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Ely maple sap spat may stop street taps
This year the city of Ely, Minnesota, forwent its traditional April Fools joke because Easter landed on the same day. Whether tourism officials wanted to avoid confusing the Resurrection with a practical joke or simply wanted to gorge themselves on deviled eggs, we’ll never know. But in keeping with the way of the world these…
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Voters approve Grand Rapids, Brainerd school bonds
Updating my earlier post, voters in the Grand Rapids and Brainerd school districts approved a series of bond measures today. Late results showed a close, mixed result in Grand Rapids and an overwhelming passage in Brainerd. In Grand Rapids, taxpayers approved a question of raising $69 million to build two new elementary schools and remodel…
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Critical school votes test Northern MN political climate
Today, voters in two Northern Minnesota school districts will render their verdict on separate school bond referendum measures. The result will speak greatly toward public attitudes about the economy, taxation and public education in rural Minnesota. Grand Rapids In Grand Rapids, voters will consider two questions that would cost taxpayers up to $74 million. The…
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Tooth in Advertising: program attracts dentists to Range
I’ve got decent insurance now, so my three kids could go to the dentist starting at an early age. That wasn’t the case for my parents. But when it came time for my boys to go to the dentist, we still had a hard time getting them in. My lifelong dentist wasn’t accepting new patients,…
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The sound of footsteps in an empty mall
I like to walk. My “five miles or more per day” habit is about all that’s keeping me out of the Big and Tall stores these days. (And I ain’t getting any taller). Walking is probably the only good habit I’ve ever had. So when I had an odd free moment the other day I…
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Itasca conference aids navigation of ‘Post-Truth Era’
The peacock is really just a 12-pound pheasant with a fancy tail that is probably delicious. It evolved and lives today because potential mates and predators alike believe they are much larger birds with many, many eyes. It’s hardly the only species built on deception, but it’s a particularly successful one. It’s got nothing on…
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Iron Range downtown revitalization projects on tap
You can’t legislate beauty. But you can clean a place up and take some pride in your community. You can also deploy public art as a way to change attitudes and outlooks. That’s the logic behind a small but growing movement to revitalize Mesabi Iron Range communities. The IRRRB announced their 2018 Downtown and Business…
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Who eats whom in Nashwauk mine showdown?
There’s an old trope you see in a lot of cartoons and movies. Someone is running through a jungle or forest, pursued by some fearsome beast. Only at some point an even more fearsome beast leaps from the shadows to snatch and devour the previous monster. And just as THAT creature takes off after our…
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U.S. Steel to reopen Granite City Works
When the steel industry hit the skids three years ago, one of the biggest signals of woe was the shuttering of U.S. Steel’s mill in Granite City, Illinois in 2016. That mill took iron ore from the Mesabi Range. Company officials cited its closure as one of the reasons for the idling of Keewatin Taconite.…
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Littlewolf leaves Virginia council for foundation post
Virginia city councilor Nevada Littlewolf is leaving office for a prestigious new job as CEO of a Native American foundation. Last week, the Minneapolis-based Tiwahe Foundation named Littlewolf as its new leader. The foundation grants funds to Native American communities to promote independence and stronger leadership. “I understand firsthand the importance of indigenous voices in…
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West Side Story: the high stakes Mesabi mining show
A proposed new mine near the western Mesabi Iron Range town of Nashwauk has proven to be a challenge to explain. Every time I go to write one piece, something new pops up, changing the story. I don’t even know what to call it. This thing is a folk story now. So let’s start from…
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Mesabi Iron Range takes action on mountain bike trails
Last week brought a very busy Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board meeting. In addition to discussions of reform and school funding, the board also green-lighted the commissioner’s plan to fund three mountain bike trails on the Mesabi Iron Range. The almost $5 million grant package helps volunteer-based organizations and Giants Ridge develop three distinct…
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L.L. Bean ‘Bootmobile’ headed to the Iron Range
Growing up in the rural environs just off the Mesabi iron formation, I became accustomed to the machinations of the bookmobile. Well, now Iron Range residents can expect a new arrival: the Bootmobile. L.L. Bean, purveyor of fine boots and outdoor clothing and accessories, turned a pickup truck into a giant boot. Now they tour…
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Remembering Bill Ojala, radical conscience of the Iron Range
Bill Ojala, a former Iron Range legislator and later gadfly social justice activist, died last Saturday at the age of 92. John Lundy of the Duluth News Tribune penned a good obituary (“‘A true son of the Iron Range’: Lawyer, politician Bill Ojala dies at 92“) in yesterday’s paper. Ojala, descended from Finnish-American immigrants on…
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Iron innovation most vital mining challenge for Mesabi Range
I know, there’s plenty we could talk about regarding controversial copper-nickel mining projects in Northern Minnesota. PolyMet has a draft permit to mine. Ely’s Twin Metals got a symbolic boost from the Trump Administration. Persistent and largely meaningless slap fights between mining advocates and skeptics color the pages of the local press. But the truth…