(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) - Welcome to "Almanac North," I'm Maarja Hewitt.

Tonight on "Almanac North," our civics conversation continues as we examine the role, responsibilities, and civil impact of mayors in our region.

That's coming up.

But first, businesses interested in owning and operating electric vehicle charging stations can now apply for $47 million in grants, according to the Minnesota Department of Transportation.

The funds will be used to build and maintain EV fast charging stations, primarily along I-90, with additional charging stations along I-94 and I-35.

This latest request for a proposal is the second round of EV charging station funds to be distributed by MnDOT as a part of the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Program.

Businesses interested in applying need to meet the following requirements, located no more than 50 miles apart along the Alternative Fuel Corridor, located less than one mile driving distance from an exit, have a minimum of four 150 kilowatt charging ports able to operate simultaneously, allow public access to the chargers 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

MnDOT anticipates awarding funds for 14 EV stations in this round.

This round of funds compliments the previous selection of 12 locations along the I-94 and I-35 corridors.

That round accounts for more than $7.1 million in funding.

Minnesota will receive 68 million over five years for this program.

MnDOT has a webinar scheduled for anyone interested in learning more.

It's scheduled for Wednesday, October 30th, at 11:00 AM.

Participants will have an opportunity to learn more about the requirements and ask questions.

Before we speak with our first guest, we join Dennis Anderson for a special report from Denny's Desk.

Denny?

- Thank you, Maarja, and welcome to Denny's Desk, where today we're getting ready for Halloween on a budget.

According to the National Retail Federation, Halloween spending will hit a whopping $11.6 billion, with 72% of people planning to celebrate.

So, let's talk budget-friendly tips from the Better Business Bureau.

Now, first, get creative at home.

Check your closet for costume ideas before going out and buying anything new, or consider swapping old costumes with friends or family.

If you're only planning to wear a costume once, consider renting instead.

Now, for candy, buying in bulk can save you cash, especially if you're expecting a big crowd of trick-or-treaters.

And remember, factory wrapped candy will last past Halloween.

When shopping at seasonal stores, always understand the return policy.

These pop-up shops may not be open after October 31st.

So, be certain before you buy.

Online shoppers, make sure you're on a secure website and use a credit card for added security.

Another way to celebrate and save money is to make decor at home.

Use household items like cardboard, old sheets, and markers to create spooky props, recycle glass jars into lanterns, or make spiderwebs from cotton balls.

Not only is it fun, but it also saves money.

And lastly, if you're buying tickets to a haunted house or some kind of special event, check the business online, read reviews, and check for any complaints or scams reported by other customers.

Stick to these smart tips to keep your Halloween fun, safe, and within budget.

This has been another edition of Denny's Desk.

Thank you for joining me.

And now, back to you, Maarja.

- Thank you, Denny.

Our first guest comes to us from across the bridge, Superior Mayor Jim Paine.

Thank you for joining us.

- Thanks for having me.

- Let's start with like a high-level look at your primary responsibilities as a mayor in Superior.

- Yeah, I always tell about anybody that I have three jobs, administration, representation, and politics.

So, I have to actually run the city day-to-day.

There is no city manager or administrator.

I do political work.

I'm a member of the city council, and I preside at the meetings.

I can introduce and veto legislation from the council.

But my favorite part of the job is representation.

It's speaking on behalf of the people of Superior, everywhere from interviews like this all the way to meetings with the president of the United States.

- So, the role of the mayor looks a little different in Wisconsin versus Minnesota.

How does that differ?

- I've never really believed in these labels, like strong mayor, weak mayor, strong council, weak council.

In Wisconsin, we have strong mayors and strong councils.

So, unlike in Duluth, there is nothing between me and the administration.

So, all of the department heads report.

In fact, all city staff reports directly to the mayor, but the department head specifically.

And the mayor's more active in the political work of the city in Wisconsin, being members of the city council.

- So, how does your role as Superior mayor differ from like what other government officials, like the city council do?

What's the check and balance there?

- Probably the biggest difference in Superior is that I'm full-time, and there are no full-time counselors, there are no at large counselors.

So, I'm the only elected official that represents the entire city.

I'm also the only elected official that does it full-time.

One thing that's unique and Superior compared to all other Wisconsin mayors, we have a local ordinance that actually mayors of Superior from having any other job.

So, not only do I do this work full-time, I'm not allowed to moonlight doing anything else.

- Oh, and that's unique to Superior?

- I think we're the only city that has that law yet.

- Can you walk us through a typical day as mayor?

- Of course, there's no such thing.

So, because of those three jobs, my day can be very different.

The weekdays really do get pretty administration-heavy.

I have the most direct reports of any supervisor in the city.

