A billion reasons why PolyMet debate misses the point
“Look here, now!” the North-Going Zax said, “I say! You are blocking my path. You are right in my way. I’m a North-Going Zax and I always go north. Get out of my way, now, and let me go forth!” “Who’s in whose way?” snapped the South-Going Zax. “I always go south, making south-going tracks…. Read More →
Time to let our Iron Range flag fly
These days, the Iron Range seems divided. Used to be the arguments were about pickup trucks, but now they’re about politics, culture and religion. That angries up the blood, alright. Hard to have a conversation. For as long as I’ve been covering the Range, nearly all of my adult life, certain problems seem ever-present. The… Read More →
8th District DFLers walk tightrope on mining as convention nears
The five Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party candidates for Congress in Minnesota’s Eighth Congressional District have just eight days until their April 14 endorsing convention. On April 4, the group participated in a DFL-sponsored forum at Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College in Cloquet. The UpTake covered the event. We’ve already established that, barring something truly extraordinary… Read More →
Sportsball provides bright light in dreary MN spring
Northern Minnesota doesn’t know what to do with success. Frankly, it’s an occurrence that seems rare enough these days to ignore outright. But one can’t help but notice that this year, at least as far as local sportsball is concerned, everything is coming up Milhouse. Gold medal U.S. curling team staffed by Iron Range and Duluth… Read More →
Phifer drops out of Eighth District race
Leah Phifer announced today she would not seek the DFL nomination for Congress in Minnesota’s Eighth Congressional District. Phifer had lead all ten ballots at last Saturday’s MN-8 Convention in Duluth. “My goal, since first declaring my candidacy in October 2017, has always been to win the DFL endorsement, bring new voices to the table… Read More →
Hot Off the Press
Time to let our Iron Range flag fly
These days, the Iron Range seems divided. Used to be the arguments were about pickup trucks, but now they’re about politics, culture and religion. That angries up the blood, alright. Hard to have a conversation. For as long as I’ve been covering the Range, nearly all of my adult life, certain problems seem ever-present. 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.
