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Art in the Park Thursday nights – Welcome to July!
Art in the Park Thursdays at the Minnesota Discovery Center in Chisholm roll onward tonight starting at 5 p.m. Free admission to the MDC (Ironworld, by another name) and a variety of live music in the pavilion. Join us Thursdays June 17 through September 2, 2010, from 5-9 p.m. for Art in the Park, a…
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As I lament the exurban wave
The political redistricting of 2012 is the elephant (or donkey, if you prefer) in the room for those involved. Politics in Minnesota’s Charlie Shaw interviewed me and a favorite former interview subject, state demographer Tom Gillaspy, for a story on how places like northern Minnesota’s Iron Range might be affected by population change and redistricting.…
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Parades, street dances and fireworks: an Iron Range party (for America)
This is an older listing. This year’s schedule is here. SCROLL DOWN FOR RANGE 4th of JULY SCHEDULE Fourth of July is a special time here on the Iron Range. Our immigrant ancestry and almost childlike adherence to the tenets of the American Dream make us a tad more nationalistic and militaristic than your average…
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COLUMN: Survival of the Finnish
This is my weekly column for the June 27, 2010 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. A version of this piece aired on the June 5, 2010 episode of “Between You and Me” on KAXE. Survival of the FinnishBy Aaron J. Brown As Independence Day approaches, thoughts turn to the survival of our republic. Survival…
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Grow faster!
I’ve been a little behind this week. You might have missed from last week’s Iron Range Resources board meeting that the contract economic development “developer” position held by David Richter, who I’ve interviewed for this blog, was given a sort of three month probation to show results. This all cropped up in a recent controversy…
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About my friend Tom Anzelc
My friend State Rep. Tom Anzelc, who I helped get elected as his campaign manager and strategist in 2006 and who, like me, lives out in Balsam Township, has been in the news these last two days. An ex-girlfriend slapped Anzelc with a restraining order full of salacious charges, pretty much the widest gamut of…
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COLUMN: Know your place
This is my weekly column for the Sunday, June 20, 2010 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune, referencing my visit to Chicago detailed earlier in the week. Know your placeBy Aaron J. Brown I don’t travel much. When you live in the place you want to live and do what you want to do, you…
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Weekly Range arts event in Chisholm aims to shake up local scene, bring out families
I let it pass without mentioning, but Ironworld, still operating as the Minnesota Discovery center, reopened a couple weeks ago. I met with the new CEO Paul Dwyer a few weeks ago and one of the things he was planning was a Thursday night arts program, free to the public, where local bands would play.…
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Range job fails to produce jobs, say job-holders
Over my lost weekend at O’Hare I missed this Bill Hanna story (subscription only, sorry) from the Mesabi Daily News that was reprinted in other SPC papers, including my column’s benefactor the Hibbing Daily Tribune. Headline: “[Iron Range Resources] position directly led to no new jobs.” I almost did a spit take when I saw…
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Cloutless, not clueless
Doug Grow has a good read over at MinnPost about the likelihood of rural Minnesota losing political clout in the state legislature after the 2010 Census spins into 2012 redistricting. Of particular note is Rep. Al Juhnke’s assessment that the next two years of legislative activity are going to become make or break for all…
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COLUMN: On the move, on our dime
This is my weekly column for the Sunday, June 13, 2010 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. On the move, on our dimeBy Aaron J. Brown It would appear that another Iron Range highway must move to accommodate mining activity. It’s the 21st century but I can’t help wondering if war with the Spaniards won’t…
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Highway motion
I just wrote a column about the rerouting of Iron Range Highway 53 for United Taconite’s mining operations south of Virginia, Minn. Bone up by reading Monday’s story from the Duluth News Tribune. The column will run Sunday in the Hibbing Daily Tribune, but ask yourself the question: how does this story compare to the…
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Another reason to love Range history: soccer version
If you’ve read my book “Overburden: Modern Life on the Iron Range,” you know that I like making abstract, sometimes comical connections from history to the present. In that spirit, here is another reason I think northern Minnesota’s Iron Range can be a cool place sometimes. We all know the World Cup is coming up,…
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Dylan Days: Sunday in Bob Dylan’s hometown
It’s all over folks. Dylan Days 2010 is in the history books. And while we didn’t see Bob Dylan himself, that’s OK. Plenty of great memories were created all the same. This morning there’s a farewell brunch at Zimmy’s, but for the most part the hundreds of visitors who stopped into Hibbing this weekend to…
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Dylan Days: Saturday in Bob Dylan’s hometown
Saturday is traditionally the biggest day of Dylan Days in Bob Dylan’s hometown of Hibbing, Minnesota. Hundreds of people are expected to be wandering the streets of the town and attending a wide range of events. Enjoy! Dylan Days Bus Tour 10:30 am – 2:30 pm. A fascinating guided tour of the Hibbing that inspired…