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Iron Range arts event calls for writers, poets and playwrights for annual contest
One of my many projects as an cultural and political operative on northern Minnesota’s Iron Range is Dylan Days. I am one of three co-chairs of this annual arts event in Bob Dylan’s hometown of Hibbing. One of my main tasks is the coordination of the Dylan Days Creative Writing Contest, which recognizes new and…
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Overburden tour comes home to HCC Theater Celebration this Friday
This Friday, Jan. 16, at 7:30 p.m., Hibbing Community College Theater will hold its annual Celebration Evening featuring live music, performances, skits, video productions and, believe it or not, a brief reading from my book “Overburden: Modern Life on the Iron Range” by yours truly. I’ll also be signing books at intermission. You might be…
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Range superintendent swap has consolidation implications
Greenway Schools Superintendent Rochelle VanDenHeuvel has been named the new superintendent of the Virginia School District on the East Central Iron Range (Mesabi Daily News). Greenway, serving Coleraine, Bovey, Marble and Taconite on the western Mesabi Range, is one of the most financially troubled districts on the Range. The departure of its superintendent is likely…
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A call for an Iron Range Congress
Last week, I attended a round table (roundish, anyway) discussion on the future of the Iron Range sponsored by a community outreach committee of Messiah Lutheran Church of Mountain Iron. Though the sponsoring group might seem odd for such a topic, I can personally attest that the Messiah congregation and its pastor, the Rev. Kristen…
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Tomassoni likely has clear path to IRR Board chair
An update to an earlier post: It now appears that State Sen. David Tomassoni will have a clear path to become chair of the Iron Range Resources Board this go-around. This was probably helped by his early announcement of candidacy in a recent Mesabi Daily News story. Things could change but my Ranger pals at…
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The Minnesota Re-Miracle: the fight is on
DFL House leaders introduced a bill to reform education funding in Minnesota, essentially restoring the “Minnesota Miracle” crafted in the 1970s that shifted the burden from property taxes to state income taxes. Here’s the story from Jon Collins, the legislative correspondent shared by the Mesabi Daily News, Hibbing Daily Tribune and Grand Rapids Herald-Review. It’s…
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Iron ore shipments show last year’s economic whiplash
The Duluth News Tribune reports today that December 2008 iron ore shipments out of the port of Duluth were down 42 percent from December 2007. This story shows the economic whiplash the Iron Range has seen in the last few months. Even though December was way down the boom of early 2008 was so big…
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Hey, cash-strapped utilities, wanna’ buy this boondoggle?
Having been shut down at the state PUC (and by Xcel, Minnesota Power and most other energy companies) Excelsior Energy, proponent of the coal gas Mesaba Energy Project, is now trying to hook power purchase deals for its theoretical electricity with municipal utilities in Minnesota. Excelsior will be touring with the Minnesota Municipal Utilities Association,…
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Name that delegation: The Super Fun Poll
Last week I posed a challenge to readers to come up with a clever nickname for the Iron Range legislative delegation, a moniker that would bring some levity to what appears to be a pretty grim session. As students of Minnesota politics know, the Iron Range of Northern Minnesota reliably elects Democrats but seldom elects…
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Iron Range Resources board back for ’09 UPDATED
This Bill Hanna story from Sunday’s Mesabi Daily News and today’s Hibbing Daily Tribune describes how the Iron Range Resources Board will likely remain unchanged this year. The board, which has a oversight powers over this unique Iron Range state agency, consists of ten elected legislators and three appointed citizens. All legislative members were re-elected…
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The seven habits of highly stressed parents
This is my weekly column that ran in the Sunday, Jan. 11, 2009 Hibbing Daily Tribune. I used a version of this piece for a recent edition of KAXE‘s “Between You and Me” program where I am also a regular contributor. The seven habit of highly stressed parentsBy Aaron J. Brown Normally when people talk…
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Ritchie has done right
In the swirly hurly burly of Minnesota’s U.S. Senate recount, still ongoing in legal challenge form, one thing is clear: Secretary of State Mark Ritchie has done a great job. If there’s anything wrong with this recount those faults lie in preexisting state law and election policies, not with Ritchie’s even handed execution of his…
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Squirrels strike again
Dating back to my time as editor at the Hibbing Daily Tribune (the early 2000s), squirrels have knocked out Hibbing’s power supply no fewer than 1,208 times. OK, that’s not true but it happens all the time, including yesterday. This phenomenon is mentioned in my book, “Overburden: Modern Life on the Iron Range.” Just mentioned,…
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Brown on the Air: SIBLINGS
My essay for the Saturday, Jan. 10 edition of KAXE’s weekly program “Between You and Me” will join the show’s topic of “Siblings.” I compare the experiences of having siblings while growing up and then raising siblings as an adult. I also try to explain why my actions caused two major incidents involving hornets and…
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Essar Steel, other Iron Range mining projects press forward amid bad economy
Yesterday, Business North published an exclusive story from Beth Bily about the forward progress on Essar Steel’s Minnesota steel project near Nashwauk on the Iron Range. In short, the project continues as planned, according to company officials, because they believe steel demand will return by the time construction is complete in a few years. And…