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Target Field
The new Twins stadium will be named Target Field, in honor of the Minnesota-based Target Corporation. Carl Pohlad cites Target as one of many Minnesota-based companies that vied for the naming rights. This got me wondering. What are the Iron Range-based businesses that might be able to afford naming rights for a stadium? We have…
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Dispatch from Heartland Tour’s Range stop
The Barack Obama “Heartland for Change” tour wraps up today with events in Duluth. I attended the Hibbing stop at Grandma’s Restaurant. I have to declare the event a success, but that’s mostly because it combined my great loves: politics and drinking beer when the sun is up. The Iron Range swing of the tour…
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A new era to begin next week
Minnesota Steel has scheduled groundbreaking for its innovative new Nashwauk direct-reduced iron mine and steel plant for next Friday, Sept. 19. This occurs 26 years, nearly my whole lifespan, after the shuttering and demolition of the old Butler Taconite plant. That dark event, and the massive layoffs across the Iron Range that came with it,…
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Glass ceiling? Up north, you betcha’
In the frenzied quasi-reporting of women’s issues during the Democratic and Republican conventions you might have heard vague mention of the pay disparity between men and women. Nationally, women make only about 70 percent of what men make. In a recent interview on KAXE, Business North reporter Beth Bily talks about the fact that women…
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Heartland tour reaches Range on Friday
Though today the campaign goes silent in honor of the 9/11 victims, Friday brings the Range leg of the Barack Obama “Heartland for Change” tour. This is where the campaign sends an RV with local Democrats and campaign leaders to listen to folks all over Minnesota. The tour starts in Ely Friday morning at 9:30…
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Super Steel Tuesday on the Range
Tuesday is a huge day for Minnesota Steel, the mining and steel-making operation set to break ground in Nashwauk within days. The Itasca County Board has several key decisions to make during its meeting today. Tonight officials with Essar, the Indian company that owns the project, meet with Range lawmakers and other leaders to go…
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Highway 7 re-revisited
Another nice Iron Range feature ran Sunday (from Lynda Tyssen of the Mesabi Daily News) about the renaming of Highway 7 in north central St. Louis County for late polka great Bobby Aro. I’m a sucker for Highway 7 news and views. Related posts: No related posts.
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Rukavina suggests IRR budget fight should go south
State Rep. Tom Rukavina (DFL-Virginia) is calling for legislative oversight of the Iron Range Resources budget to occur at St. Paul in front of the entire legislature. I get that he’s frustrated with the agency, but if the intent is to keep local Range input on the agency’s budget this could be a very misguided…
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Obama camp trying new approach with heartland tour
This week, Barack Obama’s campaign is sending out an RV packed with information with a mission of collecting stories and concerns from voters across Minnesota. Local DFL leaders will speak on behalf of the campaign on “heartland” issues at each of 24 stops all over the state. Four Range-area towns are on the tour: Grand…
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Range mining project has private investor
With all the politics going on, I have neglected to share an important Iron Range story. PolyMet, one of the companies exploring precious minerals mining on the East Range, announced it has a $50 million private investor for its project. Here’s the story from today’s Duluth News-Tribune. PolyMet is one of the rare Iron Range…
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Iron Range on Rove’s radar
In this week’s Newsweek, GOP master strategist Karl Rove discusses the political trends in several key swing states across the country. It’s a mostly objective look at the lay of the land, but also gives you a quick idea of how deeply Rove and political strategists like him analyze these states. Here is Rove’s assessment…
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GOP up north: yesterday and tomorrow
Chuck Frederick, a columnist at the Duluth News-Tribune, wrote a fine historical piece Tuesday explaining the historical role the Republican Party has played in Northern Minnesota and Duluth, now considered a Democratic stronghold. Though not mentioned in the piece, the Iron Range was also a Republican stronghold in the pre-FDR years. All of this changed…
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Range bar, DFLers featured on Obama’s national site
While the blogosphere pulsed with speculation and gossip about John McCain’s gimmicky VP pick Friday, Barack Obama’s national campaign blog sported this image from the Iron Range’s most iconic bar at the top. I declare that the first campaign to show the inside of Tom and Jerry’s on its national website will win the Range.…
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Iron Range Resources OKs budget … finally
The Iron Range Resources Board has finally approved a compromise budget for the upcoming year. Future meetings will divvy up the infrastructure and public works funds. Related posts: No related posts.
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Obama office opening gets boffo coverage in Range paper
In this morning’s Hibbing Daily Tribune was the following above-the-fold, top banner headline, with picture of visiting voters and 11-month old “Babies for Barack” caucus leader: Opama opens Hibbing office DFLers, veterans rally to Barack cause Check out the story and photos of what certainly seems to be a successful opening of the second Iron…