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Excelsior vows to fight on
Now that a couple days have gone by I’m starting to calm down about Thursday’s news about the PUC’s denial of Excelsior Energy’s mandated power purchase agreement with Xcel. The company’s outrageously optimistic reaction to this news, a serious setback for EE’s Mesaba Energy Project, is driving me nuts, but it’s really all they can…
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Hibbing paper interviews Excelsior CEO after PUC drubbing
Mike Jennings at the Hibbing Daily Tribune pens a story today with details about yesterday’s PUC ruling against Excelsior Energy and reaction from the company’s co-founder Tom Micheletti. The PUC ruled against Excelsior Energy, ending efforts to force Xcel to buy the expensive experimental coal gasification power proposed by Micheletti and his partners. In short,…
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Same now as it ever was
This is my weekly column for the Sunday, Aug. 10, 2008 Hibbing Daily Tribune. Same now as it ever wasBy Aaron J. BrownMost people know the political tradition here on the Iron Range: Independent, but generally Democratic, and heavily influenced by the past and present labor movement. Sadly, it’s almost impossible to talk about politics…
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Obama more like ‘us’ than Cokie and Steve Roberts
Today, the Hibbing Daily Tribune ran a syndicated column by Cokie and Steve Roberts that bears the headline “Is Obama one of us? We’re not sure.” If the question is, is Obama an overrated national pundit thriving off of insider status, I suppose the answer would have to be “no.” But I still have no…
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Range editor, veteran makes insightful observation about ‘surge’
Hibbing Daily Tribune editor Mike Jennings made an interesting observation Sunday based on his experience serving in Vietnam in regard to today’s debate over the success of the so-called surge: Could we have sustained what seemed in 1970 a durable degree of security in Vietnam? Of course. All that was necessary was to keep American…
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Modern life exposes soft underbelly of human nature
This is my weekly column for the Sunday, Aug. 3, 2008 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. Modern life exposes soft underbelly of human natureBy Aaron J. BrownFor all our bluster, we humans are really just soft, pink beings that consume more than we should and run much more slowly than other mammals our size.…
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Rummage sale memories
This is my weekly column for the Sunday, July 27, 2008 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. Rummage sale memoriesBy Aaron J. Brown We joined in a rummage sale with some friends last week. We’ve learned some things about organizing rummage sales over the years. Be ready for early birds. The traffic drops off around…
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Textistential Crisis
This is my weekly column for the Sunday, July 20, 2008 Hibbing Daily Tribune. Textistential CrisisBy Aaron J. Brown I’m slowly entering the age group that, upon hearing young people in public, wonders how the humans of the future will maintain electricity and running water. I’m not all the way there, yet, but drifting notably.…
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The real story behind Iron Range mining taxes
Mike Jennings and the Hibbing Daily Tribune dig below the surface of the last week’s dust-up over the KSTP Ironworld story (by now I think KSTP has forgotten they even did the story). Read the story. What’s interesting about this is that Jennings compares how various states tax their mineral extraction. Minnesota’s model is rather…
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A little less hooey, a little more Huey: the column
This is my weekly column for the Sunday, July 13, 2008 Hibbing Daily Tribune. You’ll notice that it’s based on a post I made here two months ago, but includes new information and perspective. A little less hooey, a little more HueyBy Aaron J. Brown It may not seem popular to emulate the late Louisiana…
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Two perspectives on an Iron Range Wal-Mart protest
There are two ways to look at the front page of the Sunday Hibbing Daily Tribune, which features a Jeff Warner story and photo (“Union workers protest Wal-Mart; Al Franken visits to show support“). A) This was a great cover story and photo for Al Franken. The picture features Franken speaking to a group of…
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After the Fourth
This is my weekly column for the Sunday, July 6, 2008 Hibbing Daily Tribune. After the FourthBy Aaron J. Brown Last I checked we still live in the United States. Don’t worry, I’m not about to ramble off on an anti-immigrant tirade or demand that the foreign language directions for my recent electronics purchase be…
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Seven words I won’t forget
This is my weekly column for the Sunday, June 29, 2008 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. Seven words I won’t forgetBy Aaron J. Brown When I was eight, a stroke of luck changed my life and taught me the majority of the dirty words I currently know. That was the year I won the…
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Gene Lyons’ Obama problem and how it affects Minnesota
My “hometown” paper is the Hibbing Daily Tribune (in as much as I live in a very rural township with no paper and this one is somewhat close and runs my weekly column). The Tribune, like most small town dailies, doesn’t run nearly as many syndicated columnists as it used to for budget reasons. One…
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The things we learn in a decade
This is my weekly column for the Sunday, June 22, 2008 Hibbing Daily Tribune. The things we learn in a decadeBy Aaron J. Brown I’m finally starting to pick up on the patterns of nature out where I live. I grew up in the country around the edges of the Mesabi Iron Range, but I…