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The Iron Range soda boss who beat Coke
A few years back I traveled to Atlanta as the arm candy of my wife, who was attending a conference there. I spent time as a tourist in a town seemingly run by the Coca-Cola company. Coke was all you could drink. All pop (yes, pop; I’m from Minnesota) was called Coke, even if it wasn’t…
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Cliffs signs new deal; good news for UTac
Today Cliffs Natural Resources announced it has reached a 10-year agreement to supply iron ore to ArcelorMittal. This is very good news for laid off workers at United Taconite in Eveleth. Earlier this year, Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves said that reopening UTac depended upon winning this contract. Now a fall reopening of United Taconite seems…
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Giant iron ships sail on
Last Saturday I was camping with my family. In the cold, dark hours of a restless second sleep, I dreamt. In my dream I spied a pile of overburden on the edge of an Iron Range town. We call them mine dumps. Through the window of some public place, a restaurant perhaps, I observed a haul truck winding its way up the rocky…
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Mesabi Academy to close
The Kidspeace Mesabi Academy juvenile corrections and school facility in Buhl will close at the end of June. The move comes amid controversy over an American Public Media investigative report on allegations of abuse and interference with a county investigation at the facility. American Public Media is the parent organization of Minnesota Public Radio. Those allegations have…
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Strong Towns on the Iron Range
Since Monday, it’s been “Strong Towns” week on the Mesabi Iron Range. Chuck Marohn and his team have held special discussions about planning more durable, sustainable communities across the Iron Range. Readers here might be interested in a couple things I did in support of Chuck’s tour. I previewed the Strong Towns events in my Sunday column about…
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We are not monsters
The world keeps turning on the Mesabi Iron Range. Lawmakers defend the IRRRB in St. Paul, while the local paper lambasts a city council for a foreign steel pipe found in a construction project. At risk, we are told, is “our way of life.” Controversies come and go. Another election year bulges on the horizon. Two…
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Ticks, ethics & bioeconomics on the Range
What do ticks, digital ethics and “the bioeconomy” have in common? The short answer is that dogs have no use for studying these things, but the University of Minnesota does. The University of Minnesota is sending some of its researchers around the state for its “Minnesota Sparks” tour. The idea is to encourage broader conversations about interesting…
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Hibtac expansion to displace mine view
Hibbing Taconite is running out of room to mine, so it needs to expand or close. It’s penned in by highways and the Iron Range cities of Hibbing and Chisholm, however, which means something would have to give for this 40-year-old mine to continue. The Hibbing Daily Tribune reported Sunday that the mine has stated its initial plans. In…
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Future of the Range is ‘Mucho Si’
I’ll be honest. I chuckled when I heard that a vacant restaurant property on Central Avenue in downtown Nashwauk was going to become a Mexican joint called “Mucho Si.” For one thing, the site has been several restaurants over the years, each succumbing to economic doom. My cousin ran one of them. I knew the guy who…
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Northshore Mining back to work early
Northshore Mining has called back workers early to reopen production of taconite at its Babbitt Mine and Silver Bay processing facility. The mine had previously announced it would reopen in mid- to late-May, but is ahead of schedule. WDIO reported on the news when U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) made the announcement after a tour of…
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U.S. Steel charges at Chinese imports
U.S. Steel, once the vaunted industrial giant of the world, is taking one last Rooster Cogburn charge at the global steel crisis that has the Pittsburgh-based corporate titan cornered in some western meadow. J.P. Morgan’s flagship corporation has been contracting for decades, illustrated perfectly by its move out of a Pittsburgh skyscraper into a much smaller suburban…
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Cliffs eyes fall start for United Taconite
In a call to investors yesterday, Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves announced that his company will reopen Northshore Mining in May and plans to restart United Taconite in Eveleth later this year. Goncalves also announced that Cliffs made a profit during the last quarter, which wasn’t expected. However, Cliffs remains more than $2 billion in debt. A few weeks ago, Goncalves said United…
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ArcelorMittal, Steelworkers reach deal
The 2,000 Steelworkers and other workers currently laid off from Iron Range mines have been in the news for more than a year now. For much of that same year most remaining Steelworkers have been working under an expired labor contract. Last fall, labor tensions were high. The major companies, all reeling from big losses and shrinking…
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Aldi grocery chain to build in Grand Rapids, MN
The Scenic Range News Forum reports that the discount supermarket chain Aldi seeks to open a store in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, on the site of a former lumber store. In a subdivision deal, fast food chain Hardees will also open a restaurant on the same site. This lot is located across from the McDonald’s on Pokegama Avenue South. It had been occupied…
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State luring wood product plant to Northern MN
A large publicly-traded company that makes wood siding is considering building a new plant in Northern Minnesota. According to reports from Minnesota Public Radio and the Associated Press, the plant would employ about 250 people. The company is considering sites near Hoyt Lakes, Cook and Grand Rapids, as well as sites in other states. From Brian Bakst…