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RAMS posts for new future
The Range Association of Municipalities and Schools (RAMS) held their annual dinner last Friday in Hibbing. Attended by a smattering of city councilors, school board members and county commissioners, the event also featured a defiant speech by now former executive director and State Sen. David Tomassoni. According to one report, the speech was read verbatim…
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New MN House bills checking regulators would benefit mines
When Minnesota House Speaker Kurt Daudt (R-Crown) announced the formation of the Mining and Outdoor Recreation Policy Committee, and then stacked it with GOPers and mining-focused Iron Range DFLers it was plain Republicans had plans to advance pro-mining legislation this session. I commented on this for a Briana Bierschbach story today in MinnPost. I’ve also argued that such legislation will not likely…
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IRRRB to consider further Range broadband expansion
The Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board (IRRRB) will meet tomorrow in St. Paul to discuss an investment in broadband technology on the Range and funds for the Giants Ridge Event Center. Coming on the heels of about $2 million in state money for broadband infrastructure announced last week, the IRRRB will now consider an…
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Getting ‘Happy’ on the Iron Range
Because it’s Friday and because I’ve been so dang grumpy lately, here are the students and staff of Tower-Soudan Elementary doing a music video for “Happy” by Pharrell Williams: Have you heard this song before? Yes. Has this kind of video been done before? Yes. But I still share and recommend this work of art as anthropological…
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RAMS board members plan reform, but no action yet
The Range Association of Municipalities and Schools board held a special meeting last night to reorganize and discuss its appointment of Sen. David Tomassoni as executive director. RAMS is a lobbying organization that advocates for units of local government on Northern Minnesota’s Iron Range. Many at the Capitol and in the media, including me, have been…
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Several Range-area communities to receive broadband
Lt. Gov. Tina Smith will be on the Iron Range today to announce $2.3 million in broadband grants for communities around the Iron Range. I’ve written recently about the slow warming to the economic potential of broadband here, where I’ve long argued the tremendous potential for entrepreneurship and education that this technology presents. Today’s announcement is…
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IRRRB, DEED lose public cash in stock deal
On Sunday, the Duluth News Tribune published a John Myers story detailing a public investment in an Iron Range nonferrous mining project that cost two state agencies half a million dollars. The IRRRB and DEED each lost about $284,000 when Antofagasta took control of the Ely project, now called Twin Metals. The loss came after…
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Job conflict dogs Tomassoni; RAMS members losing faith
State Sen. David Tomassoni (DFL-Chisholm) may have just a few days to determine whether he will be a State Senator from the Iron Range or leader of the Range Association of Municipalities and Schools (RAMS), an organization that lobbies for local government in St. Paul. His desire to do both, as he announced he would two weeks…
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Mesabi Nugget to shut down 6-8 weeks
Mesabi Nugget, a unique newer iron nugget plant on Minnesota’s Mesabi Iron Range, announced yesterday it will shut down for about 6-8 weeks, waiting to burn off excess supply in a sluggish market and rough financial situation. Officials say the shutdown will begin sometime in February or March. The plant employed about 130 people last year.…
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The Great Iron Range Keystone Light Caper
A recent crime story in Hibbing, Minnesota, has nabbed a lot of attention and plenty of social media shares in my circles. Early in the morning on Wednesday, Jan. 28, a man broke through the door of the Some Beach Liquor Store on the southern side of the Beltline near the Eastern European performance art…
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Mining career event at MN Discovery Center this Friday
Those interested in exploring a career in mining should check out the state Department of Employment and Economic Development’s Mining Industry Day at the Minnesota Discovery Center in Chisholm this Friday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Often my work here at MinnesotaBrown is painted as “anti-mining” and I really don’t care for that characterization. Five…
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Campaign Finance Board offers vague OK to Tomassoni
Earlier this week I wrote that I was worried that the Minnesota Campaign Finance Board, lacking jurisdiction on the matter of Sen. David Tomassoni’s new job as head of a lobbying organization, would issue some vague shrug-turned-nod in his direction. That, after all, was probably why Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk and Sen. Tomassoni requested the…
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Nolan says 3 Range mines have deal on haze standard
U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan (D-MN8) announced yesterday that three Iron Range taconite mines have struck a deal with federal regulators to comply with Northern Minnesota’s haze standards. Federal haze standards relate to special air quality rules that apply to areas near national parks and wildernesses, of which there are several in the Upper Great Lakes…
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Public lobbying group that hired Tomassoni now reeling
The controversy over State Sen. David Tomassoni (DFL-Chisholm) accepting a job as head of an Iron Range public sector lobbying group continues to churn, now consuming local politics as well as the crowded halls of the Capitol in St. Paul. As we discussed last week, Ely became the first RAMS member-city to delay renewing its…
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Ely pulls out of RAMS until Tomassoni matter resolved
Tom Coombe, editor of the Ely Echo, tweeted this breaking news tonight. The City of Ely is pulling out of the Range Association of Municipalities and Schools (RAMS) until the controversy surrounding the hiring of sitting State Sen. David Tomassoni as the RAMS executive director is resolved. Amid firestorm over hire of new director, Ely…