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Long Lake Superior shipping season helps drive cargo increases through Duluth port

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Total maritime tonnage at the Port of Duluth-Superior in 2023 increased 4.5% over the previous year, helped along by more than 21.5 million tons of iron ore — the most shipped in a single season since 1995, according to the port authority.

Iron ore was up 12.6% from 2022, with increases in both domestic shipping and exports. Last month, the season closed with more than a million tons of iron ore shipped from Duluth-Superior, the highest amount for a January since the start of electronic record keeping in 2003.

The total float was more than 31.7 million short tons, with season-over-season increases in eight cargo categories, including cement, grain and durum wheat, the Duluth Seaway Port Authority said in its annual season recap. With the start of a partnership between Duluth Cargo Connect and the Netherlands-based Spliethoff, containerized general cargo tonnage quadrupled from the previous year.

Deb DeLuca, executive director of the Duluth Seaway Port Authority, called it a “very good season for our port” in a news release.

The international shipping season was 277 days, the longest in port history. It started with the arrival of Federal Dart on March 28, 2023, the earliest oceangoing ship on record, and ended with Nordika Desgagnes, which left on Dec. 29. A total of 775 vessels came through Duluth-Superior, the most since 2018.

The Great Lakes navigation season lasted 305 days — also among the longest in history.



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Love is Blind Minneapolis release date set

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Twin Cities, get ready to potentially spot an ex on the Minneapolis season of Love Is Blind, which was officially announced Wednesday night.

The anticipated reunion episode that closed out season 7, set in Washington, D.C., included the surprise announcement. The eighth season will launch on Valentine’s Day.

“This Valentine’s Day 2025 will mark the five-year anniversary of the premiere of Love Is Blind, and it is going to be the launch of season 8, which takes place in Minneapolis,” host Vanessa Lachey said in a moment also posted to social media.

Three of the incoming Minneapolis singles were introduced in the reunion episode. When asked about the challenges of the dating scene in Minneapolis, one contestant shared a sentiment many Minnesotans will be familiar with.

“It’s such a small community, it’s not like a major city but it’s also not a small town. So you kind of see the same people over and over, and it’s a small bar scene,” he said.



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Long Prairie, MN school board dismisses its superintendent, the latest controversy in this small town

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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.



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Snow and rain on Halloween

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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.



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