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Clarity, clatter mark final week of MN-8 showdown
Last night, PPP released a new poll showing a 48-44 percent lead for former U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan (DFL) in his bid to oust freshman Rep. Chip Cravaack (R-MN8). While this lead remains narrow in terms of the margin of error, this is the third poll showing a Nolan lead in the past two weeks.…
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‘Super comet’ to illuminate night sky in 2013
Mark your calendars. In late November/early December 2013 a “super comet” might pass by Earth, provided it isn’t destroyed by the sun. Scientists term Comet ISON (officially “C/2012 S1”) a “sun-grazer” because it will clip the edge of the sun. Being so near the sun, much of its frozen matter will erupt in jets of…
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COLUMN: Love, like iron, stands up to pressure and time
This is my Sunday column for the Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. A version of this piece aired last week on KAXE’s “Between You and Me.” You may access the audio version here. Love, like iron, stands up to pressure and timeBy Aaron J. Brown The story of the Iron…
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Great Northern Radio Show rebroadcast will be Sunday at 11a
Last Saturday we broadcast a new episode of the Great Northern Radio Show from the Boardman Auditorium at Eveleth-Gilbert High School in Eveleth, Minnesota. It was two hours of laughs, tears and some of the best music we’ve ever featured. I’m proud of all our shows, but I’m particularly proud of how the program continues…
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Nolan, Cravaack and the politics of place in MN-8
Last year, Rep. Chip Cravaack (R-MN8) moved his family to New Hampshire so that his wife could be closer to her job in Boston. This was highly unusual for a freshmen member of Congress in a closely-contested district. The move made life easier for Cravaack’s family, which is admirable, but a political nightmare at the…
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Remembering Wellstone on the Iron Range
Today we commemorate the lives of Paul and Sheila Wellstone, Marcia Wellstone Markuson, Tom Lapic, Mary McEvoy, and Will McLaughlin. We lost them ten years ago today in plane crash on the Iron Range, an event that changed the course of Minnesota politics. In the hyper-partisan world in which we now live, it’s hard to…
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Watch the debates in bellwether MN-LEG northern district
KAXE’s series of non-traditional radio forums in the hotly contested MN Senate District 5 continue Thursday morning at 8:15 with a District 5B conversation between Reps. Tom Anzelc (DFL-Balsam Township) and Carolyn McElfatrick (R-Deer River). The segment begins at 8:15 a.m. on 91.7 KAXE/Northern Community Radio, streaming at kaxe.org. This is the district featuring three…
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Beneath arguments, amendment battles foretell bad politics
This week the Duluth News Tribune endorsed a “no” vote on both of Minnesota’s upcoming proposed constitutional amendments — one forbidding gay marriage and another requiring a photographic ID to vote. And while this also happens to be my view, the DNT’s argument raises an important point in these debates. Legislating by biennial ballot initiatives…
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Jobless rate quite low in northeastern Minnesota
The Duluth News Tribune reported Tuesday that unemployment in Duluth has dipped below 6 percent. Moreover, unemployment in the entire region has also dropped: The jobless rate reached 6.2 percent for Northeastern Minnesota, down from 6.7 percent in August. And the greater Twin Ports area, which includes all of St. Louis, Carlton and Douglas counties,…
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Final stages of Cravaack vs. Nolan race show volatility
For a long time there the Twin Cities was getting far more TV advertising in Minnesota’s Eighth Congressional race than the traditional Duluth-area base of this northern district. That’s all done. Duluth TV is now marinated in MN-8 advertising from the campaigns of both Rep. Chip Cravaack, former Rep. Rick Nolan and their outside allies…
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COLUMN: Separating the sacred from the sugar water
This is my Sunday column for the Oct. 21, 2012 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. I’m also sharing some “online exclusive” pictures from my trip to Atlanta earlier this month. Separating the sacred from the sugar waterBy Aaron J. Brown We recently traveled to Atlanta, Georgia for a blogging conference my wife attended. I…
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Great Northern Radio Show TONIGHT, 5-7p, on KAXE.org
Tune to the Great Northern Radio Show tonight at 5 p.m. on 91.7 KAXE Grand Rapids (89.9 Brainerd) and 90.5 KBXE Bemidji. It’s streaming live all over the world at www.kaxe.org. If you can, please attend the live broadcast by arriving at the Boardman Auditorium at Eveleth-Gilbert High School by 4:30 p.m. Admission is free…
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A Great Northern Radio Show for the ages
From a post in the Atlantic: 1956 is not terribly long ago. People born then and after are still working. Their parents are often still alive. Their grandparents, if alive, would be in their 90s. But the above clip from a 1956 TV show includes a 96-year-old man who saw John Wilkes Booth shoot Abraham…
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KAXE to air pivotal MN-LEG forums for SD5, 5A & 5B
All told, I don’t think you’ll find a more interesting combination of legislative races than in the new District 5 in northern Minnesota. Two incumbent senators were paired together by redistricting and four incumbent representatives were paired in the respective House districts. All three races sport local issues, unique candidates and a tight, “could-go-either-way” partisan…
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Longyear buys Grand Rapids site; marks West Range growth
More signs of economic growth on the western Mesabi: The Itasca Economic Development Corporation has found a buyer for its Itasca Eco Industrial Park in Grand Rapids. This was the former Ainsworth lumber plant that closed in 2008. J.M. Longyear, LLC, just bought the whole thing. GRAND RAPIDS, MN – On behalf of our board…