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Overburden tour comes home to HCC Theater Celebration this Friday
This Friday, Jan. 16, at 7:30 p.m., Hibbing Community College Theater will hold its annual Celebration Evening featuring live music, performances, skits, video productions and, believe it or not, a brief reading from my book “Overburden: Modern Life on the Iron Range” by yours truly. I’ll also be signing books at intermission. You might be…
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Range superintendent swap has consolidation implications
Greenway Schools Superintendent Rochelle VanDenHeuvel has been named the new superintendent of the Virginia School District on the East Central Iron Range (Mesabi Daily News). Greenway, serving Coleraine, Bovey, Marble and Taconite on the western Mesabi Range, is one of the most financially troubled districts on the Range. The departure of its superintendent is likely…
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A call for an Iron Range Congress
Last week, I attended a round table (roundish, anyway) discussion on the future of the Iron Range sponsored by a community outreach committee of Messiah Lutheran Church of Mountain Iron. Though the sponsoring group might seem odd for such a topic, I can personally attest that the Messiah congregation and its pastor, the Rev. Kristen…
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Tomassoni likely has clear path to IRR Board chair
An update to an earlier post: It now appears that State Sen. David Tomassoni will have a clear path to become chair of the Iron Range Resources Board this go-around. This was probably helped by his early announcement of candidacy in a recent Mesabi Daily News story. Things could change but my Ranger pals at…
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Iron ore shipments show last year’s economic whiplash
The Duluth News Tribune reports today that December 2008 iron ore shipments out of the port of Duluth were down 42 percent from December 2007. This story shows the economic whiplash the Iron Range has seen in the last few months. Even though December was way down the boom of early 2008 was so big…
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Hey, cash-strapped utilities, wanna’ buy this boondoggle?
Having been shut down at the state PUC (and by Xcel, Minnesota Power and most other energy companies) Excelsior Energy, proponent of the coal gas Mesaba Energy Project, is now trying to hook power purchase deals for its theoretical electricity with municipal utilities in Minnesota. Excelsior will be touring with the Minnesota Municipal Utilities Association,…
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Name that delegation: The Super Fun Poll
Last week I posed a challenge to readers to come up with a clever nickname for the Iron Range legislative delegation, a moniker that would bring some levity to what appears to be a pretty grim session. As students of Minnesota politics know, the Iron Range of Northern Minnesota reliably elects Democrats but seldom elects…
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Iron Range Resources board back for ’09 UPDATED
This Bill Hanna story from Sunday’s Mesabi Daily News and today’s Hibbing Daily Tribune describes how the Iron Range Resources Board will likely remain unchanged this year. The board, which has a oversight powers over this unique Iron Range state agency, consists of ten elected legislators and three appointed citizens. All legislative members were re-elected…
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Squirrels strike again
Dating back to my time as editor at the Hibbing Daily Tribune (the early 2000s), squirrels have knocked out Hibbing’s power supply no fewer than 1,208 times. OK, that’s not true but it happens all the time, including yesterday. This phenomenon is mentioned in my book, “Overburden: Modern Life on the Iron Range.” Just mentioned,…
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Essar Steel, other Iron Range mining projects press forward amid bad economy
Yesterday, Business North published an exclusive story from Beth Bily about the forward progress on Essar Steel’s Minnesota steel project near Nashwauk on the Iron Range. In short, the project continues as planned, according to company officials, because they believe steel demand will return by the time construction is complete in a few years. And…
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Name that delegation!
As Minnesota’s legislative session begins I am left with a conundrum. I cover the whole state but pay special attention to the Iron Range. Thus, I am forced to type the phrase “Iron Range DFL legislative delegation” again and again. I’d rather have a short nickname I could use instead. No acronyms. (IRDFLLD just doesn’t…
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Session outlook for the Iron Range
Here’s an overview of the grim session outlook from Iron Range legislative correspondent Jon Collins from the Mesabi Daily News and other Range papers. Job creation, the federal stimulus package and “innovation” appear likely to receive support, though said innovation remains in a theoretical stage. Related posts: No related posts.
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On the future of the Iron Range
Today’s Mountain Iron community discussion on the future of the Iron Range, sponsored by Messiah Lutheran Church, was fascinating. I won’t recap it now but sufficed to say I heard some things in this discussion that suggest a bright future for this unusual region, provided enough people work hard to make it happen these next…
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Reminder: Come to Mountain Iron today! The future depends on you!
Just a reminder, I and others will be taking part in a discussion (round table? not sure) about the future of the Iron Range from 2-4 p.m. today at the Mountain Iron Public Library. I don’t know the guest list yet, but to keep things interesting I’ll just say that I heard someone, somewhere say…
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The only ace up the sleeve for the Iron Range (and Minnesota) is transportation
A new legislative session has arrived in Minnesota. I must admit, I am a bit sheepish that I have not written more about what might come out of this session, especially since it is the all-important biennial budget session. The truth is that the crippling state budget deficit situation makes this session less about what…