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British paper sends reporter to Bob Dylan’s class reunion
The Telegraph of London ran a great story about Bob Dylan’s 50th Hibbing High School class reunion held last weekend. They actually had a reporter at the reunion in the hopes that he might show up. This is worth a read if only because it properly shows the changes in Hibbing’s attitude about Dylan over…
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Women in the mines: the difference today
Mesabi Misadventures hits another home run with a post about what it’s like to be a woman working at a mine today, decades after the sexual harassment made famous in the book “Class Action” and the movie “North Country.” This is a great read. She doesn’t write often but she writes with great depth. You…
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Rukavina speaks as governor bid begins
Joe Bodell at Minnesota Progressive Project has an interview with legendary Iron Range lawmaker Tom Rukavina after he filed paperwork to run for Governor. It occurs to me that my inevitable interview with Tom should be a great deal of fun. Related posts: No related posts.
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Other blogs join the fray
Grace Kelly at the Minnesota Progressive Project joins me in tearing the lid off the fantastical magic factory that is the proposed Mesaba Energy Project on the Iron Range. This project is not a power plant, it’s an expensive metaphor for everything that’s wrong with economic development on the Iron Range. Read the post. You…
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Brown on the Air: ANTIQUES
Tune in Saturday morning from 10 to noon for 91.7 KAXE’s weekly call-in and talk program “Between You and Me.” I am a regular contributor and my essay this week will explore the show’s rotating topic of “antiques.” For instance, which of Minnesota’s three iron ranges today qualifies as one of the state’s most active…
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Rukavina files paperwork for governor run
Longtime Iron Range state representative and colorful orator Tom Rukavina has filed state finance board paperwork to run for governor, according to Minnesota Progressive Project. UPDATE: The Mesabi Daily News has the exclusive first interview, albeit brief. Related posts: No related posts.
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2009: ‘worst ever’ year for taconite mines?
Charles Ramsay of the Mesabi Daily News reports that 2009 is on track to be the worst year on record for Iron Range taconite production. Keewatin Taconite and Hibbing Taconite are likely down for the rest of the year with limited production expected from the other four: MinnTac, Minorca, United Taconite and Northshore. Read more…
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Me so sad
If you like grim statistics, today’s Duluth News Tribune has a story that further explores Northern Minnesota’s unemployment and low iron ore shipping numbers discussed yesterday. On the bright side, TWINS WIN. Related posts: No related posts.
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Cooking the numbers
As I said yesterday I’m exploring educational outcomes this week. We all want better schools, but what does that mean and how do we get there? We read a lot about the results of standardized tests. Indeed, we can read the numbers in the paper like they were a batting average or election result. But…
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18.7 percent unemployed on the Iron Range
Paul Tosto at MinnEcon, from Minnesota Public Radio, has an excellent post about today’s staggering news of Hibbing’s 18.7 percent unemployment rate, now the highest among Minnesota cities. Virginia, Minn., another Iron Range town, is close behind at 17 percent. These numbers have shot up over the past few months with the massive downturn in…
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Read more, get mad
This week I’ll be exploring education issues for Sunday’s column in the Hibbing Daily Tribune. I may sneak a couple of preview posts onto this blog. Why is it that the only time people get good and mad about schools is when it comes to taxes or pride in the sports teams? What about reading?…
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Steel shipments halved
The Mesabi Daily News is reporting a 52 percent drop in steel shipments in May, more or less commensurate with declines in the automobile and manufacturing sectors. The Iron Range’s taconite industry is a lagging indicator in this economic equation. Followed, of course, by unemployment … the granddad lagging indicator. Related posts: No related posts.
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Another Range quirk: the grocery reunion
I think this qualifies as another quirky example of something that seems to happen only on the Iron Range. The former employees of the Red Owl grocery store in Virginia held a reunion Sunday 20 years to the day after the store closed in 1989 (Mesabi Daily News). I remember when the store closed because…
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Seifert makes Range stop
Former House Minority Leader Marty Seifert (R-Marshall) was on the Iron Range recently touting his gubernatorial campaign to the Mesabi Daily News. Guns and mining, good. House Majority Leader Rep. Tony Sertich (DFL-Chisholm) has some thoughts on that. Jobs, education, and health care, also good. Related posts: No related posts.
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Magnetation explores using Essar’s Itasca Co. rail line
While there remains economic questions about Essar Steel’s ability to deliver on a full iron mine and steel mill on Minnesota’s Iron Range, there is a glimmer of possibility that the massive public investment in the project won’t be for naught. Magnetation, Inc., the relatively low-budget iron ore scavenging operation that is extracting ore from…