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Labor Day FOR REAL on the Iron Range
Every year writers make earnest efforts to pay homage to the labor movement and workers’ rights on Labor Day. Some have more success than others. This year, Labor Day means something on the Iron Range. With a contract deadline looming at three Iron Range mines, strike preparations are being made in Hibbing, Eveleth and Virginia.…
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Wendell Anderson to appear at Esko event
I almost forgot. I got an e-mail earlier in the week about the Carlton County DFL “fun-raiser” at “Larry the Laborers” house of 97 E. Palkie Road in Esko. It runs 1-5 p.m. today with music and food. Former Gov. Wendell Anderson, founder of the “Minnesota Miracle” education system and the only living DFL governor,…
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It’s good to have Alaska friends
I’ll be getting my Alaska perspective on this whole Palin situation from my friends the Rudstroms in Alaska. We aren’t on the same page, politically, but they’d be the first to say Alaska is an entirely different political universe. I think we’ll be learning more about that universe in the national media as we go…
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Range bar, DFLers featured on Obama’s national site
While the blogosphere pulsed with speculation and gossip about John McCain’s gimmicky VP pick Friday, Barack Obama’s national campaign blog sported this image from the Iron Range’s most iconic bar at the top. I declare that the first campaign to show the inside of Tom and Jerry’s on its national website will win the Range.…
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North to Alaska, going north, the race is ON!
One thing’s certain. After this election, Alaska and Hawaii will no longer be just those states in the inset at the bottom left hand of the U.S. map. Holy buckets! Of oil. My Alaska friends will be suitably intrigued by the news today that John McCain is picking Alaska’s first-term Gov. Sarah Palin as his…
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Iron Range Resources OKs budget … finally
The Iron Range Resources Board has finally approved a compromise budget for the upcoming year. Future meetings will divvy up the infrastructure and public works funds. Related posts: No related posts.
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T-Paw: sad panda
Here’s who McCain didn’t pick for VP, our Gov. Tim Pawlenty. Actually, I think this is a mistake. Pawlenty doesn’t make Minnesota DFLers books quake. We would have relished that fight. At the same time, it would have been a fight. Pawlenty is a scrapper, and his pro-to-con ratio just seems higher to me than…
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Brown on the Air: QUESTIONS!
My essay this Saturday morning on KAXE’s “Between You and Me” will explore the show’s topic of “Questions.” That topic was picked in honor of the visiting StoryCorps project outside KAXE’s studios. “Between You and Me” is a weekly call in show that features the voices and attitudes of northern Minnesota. Tune in between 10…
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America is back
The United States of America. The words meant a lot to me yesterday. Today they mean more. That’s what a president ought to do. I know not everyone enjoys partisanship, but that’s the very reason I think electing Barack Obama is so important. I grew up on an Iron Range salvage yard. Today, my kids…
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Go C-SPAN if you’ve got it
I watched all the convention speeches on C-SPAN last night. The previous nights I had watched MSNBC. Let me tell you, it was like drinking water from a well instead of a septic tank. I don’t think CNN has been much better than MSNBC and the clips I’ve seen of Fox News have all been…
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Range miners talk strike as negotiations heat up
With a strike vote authorized by Steelworkers at Arcelor Mittal’s Minorca mine near Virginia, Minn., we now learn that Cleveland Cliffs is negotiating with Steelworkers over soon-to-expire contracts at that company’s Hibbing Taconite and United Taconite (Eveleth) mines. The big sticking point is health care. That problem will never go away until the system is…
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As the rail authority turns …
The Itasca County Regional Rail Authority held a special meeting Tuesday. At stake, the future of a $1.6 billion project that has stood as the golden economic hope of the Iron Range people. Like I said, the Range often operates like the South in that vital decisions are made at the most obscure of public…
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Obama office opening gets boffo coverage in Range paper
In this morning’s Hibbing Daily Tribune was the following above-the-fold, top banner headline, with picture of visiting voters and 11-month old “Babies for Barack” caucus leader: Opama opens Hibbing office DFLers, veterans rally to Barack cause Check out the story and photos of what certainly seems to be a successful opening of the second Iron…
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7B DFL update: More forums and endorsements
Here is the Duluth News-Tribune account of the House District 7B (West Duluth) DFL primary, which is heating up in advance of the Sept. 9 primary. A nonpartisan League of Women Voters forum was held yesterday. Roger Reinert, Marsh Stenersen, Dan Maryland and Brandon Clokey were there, along with the other party’s candidates. (IPer Jay…
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StoryCorps reception tonight
A reminder, tonight is the community reception for the StoryCorps project in Grand Rapids at 91.7 KAXE, a really cool studio and radio organization next to the Grand Rapids Public Library on the Mississippi River. There will be appetizers, wine and probably stories. My Saturday radio essay and Sunday column both highlight the StoryCorps project…