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Remembering Jim Oberstar
Editor Konnie LeMay spoke with KBJR's Dave Anderson about former congressman Jim Oberstar.
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Molly Hoeg
Superior Entry, Wisconsin
The Algoma Equinox arrives in the Twin Ports via the icy Superior entry.
Jim Oberstar, 1934-2014
Former congressman James L. Oberstar, the longtime northeastern Minnesota representative, passed away last week. He was 79. Jim spent 36 years in Congress, many of them as a member of the House Transportation Committee. In his honor, U.S. lakers (including the vessel renamed for him in 2011) lowered their flags to half-mast on May 8.
Oberstar, a DFLer, was elected to Congress in 1974 and served until 2011, making him the longest-serving Congressman in Minnesota history. He was a strong supporter of federal transportation and public works projects, a long-time member of the House Transportation Committee and its chairman between 2007 and 2011, when he left office after a surprise electoral defeat. A portrait of Oberstar hangs in the Transportation Committee Room in the Rayburn House Office Building.
+ Our editor, Konnie LeMay, spoke briefly with KBJR about Jim and his legacy.
First Saltie Finally Arrives in Duluth
In 2013, the first saltie arrived in Duluth in late March, the earliest an oceangoing vessel had completed a full transit of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway system.
This year, April came and went – still no saltie, still lots of ice.
Finally, late on Wednesday night (May 7), the Antigua and Barbuda-flagged Diana reached the Twin Ports, the latest the first saltie has ever arrived. That smashed the previous record of May 3, set in 1959.
As of Friday, ice still covered nearly a third of Lake Superior.
Park Point Delivers
The weather wasn’t the greatest, but needing to get outside we decided on the Park Point Hiking Trail. We had no particular purpose in mind. Rich would be happy to find some birds, and I’d be content with a bit of exercise and fresh air.
+ Paul Sundberg’s Photos of the Week feature a red fox family.
+ Watch the Bayfield ice break up in this fascinating video.
+ Sault Ste. Marie Evening News: “In announcing expenditures $17.8 million for the 2014 work plan, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit District has earmarked $7.5 million for work associated with the Soo Locks in 2014.”
+ Kelsey Niemisto, FOX UP: In Marquette, “tattoo shop making its mark on the community.”