I have something like 15 people that report to me directly, and I try to meet with them as often as possible.

And so I'm up pretty early.

I tend to get up about 5, 5:30 in the morning to get a workout in, if I can.

And then the day starts pretty quickly with emails, responses.

Constituents can reach me much more directly than any of my predecessors because of social media.

And then spend most of the day in administration.

And then evenings are often public events or committee work with the city council.

But at any given time, an event can take me right outta the city.

I went and spoke to Denfeld government students just yesterday.

- Oh, wow.

So, full days, and they vary a lot.

- That's right.

- What skills or qualities do you think are essential for someone who wants to be a mayor?

- I think you have to be connected to the community, and you have to be honestly connected to the community.

I keep a list of political rules to keep me grounded, and one of them is do the dishes, which means if you're gonna be part of an organization, whether you're the mayor, whether you hope to be in public life, don't just move yourself to the front of the room.

There's plenty of people that can chair the committee meeting, that can be president of the organization, but somebody has to wash the dishes at the church dinner and do all the regular volunteer work.

And I think if you are willing to do the real work of community, that on-the-ground work, you're going to be connected to the real needs of the community and you're gonna represent them better.

- How does the role of mayor impact the long-term vision and growth of a city?

- I don't think there's any single person that has more influence on the overall development of a community.

Mayors in Wisconsin have an incredible amount of power.

And if you have a strong clear vision, you can influence quite a bit.

And it's not just within the city.

You know, as I said, I spend a lot of time in Madison.

I spend a lot of time in Washington.

I work with a lot of other elected leaders.

And I can help influence and draw attention from the state or the country to our community and build a place that's just better than where we were living before.

- Do you think there's some misconceptions that people have of the role of mayor?

- Yeah.

The biggest misconception is that it's a miserable job.

You know, I'm not gonna pretend that it's not hard, sometimes.

There's a lot of criticism.

There's plenty of unfair criticism.

And, yes, my trips to the grocery store take far longer than anybody else's.

But make no mistake, this is the coolest job in the world.

I get to, unlike almost anybody else in elected life, going all the way up to the president of the United States, I get to help people every single day.

There's so much I can do to impact people's lives, often with just my own influence or authority.

And the ability to help people that often to make a difference in your hometown, there's just nothing more exciting than that.

- When you're balancing the needs and wants of different organizations in the community, what does your decision-making process look like?

- I try to always start with what is in the best interest of the people, of the city as a whole?

I'm never willing to tell a person I can't help them individually.

We can do that.

We do that all the time.

But our primary responsibility has to be what's best for the people at large.

And so if a decision can benefit everybody, then it's an easy decision.

If that's not so clear or there's no real large public impact, I'm happy to help individuals.

Whether it's development projects, we help developers all the time build their projects partially because it's good for the public, but also when you help any one business, it's good for everybody.

That goes down to individuals too.

I will fill somebody's pothole that day if they get ahold of me.

- What advice would you give to young people who want to make a difference in local government?

Sounds like you talked to or spoke with a bunch of young people yesterday, so.

- Yeah, they actually, they asked me that question.

And there were a lot of kids that wanted to be involved in government and public life.

And the answer is actually pretty simple, just be involved.

And there's many ways you can do that.

But I think my path to the mayor's office involved being involved with a lot of community organizations.

I was active within my church.

I was active within the Rotary.

I try to say yes to volunteering a lot.

Just being involved in community.

But there's many other things you can do too.

If you're interested in affecting national politics, consider interning on a campaign or going to Washington to study and then interning in Congress, or even in your state houses in St. Paul or Madison.

There's a lot of ways to be involved.

And service is the only legitimate way to power in a democracy.

- And for residents in Superior, how can they get involved in the decision-making process?

- I'm a firm believer that government is not in charge in a democracy.

Everybody's in charge in a democracy.

And I think we do a good job of that in Superior.

We invite the public to every single one of our government meetings, committee and council.

We try to make ourselves very accessible.

And we treat the public as though they are actually in charge, because they actually are.

Now, we have to govern by majorities and consensus, of course, but your voice won't be heard if you don't speak.

And so any way you can speak up, whether it's reaching out directly to an elected official or attending some of these government meetings, listening to what's going on, and weighing in your opinion actually will matter.

- Mayor Paine, thanks for joining us and offering your perspective.

- Of course.

Thank you.

- Our next guest is mayoral candidate for Bovey Minnesota, Tony Yunk.

We reached out to the other candidate, Michael Bibich, but he was unable to join us tonight.

Tony, welcome to our show.

- Well, thank you very much.

Appreciate it.

- Well, why did you decide to run for mayor of Bovey?

