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One way to follow the inauguration from a Northern Minnesota perspective
WDIO reporter Kim Johnson is covering Tuesday’s Obama inauguration for the Duluth ABC affiliate by traveling with Northlanders who are attending the ceremonies. She’s keeping a blog at the station’s website. I am also betting that any Facebook or MySpace friends you have in the D.C. metro area can probably give you a pretty good…
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Iron ore shipments show last year’s economic whiplash
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I love you, Duluth!
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See me, hear me, but don’t touch me
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Welcome Good Morning Northland viewers
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On transportation, punditry and vultures
By now you’ve probably heard the speculation that U.S. Rep Jim Oberstar is on President-elect Obama’s short list for Secretary of Transportation. The Mesabi Daily News welcomed the idea in a Monday editorial. This speculation has been around a long time. I wrote about a collection of potential succession candidates should Oberstar move over to…
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Wednesday, Wednesday, Wednesday! First book event in Duluth!
Like taconite, my “Overburden: Modern Life on the Iron Range” book tour is heading for Duluth this week to get loaded. Ha! Just kidding. I don’t mix boozin’ and book sellin’ (Book writin’ … well, that’s different). We’ve had some fine book events here on the Iron Range, with more to come, but this Wednesday,…
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Norm’s Range plan, and why it’s half baked
As a former daily newspaper editor, who never once endorsed anyone for political office while editor (I don’t believe that newspaper endorsements are wise editorial policy), I have been watching with interest the ferocious attention paid the newspaper endorsements this 2008 election cycle. In the old days, when the assumption was that newspapers were liberal-leaning,…
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Testosterone Thursday in Range politics (more than usual)
Today, Democrats and Republicans alike will have a chance to say macho things and grunt. About damn time! Todd Palin, husband of Republican VP nominee and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is in Grand Rapids (click for story with times, etc.), Bemidji and Duluth today with his snowmobiling pal who is from Grand Rapids. If you…
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Get ‘Bushed’ in Duluth for fun
If you’re looking for some fun, left of center entertainment this weekend or over the next few weekends, check this out (From a Linda Hanson story in today’s DNT). Barton Sutter didn’t set out to write a play in verse about the Bush administration. It started with a poem, then another poem and another. “I…
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Extrapolating story from census data? Typical.
Today’s Duluth News-Tribune profiles the “typical Northlander.” Using census data, they’ve determined that the “typical Northlander” is a 29-year-old college educated female marketing professional. Oh, if only it were true! Many a modern Iron Range man tours downtown bars looking for just such a person, but — alas — success in this regard is rare,…
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Election Night salve: Dylan at the U
Where are you going to be on Election Night? Political types will no doubt gather at victory (and/or defeat) parties around the state. Perhaps some will silently observe the proceedings on their home television, allowing them to drop f-bombs or perform over-the-top celebratory acts as the electoral votes are projected. But there is also an…
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Duluth paper announces layoffs
The Duluth News-Tribune announced staff cuts months ago, but today finally announced the official layoffs. 8 jobs, including 4 full and 4 part time. As usual, they got the managing editor. Managing editors are like second lieutenants in a war movie. All glory, usually posthumous. Related posts: No related posts.
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What Reinert’s 7B win means
With Roger Reinert’s victory in the DFL primary for House District 7B, Duluth’s political structure has officially gone from one generation to the next. The city council and mayor’s races of almost two years ago coupled with this race show that Duluth’s DFL majority is looking past the “old guard” for new leadership. That’s not…
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LIVEBLOG: Duluth’s 7B showdown
This is the post I’ll keep updating tonight as results pour in from Duluth’s West Side for the only interesting legislative primary in northern Minnesota. For visual reference, I am grading papers in my basement lair in deep rural Itasca County (a place that, for the benefit of future foreign or robot invaders, should be…