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Fur stank
Remember how I hit a deer a couple weeks ago, sending it under the car and ripping everything to pieces? Right, well, I’ve got the car back from the shop now and every time the engine gets warm it smells like fur. I expect this will last the winter. I talked to a guy I…
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Wednesday, Wednesday, Wednesday! First book event in Duluth!
Like taconite, my “Overburden: Modern Life on the Iron Range” book tour is heading for Duluth this week to get loaded. Ha! Just kidding. I don’t mix boozin’ and book sellin’ (Book writin’ … well, that’s different). We’ve had some fine book events here on the Iron Range, with more to come, but this Wednesday,…
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What a child sees, remains
This is my weekly column for the Sunday Nov. 9, 2008 Hibbing Daily Tribune. What a child sees, remainsBy Aaron J. Brown When I was a kid, maybe 4 or 5, I remember staying overnight at my grandparents’ house in Keewatin. I don’t remember why I was there, but for some reason my teenage aunt…
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Heading up to the shack…
I may be slow on responding to comments or reporting news over the next two days. I’ll be up at the family deer shack for the next day and then the busy world of Monday arrives. It’s extremely cold and windy outside, but at least it’s also moist. It’s been a lot of years since…
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100-plus layoffs likely at Range mine; more to come?
Labor officials are now estimating that up to 110 people could be laid off at Hibbing Taconite, the second largest mine on the Iron Range, as part of Cliffs Natural Resources cutbacks amid the global recession. Additional layoffs at Eveleth’s United Taconite and Silver Bay’s Northshore Mining are expected. No word on how other Range…
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Range towns continue to heighten drama in Franken/Coleman race
The Mesabi Daily News is reporting that Norm Coleman’s campaign is filing a data practices request after 100 additional ballots for Al Franken were recorded Thursday night from the Iron Range city of Mountain Iron. Naturally, Coleman’s people are in a tizzy amid the escalating national drama of the impending recount. Though I don’t know…
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Still jonesing for some red/blue maps? Check this out
Check out this graphic from the Pioneer Press showing the last five presidential election results in Minnesota. This is something I have lacked the time to do for the Iron Range. Look at big blue up there in the north. That’s the Range. And, what’s interesting in this graphic that I hadn’t considered before was…
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Cliffs prepares for layoffs on the Iron Range
The Mesabi Daily News is reporting that Cliffs Natural Resources, owners and/or operators of three Iron Range mines and taconite plants, is preparing for layoffs amid a global recession. Related posts: No related posts.
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Brown on the Air: TEACHERS
My weekly contribution to KAXE’s Saturday morning program “Between You and Me” will join the show’s topic: favorite teachers. Who was your favorite teacher, and/or why? I talk about the topic through the lens of someone who owes much to many of my past teachers and who, unexpectedly, has become a teacher. You can tune…
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The coolest city administrator ever
The Hibbing Daily Tribune is reporting that Hibbing City Administrator Brian Redshaw was officially reprimanded for brandishing a shotgun at work. He was just showing it off to a co-worker, not waiving it around as a threat or anything like that. In a 5-2 vote (these things are never unanimous), the council voted to place…
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Oh, Buhl
The Iron Range town of Buhl (home of Buhl Water) made headlines when its election officials accidentally went home without reporting their results to the Secretary of State’s office. This led to a lot of confusion and jumpiness when the need for a statewide recount in the U.S. Senate race became apparent. I will avoid…
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Landslide Country: A look back at 2008 legislative results on the Iron Range
I’m posting MPR’s fine customized election results widget in this post to preserve it for all time (or until MPR cuts off the feed, whichever comes first). I’ll just make a few comments about the legislative races on the Iron Range, mostly for the benefit of about eight people. First, the results: I’ve already discussed…
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Revisiting the seven precincts on the Iron Range; Obama holds the line
As I’ve said, the Iron Range held for Obama with only slightly reduced margins. The strange nature of the Senate race put Franken’s totals far behind Obama’s. On the Range, however, I’d attribute almost every Barkley vote as a lost Franken vote. Those were by-and-large disaffected Democrats. Coleman held the GOP index (which isn’t much…
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A-changin’
Meantime, Bob Dylan was in Minnesota last night. Though the Star Tribune described his vocals as “more-ragged than usual” (never a good comment to hear at a Dylan concert) Hibbing’s Bobby Zimmerman got a big cheer when he said “it looks like things are going to change. Related posts: No related posts.
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Iron Range DFL wall holds for Obama
Fears that racism and the culture wars might keep blue collar Iron Range voters from supporting Barack Obama have proven largely unfounded. Though Obama just slightly underperformed Kerry in some of the key precincts I’ve been following, he was within roughly two percentage points of the 2004 DFL share of the Range electorate. In general,…