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What’s a ‘golden share’? Let’s find out
The successful merger of U.S. Steel with Nippon Steel of Japan will go down as one of the big business stories of the year. On Minnesota’s Mesabi Iron Range, the deal holds special meaning. It will bring in significant investment to aging taconite plants at Keewatin and Mountain Iron, but it’s hard to say what…
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No sickness like soul-sickness
The news snuck up on me, which is funny now that I work for a large newspaper. It was Saturday and we had plans to attend a graduation party and pick up groceries afterward. I saw rumblings on social media about a shooting in Brooklyn Park, but in America there are shootings. You still make…
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Floating an idea for airships in Minnesota
I can get very excited about new ideas, sometimes too excited. Well, be warned, my latest column drifts into this territory. Not all of the topics I’ve explored over the years panned out the way I hoped. In my early days writing editorials for the Hibbing Daily Tribune I went all in on high-speed…
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To save a tree, we must first save the forest
The forest is a living organism. Maybe you’ve heard this kind of thing before, perhaps from a hippie or some cheesy environmental meme. I’m here to tell you that it’s true. When you live in a forest and pay attention, you see all the ways each plant or animal — even me! — blends into…
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For small towns, the bill’s come due and the hard part lies ahead
Sometimes it feels like life in a rural area is just one long string of budget cuts. It’s a perception thing, perhaps. Rural areas expanded services as their populations crested decades ago. Since then, the population has dropped and everything got more expensive. But this is a heck of a way to live; a…
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Police should not be the front line of Minnesota’s mental health crisis
A mental health crisis can take many forms. Often, it’s hard for witnesses to understand. Perhaps it manifests as an outburst, strange comments, non-communication, or frantic behavior. It can be frightening. That’s why law enforcement often ends up the first point of contact for people experiencing mental illness. As I write in today’s column, it…
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Nippon-US Steel deal will be transformative for Range, though risk remains
Last Friday, as Memorial Day weekend was just about to hit, President Donald Trump announced in his haphazard way that he supported a relabeled version of Nippon Steel’s proposal to buy U.S. Steel. U.S. Steel owns and operates the country’s largest iron ore mine at Minntac in Mountain Iron. It also runs Keewatin Taconite, where…
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Sewing it all together
As I explain in my latest column, I’ve always had an unusual relationship with fabric stores. My mom dragged me to the Joann Fabrics stores in Virginia and Hibbing when I was a kid. The store in Virginia closed a few years ago, but my mom and my wife both continued to drag me to…
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The ‘shrooms and smelt shall set us free
It’s hard to find peace in a culture war. It’s designed not only to divide us, but to perpetually push us apart like two north magnets. Today, I write that it takes something common to bring us together. In Minnesota we have the woods, the water, and each other. Last weekend, I picked mushrooms in…
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A.I. already dominates the classroom, so now what?
It’s hard to say that artificial intelligence snuck up on us. People have been yammering about it for years. Most people I know have either generated A.I. content or mindlessly shared it on social media. It doesn’t matter if you don’t know what it is, it’s already in your house. And it’s the topic of…
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Northern Minnesota fires highlights growing threat
I’ve written about wildfire before, but only in the context of fires somewhere else or fires in history. Now the fires are at our door. And that’s what I was worried about all along. Now I’m writing about wildfires in northern Minnesota. The Brimson fire complex, which includes the Jenkins Creek and Camp House fires,…
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Stress, isolation erode mental health in rural areas; human connection seeds new growth
Today, the second in my series of columns about mental health issues appears in the Minnesota Star Tribune. I began this series after contemplating the loss of a family member to suicide many years ago. My goals: build hope for recovery from mental illness while sharing valuable resources and elevating worthy public policy ideas. This…
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Economy, company commitments to determine real fate of NorthMet project
Today, I’ve got a new column on some of the latest twists in Minnesota’s copper-nickel mining debate. I’m well aware that my position on copper-nickel mining in northern Minnesota is like some rare single-cell organism that only survives within a narrow temperature band found near active volcanos at the bottom of the ocean. I know…
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Part hockey, part pro wrestling, part culture war
Yelling feels good. But yelling isn’t the solution. I fear we have reached this point in the debate (is it a debate?) over the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame in Eveleth. You can read more in my latest column in the Minnesota Star Tribune. Naturally, Iron Rangers don’t want the Hall of Fame Museum to…
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If a duck can be brave, we can be brave
Nature functions because it is certain despite its uncertainty. I’ve seen proof. Like most people of my time and place, I’ve had to live with a fair amount of uncertainty. In school, I agonized. Would she ever love me back? Was dad going to keep his job? Would I be able to afford the elite…