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The Iron Range’s 240-ton pink mining truck
Motorists in Hibbing were treated to a special sight along the Beltline Thursday as the giant pink mining truck bucket of a 240-ton production truck at Hibbing Taconite winded its way through town. Cliffs Natural Resources, part-owner and operator of Hibbing Taconite, will deploy the pink mining truck to raise awareness of breast cancer screening and women’s…
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All-Star week brings ‘Miracle Field,’ Kent Hrbek to Hibbing
On Wednesday, June 9, at 6 p.m., the Minnesota Twins will help unveil a new “Miracle Field” in Hibbing, Minnesota, as part of the weeklong run-up to the Major League Baseball All-Star Game July 15 at Target Field in St. Paul. The new ball field is located at Bennett Park on the north side of Hibbing,…
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Financing trips up Range mine projects
Sometimes it feels like the entire leadership structure of the Iron Range is standing outside the offices of environmental regulators, waiting for a Willy Wonka-type figure to emerge, do a little flip, and announce whether or not we get to come inside where they keep the permits. But two recent stories about Range mine projects…
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Highway 53: So much to keep what we have
Planning continues for the Highway 53 reroute project between Eveleth and Virginia, Minnesota. For those just catching up, an iron mine is invoking a 50-year-old agreement that the state would move the highway when mining activity reached the ore reserves underneath. Highway 53, however, is one of the most important roads on the Iron Range.…
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Summer of the Iron Range selfie
Iron Range Tourism is putting on a unique contest this summer called “Get Your Selfie on the Iron Range.” Take a picture of yourself at an Iron Range tourism attraction and post it to the Iron Range Tourism FB or Instagram page (or e-mail it to them) and you’ll be eligible for a $500 prize.…
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2,000 attend Iron Range ‘Save Our Steel’ Jobs rally
Going into Monday’s “Save Our Steel (SOS) Jobs” Rally outside the Miner’s Memorial Building in Virginia, Minnesota, I was unsure how well people would turn out given the nice weather and otherwise healthy taconite production the Range. Well, about 2,000 people showed, according to media estimates. That exceeded what I expected. This was a well-coordinated…
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Eveleth on Eveleth: the Range’s internet problem
Though most people there probably don’t know it, Eveleth, Minnesota, made The Atlantic magazine this week. Rose Eveleth, a tech writer for the venerated publication, wrote an interesting personal essay exploring how she came to know the town by virtue of it having the same name as her family. In essence, she got an e-mail…
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IRRRB mulls 2015 budget, projects, school funds
This Monday the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board will consider its Fiscal Year 2015 budget at its regular meeting at the IRRRB headquarters south of Eveleth, Minnesota. Next year’s budget tallies in at almost $41 million, about $2.5 million less than this year. Major changes include a continued focus on shifting funds to K-12…
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Iron Range ‘Save our Steel Jobs’ rally Monday
United Steelworkers and U.S. Steel are joining forces to protest the dumping of foreign steel on the American market. Among many events around the country, a major “Save Our Steel Jobs” rally on northern Minnesota’s Iron Range will be held Monday, June 23 at 10 a.m. at the Miner’s Memorial Building in Virginia, Minnesota. Among…
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Mt. Iron-Buhl explores Plan B: new school
An unpopular plan to build a large new high school for the Iron Range districts of Mountain Iron-Buhl, Eveleth-Gilbert and Virginia now abandoned, MI-B is considering building its own new school. This according to Jana Hollingsworth of the Duluth News-Tribune and other local media covering the district’s board meeting this week. One interesting feature here…
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A reminder of the Finnish story in Northern MN
MPR NewsCut’s Bob Collins was on the Iron Range recently and stopped off along the back route at the Kalevala Hall near Kettle River. He’s got several pictures and observations in his post here. Having just been up in Ely for the Great Northern Radio Show, I had my Finnish roots on my mind when I…
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Hibbing Taconite mine tours run June 19-Aug. 8
With all the talk about mining in Minnesota, maybe you’d like to see what a real northern Minnesota iron mine looks like in the year 2014. Never mind the picks and shovels, the technology and scope of today’s mining will surprise you if you haven’t seen it before. You can catch guided Hibbing Taconite mine tours in…
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‘Gems of Itasca,’ exploring the 1,000-lake county
A pair of filmmakers with backing from stakeholders around Itasca County has produced a series of short films about life in this northern Minnesota county where the western Iron Range spills into the woods and waters of more than 1,000 freshwater lakes. Called “Gems of Itasca,” the series selects various topics about life here. As…
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Whither army worms?
The warnings started last year. The big one. It’s coming. A year like that one year 10-15 years ago (no one remembers exactly). The year of the forest tent caterpillar. The year of the Army Worms. This native Minnesota insect is pretty in ones, interesting in tens, but disgusting in the thousands — which is…
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Rural broadband forum coming to Iron Range
State Sen. Matt Schmidt (DFL-Red Wing), local State Sen. David Tomassoni (DFL-Chisholm) and others will hold an Iron Range informational meeting about the new rural broadband funding available after this last legislative session. The meeting will take place Thursday, June 12, at 4 p.m. at the Balkan Township Hall. Balkan is north of Chisholm on…