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Arts shape our lives, our economy
When you hear the word “arts,” or especially its fancier cousin, “THE arts” we tend to think of snobs sniffing wine in front of a large drab painting. When I think about it, however, the word conjures a string of memories. Acting in my first play during 9th Grade at the Cherry School. The time…
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Candidates mull suddenly wide open MN-8 race
UPDATE: I’ve created a special MN-8 page to provide up-to-date coverage of this race. Amid Friday’s stunning news that Rick Nolan would retire from Congress, we now try to sort out who else might run now that the seat is wide open. Of course, we know that DFLer Leah Phifer was already challenging Nolan for…
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Rick Nolan to retire from Congress leaving MN-8 wide open
U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan (D-MN8) announced this morning he will retire from Congress at the end of his current term. This leaves a wide open race for one of the most closely contested seats in the United States House of Representatives. Several news outlets reported the news this morning. Nolan, 74, has represented Northern Minnesota…
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March 3 Great Northern Radio Show set for Bemidji
Hello, reader. It’s been a while since I’ve checked in with you. Somehow I’ve managed to keep a brisk output of posts here at MinnesotaBrown.com this year while still working on my other projects. That’s something to celebrate as I bring my Great Northern Radio Show to Bemidji State University on Saturday, March 3. My…
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IP touts Sandman candidacy in MN-8
Much has already been made of the contentious race in Minnesota’s Eighth Congressional District. But it bears mentioning we’re still only in the first act of a long play that will feature an appearance by Ray “Skip” Sandman on the Independence Party ticket in November. The IP issued a statement Wednesday welcoming former Green Party…
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Key takeaways from 2018 straw polls, precinct caucuses
Last night I joined a relatively small group of Minnesotans in attending my local party precinct caucus. I caucus with the Democratic-Farmer-Labor party, so we met at the Balsam Township Hall. The Republicans met in Grand Rapids at the middle school. Six people attended my caucus, including myself. I was prepared to remark that perhaps…
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Trading steel and sun in a changing world
The sun above our heads and the steel that comprises our highways, buildings, cars and appliances might not seem like they have much in common. But there’s a powerful truth behind the sun. The final stage of a star’s life happens when nuclear fusion produces iron at its core, causing it to explode. At once,…
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The hidden importance of Tuesday’s precinct caucuses
With the Super Bowl in the state’s collective rear view mirror, Tuesday night brings the biennial tradition of Minnesota’s precinct caucuses. And while it might seem a precipitous drop-off in excitement, this year’s caucuses offer real world implications. Precinct caucuses are a strange quirk of this moralistic state that once placed tremendous value on grassroots…
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Resiliency: the skill we all need to survive
Every living thing around us knows resilience. The snow-speckled maple out our window went dormant for the long cold winter, ready to release sap and resume life come spring. The chickadee stands on thin, nearly bloodless legs, all so these spritely little birds may flit among the branches no matter how cold the air. The…
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200 miles north of the Super Bowl
The fighter jets patrolling the skies above Super Bowl LII also maneuver above my home 200 miles north of Minneapolis. Roaring ghosts chasing the horizon. I think this is where they turn around or refuel. Safe. Remote. Nothing down here but trees, lakes and us. In this way living 200 miles from the Super Bowl…
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Duluth gains sharp new arts venue, promise of another
After several years and $18 million in renovation, downtown Duluth’s NorShor Theater reopened this week with a local production of “Mamma Mia,” the ABBA musical. That show is sold out for two weeks. And while ABBA is great, most folks in the Zenith City are just excited for the addition of a dazzling new downtown…
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West Side Story: the high stakes Mesabi mining show
A proposed new mine near the western Mesabi Iron Range town of Nashwauk has proven to be a challenge to explain. Every time I go to write one piece, something new pops up, changing the story. I don’t even know what to call it. This thing is a folk story now. So let’s start from…
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Enrollment decline poses new challenge to state colleges
Trying to read trends is difficult. You have to figure out what’s part of a normal cycle and what might be indicative of change. And then, if it is real change, you have to determine what’s causing the change. Is it inevitable or malleable? Are you causing it or is it something else? That’s the…
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Mesabi Iron Range takes action on mountain bike trails
Last week brought a very busy Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board meeting. In addition to discussions of reform and school funding, the board also green-lighted the commissioner’s plan to fund three mountain bike trails on the Mesabi Iron Range. The almost $5 million grant package helps volunteer-based organizations and Giants Ridge develop three distinct…
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America: self-made, but more
No U.S. president knew mining better than Herbert Hoover. The man made a generational fortune as a mining engineer using his remarkable ability to assess and improve the productivity of mines all over the world. Presidential historian Feather Schwartz Foster writes that Hoover bragged he could smell a successful mine the moment he entered it.…