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It is not "me" season
You really don’t realize how much your normal wardrobe resembles the general appearance of a common whitetail deer until you move to a rural section of northern Minnesota and the annual rifle deer hunting season arrives. For instance, my shoes are brown (BLAM!), my parka is brown (BLAM!) and my flapped winter hat is also…
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What is clout worth?
The Iron Range is losing clout, we’re told. The GOP takeover of the Minnesota House of Representatives and Senate has relegated its DFL legislative delegation to the minority, unseating scads of chairmen. Chip Cravaack’s unlikely victory over Congressman Jim Oberstar, an Iron Range political legend, ends Oberstar’s long run as senior Democrat on transportation issues…
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A new legion for old stories and values
This past Saturday I climbed the narrow stairs of the Keewatin City Hall, stepping around the hoist chair at the bottom which was new last year but is now just part of the scenery. The occasion was the annual Keewatin Legion and Sons of the Legion spaghetti feed held in the auditorium where they used…
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COLUMN: Bringin’ it all back home, again
This is my weekly column for the Nov. 14, 2010 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. A version of this piece aired as a commentary on 91.7 KAXE on Nov. 6. Bringin’ it all back home, againBy Aaron J. Brown When you live in the heart of the Midwest, in a little notch of the…
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Longtime mustachioed Range, Duluth anchor to retire
Longtime news anchor Dennis Anderson of WDIO/WIRT, the ABC affiliate in the Duluth, MN, TV market (northern Minnesota and Wisconsin) announced he will retire in the next six months or so. This according to a story from my mentor Mike Simonson of Wisconsin Public Radio in Superior. Anderson is a solid regional journalist with a…
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Range planetarium to close, reopen as white dwarf
Today I follow-up and in all likelihood conclude my coverage of the plight confronting the Paulucci Space Theatre in Hibbing. On Dec. 1, the planetarium will temporarily close for public shows. In the spring, the facility will reopen under a new business model. The planetarium will be rented on an as-needed basis for school groups,…
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I have been to the mountaintweet
Sometimes the world just openly mocks you. The top of Mt. Everest is getting 3G data coverage to offer climbers, and presumably their Sherpas, high speed internet access at the world’s tallest mountain peak. Meantime, efforts to expand high speed internet access on the Iron Range more closely resemble all those guys who froze on…
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In honor of the Pioneer
MPR’s Bob Kelleher reports on efforts in Ely to turn the old Pioneer Mine site into a culture and heritage center. A quasi-high-end hotel with convention facilities now sits across the street from the Pioneer Mine, the culmination of an immigrant miner’s dream. That is, provided the immigrant miner had the foresight to encourage his…
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GUEST POST: Putting Oberstar’s Pork in Context
This is the latest in a semi-regular series of Iron Range posts from historian Jeff Manuel. News coverage of Representative Jim Oberstar’s loss to Chip Cravaack on Tuesday has emphasized Oberstar’s long record of using earmarks to fund projects in Minnesota’s Eighth District. The Star Tribune called Oberstar “a powerful transportation committee chairman who has…
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First in a long time: Iron Range seat falls to GOP
Longtime State Rep. and former Bovey mayor Loren Solberg (DFL-Grand Rapids) has narrowly lost his District 3B race to Carolyn McElfatrick, a Cohasset nurse and GOPer. For the first time in a generation an Iron Range legislative seat will be held by a Republican. Granted, the debate over whether Grand Rapids is part of the…
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Two Range races fall to the old guard
Well, my attempt to have Sarah Palin-like influence over local Iron Range races has failed, just like it mostly did for Palin. Lorrie Janatopoulos lost to incumbent Keith Nelson in St. Louis County Commissioner Dist. 6. Liz Kuoppala lost in the Eveleth mayor’s race to former mayor Robert Vlaisavljevich. These are unfortunate losses for the…
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Minnesota’s Fightin’ 8th readies for its closeup
We’re entering the final countdown of the 2010 election, a contest that will go down as a very informative historical study on the voting habits of (in no particular order) Americans, Minnesotans and the people of Minnesota’s 8th Congressional District. It’s good that I have been plowing through “The Rise of American Democracy” by Sean…
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Brown on the Air: BRINGIN’ IT ALL BACK HOME
Join me this Saturday morning for “Between You and Me” on 91.7 KAXE. The show blends calls, commentary, music and more for a unique northern Minnesota media experience. This week’s topic is “bring back.” Say what? Well, that just means we’ll be talking about all the things, both specific and conceptual, that we want back.…
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Dayton, Oberstar rally on the Range
Tom Scheck of Minnesota Public Radio covered last night’s Iron Range DFL rally in Virginia. Audio links to speeches from Congressman Jim Oberstar and Mark Dayton are included. Related posts: No related posts.
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Steel recovery slows, the need for creativity grows
A sluggish national economic recovery means the recently buoyant steel industry is tempering its optimism. Things aren’t bad, per se, but U.S. Steel and ArcelorMittal are seeing orders drop as new construction in the U.S. and Europe continues to tread water. It would seem to me that new construction would and probably should remain slower…