Today’s column (gift link) takes us to my home away from home, Chisago County. People sometimes think I moved to the Cities after I became a columnist for the Minnesota Star Tribune. Not so. I stayed right here at MinnesotaBrown World Headquarters in Itasca County. But it is true that I travel to the Cities more often and, when I do, I stay at my dad’s place in Chisago County.
It’s taken me some time to get to know Chisago. The place is something of an enigma. Rural, yes, but most of the working people commute into the city. In some parts, it’s audaciously wealthy. In others, it’s small towns and old farms. It’s certainly conservative, and carries an subtle air of sophistication. The lawns look like there’s a homeowner’s association, but there isn’t. Trucks with dualies smoke past fields where ladies in English equestrian apparel trot horses around a pasture. The people are impossibly friendly.
It’s not the kind of place one generally associates with the labor movement. That’s why it’s been so interesting to watch Chisago County workers in Teamsters Local 320 maintain one of the longest public sector workers strikes in state history.
The strike wears on, with many familiar refrains about wages and health care. But in dissecting the deeper cause, we come back to a common theme: rising costs. This problem must be addressed, or the scrap for resources might tear our communities apart.
Read “Chisago County strike exposes social price of rising costs” in the Thursday, July 9, 2026 edition of the Minnesota Star Tribune.
Aaron J. Brown is a columnist and member of the editorial board for the Minnesota Star Tribune. His new book about Hibbing Mayor Victor Power and his momentous fight against the world’s largest corporation will be out soon.