- Well, I've lived in Bovey for 9 1/2 years, and I kind of sat back, watching how things are being done and whatnot.

And I think we can have some improvement on how things are going.

So, I'm hoping that I can bring more foresight to what we need to do to help elevate us.

- What are some challenges you see the people of Bovey facing?

- Our biggest challenge is money, tax money.

The city has a hard time to be able to raise their taxes, to get any infrastructure in and such.

I like to say the city's this much, the county's this much, the state's this much.

I want will look to have all the mayors of the small towns along the range get together with our state rep and local representatives and go to the state and plead with them and say, "We need to take some of your money and put it into these towns."

Right now, as everyone knows, taxes are quite a bit high, and that's due to inflation, as well as everything else.

We need to put money back into these smaller towns.

Otherwise, we'll be taxed out of a town.

The town will be a ghost town.

And I wanna, that's my main goal is try to work with getting something done.

- If you're elected, what immediate actions would you take to make a positive impact in the community?

- That would be the immediate action, get started.

And then there's some, well, whether it be zoning or we got some issues that need to be addressed to help with all the population, not just a specific field.

I could see this town being able to grow a little bit.

I wanna bring some tax dollars in by getting a couple of businesses in.

That would be light manufacturing, which we have the room to do that.

But again, I'm gonna plead with the state and try to get some money from the state into this so that we can survive.

'Cause once we can get these businesses in, we're gonna be able to be self-sufficient.

Right now, we're scraping by.

- Tony, can you share a little bit about your background and how it applies to running for mayor.

- I have a pretty extensive background.

I was a builder for 33 years, construction.

I worked at the paper mill for a total of 37 years.

That's at Blandin Paper Company in Grand Rapids.

I've started and sold four businesses.

And my fifth one, I just shut down 16 years ago.

And that was the builder.

And being retired has been the busiest job I ever had.

And I'm still civically going to the city meetings.

Matter of fact, I'm here today instead of our city meeting tonight.

I just, and when I've been around shaking people's hands, I still got ways to go, but I'm encouraged by what they're telling me.

I want people to, and give 'em my information, call me.

Even if I don't make it as mayor, call me because I go to the city meetings and I have brought up several things concerning other people that are afraid to go in.

And I'm not.

So, I wanna shake some trees a little bit, but I don't want to go too far away from the status quo.

I do need to, we do need to elevate our town.

And I've got different ideas on what to do.

I have a couple, like I said, a couple businesses that want to come in.

I have a builder that would like to build some houses on some city property, if he can get it.

So, that'll just help increase our tax base.

- Tony, thank you so much for joining us tonight.

- Well, thank you.

I appreciate it.

(gentle music) (gentle music continues) - Next on "Almanac North," I'm joined by Alexis Pogorelskin, author of "Hollywood and the Nazis on the Eve of the War: The Case of The Mortal Storm."

Alexis, thank you for joining us.

- Hi, nice to be here.

I'm here to talk about my book recently published by Bloomsbury Press.

And just to give you a little background about it, I'm dealing with a novel and a film.

The novel originated in Great Britain.

The author was a woman named Phyllis Bottome.

She published the novel in 1937.

It was immediately a bestseller.

It was taken up in the United States, published by Little Brown and Company in 1938.

And again, a bestseller.

Hollywood took out an option on the novel because at that time, in the late 1930s, Hollywood basically produced most of its movies as a result of purchasing the rights to best sellers.

And I think one has to remember that at this time, in terms of media and communication and entertainment, it was best sellers, novels, radio to a degree, but the most important medium was movies.

And when a novel was optioned by a movie studio, that meant it truly was a success.

And in this case, "The Mortal Storm" came out as a film in June of 1940.

And this was a time when there was great debate, great discussion in this country about whether the Nazis were a threat, whether we should be involved, whether we should pay attention to what was happening in Europe, whether we should come to Britain's aid, whether we should even re-arm.

I mean, these were the big questions that roiled American political life.

And this movie was designed very clearly, very intentionally to present the plight of the Jews, as it turns out, before the Holocaust.

The first major film to present the plight of the Jews before the Holocaust.

And the film was also, if you will, a brief, an argument for intervention, that we had a role to play in Europe, an important one.

We had to come to Britain's aid.

And this flies in the face of much of the public attitude toward foreign affairs in the 1930s.

The 1930s was probably the most antisemitic decade in American life.

It was also a time when there was a sense that we had not, we should not have been involved in World War I.

It wasn't our fight.

It wasn't our war.

We had no business engaging in that.

The British were enticing us once more into a conflict for their own interests, not ours.

And moreover, who were the Nazis?

Who was Hitler?

What did they portend?

There was no sense of the danger of the threat that loomed.

