It's been more than three weeks now since Feisty the seal and Berlin the polar bear rode the floodwaters out of their zoo enclosure and into a media spotlight. Their Polar Shores exhibit remains empty while officials at the Duluth zoo decide whether to revive it. But the rest of the Lake Superior Zoo reopens to visitors Friday for the first time since the flood. One official calls it a step toward a return to normalcy.

Roughly 2,000 people on more than 100 teams competed in the weekend's dragon boat races put on by the Twin Ports Rotary Clubs. By noon on Saturday, this year's festival had already raised $60,000, the Duluth News Tribune reports.

The Edwin H. Gott pulled into the Duluth Seaway Port Wednesday morning. It is the final ship of the 2011 season. MPR reports the Soo Locks officially close Wednesday at midnight. The warm weather allowed the locks to stay open three days longer this last year.

Jeffrey Watson was underwater in Lake Superior for at least thirty minutes while swimming with friends in Duluth Monday. His father says the 13-year-old never regained consciousness and his organs were beginning to shut down when the family decided to take him off life support.

A group of brave surfers were spotted hitting the waves on Lake Superior Friday. WDIO in Duluth reports the air temperature was near single digits, but the Great Lake was in the mid-30s. One of the surfers says he's been catching the waves for the past 15 years.