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You know you’re in northern Minnesota when…
… you see a bumper sticker like this: “Kids who hunt, trap and fish don’t mug little old ladies” ~ Highway 169 near Grand Rapids, Feb. 14 Related posts: No related posts.
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Change on the Range?
Though I missed the speech, the Hibbing Daily Tribune report on Hibbing Mayor Rick Wolff’s State of the City address was encouraging. Visions, challenges and initiatives Mayor says Hibbing must embrace changeBy Kelly Grinsteinner, Hibbing Daily Tribune HIBBING — With change knocking on Hibbing’s door, Mayor Rick Wolff says the community and region must be…
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Update: Nothing wrong here at the airport, say people who run the airport
An update on the Chisholm-Hibbing Airport controversy from earlier in the week. The Airport Commission has chosen to accept the check from former airport director Dave Danielson as a “resolution” to the matter. They then named the interim director to officially succeed Danielson despite his using the airport address as the address for his private…
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Bonding bill nothing to snooze over
The chatter I keep hearing from folks who attend lots of under-reported public meetings is that the $67 million bonding request to fund infrastructure for the Minnesota Steel plant near Nashwauk is vital to the project’s viability. In quiet rail authority and city meetings, company representatives and city officials communicating with them say that the…
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Obama and the Iron Range
This post is shared with my friends at www.mnblue.com, a progressive Minnesota political blog. I’ve heard that some Range leaders are nervous that Sen. Barack Obama’s underperformance in central Range precincts like Hibbing and Chisholm despite his massive statewide win in the caucuses. (Sen. Hillary Clinton carried those core Range towns about 60/40; Obama carried…
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Achy Breaky news stacking
Here’s one of the “top stories” from Yahoo News this morning: “Billy Ray Cyrus apologizes for seatbelt gaffe“ Let’s go back to journalism school. Who? What? Why? Where? When? How? Who: Billy Ray Cyrus, washed up country star who sang “Achy Breaky Heart,” a song so stupid that it almost triggered the End Times (unless…
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Nothing but clear liquids for the time being
There’s plenty going on locally, statewide and nationally but blogging is slow because I’m sick. The whole house is sick. We’re all getting better but 36 hours ago it was a cauldron of disease around here. Babies firing arcs of barf across the living room, 10 pairs of child jammies called into emergency service, parents…
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2008 Minnesota legislative session begins
The 2008 Minnesota legislative session opens today with what appears to be an ambitious agenda for the DFL House and Senate. Best case Minnesota gets a transportation bill and more; worst case Minnesota gets just a small bonding bill. The governor seems inclined toward a stalemate on Day 1. From the Associated Press: Minn. lawmakers…
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This is Jim. He is holding a brown paper bag full of money.
The headline is an homage to the Chisholm-Hibbing Airport’s recent TV ad campaign featured a lovable everyman named Jim. It’s a good thing “Jim” didn’t linger too long at the airport or he might have seen something he shouldn’t have. I haven’t posted about the longstanding controversy surrounding the Chisholm-Hibbing Airport, its former director and…
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Dylan Days wins grant for Iron Range Bob Dylan exhibit
One of my pet projects is Dylan Days, an annual arts event in Hibbing run by an initiative called “Dylan Arts Celebration,” which I co-chair. Kelly Grinsteinner of the Hibbing Daily Tribune reported Sunday about our recent $10,000 grant from Iron Range Resources’ Culture and Tourism program to create exhibit material for an upcoming Bob…
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Coleman KAXE interview reveals northern strategy, foretells battle over coal gas boondoggle
U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman gave an interview to Scott Hall on the KAXE morning show today in which he covered a broad range of issues. KAXE is a unique and popular independent public radio station serving most of northern Minnesota. The most interesting details came near the end after Scott asked his final question, and…
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Falls wins icebox war
A triumphant victory for our people! International Falls keeps ‘icebox’ titleAssociated Press (via the Duluth News-Tribune) INTERNATIONAL FALLS — International Falls has iced its claim to be the “Icebox of the Nation.” This city on the Canadian border had been fighting the ski town of Fraser, Colo., for the legal right to the trademark. International…
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A toddler, a truck and the theory of relativity
This is my Sunday, Feb. 10 column for the Hibbing Daily Tribune. So the other day our son Henry, who is two and a half, picked up a toy truck from the coffee table, examined it carefully and made a simple declaration. “I’ve had this truck a long time.” We offered the standard parent agreement,…
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250 MW of clean energy coming downstream
Maybe some folks think I’m out to choke out the upper Midwest’s power supply after last week’s column in which I once again criticize the Mesaba Energy Project, that boondoggle coal gas power plant pushed by lobbyists here on the Iron Range. Not so, my business friends. In fact, my arguments fall squarely in line…
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Pawlenty’s (literally) bumpy road to the vice presidency
(This post might have been timely if I had actually finished it before my crazy Friday schedule. Hell, I’ll just post it now anyway). By now many have heard the frequent speculation over whether Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty will be John McCain’s running mate now that McCain has essentially secured the Republican nomination. McCain has…