Thumbs down to the St. Louis County board for its vote to hire former County Attorney Alan Mitchell as its interim county administrator -- over two existing deputy county administrators -- without ever posting the position. What's the goal here, to keep the county running efficiently or to give Alan Mitchell a job? After failing to pass an earlier proposal to pay Mitchell $75,000 a year for work the county has always done in-house in December, is this simply the next public job to come along? And is it a conflict of interest when a county commissioner hires his personal attorney -- Mitchell defended Commissioner Raukar on the sexual harassment charges -- as a public servant, albeit on an interim basis (which has no end date). Thumbs down again, to the county board for its outrageous gas mileage compensation: 72.6 cents a mile.
Thumbs up to Northland ice rinks, inside and out. We might as well make the best of winter, and it's great that the city takes care of a number of outdoor rinks. In addition to providing residents with a place to be active in winter, the rinks also provide businesses with cold hard cash. For example, the Duluth Figure Skating Club held its Northland competition last weekend, bringing skaters from all over North America. Then there are the hockey games, pond hockey, curling bonspiels, etc.
Ice sure is nice ... most of the time.
However, thumbs down to Canal Park businesses who haven't cleared the ice off their sidewalks. That's not smart and it makes folks not want to go there during the colder months, when they need all the business they can get.
Thumbs up to University of Minnesota researchers (lead by Doris Taylor) who created a new rat heart by using the framework of a dead heart as a "scaffold" to create a new one. Essentially, they then collected new living heart cells from a donor animal and reseeded the empty organ scaffolding. Pretty amazing research.
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Thumbs up to the Greater Downtown Council and its biggest annual meeting yet. You have accomplished much in our beloved downtown (and we love the Clean and Safe team).
