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Brown on the Air: Words
My weekly essay for “Between You and Me” discusses words. Words can be deeply meaningful and strangely bizarre. Sasquatch. Squat. Kumquat. Syphilis. What a wild lexicon we live in! Creators of words and those who use them should tune in between 10 a.m. and noon on Saturday, May 31 for “Between You and Me,” a…
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Life of an Iron Range blogger, Part 5
Here is the final installment (this week) of “life as an Iron Range blogger,” the diversionary exercise that allows me to keep content on the blog while I work on my book. Here is the Hull Rust Mine on Hibbing’s north side. This isn’t natural. Every crook and cranny of this pit was dug by…
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Bakk is running
Hate to be scooped on a Range story, but here it is from MNPublius (broken by MinnesotaDemocratsExposed I believe): State Sen. Tom Bakk (DFL-Cook) is running for governor. This is not surprising. Bakk has been hinting at this for a while. He’s getting out early probably to shore up union support and carve his piece…
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Life of an Iron Range blogger, Part 4
Book revisions continue through the week. Here I continue the visual tour of life as an Iron Range blogger.It’s not all good. Sometimes bugs like these land on your shoulder or leg. They’re huge and they bite. This one is now a lobbyist working for a confederation of energy and transmission line companies. It will…
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For serious this time
Of course the Excelsior audit/review story has to break during my book-finishing week. For real, I’m going into my basement office and turning off the Internet now … except maybe for occasional peeking. I’ve got some material scheduled for the next few days. See you on the flip side. Related posts: No related posts.
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You say ‘review,’ I say ‘audit’: Either way, the Iron Range is getting bamboozled
As reported, the Office of the Legislative Auditor is spending two months reviewing two loans totaling $9.5 million given by Iron Range Resources to a collection of lobbyists and lawyers calling themselves “Excelsior Energy.” Isn’t that kind of like an audit? Apparently there’s a difference. Anyway, the Hibbing Daily Tribune followed up on my post…
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Greater Minnesota job seekers are hurting
I’ve written about the work of the folks at the Jobs Now Coalition in St. Paul in the past. Basically, they’re doing research and spreading the word that the jobs currently being created in rural economies do not pay the bills for average families, which makes positive employment statistics cited by the government fairly misleading.…
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Life of an Iron Range blogger, Part 3
Work on my book continues, so I continue with the tour of images that make up life as an Iron Range blogger. One of the interesting things about living on the Range is that you need to find entertainment in unusual places. We don’t have night clubs and Tom Petty never comes here. The names…
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CONFIRMED: Complaint prompts legislative auditor to assess Iron Range coal gas project loan
Today, Brad White of the Office of the Legislative Auditor confirmed to me that his office is assessing a complaint that the $9.5 million loan by Iron Range Resources to Excelsior Energy for its coal gas Mesaba Energy Project was used inappropriately. After a month or more of assessment, White says the OLA will release…
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Franken weathers bad month like freight train full of rocks
… er, smart rocks. Something clever. I have to work on my blog headlines. There was a time there a few weeks ago when my favorite candidates, Barack Obama for president and Al Franken for Senate, were going through their respective former preacher and faux tax controversies at the same time. And, boy howdy, I…
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The important difference between wi-fi and high speed
A recent column from Mark Stencel of CQ Politics details the woes of major municipal Wi-Fi networks. The one in Philadelphia is currently going down in flames. I continue to advocate that northern Minnesota’s Iron Range must use its unique revenue and public governance structure to create a universal high speed internet network, whether that…
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Life of an Iron Range blogger, Part 2
I’m working on other projects this week, so instead of my normal posts I’m sharing a glimpse into some of the images that make up my life as an Iron Range blogger. When people think of the Range they might think of mines, rough-looking blue collar towns, piles of red dirt, pine trees and lakes.…
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Whitepine talks about steel wars
Paul at Whitepine, my east Range counterpart, is writing about the same modern-day steel baron wheeling and dealing that I have been talking about. His main argument is that we Iron Rangers need to have a backup plan because there’s a lot we don’t know about Essar and the Minnesota Steel project. I agree. Check…
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Life of an Iron Range blogger, Part 1
It’s officially summer in my world, which — unlike other teachers — means more work than ever. I have a book due June 16, a summer course starting next week and a legislative campaign committee to fire up. Therefore, this week and perhaps the next few weeks will be light on blogging. Instead I’ll be…
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Boondoggle vs. Audit
I may be slowing the blog for the next few weeks but I do have a couple stories that I’m following, including continued educated rumors that the expenditure of a $9.5 million Iron Range Resources loan to Excelsior Energy is being audited by the Office of the Legislative Auditor. I’m getting very plausible reports that…