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PolyMet plans open house, tours in Hoyt Lakes May 29
PolyMet Mining will hold an open house to show people how the company plans to mine nonferrous minerals in northern Minnesota. The event will take place at the Hoyt Lakes Arena from noon to 6 p.m. on Wednesday, May 29. PolyMet Mining Open HouseMay 29, 201312-6 p.m. Hoyt Lakes Arena102 Kennedy Memorial DriveHoyt Lakes, MN…
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Magnetation secures $325 million for Mesabi Range, Indiana expansions
Though it’s an area that prides itself on its public works, the Iron Range tends to do better economically when private equity moves around. That’s why Magnetation’s announcement yesterday of a $325 million investment in their new concentration plant by Coleraine and pellet plant in Indiana is potentially the sleeper story of the year on…
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Hill Annex Mine State Park faces uncertain future
Hill Annex Mine State Park in Calumet is the only one of only two Minnesota state parks that honor mining history. If you haven’t seen it yet, I’d recommend you check it out this summer. You should anyway, but this might be the last summer the park is open. Buried in the park’s charter is…
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Session shifts state priorities, creates opportunity for northern MN
The Minnesota state legislature adjourned late last night, passing the last of its necessary budget bills — all of which will be signed by Gov. Mark Dayton (D-MN). This is the first time in more than 20 years that our state’s Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party has held the House, Senate and governor’s mansion at the same time.…
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Sometimes ‘zee plane’ really is ‘zee plane’
It’s this picture again. Second time! You’d think it couldn’t happen again but it JUST DID. The Mesabi Daily News has made another Fantasy Island reference, again quoting Tattoo’s famous line, “Zee plane! Zee plane!” Last time it was a March 7 reference to the function of state government in job creation. That was a…
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Paul Bunyan horror flick on tap for summer showings
A few weeks ago I wrote about “Axe Giant: The Wrath of Paul Bunyan.” I found the concept of a Paul Bunyan horror film to be quite divisive among my readers. For some, the trailer evoked the kind of excitement seldom seen for a movie that proudly bills itself as a latter-day B-movie. For others,…
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Comet Theater meets fundraising goal, will surivive into Digital Age
The Comet Theater in Cook, the oldest active single-screen theater left in Minnesota, faced an existential crisis this spring and has survived. Last week, the theater announced it had met its Kickstarter goal of raising $80,000 for new digital equipment allowing them to show modern features. Movie studios are no longer sending film versions of…
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Price of gas a combustible crisis in northern MN
Gas prices reaching $4.50 in some places have northern Minnesotans hopped up on angry fumes. It reflects a jump of more than a dollar a gallon in just over a week. Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken, along with Rep. Rick Nolan, are all calling for federal investigations of price fixing. The reason given for…
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Dylan sculpted music, now hometowns etch him in history
This is my Sunday column for the May 19, 2013 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. I’ll be revealing more about Tom Page’s Dylan sculpture project in a week or so. Dylan sculpted music, now hometowns etch him in historyBy Aaron J. Brown The figure crouches over a guitar, playing against a hurricane. A long…
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The Whistling Bird to reopen: Caribbean food on the Iron Range!
UPDATE: The Duluth News Tribune confirms the report, interviewing new owner Jessica Antonovich and chef Patrick Berg. Berg was mentored by the late Whistling Bird co-owner JoPat Curtis during a three year stint as kitchen manager at the original restaurant. The new Whistling Bird will include a wider variety of Caribbean food than before. I…
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Brian Laidlaw plays Zimmy’s tonight, unofficial start of Dylan celebration
Twin Cities-based singer/songwriter Brian Laidlaw will be putting on a pretty cool show tonight at Zimmy’s in downtown Hibbing. You could even consider this an unofficial kickoff of the “North Country Dylan Celebration” in northern Minnesota, starting tomorrow with Duluth Dylan Fest and continuing next week with Dylan Days in Hibbing. From 8-11 p.m., Laidlaw…
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Rogue carp shot on sight
Perhaps you recall that this blog stands ready to defend northern waters from Asian carp. No blog has been more on the cutting edge of exotic carp awareness than this one, a claim we stand ready to defend by way of jumping out of the water and crashing against the bow of your boat, causing…
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Making the Range more welcoming, because apparently there’s some damn test
These are some damn trees by my house. They’re pretty. Hope that’s good enough for you MinnPost’s Marlys Harris pens an interesting piece on what makes a people attached to place in terms of economic growth. These days, those people most likely to drive the growth of a city, namely young people between the ages…
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Iron Range’s ‘Great Gatsby’ now probably regrets that nickname
Phil Falcone, the Chisholm native, jet-setting hedge fund manager and co-owner of the Minnesota Wild hockey team, was dinged for an $18 million fine for misuse of company funds. The Star Tribune detailed the story last week. We’ve mentioned Mr. Falcone here before, at the peak of his financial empire building in 2008. It was…
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Governor, Thissen, Bakk reach agreement on Minnesota budget
This will be a big political week in Minnesota. While the marriage equality debate rolls to an historic conclusion Monday, leaders of the state House and Senate have announced that they and Gov. Mark Dayton have reached the framework of a budget agreement. Specific measures that would affect people living in northern Minnesota’s Iron Range…