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Go Tigers!
Indulge some nostalgia here. My alma mater, Cherry High School, is making its first appearance at the state baseball tournament since 1997 when I was still a student there. Cherry is a tiny township tucked away along the Mesabi Iron Range, known mostly as the place where all the Finns went after being blacklisted from…
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Gubernatorial showdown on the Range
While I’m (slowly) working on a post about my interview with Tom Bakk, here’s a story from Monday’s Mesabi Daily News about the prospects for a rural governor, specifically an Iron Range governor, in the 2010 election cycle. What’s interesting is how the two potential Range candidates, State Rep. Tom Rukavina and State Sen. Tom…
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Range connections in AK-SEN race
Minn Post has a story about the Iron Range family ties of Mark Begich, Mayor of Anchorage and Democratic challenger to Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska). Begich’s father, U.S. Rep. Nick Begich, was born and raised on the Iron Range and his uncle, Joe, is a fixture in Range politics. I am ashamed that I didn’t…
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Long, hot summer
Just as in the rest of my life, I deal with multiple audiences on this blog. Some folks come here for politics. Some come here to see what’s up on the Iron Range. Some come here because they read my columns or listen to my radio essays. And some come here because they googled “moonshine”…
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2nd CD DFL challenger Sarvi has Range connection
The conventional wisdom is that the upcoming election features conditions favorable to Democrats. Most of the big analysts are predicting Democratic pickups in the Senate and House. There are pickup opportunities for Democrats here in Minnesota, as well, most notably Sen. Norm Coleman’s seat and the Third Congressional District being vacated by popular Republican incumbent…
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A real good reason to run for president
Hillary Clinton has been offered an “endless” supply of vodka for doing a full page ad for Svedka, which apparently is a kind of vodka (Iron Rangers prefer brown bottled booze). I imagine I’m not the only one writing about this, so kudos to Svedka for lowering the bar. We all know Hils likes the…
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Fishing is the pits
Iron Range mine pits … not just for disposing of Jimmy Hoffa’s body anymore*. Sam Cook’s column in today’s Duluth News-Tribune explores the success of the program that stocks our abandoned, flooded mine pits with large, delicious fish. Fishing in a mine pit is just like fishing in a lake except that if you step…
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Franken tours Minnesota today, including Grand Rapids stop
DFL endorsed U.S. Senate candidate Al Franken tours Minnesota today, including a stop at Brewed Awakenings in Grand Rapids at 5 p.m. I am working with the campaign on getting an interview with Franken for this blog. Unfortunately, I have business in Hibbing today and can’t get over to Rapids. But if you’re in the…
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Steel barons of the 21st century
This is my weekly column for the Sunday, June 8, 2008 Hibbing Daily Tribune. It was held over from last week because Essar made an announcement reiterating their commitment to the Minnesota Steel project just beforehand. My original sentiment remains, though; the Range must not depend on large steel companies or consultant-driven projects to deliver…
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Franken endorsed on first ballot; I was at the dump
DFL delegates endorsed Al Franken on the first ballot in Rochester moments ago. I heard the results on MPR just as I was getting back from taking diapers to the dump in my rural Iron Range township. Later I am going to grill some stuff. The lesson learned? Well, first, we’ve got to potty train…
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Prominent Iron Ranger, Robert Zimmerman, endorses Obama
And that’s how the headline would have looked if Bob Dylan had stayed in Hibbing and run for the state senate. Seriously, in an unusual move Bob Dylan endorsed Barack Obama for president during a London Times interview published Thursday. While some might have assumed that Dylan is a liberal because his fans smoke the…
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Eat at Newt’s
People keep asking, “Hey, MinnesotaBrown (well, usually they say Aaron), are you going to the DFL convention in Rochester this weekend?” The answer is no. I made the conscious choice not to pursue a delegate slot or blogger credentials this year because of my book deadline and the general insanity of our multi-child household. I’ll…
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Brown on the Air: summer jobs
My weekly contribution to KAXE’s “Between You and Me” this Saturday, in keeping with the show’s theme this week, will be an essay about summer jobs. Specifically I’ll be talking about one summer job I had in college where my job was, among other things, to make sure kids practiced proper lawnmower safety during their…
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Minnesota Steel project to be self-financed by Essar
Business North has a clear explanation of the current status of Essar’s Minnesota Steel Project on the Iron Range. Check it out. Related posts: No related posts.
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Fightin’ Eighth’s back bench is deep
Yesterday I gave you my list of potential DFL candidates to consider in the event that Democrats take the White House and longtime Rep. Jim Oberstar (D-MN8) is offered the position of Secretary of Transportation. As I said, this is not necessarily likely, but worth thinking about in the event that it happens. After all,…