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Minnesota holding blue tone for 2008
The Star Tribune releases polls today showing any Democrat beating John McCain in Minnesota by about 10 points. Barack Obama in particular does very well, showing numbers similar to Amy Klobuchar’s lead over Mark Kennedy in last cycle’s U.S. Senate race at this point. What does this mean? If the year plays out the way…
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State budget deal reached
The DFL legislature and Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-Minn.) are going to announce a budget deal at noon Sunday. I’ll dig into the details when I see the deal. Related posts: No related posts.
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I’ve got the Power! (for now)
There’s a lot going on around Minnesota and the Iron Range. I had about six posts I was going to work on this weekend in between paper grading (finals week!) until the wind started. High winds knocked out power around 4 p.m. Saturday out here in the deep woods Brown Compound. You know what you…
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Dylan changed the world; so can we
This is my weekly column for the Sunday, May 18, 2008 Hibbing Daily Tribune. I archive my columns at my writing site. Dylan changed the world; so can we When I tell people I’m one of the co-chairs of Dylan Days I usually get a look. It’s a look that says, “You? You’re too young…
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Timberjay blasts corporate jive
Marshall Helmberger and the woefully underappreciated Timberjay newspaper is sticking up for the good guys in the battle for high speed rural internet access. Helmberger provides a much-needed balance for the corporate boosterism of the Iron Range’s largest newspaper, the Mesabi Daily News. True high speed internet available to all at a low price remains…
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Ventura hinting Senate run again
Former Gov. Jesse Ventura (I-Minn.) is hinting at a U.S. Senate run again. As Larry Jacobs notes in the story, his timing may be right … again. As much as I am a fan of DFLer Al Franken, he has higher than average negatives for a challenger. Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) has higher negatives and…
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Beer not recession proof
… says this. People are trading down from MGD to Milwaukee’s Best, according to the people at Miller Brewing, apparently because of the economy. That’s why I drink Busch Light. As I’ve said before, I like Busch Light not just because it’s easy drinking, but because they print “Easy Drinking” right on the side of…
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Today in Coal
What do you think? Is “Today in Coal” a show you would watch? Anyway, two items came across my desk this morning and both are about coal. 1) The Range’s biggest power plant, Minnesota Power’s Clay Boswell facility in Cohassett, is entering its second summer of construction on a $200 million environmental upgrade. Like U.S.…
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Brown on the Air: Exercise, Dylan Days and more Dylan Days
My weekly radio essay for KAXE’s “Between You and Me” this week is about exercise. I take a broader look at exercise through an evolutionary lens. Using phrases like that helps me feel better about the general appearance of my torso. It’s supposed to be funny, so tune in and find out if it actually…
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Life is short
Rick Weegman from the Duluth News-Tribune writes a column today about a young woman from my hometown of Cherry, Minn., who was killed in a car wreck. It’s about the everyday reality of mortality, something that hits home for me since I crossed that same intersection thousands of times when I was in high school.…
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Steelworkers endorse Obama
Here’s a union endorsement in the presidential race that has implications on the Iron Range. (Found via yellowdog) The Range was going to be John Edwards country on Feb. 5 and Obama needs to hold the big DFL margins up here to win Minnesota. The Steelworkers aren’t necessarily the largest constituency up here anymore, but…
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McCain gets all futuristic on the TV
I just watched John McCain give a speech that was carried live on cable news. I came in late so it took me a minute to realize that his rhetorical construct was “it’s the future and here’s what I did in my first term.” He was saying things like “the economy is robust and people…
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Obama deserves to win because…
… he got ABC to break into World News with live coverage of his rally with John Edwards … the day AFTER he lost West Virginia by 40 points. Hot damn! That’s no small feat. Here’s the whole Edwards speech from CNN: Related posts: No related posts.
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Remember, U.S. Steel deals in the folding money
Just a friendly reminder, the biggest investor of new capital into the Iron Range economy this year will not be Essar Global, Excelsior Energy, Wal-Mart or even the Pabst brewing company. No, the most new money will come from U.S. Steel, which is dropping a smooth $350 million to restart an old line at Keewatin…
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UPDATE X2: Folstrom drops out of 4A DFL race; Persell poised as frontrunner
Dammit, blogging, I can’t quit you. So much for the “no blog” Tuesday afternoon. FLASH! From the House District 4A DFL endorsement race. Irene Folstrom withdrew her bid for the endorsement today, leaving a clear path for the other candidate, John Persell, a Beltrami County Soil and Water commissioner and longtime DFLer. Persell has worked…