Star Tribune
Fond Minnesota memories went up in smoke when Lutsen Lodge burned
As news was breaking Tuesday morning of a devastating fire at the Lutsen Lodge on Minnesota’s North Shore, the Star Tribune asked its readers to send their own memories of a place that for decades hosted tourists both near and far to one of the state’s jewels. Here’s a few:
“How do you sum up a place that has meant so much? I was there as a kid, then on my 10th wedding anniversary in 2009, came back two years later with my now 19-year-old daughter, made another trip a few years later with both of my daughters. Finally, the four of us visited during July of 2020 during the pandemic … I’ll never forget sitting on the beach with the fam, eating, drinking and skipping rocks with our new puppy. Does it really get any better?”
— Don Beauclaire, Minnetonka
“Our family memories go way back. My parents honeymooned there in 1952 … Growing up, Lutsen was always a favorite stop along the North Shore. Later, in the 1980s, my husband and I developed an annual tradition of staying at Lutsen Lodge over a fall weekend when there were few people around and the waves were often wild … We’d have dinner in the cozy lodge — in those days there was a fire in the big stone dining room fireplace and Swedish dishes on the menu.”
— Gloria Gunville, Afton
“This lodge touched so many over the years so I know I’m not alone. From falling in love with the North Shore while attending [University of Minnesota-Duluth] almost 40 years ago … It was the fanciest place for dinner after an annual canoeing trip in the [Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness]. Since then booking one of their two amazing corner room suites was always such a special treat on Labor Day! I’m sure they will rebuild something amazing but we can’t replace such amazing history.”
— Scott Weilage, Mankato
“My mom, Mae Contos, worked at and ran a ski bus from the Continental Ski Shop parking lot in Duluth up to Lutsen a few times a winter when I was a kid. We of course would park and get on at the little historical marker parking lot at the Ryan Road and Highway 61 … One time when the bus was overbooked my sister and I rode up and back laying in the luggage racks above the seats.”
— Lori Stroner, Minnetonka
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.
