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Check out my tundra pals!
So, do you have friends who live closer to Russia than they do to a McDonalds? I do. Linda Hanson from the Duluth News-Tribune wrote a feature story about my Range-native Alaska friends, the Rudstroms, today. C.O. and AnnMarie live with their 1 1/2 year old son Harold in Brevig Mission, Alaska, an Inuit village…
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Global resove vs. grocery shenanigans
So Barack Obama goes overseas last week. At every turn, Obama was speaking about U.S. foreign policy in a way that re-united our allies and forces his opponents to subtly rephrase their positions to sound more like his. Oh yeah, and he shows up in Germany and 200,000 people come out to hear him speak.…
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Sunday’s Iron Range news roundup
Here’s a roundup of Range stories from this morning. State Sen. Tom Bakk offers a tepid endorsement of Al Franken for U.S. Senate in today’s Mesabi Daily News. Bakk is one of a small cadre of Minnesota officials who were shocked, shocked!, to learn that Franken had once made a living as a late night…
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Rummage sale memories
This is my weekly column for the Sunday, July 27, 2008 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. Rummage sale memoriesBy Aaron J. Brown We joined in a rummage sale with some friends last week. We’ve learned some things about organizing rummage sales over the years. Be ready for early birds. The traffic drops off around…
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Rock the grid with your home turbine
I think the real opportunities for wind produced energy will not be from large scale wind farms except perhaps in really windy places within a reasonable distance of the customer. (For instance, I’m a fan of large wind turbine farms here on the Iron Range because they can serve big customers like the mines without…
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A dose of intrigue in Range House races
As I’ve said before, State Rep. and House Majority Leader Tony Sertich faces a primary challenge from Marc Pocrnich (check out his official website) this year and there is a Independence Party primary in my home District of 3A between Bill Hamm and Chris Pfeifer. I have way too many conflicts of personal interest to…
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Itasca DFL kicks off major effort on Wednesday
Readers come here for many different reasons. So, my apologies to those of you uninterested in DFL campaign news. At 5 p.m. on Wednesday, July 30 at the Itasca County DFL headquarters in Grand Rapids there will be a volunteer training session, phone banking push and — the biggie — the delivery of Al Franken…
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Building trades officially "encourage" Bakk to run for governor
Are you growing tired of the “hard facts” of the 2008 election? Wouldn’t your rather resume the political analysis based on hearsay and guessing we all enjoyed last year? I have just the item for you. State Sen Tom Bakk (DFL-Cook), one of two Iron Rangers and 50-plus other DFLers considering a run for governor…
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Brown on the Air: PIE!
My essay for the Saturday, July 26, “Between You and Me” on 91.7 KAXE is about pie. That’s the show’s topic anyway. It’s some kind of pie holiday that host Heidi Holtan will explain to you when you listen. I do these commentaries every week, by the way. Sometimes we talk about deep life issues…
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Generations, Part 3; Times a’ Changin’ on the Iron Range and in Duluth
Today I conclude my three part series on generational shifts that might influence races up and down this year’s Democratic (and, indirectly, Republican) ticket. Why? Well, I like to look at things through a historical lens and while history is known for taking a long time to transpire, there’s usually a tipping point where a…
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All’s well in the potica biz
I have to share this Beth Bily story about Andrej’s European Pastry from today’s Business North. I (and probably every writer who has ever worked at the Hibbing Daily Tribune) did a story about them in the past. Anyone who has talked to Jan Gadzo about his business and his escape from Communist Czechoslovakia knows…
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Cliffs plans biofuel-driven cleanup of Range mine emissions
I missed this business item from the Duluth News-Tribune yesterday when I was (ironically) down at the zoo in Duluth with my family. Cleveland-Cliffs is not only dropping $104 million on production upgrades at UTac, but they claim they can increase their overall production of taconite while reducing their carbon emissions, thanks to biofuels they…
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Essar restates desire to turn shovels soon on Minnesota Steel
The Grand Rapids Herald-Review reported yesterday on a presentation from Essar Steel to Itasca County about the giant Indian company’s impending groundbreaking for the Minnesota Steel project near Nashwauk. August, they say. And Essar officials are still talking like they plan to build the full steel mill with the iron concentrate mine, which has been…
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Generations Part 2; the SNL divide
Yesterday I talked about the generational divide that has influenced the race for President. Today I’ll talk about how this generational divide might be influencing our U.S. Senate race in Minnesota. Democrat Al Franken, an unusual candidate facing unusual challenges, is fighting to reestablish the narrative of a campaign which has been mired in talk…
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KSTP still crusin’ for a bruisin’ on the Range
CORRECTED to show use of Minnesota Government Data Practices Act, not FOIA. Word is that KSTP has submitted a Freedom of Information request (Minnesota Government Data Practices Act request) to Iron Range Resources for all e-mail correspondence between board members, staff and administration regarding Ironworld. Don’t worry; I didn’t get this in an e-mail. So…