Oh yes, it’s that time of year again! It’s time for the annual popularity poll that makes you either cheer with excitement or cower into a corner in a vivid flashback of your high-school years. Oh, come on, admit it. You secretly love the attention, don’t you? Of course you do.

Add your most honest answer while crossing your fingers and crossing your heart at the same time.

Take a look at the list. Have fun with it. Be inventive, imaginative, and entertaining with your responses. if you don’t like the categories, make up some of your own and toss in your commentary wherever you see fit. 

VOTE NOW »

The Rules:

1. All answers must be locally sourced. But our range of influence spans from Grand Marais to Cloquet and all the way over to Bayfield WI, so you have some options.
2. You must be signed-in to vote. If you don't have an account you can create one in seconds (all you need is an email address).
3. You can vote for each item once. (you can also "un-vote" if you change your mind)

If you want a business or band or whatever to win, it’s OK to talk it up among your friends.

Votes must be cast by: January 25th, 2014

We offer prizes! For both random and for most entertaining and inventive answers!

What sort of prizes? Uh...gift certificates...of...some kind. It depends on what we have on hand or what we can pry out of the pockets of our advertisers. We are awarding separate prizes to those who enter via snail mail and online.

Oh yes, it’s that time of year again! It’s time for the annual popularity poll that makes you either cheer with excitement or cower into a corner in a vivid flashback of your high-school years. Oh, come on, admit it. You secretly love the attention, don’t you? Of course you do.

Add your most honest answer while crossing your fingers and crossing your heart at the same time.

Take a look at the list. Have fun with it. Be inventive, imaginative, and entertaining with your responses. if you don’t like the categories, make up some of your own and toss in your commentary wherever you see fit. 

» Click Here To Start «

The Rules:

1. All answers must be locally sourced. But our range of influence spans from Grand Marais to Cloquet and all the way over to Bayfield WI, so you have some options.
2. You must be signed-in to vote. If you don't have an account you can create one in seconds (all you need is an email address).
3. You can vote for each item once. (you can also "un-vote" if you change your mind)

If you want a business or band or whatever to win, it’s OK to talk it up among your friends.

Votes must be cast by: January 26th, 2013

We offer prizes! For both random and for most entertaining and inventive answers!

What sort of prizes? Uh...gift certificates...of...some kind. It depends on what we have on hand or what we can pry out of the pockets of our advertisers. We are awarding separate prizes to those who enter via snail mail and online.

Prudently, the leadership at your local FREE weekly paper ( the leaders name is Bob) waited a good long while to make certain that this World Wide Web thing is more than a fad.  He has recently become relatively convinced (after seeing an I Pad,) that there may well be something to this Interweb after all.

On one hand, Bob just loves newspapers. After all these years, he still loves the idea of a FREE paper --no cost to you, no restrictions on saying what needs to be said, and no chains binding the paper to anything,  He still gets stupid giddy when he sees the Reader stands empty, spies someone stopping to look at a cover, or even when he sees a Reader in the trash wrapped around clementine peels. He loves the print, the smell of it, the mess of it, the old fashioned roll of the presses in the dark.  He likes to think of himself as a newspaper man, hunting down a story like a hound dog, with a pencil and clipped phrases, saving the city.

On the other hand, he really likes the thought of living in this century, providing a place online for the Reader to do cool stuff, like list entertainment, sell stuff, and show off stuff.

So, after looking at both his hands for a long time, Bob decided to keep both of them in play. He figured out something that might work to keep the Reader free and worthy on the street for all, and put the Reader free and worthy on line, but keep them separate, distinct, and evenhanded.

He decided that only the print Reader would include all the columns and news you have come to love for free.  The new Reader website will include SOME of the news and columns you have come to know for free.  And, for a small fee, you can join as a Reader member on line and get it all plus some secret free stuff and cool promotions and treasures.

Check out the Beta version of our site.  Tell Bob what works and what doe not even come close to working well.  Tell Bob what to do. You have no idea how many folk would love to do just that.

Another year has gone by and we at The Reader would like to thank you for all of your time and effort spent telling us what you think is the best (and worst) of the Northland. We chuckled at some of your witty and humorous answers and each year we learn a little more about this area from your genuine responses. This year we received a number of single votes; we’d like to gently remind those filling out this survey next year to please include a 15 response minimum or it may result in your vote(s) getting disqualified. Columnists Amy Zontelli and Gwen Hoberg along with guest columnist Mark Jeneson throws in their two cents on a few of the wins in this years results. Sit back and enjoy the Best of the Northland 2011.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

• Best of Services
• Best of Health and Fitness
• Best of the Material World
• Best of Food & Drink
• Best of People & Media
• Worst of the Northland

The Obama administration is out with a report showing 28 states are making progress setting up online marketplaces to buy health insurance. But Wednesday (1/18) Wisconsin’s governor said he will not implement a state health exchange. In December, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said he’d wait to see whether the U.S. Supreme Court upholds federal health reform. He’s no longer waiting; Gov. Walker said in a statement that health reform has the potential to hurt Wisconsin’s economy and there will be no state exchange. Barbara Zabawa is an attorney on the state’s advisory group for exchanges. She says even though some states are moving ahead and others are refusing, the dispute over health reform isn’t likely to be resolved after the Supreme Court rules, “My guess is that the 2012 elections are really going to determine the fate of the law though it will be difficult, I think, to repeal.”

That’s because some elements of law are already in place: for instance, seniors are paying less for prescriptions when they reach the so called ‘donut hole’ and pre-existing conditions can’t prevent children from getting insurance.

Exchanges are a key element of the Affordable Care Act. They will allow middle class Americans to get subsidized private coverage and expand Medicaid to more low income persons.

Gov. Walker says Wisconsin will not accept a $37 million grant from the federal government and he’s also getting rid of the Office of Free Market Health Care. The state’s decision not to create its own exchange could lead to the federal government creating one for Wisconsin.