Animal Allies Humane Society is temporarily closed to visitors. Interested adopters are encouraged to make an appointment to visit the pet of their interest if they would like to adopt.

Clawdia

It was supposed to be a chance for scientists, Indigenous organizers and leaders, and a broad swath of regional decision-makers at all levels to come together and see first-hand what the drought is doing to the lakes and rivers in northern Minnesota.

At issue is Enbridge's recent request to take almost five billion gallons of water as they work their way across the state with the Line 3 pipeline replacement project.

And with the most widespread drought areas in the state in eight years, those five billion gallons are looking more and more significant.

Then, in the middle of the tour, attendees came across a group of Enbridge employees working to clean up a frac-out - a spill of drilling fluid - in a wetland.

As we slip into those lazy, hazy, crazy days of mid-summer, there's plenty to see whether we take a sidewalk stroll or hike in a wilderness area.

Watch for photographers: they've either got a bead on a beautiful plant, bird, animal or insect, or they're like naturalist (and our special guest host) Judy Gibbs and they're doing their part as citizen scientists and documenting the spread of invasive species in our area.

And while we know Duluth is a great place to live, why does valerian think so, too?

In anticipation of the 2021 Bayfront Reggae Festival coming up on July 17, Caribbean Roots host David Woodward spoke with Cat Coore of Third World, who will be performing. The Jamaican band is one of the longest-running reggae bands of all time, forming in 1973.  Coore shares talks about his experiences as a founding member of the band and as part of Jamaica's reggae scene and how he's seen the music evolve.

Daniel Oyinloye is a Nigerian-Born creative who moved to Minnesota in 2003. He operates DanSan Creatives where he is a producer and filmmaker but has also started his own musical project Seyi Stories which performs at Glensheen's Music on the Pier the same evening as this interview.

Phil Fitzpatrick and John Herold wanted people educated - and fired up to take action - about climate change.

They took an unconventional approach: engender action through ... poetry.

The folks concerned about rezoning a chunk of land off Vassar Street in the Woodland neighborhood aren't opposed to more housing going up;  they just aren't sure right above the Amity Creek watershed is the right place for it.

The forest fire smoke from Canada that has enveloped our region with haze in the last several days has made for colorful sunrises and sunsets (and reddish moonlight as well), but it has also limited the ability to stargaze. Bob King remarked that, the other night (which was cloudless but hazy), he could only count six stars in the night sky.  

Rich Mattson and the Northstars released their latest album, Skylights, back in February. In addition to working on his own album, Mattson also found a way to produce other bands safely during the pandemic at his Sparta Sound Studio. We talked about the album and  Mattson and Gemberling played some tunes from it when they joined us for a session on July 16, 2021 before playing a show with the whole band at Earth Rider Brewery that evening.

Rich Mattson and the Northstars on Facebook

Kirsten Aune Textiles will host a fashion show on Saturday, July 17th, featuring apparel made from Aune's hand-printed fabrics, paired with shoes crafted by Candace Lacrosse of Hemlocks Leatherworks and earrings crafted by Hattie Peterson of Tumbled Hearts Design.