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Business North: Grand Rapids Kmart to close
The Grand Rapids, Minnesota, Kmart store is about to ship its pants for the last time, according to Business North. Unofficial reports put the closure of the Grand Rapids Kmart sometime in June. City officials notified of the coming closure are now planning to work with the building’s owner to seek new tenants or alternative…
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GOP’s Zellers: ‘We are all Iron Rangers’
It might have made for a fun parlor game back in the late ’80s. “What set of circumstances would cause a Republican candidate for governor to use ‘We are All Iron Rangers,’ as a slogan?” One must admit the smart money then and perhaps even recently would have been on “horrific natural disaster.” The Iron…
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Robo-rooters clog commissioners with septic sniping
The Mesabi Daily News’ top Sunday story this week was about hundreds of robo-calls to St. Louis County Commissioners over a septic policy change. Two of the most targeted commissioners — Keith Nelson from the eastern Mesabi, and Mike Forsman from the Vermilion Range — feel the calls were inappropriate and filled with misinformation, according…
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Metrodome pitcher, bullpen mounds head to the Range
I’ve been following this in conversations at my day job (instructor at Hibbing Community College) but today it’s official: the pitcher’s mound and bullpen mound from the Metrodome are headed to northern Minnesota’s Iron Range. From the employee newsletter this morning: There are no stadium seats for sale, but HCC baseball coach Dave Bevacqua bid…
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Iron Range sustainability group to fund community projects
The Iron Range Partnership for Sustainability has established a Community Sustainability Initiative. They’ll be awarding grants of up to $500 for community projects dedicated to community sustainability or health. The Iron Range sustainability application describes the program this way: The community sustainability initiative is intended to provide the opportunity for groups in northeastern Minnesota to…
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Bird, Bird, Bird (Bird is the Word) in Sax-Zim Bog
Starting today, Friday, Feb. 14, and running through Sunday, Feb. 16, the Friends of the Sax-Zim Bog will be holding their 7th annual Sax-Zim Birding Festival, based out of Meadowlands, Minnesota. The Sax-Zim Bog is a mighty marshland found just south of the Mesabi Iron Range and north of Duluth. It was once the basin…
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Volkswagen union scuffle has Range senator putting out welcome mat
Auto workers in a Tennessee Volkswagen plant voted yesterday on whether to join the United Auto Workers union. VW has stated they would welcome the union if workers opt for it, but Republican politicos in this deep red state have interjected, hoping to keep organized labor out of a region where it has been resisted…
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Happy Bob McDonald Day in Minnesota!
Gov. Mark Dayton proclaimed today, Feb. 11, 2014, Bob McDonald Day in Minnesota, a tip of the cap to the legendary Chisholm high school boys basketball coach during his final season at the helm of the Bluestreaks. Tony Sertich, commissioner of the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board, will declare the proclamation at tonight’s Chisholm…
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Iron Range discord over Dayton’s LG pick?
The banner headline on the Sunday edition of the Iron Range’s biggest newspaper was clear: “All-Minneapolis Ticket.” And despite Minneapolis’s status as a successful American city on the upswing, this headline is not designed to be a compliment for Gov. Mark Dayton and his new Lt. Gov. running mate Tina Smith. The Mesabi Daily News…
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Historic changes to IRRRB quietly approach
Last week’s meeting of the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board in Eveleth covered some rather groundbreaking territory with relatively little fanfare. So, let’s take a look. First, the required primer. The IRRRB is a state-run agency, but is funded with revenue raised from mining production taxes. Mines in northern Minnesota pay production taxes instead…
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Nation’s cold spot celebrates Laskiainen sliding festival
Northern Minnesota has drawn national headlines all month for its subzero Martian cold and hip hotspot catering cross-promotion. This weekend it will be the site of a beloved northern Minnesota Iron Range tradition: The Laskiainen Finnish sliding festival in Palo. Laskiainen is a midwinter custom that came over with the Finnish immigrants who were among…
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PolyMet EIS forum LIVE on MinnesotaBrown, via Uptake
The final PolyMet EIS forum will take place this evening at the RiverCentre in St. Paul, Minnesota. This is the last of three forums exploring the Environmental Impact Statement released late last year by several regulating agencies as they determine whether to grant mining permits. As most know, PolyMet has proposed a new nonferrous mineral…
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Eveleth-Gilbert joins shared Iron Range school talks
After a meeting last Thursday, Eveleth-Gilbert schools have agreed to join districts in Virginia and Mountain Iron-Buhl in talking about a shared Iron Range school on the east central Mesabi Iron Range. We discussed the Virginia/MI-B cooperation concept last week. The first public hearing on this shared high school issue will take place tomorrow night…
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School’s out for winter … school’s out forever?
Schools across Minnesota cancelled classes today amid blizzard conditions and severe wind chills. Here on northern Minnesota’s Iron Range we didn’t get much snow, but wind chill readings approaching -60 degrees (F) were enough to force most public schools to close for the day. We’ve now reached a point in late January where most public…
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REPORT: Another possible PolyMet EIS delay
Marshall Helmberger reported in the Timberjay this week and on Northern Community Radio this morning that hydrologists have discovered an error in part of the PolyMet EIS (Environmental Impact Study) (link: subscription only until next week). The Star Tribune also picked up on the story. The error causes some serious flaws in the projection model used to assess most…