When the levee breaks
Tailings basins are a key part of Mesabi Iron Range mining history, but are also making headlines across the world. Balancing responsible mining with environmental risk is a critical question going forward.
Essar sues state but misses deadline; Cliffs hungry for ore
Essar Steel is fighting back against state attempts to debar the company, but in doing so reveals it will miss another deadline on the long beleaguered iron ore project. Meantime, Cleveland-Cliffs hungrily seeks new ore reserves, reopening a mine in Michigan and waiting to develop its property near the Essar site.
Bankruptcy claims remaining ShopKo stores, including Duluth
ShopKo announced today that bankruptcy would force it to close all its remaining stores, including six in Northeastern and Central Minnesota, by June 16. Stores in Duluth, Ely, Two Harbors, Aitkin, Mora and Moose Lake are among those that will close. ShopKo’s woes are nothing new, and are in keeping with general problems in the… Read More →
Arts provide economic, aesthetic boost to NE Minnesota
Last year I wrote about the economic impact of the arts in Northern Minnesota’s Iron Range region. An organization called Creative Minnesota explored the total reach of the arts, including the revenue generated within the economy and the number of jobs created. Today, the same organization released a new 2019 report as part of Arts… Read More →
Study shows rural ‘recreation counties’ holding population
In real terms, the biggest factor in most of the challenges facing Iron Range communities is population loss. The economic contraction of the late 1950s and 1980s sent people away from core Range communities. This impacted local businesses, school enrollments, housing values, and myriad other issues. There are other factors, more to consider, but basically… Read More →
Hot Off the Press
Bankruptcy claims remaining ShopKo stores, including Duluth
ShopKo announced today that bankruptcy would force it to close all its remaining stores, including six in Northeastern and Central Minnesota, by June 16. Stores in Duluth, Ely, Two Harbors, Aitkin, Mora and Moose Lake are among those that will close. ShopKo’s woes are nothing new, and are in keeping with general problems in the… Read More →
MinnesotaBrown.com is an independent website by author and journalist Aaron J. Brown. It covers Northern Minnesota news, culture and politics with an authentic back woods voice and award-winning experience.
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POWER: A new book project about Victor Power by Aaron J. Brown
Victor Power
For a time, Victor Power was the most powerful small town mayor in the United States. Nevertheless, his short yet extraordinary life fighting the steel trusts from his office in Hibbing slowly slips into obscurity. Aaron J. Brown is working on a book about Victor Power and his early 20th Century world, which stretched far beyond a little boom town in the forests of Northern Minnesota, from the ganglands of Chicago to the ivory towers of New York. Contact Aaron with any Hibbing-area stories from 1900 to 1926 even remotely related to Victor Power or his family, labor unions, the Oliver Mining Company, Al Capone, bootleggers, politicians or any first-hand material about what life in Hibbing was like then. This may be the last chance for many longstanding family legends to become part of permanent history.
