Star Tribune
Minnesota Appeals Court rules Duluth had authority to reverse hotel project decision
DULUTH — The state Court of Appeals ruled Monday that Duluth’s City Council didn’t err when it reversed its planning commission’s decision about the need for environmental review of a 100-room hotel development.
Opponents of an $18 million Duluth hotel project last year appealed to the Minnesota Court of Appeals a Council decision that said an Environmental Assessment Worksheet [EAW] wasn’t necessary for a development near the Miller Hill Mall and an impaired trout stream, Miller Creek.
Duluth resident and neighbor to the site, Rebecca Mulenburg, argued that the city shouldn’t have allowed the Council authority to make the decision, among other claims listed in court documents. She contended it was up to the state court to hear appeals, per local and state laws. A city-appointed group of citizens that make up a commission for city development had initially directed hotel developer Kinseth Hospitality Cos. to conduct an EAW, prompting Kinseth’s appeal of that decision to the City Council.
City administration has said potential effects of hotel construction, such as warm-water runoff, would be controlled through provisions in the city zoning review and building permit process.
The court said the Minnesota Environmental Quality Board designated the city as the appropriate governmental unit to decide the need for an EAW, consistent with state and local law, including the Minnesota Environmental Policy Act.
“The relevant authorities contemplate a city, not a planning commission alone,” to be the responsible governmental body, wrote Judge Peter Reyes Jr.
Jill Crawford-Nichols is another neighbor to the site who advocated for environmental review. She said the court’s decision weakens the state’s Environmental Quality Board.
“Now, any disgruntled developer can circumnavigate the EQB appeal process by challenging the decision internally and pass the burden of the court of appeals process back to the homeowner or environmental organization,” Crawford-Nichols said.
Mulenburg had also asked the City Council to approve a hold on work this past summer while the Appeals Court decided the case. The Council said a bond was necessary to cover potential losses to the Iowa-based developer and required one for $1.6 million, which Mulenburg did not pay.
A spokeswoman for the city of Duluth declined to comment on the case and a representative for Kinseth didn’t immediately return a message.
The project is underway.
Star Tribune
Long Prairie, MN school board dismisses its superintendent, the latest controversy in this small town
LONG PRAIRIE, MINN. — The school district superintendent dressed up as the school mascot, Thor, on football nights. He read the graduation address in both English and Spanish. He even set up office hours in the cafeteria, granting easier approachability to students.
But now, two months into the school year, Daniel Ludvigson is gone. Or, rather, “on special assignment,” according to the terminology of the Long Prairie-Grey Eagle School Board, which voted 4-3 earlier this month to remove him as superintendent. The move came weeks after voting to not renew his contract, which expires at the end of the school year in June.
Four board members — two of whom voted to oust Ludvigson, including Board Chair Kelly Lemke — are up for re-election next week.
The dismissal is the latest blow in this central Minnesota community on the edge of the prairie. Over the last nine months, the town of 3,400 residents and seat of Todd County has lost its mayor, a city manager, two school board members, and now its superintendent.
Students walked out earlier this month in support of Ludvigson. Signs in support of Ludvigson can be seen across town on the lawns of apparent Democrats and Republicans alike. And last week, hundreds packed the American Legion off Hwy. 71 to eat beef sandwiches and sign support letters for Ludvigson, who only swung by to pick up his child for hockey practice.
In a time of great divide in America, this fight has nothing to do with politics.
“You’ve got Harris buttons and Trump hats side-by-side, arm-in-arm,” said Amanda Hinson, a former local newspaper reporter who is concerned the board is not being upfront about why they placed Ludvigson on special assignment. “We want transparency in our government.”
Lawn signs around Long Prairie, Minn., now include people weighing in on the dismissal of Superintendent Daniel Ludvigson by the school board. (Christopher Vondracek)
School board members say Ludvigson has repeatedly shown he is not ready for the prime time of a school district bigger than the one in central North Dakota he arrived from two years ago. They have twice disciplined Ludvigson, but did not state the reason for placing him on “special assignment,” beyond insinuating that staff are fearful to raise official complaints.
Rain and potentially heavy snow are on tap Thursday around the Twin Cities, just before families set out for Halloween trick-or-treating.
Temperatures were expected to drop throughout the day, creating conditions for flurries. A winter weather advisory is in effect from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. covering the Twin Cities metro area and parts of south-central Minnesota. Steady rain drenched the Twin Cities on Thursday, making for a soggy morning commute.
“As colder air begins to move in this morning, the rain will transition to heavy snow from west to east with snowfall rates of an inch per hour at times into early afternoon,” the National Weather Service in Chanhassen said in a weather advisory.
The Twin Cities and surrounding areas could get between 2 and 4 inches of snow, according to the weather service. The winter weather advisory is expected to affect Anoka, Chisago, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott, Washington and Le Sueur counties.
It’s unclear how much of the snow will actually stick, with warm surface temperatures likely leading to melting on contact in many areas.
“Exact totals will depend on snowfall rate, surface temperatures, and melting — which increases uncertainty with the snow forecast,” the weather service said in an early Thursday briefing.
“Thundersnow possible!” the weather service emphasized.
The good news for Halloween revelers is that the snow and rain are expected to wrap up in time for trick-or-treating, though temperatures will remain in the 30s with a sharp windchill.
An off-duty Washington County sheriff’s deputy caused a head-on crash while under the influence of alcohol and injured a couple in the other vehicle, officials said.
The crash occurred about 10:40 a.m. Sunday in Afton on Hwy. 95 at Scenic Lane, the Minnesota State Patrol said.
Campbell Johnston Blair, 58, of Hastings, was heading north in his Subaru Crosstrek, crossed into the opposite lane and collided with a southbound Ford Expedition, the patrol said.
Blair and the other vehicle’s occupants, 38-year-old Erik Robert Sward and 36-year-old Heather Lynn Sward, both of Lake Elmo, were taken to Regions Hospital with non-critical injuries, according to the patrol.
The patrol noted the alcohol use by Blair was involved in the crash.
Blair, who was driving a private vehicle at the time of the crash while off-duty, has been a deputy with the Sheriff’s Office since 2020 and is currently assigned to our Court Security Unit.
The Sheriff’s Office has been asked for reaction to the crash involving one of its deputies.
Suspect “led us to the evidence” in Montana camper’s brutal killing, initially thought to have been bear attack
Long Prairie, MN school board dismisses its superintendent, the latest controversy in this small town
Snow and rain on Halloween
Suspect “led us to the evidence” in Montana camper’s brutal killing, initially thought to have been bear attack
Long Prairie, MN school board dismisses its superintendent, the latest controversy in this small town