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Range labor community to hold May Day celebration
Iron Range labor backers and DFLers will be holding a May Day luncheon Sunday from 1-4 p.m. at the Operating Engineers Local 49 Hall on Enterprise Drive in Virginia. This is the labor hall just off the freeway as you approach Virginia from Mountain Iron on Highway 169, or just off the 53 exit from…
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Barefoot in the Park? In this weather?
The Neil Simon play “Barefoot in the Park” opens tonight at 7:30 at the Hibbing Community College Theatre. The show runs this weekend and next with nightly shows Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday matinees. The reviews from last night’s benefit performance for the HCC Foundation Dinner were very good. After our 2009 kerfuffle over the…
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Major Range nurses’ strike could happen May 4-7
I was out of town when this was announced, but the Hibbing hospital nurses have set strike dates of May 4-7. The local members of the Minnesota Nurses Association authorized the strike April 15 against the Range Regional Medical Center over staffing levels, patient safety and opposition to the merger of sick days and vacation…
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Fire at Poor Gary’s in Biwabik
There was a structure fire at Poor Gary’s Pizza in Biwabik overnight. The new site Range News Now has the story. Related posts: No related posts.
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Iron Range Maidens score another roller derby win
So the Iron Range has a roller derby team, the Iron Range Maidens, and they just sent me a press release. Such an occasion requires me to share the item with you in its entirety. I hope you agree. IRON RANGE MAIDENS WIN SECOND BOUT! The Iron Range Maidens competed in their second bout on…
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Officials: Maintenance work spark caused Soudan mine fire
A spark from maintenance work that left a smoldering ember on old timbers has been identified as the cause of the fire at the Soudan Underground Mine state park. It appears unlikely that the mine will open for tours this summer. There was no damage at the advanced physics laboratory located deep within the mine.…
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Nursing strike, fast internet, highway news, squad smashups, etc.
The news backlog has grown large so I’ll just link you to some stories about what’s going on around the Iron Range. Hibbing nurses authorized a strike at the town’s big regional hospital last Friday (Duluth News Tribune). Parties now enter a 10-day “cooling off” period while labor and management continue negotiations. At issue is…
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Yet unresolved Range pension issue coming into focus
I’m a few days behind on this, but it’s worth mentioning that a top official with the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation traveled to the Iron Range to reassure National Steel retirees who saw their pensions stripped down after the company declared bankruptcy in 2003. The PBGC pledge to fix the problem now enters its strongest…
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Essar moves ahead with Nashwauk plans
Business North leads today with an update on the Essar Steel project slated over the boneyard of the old Butler mine outside Nashwauk. Company officials explain the progress of what is supposed to become the first integrated mining and steelmaking facility on northern Minnesota’s Iron Range. Others, (including, as I now see, myself), are quoted…
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Range profile eyes political culture, trends of storied region
Session Weekly’s Nick Busse pens a profile of the Iron Range legislative delegation worth reading. Perhaps repetitive for political insiders, “Ranger in a Strange Land” is a great primer for those who have wondered about the mindset of the fabled Range Delegation, which held its annual “Ranger Party” in St. Paul last Tuesday. For me…
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Leave Marble Alone
When I described my feelings wandering around the Iron Range city of Marble last weekend in a recent post, my observations spurred some unexpected squabbling in the comments. Alert reader Tony used the opportunity to create this: I think this needs to go viral. The less context the better. Related posts: No related posts.
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IRRRB to meet Friday; anger to be sustained afterward
The Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board meets 1:30 Friday afternoon at the agency’s headquarters south of Eveleth. Afterward there will be a press conference by Iron Range legislators to discuss several issues, most notably the economic development fund at stake in the legislative budget negotiations in St. Paul. Related posts: No related posts.
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Knights, Eagles become Night-hawks in symbolic Range school news
Yesterday Janna Goerdt wrote a story for the Duluth News Tribune about the renaming of the Babbitt-Embarrass school to reflect the St. Louis County school district internal consolidation between B-E and Tower-Soudan. The school will be called the Northeast Range School and its mascot will be the “Night-hawks.” Naturally, the locals are not sure about…
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The places of the Range, bypassed, bygone, but not to be ignored
The other night Christina and I went out to dinner and took our time getting home, driving around the towns of the western Mesabi. For as long as I’ve lived and worked around this part of the state there are still corners I’ve never had happenstance to visit. One of those places was Marble. If…
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MPR: Lagging connections in rural areas a drag on Minnesota’s prosperity
I’ve got the feature commentary spot at Minnesota Public Radio’s website today. In “Lagging connections in rural areas a drag on Minnesota’s prosperity,” I talk about the digital divide between the Twin Cities and rural Minnesota, particularly the Iron Range. This gap threatens more than just the future of rural Minnesota, but the whole state’s…