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Virginia and Mt. Iron-Buhl mull combined high school
Two school districts on the east central Mesabi Iron Range are considering a landmark deal to build a shared high school. School officials in Virginia and Mt. Iron-Buhl are planning two public hearings on the idea next week. The first is Tuesday, Jan. 28, at Parkview in Virginia at 6 p.m.; the second is Wednesday, Jan.…
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Hell’s Kitchen to raise cold cash for Embarrass, MN
It’s getting cold in northern Minnesota again. I’m not sure if it’s colder than Mars like it was a couple weeks ago, but adequately cold and getting colder. We talked about the cold on Northern Community Radio’s Between You and Me last Saturday, in which I shared an expanded version of my “Insider Tips on…
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Workers pulled off Essar site; more financing woes
WDIO reports that union officials say many workers are being pulled off the Essar Steel Minnesota site near Nashwauk, Minnesota, as the company continues to search for financing to finish the long-awaited project. Rumors that contractors are owed large sums of money seem to be confirmed with news that many workers are not reporting for…
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So, what is International Metallics Corp., anyway?
I caught this story in the Mesabi Daily News last weekend: Reston, Virginia-based International Metallics Corp. is apparently proposing some kind of direct-reduced iron plant in Superior, Wisconsin. The Douglas County Board of Directors and Superior Redevelopment Authority are working on some kind of deal to help make this happen. The Duluth News Tribune had…
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Report: Minnesota taconite revenue trails inflation
Marshall Helmberger’s Timberjay has a remarkable story analyzing Minnesota taconite revenue from production taxes over the past several decades. Here are the nuts and bolts: At a time when Minnesota mining companies continue to reap major windfalls from the historically high price of taconite produced on the Iron Range, state and local taxpayers are definitely…
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Find Iron Range mining jobs at Jan. 24 event
With all the hullabaloo over the proposed PolyMet mine and other controversial proposed mining projects, let’s not forget northern Minnesota’s Iron Range remains a mining region anyway. And that iron mining industry is having a pretty good year. Qualified applicants for Iron Range mining jobs have a pretty good chance at getting one. The Minnesota…
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Huge crowd packs PolyMet EIS hearing in Duluth
Almost 1,500 people packed into the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center last night for the first of three public hearings about the PolyMet Environmental Impact Statement. The purpose of the PolyMet EIS hearing was to allow feedback on the document released late last year, which details the possible environmental impact of the controversial new copper/nickel…
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PolyMet EIS public hearings start Thursday
On a recent edition of TPT’s Almanac, supporters and opponents of a controversial new mining project in northern Minnesota took to the stage for a short, white-hot debate (second segment) that represents everything I hate about covering this issue. The more you dive into it, the more you find yourself in the morass of your own…
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Scenic Range NewsForum expands web presence
The Scenic Range NewsForum on the western Mesabi Iron Range recently launched its new website, a mobile-optimized site that tosses aside its clunky PDF reader-style predecessor. Along with this comes news that the Scenic snatched the low bid for becoming Itasca County’s newspaper of record, leaving the Grand Rapids Herald-Review to this painfully defensive story. As…
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Mining debate splits St. Louis County DFL
While state politicos continue to pontificate over the Lt. Gov. job opening on Gov. Mark Dayton’s DFL ticket, a potentially signifiant political divide over mining continues to widen here in northern Minnesota. John Myers of the Duluth News Tribune reports that the St. Louis County DFL Unit 3 board has voted in a resolution opposing…
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Iron Range woman details heartbreak, hope in Romania
Hometown Focus, a weekly newspaper based in Virginia, Minnesota, recently profiled a young woman from Gilbert who has been volunteering in a Romanian orphanage off and on for a few years. Ashley Leisen is nearly finished with her second stint in Brasov, Romania, as a volunteer with the Firm Foundations Romania organization. Here’s an excerpt…
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Hibbing strike averted
City workers and administration have come to a tentative agreement in the Iron Range city of Hibbing, Minnesota, averting the strike that was recently approved. Members of AFSCME Local 791 will vote on the agreement Wednesday. Workers had been refusing overtime during the cooling off period, causing some noticaeably difficult driving conditions in Hibbing during…
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Highway 53 reroute might avoid need for new bridge
One of the big stories of 2014 will be the Highway 53 reroute on the Iron Range, altering the existing path of the north/south regional artery to accommodate new mining near Eveleth and Virginia, Minnesota. For most of last year, talk centered around a bridge that would possibly span the Roucheleau Pit outside Virginia. Now…
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Civil war over wind chill breaks out in frigid North
The “polar vortex” has arrived in northern Minnesota, delivering the promised “surface of Mars” deep freeze, and giving everyone something to argue about in lieu of going outside for any reason. We had 30 below this morning. I have not gone out to assess the wind. One of the more interesting semantic battles that has…
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City workers authorize Hibbing strike
Hibbing AFSCME workers voted to authorize a strike late last week. Now the city and its contract employees enter a cooling off period (no pun intended amid the record-setting cold today). The Hibbing strike could begin as soon as Jan. 14 unless talks are successful. The main issue appears to be the city’s request for…