluth, tells us about the grueling race, which she completed in 23 days and three hours, and her anti-climatic finish. 

It was never our guest's intention to own a pig farm, but things kept falling into place for him and his family to keep going. Matt Weik of YKer Acres joins Christa Lawler and Brooks Johnson on the podcast this week to talk about their recent move to a new farm in Carlton and how the farm-to-table business model best suits them and the Duluth restaurants they supply.  Weik also shares some insight on life on the farm and how tough it was when one of their very first sows, Minnie, passed away last week. "My good friend and I have talked about this a lot and he says, 'If it's not hard then you shouldn't be doing it.' And I totally agree with him on that," Weik said.