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You could use a sauna right now
The Star Tribune’s Jenna Ross recently profiled the Ely Steam Sauna, a century-old public sauna in this Vermilion Iron Range city. It might seem counterintuitive for Minnesotans to go into a public steam room au natural. Or, for that matter, in the presence of those who most certainly are. We are known as a prudish lot. But…
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Cleveland-Cliffs noses in with Nashwauk land buy
Earlier this year, Cleveland-Cliffs lost its bid to acquire the former Essar Steel Minnesota project in the Mesabi Iron Range town of Nashwauk, Minnesota to Chippewa Capital Partners. However, Business North reports that Cliffs is back on the scene today after buying land and mineral rights previously attached to that project. From that story: The…
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Iron Range newspaper profiles early ‘silence breakers’
On Sunday, the Mesabi Daily News featured a major story about the #metoo movement with a special tie to Northern Minnesota’s Iron Range. Penned by editor Jerry Burnes and reporter Leah Ryan, “One of the First Silence Breakers” includes an interview with Lois Jensen, the original Eveleth Mines sexual harassment case plaintiff. This story is…
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‘Holy’ Miles Lord echoes through Minnesota history
To some, judges are supposed to stay hidden in the chambers of Minnesota law, better forgotten than seen or heard. But we learn about one judge who relished the spotlight and used it well in “Miles Lord: The Maverick Judge Who Brought Corporate America to Justice.” This new book from the University of Minnesota Press comes…
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Itasca County special election coasts to Dec. 12
On Tuesday, Dec. 12, voters will finally cast their ballots in the Itasca County District 5 commissioner special election called more than half a year ago. The seat opened with the resignation of Commissioner Mark Mandich on June 21. County officials scheduled a special election an insane six months later, with a primary in October.…
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2018 becoming year of reckoning in Minnesota
Today, U.S. Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) is expected to resign amid numerous credible accusations of past inappropriate behavior with women. This according to a report by Minnesota Public Radio. I wrote about Franken in the context of the larger issue of sexual harassment and abuse of power in a Nov. 26 column. In full disclosure,…
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‘Blue-Collar Battleground’ opens at Chisholm museum
Job creation. Job training. Worker shortage. Part time work. Stagnant wages. Higher productivity. Health care. Retirement savings. These words filter through our news like water down a pipe, presenting clear evidence that the “labor history” of America is hardly finished. Rather, we’re living in the continuation of an unresolved labor movement. This Thursday, Dec. 7,…
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Top Ten Tips for Dinosaurs Seeking to Survive Winter
Sixty-six million years ago a 7.5 mile-wide asteroid hurtled from the depths of space toward a warm, lush planet ruled by lizards. The meteor plunged into the Gulf of Mexico, then just a shallow sea, “instantly vaporizing thousands of billions of tons of rock.” A black cloud of boulders exploded from sea level to the…
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Beep-Boop, you can drive my car
News coverage of driverless cars tends to skew from “Oh, wow, look at these fancy gadgets” to “Look out, the robots are taking over!” But we’re going to need to take a very real look at autonomous vehicle technology. After all, it will dramatically reshape our lives in Northern Minnesota. Like most change, the issue…
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Rural housing crunch hits home
One of the biggest challenges in moving to Northern Minnesota is finding housing. The same struggle broadly applies to all of rural Minnesota. Sure, we’ve got lots of houses. “For sale” signs dot the streets of Iron Range communities. But if you’re not looking to buy, or especially if you’re not looking to buy what…
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MN Sunday liquor basically fine, nothing special
There’s a lady who smokes outside this one liquor store I drive by fairly often. I think she works there. She was out there again last Sunday. That got me wondering, how are Sunday sales going? Well, the local paper was a step ahead of me. I saw this later that day. A Nov. 26…
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Hill Annex Mine State Park to change … but how?
Rumors of the demise of Hill Annex Mine State Park have abounded for a long time. For one thing, it’s an odd state park. Hill Annex serves as more of a museum of mining history coupled awkwardly with a massive trove of pre-historic fossils. (The amount of fossils blown to smithereens in the history of…
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Dig Deep on political realignment
This month, the Northern Community Radio Podcast “Dig Deep” considered the topic of political realignment. The episodes aired on the radio last week. This program features conservative commentator Chuck Marohn and myself, the liberal commentator. The goal is not argument, however, but the open and honest exploration of new ways to understand and even solve…
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The fall and rise of America
What are we going to do with all these fallen public figures? The ones who harass. The ones who abuse their power. It’s one thing to throw them all out of office, get them fired, or shame them into resignation. But then what? Do we put them on a bus? Where do we send that…
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Diary of a Thanksgiving Turkey
[FREEZE FRAME] *record scratch* Yep, that’s me. You’re probably wondering how I got here. It started the Friday before Thanksgiving. I was just chilling in my containment pen with a few dozen of my genetically selected pals. All of a sudden, one of the Grabby No Beaks yanks me up by the neck and drags…