And as a result, believe it or not, the novel, "The Mortal Storm," was the first major work of fiction to depict the Nazis as villains.

And it wasn't published in this country until 1938.

I mean, what we think of as a natural in American movies, you know, the Nazis as villains, none of that existed in American popular culture until the novel, "The Mortal Storm," and then the movie.

Now, the interesting thing about the movie is that it was made originally one way and released another.

Originally made the characters who were at risk for persecution by the Nazis were named Jews.

They were Jews.

That was the truth.

When the movie was remade and released, they became non-Aryans.

And this was a term that MGM used on purpose to try to hide, to obfuscate the reality of the identity of its main characters.

Why?

Because the moguls, the studio heads, the ones who were making the movies, most of them were Jewish, and they were afraid of their own Jewishness.

They were afraid the movies would somehow be perceived as Jewish, that they weren't making entertainment, they were making politicized propaganda.

Okay, so they tried to hide behind the term non-Aryan.

That didn't fool the anti-Semites.

There was a cabal in the U.S. Senate, a group of very aggressively anti-Semitic senators who were in cahoots, you would say ex officio with their group.

Charles Lindbergh, no Less.

And they were determined to stop Hollywood from making movies like this.

In particular, they were furious about this film.

And so they, it was Lindbergh's idea, actually, to hold hearings, public hearings by the Senate, to expose.

Lindbergh and others believed they could just expose this politicized reality, these horrible interventionists who wanted Americans to go to war who didn't see the future of the new Germany.

They thought, "Just publicize this.

Just bring it out into the open."

And so they held these hearings in September of 1941, and they were, I mean, they galvanized the country for three weeks, and they made fools of themselves because it was clear by then that we did have a stake in what was happening in Europe.

It was clear by then we were going to get into the war.

Roosevelt had won a third term.

He was already a pointing a wartime cabinet.

And the idea of isolationism no longer carried any weight.

- So, in the book, how do you walk through this story?

- How do I walk through it?

- Is it chronological?

- Yes, it's pretty much chronological.

But I build it around these vibrant figures, these amazing characters.

Bottome, who wrote the novel, the screenwriter who wrote the screenplay, who was an amazing woman.

Lindbergh, I have a lot to say about Lindbergh.

I had access to his unpublished diary, and that revealed to me just how incredibly anti-Semitic he was, and he became more so.

You can read the diary all the way through 1941, and you can see him become more and more anti-Semitic, more and more hateful toward the Jews, to the point where he's absolutely obsessed.

I found that piece of it fascinating.

- And we only have a little bit more to chat about this, which I would love to hear more.

And you have an event coming up.

Are you speaking at this event?

- Yes.

Oh, for sure.

- Okay, wonderful.

- For sure, for sure.

Yeah, two events.

And I can mention 'em or maybe you'll show the poster, but I'm hoping to do some readings from the book, entice people into it, and also explain just how extraordinary this period was, 1938, '39, '40, '41.

The United States sort of teetered on the brink as to whether we would be prepared for war, whose side would we be on, and Lindbergh tried to convince the country that the Nazis were really a good thing, that the future of Europe lay with Hitler and the new Germany.

And, of course, others had the good sense to recognize how appalling that idea was.

- And so those events, Thursday, October 24th, Teatro Zuccone , and- - We'll show the film.

- November 12th at the Library.

- The Library, again, we'll show the film.

- You could see the film and hear from Alexis.

Thank you so much for joining us.

- Thank you.

- Well, before we go, let's take a look at what you might be up to this weekend.

Saturday, from 9:30 AM to noon, the Friends of the Lake Superior Reserve and the City of Superior are holding their Annual Fall Beach Cleanup.

Snacks and supplies will be provided, and there will be a prize for whoever finds the most interesting piece of trash.

For more information, head to folsr.org.

This Sunday, from 1:00 to 3:00 PM, at Wild State Cider is the Duluth Novelist Monthly Meet-up.

The first hour is for discussion to compare notes, discuss progress, and encourage each other.

The second hour will be focused on writing time.

If you're interested in this event, you can request to join the group online at meetup.com.

Also, this Sunday, Rabbit, Bird, & Bear is hosting Poets, Pirates, & Pumpkins from 3:00 PM to 5:30 PM at their Bayfield, Wisconsin location.

The event will feature artists from the Twin Ports through Bayfield and beyond.

A writer's open mic will take place immediately following the featured artists.

The event is held at 222 Rittenhouse Avenue in Bayfield, Wisconsin.

Well, that's it for this week's show.

Make sure you go out and enjoy your weekend.

For everyone here at "Almanac North," I'm Maarja Hewitt.

Thank you for joining us.

Good night.

(gentle music) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music) (transition whooshing)