Featured – Page 18 – Locally Grown (LoGro) Northfield

Published February 18, 2009 by Griff Wigley

How will the crash reshape Northfield?

In the March ‘09 issue of Atlantic Monthly, urban theorist Richard Florida has a cover piece titled How the Crash Will Reshape America. It made me wonder what the long-term impact of the economic crash on Northfield will be. The lead-in to Florida’s piece:

The crash of 2008 continues to reverberate loudly nationwide—destroying jobs, bankrupting businesses, and displacing homeowners. But already, it has damaged some places much more severely than others. On the other side of the crisis, America’s economic landscape will look very different than it does today… Which cities and regions can come back strong? And which will never come back at all?

Featured National

David Brooks Richard Florida

Published February 14, 2009 by Bonnie Obremski

Stimulus package could affect schools, unemployment rate

Federal dollars might soon funnel into communities across the nation if the Senate passes the $789 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and many people are already speculating about how the bill might affect their communities. This week, State Senator Kevin Dahle (D-Northfield), Christopher Richardson, superintendent of Northfield’s public schools, and Michael Hemesath, chairman of Carleton College’s Economics Department, talked about their understanding of the bill and what Northfield citizens might expect if it becomes law, which could happen as early as Friday night (update 2/14/09 8:15 a.m. the Senate did pass the bill).

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Economy Nation Representative Journalism

Published February 13, 2009 by Griff Wigley

A rejected obituary photo: offensive or tasteful? (take the straw poll)

Jon and Ali Feldman’s twin boys, Owen and Cooper, died shortly after they were born last week. When they submitted the obituary with this photo to the Northfield News, the newspaper declined to run the photo because, according to Jon who I spoke to by phone yesterday, they felt it might offend their readers. The Parker Kohl Funeral Home has a page that includes the photo. Jon and Ali asked us to blog it and invite LG readers for their reaction. 11:20 am update: I’ve added a straw poll. (continued)

Featured Media People Straw Polls

Northfield News obituary

Published February 13, 2009 by Griff Wigley

Why wasn’t the liquor store roof replaced after the hail storm?

A pesky citizen approached me last week during my morning office hours, wondering why the liquor store roof was not replaced after the big hail storm in 2006. The store’s roof is now targeted for replacement as part of the store’s $55-65K upgrade(Nfld News article). We discussed it briefly on our podcast with Mary Rossing and this roofing contractor, and I followed up with Interim City Administrator Joel Walinski. Joel wrote in an email: (continued)

City Featured

hailstorm Joel Walinski Municipal Liquor Store

Published February 13, 2009 by Griff Wigley

An alert from Chief Taylor on the rise in abuse of cough and cold medicines

Northfield Police Chief Mark Taylor has a letter on Page 8 in the December Northfield High School newsletter (PDF). High School Principal Joel Leer introduces the chief’s letter: “Chief Taylor details some troubling information that is coming out about young people in Rice County who have been abusing cold and cough medicines. Please talk to your children about what they are doing, seeing, and hearing in school.” (continued)

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cold medicine cough medicine drug abuse Mark Taylor

Published February 13, 2009 by Griff Wigley

Locally Grown now no longer accepting text and banner ads

After considerable weeping and gnashing of teeth about the types of ads to offer here on LG, we’ve settled on offering a combination of text and banner ads for both…

Advertising Featured

banner ads text ads

Published February 12, 2009 by Griff Wigley

Podcast: Hayes Scriven on creating a podcast walking tour of Northfield

Our guest yesterday was Hayes Scriven, Executive Director of the Northfield Historical Society. He’s leading a group of Northfield institutions (so far, they’re collaborating) that’s creating an audio walking tour of historical Northfield using some new-fangled technology called podcasting. In true Jesse James fashion, he stole the idea from New Ulm and their video podcast.

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Hayes Scriven Northfield Historical Society

Published February 12, 2009 by Griff Wigley

Abe or Chuck: Who was more important? Can they still help us?

Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln were both born this day, 200 years ago. Tina Kells writes in NowPublic: “The parallels in Lincoln’s and Darwin’s lives are also useful for the rest of a nation, which remains as bitterly divided over issues of homosexuality as we are about creation and evolution, and as we once were over human slavery.” So with a spirit of inquiry, let’s discuss. Some links: (continued)

Cultural issues Featured

Abraham Lincoln Charles Darwin evolution

Published February 10, 2009 by Griff Wigley

CVB launches revamped VisitingNorthfield.com site to mixed reviews

The Northfield Area Chamber of Commerce/Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) has a newly revamped website for VisitingNorthfield.com. At first glance, there’s a lot to like. A second glance, however, makes…

Businesses Civic Orgs Featured

Convention and Visitors Bureau CVB Northfield Area Chamber of Commerce

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