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I’ve got the munchies just thinking about it
From today’s Hibbing Daily Tribune, under the headline “North Hibbing, high school used for film“: HIBBING — North Hibbing and Hibbing High School were recently used as settings for a film depicting how time is a “human conception.” And how, no matter how hard one tries, the past cannot be physically revisited. Or, can it?…
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News from the equinox
This is my weekly column for the Sunday, March 29, 2009 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. A version of this piece will air on next week’s “Between You and Me,” Saturday morning on 91.7 KAXE. News from the equinox By Aaron J. Brown Last week we welcomed the spring equinox. Note that I did…
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Paper: Iron Range site work continues for Essar Steel
The Hibbing Daily Tribune is following up on the questions raised about Essar Steel’s new Nashwauk mine and steel mill. An Essar official recently told an Indian business publication that the project was “on hold.” However, the Tribune story says that local site work continues and it seems no one has been told anything but…
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Range paper reports on conflicting Essar Steel statements
The dog has been wagged. The Hibbing Daily Tribune is reporting on the Essar Steel quotes from the same Hindu Business Line story that I cited on Tuesday. The story quotes Essar’s top official saying that a project in southeastern India was going forward because North American projects were on hold until steel demand is…
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To be for it, or not to be for it
The Iron Range is a hard place to be an intellectual “Hamlet” type. This is partly because some of our most powerful officials and opinion makers have no idea what that means. It’s also because it’s a place that operates best when you pick a side and stick with it. Loyalty, old relationships, stubbornness, and…
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Wearing many ‘hats,’ a good hat is hard to find
This is my weekly column from the Sunday, March 22, 2009 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. I read a version of this piece for the March 21 edition of “Between You and Me” on KAXE. Wearing many ‘hats,’ a good hat is hard to findBy Aaron J. Brown Let me begin by saying that…
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Adapting fast, insiders say Range mines could recover quickly
Northern Minnesota iron mining is surely in a down cycle, with current and planned temporary taconite mine shutdowns looming over the Iron Range. But Mike Jennings of the Hibbing Daily Tribune has an interesting story in Sunday’s edition about the optimism of steel industry insiders in the long term strength of steel prices and the…
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The Lone Pine India Holi Polka
Most followers of Range news have been tracking the Essar Steel development in Nashwauk, a new mine and steel plant owned by an international India-based steel company. Iron Range officials and educators are trying hard to embrace the Indian culture of the Essar managers and employees being assigned to the new facility as it begins…
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Reports: Essar forging ahead
Word up north is that Essar Steel Minnesota is proceeding with plans to build a mine and eventually a steel mill near Nashwauk on Minnesota’s Iron Range. This, despite financing problems that are delaying the next phase of construction. The Star Tribune had a story today. The interesting observation to me is that Essar CEO…
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‘Please’ and ‘Thank You," signs of hope
This is my weekly column for the Sunday, March 15 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. A version of this piece ran as an essay on KAXE‘s “Between You and Me” on March 7. ‘Please’ and ‘Thank You,’ signs of hopeBy Aaron J. Brown As a relatively young parent of relatively young children the words…
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More commotion in Range economic development
I’m still catching up from my trip to the Twin Cities. Here are some of the headlines from the last two days. Essar Steel is delayed eight months because of financing issues. This is the combined mine and steel mill in Nashwauk that’s been talked about in some form for approaching two decades but that…
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Essar financing situtaion explained further
This morning, Mike Jennings of the Hibbing Daily Tribune explores the financing situation for Essar Steel Minnesota’s Nashwauk project, a combined mine and steelmaking operation currently in early construction. Essar, an India-based global corporation, is reportedly having some trouble securing necessary loans because of the credit situation. Jennings reports that State Sen. Tom Bakk will…
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Name these times
This is my weekly column for the Sunday, March 8, 2009 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. Name these timesBy Aaron J. Brown The Great Depression. The Crusades. The Dark Ages. The Renaissance. And, of course, the Iron Range Recession of the 1980s (known locally by one pseudo-word: “Da’eighties”). These terms describe historic periods of…
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Budget Fight: Always buckle your seatbelts
Jon Collins offer this story in today’s Mesabi Daily News (he writes for several Range papers including the Hibbing Daily Tribune that runs my column). The piece is a great roundup of Iron Range legislator perspective in anticipation of a big fight with the governor over this session’s historically tight budget. And though State Rep.…
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Wii won’t let me go
This is my weekly column that was published in the Sunday, March 1, 2009 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. A version of this piece was used as an essay broadcast on 91.7 KAXE‘s “Between You and Me” program this past December. Wii won’t let me goBy Aaron J. Brown There’s a machine in my…