-
Peruvian copper mine blocked after protests
For a different take on how nonferrous mineral mining debates can proceed, check out this story from Peru. The government there is stopping a copper mining project after locals rioted. We in northern Minnesota can take some comfort that no one has died during our debate on mineral mining. Nevertheless, the environmental impact of this…
-
Young voices in rural Minnesota
MinnPost’s Jeff Severns Guntzel interviews young adults in the “Rural Minnesota: A generation at the crossroads” project. He talked to some of my students at the college. These voices are very important to a region like northern Minnesota to understand itself and make the right policy choices down the line. This will be a project…
-
Ladies & gentlemen, Columbia recording artist Baobo Dilun
Last month we learned that the Iron Range’s top export, taconite pellets to make steel, would be making the long journey to China for the first time in history. This week the Range’s second biggest export, recording artist Bob Dylan, made his first ever appearance in the large Asian nation. Dylan, who was born in…
-
Range future debate enters crucial phase
I have almost too much to talk about this morning, so I’ll just cover the basics. Yesterday was a notable day. MPR and Northland’s NewsCenter hosted a “Economic Prospects for the Arrowhead” forum at the Radisson in Duluth. Immediately before that the state House voted to strip $60 million in local mining revenue (the Iron…
-
LIVE: MPR presents Prospects for the Arrowhead
Follow the “Prospects for the Arrowhead” northern Minnesota economic forum below. I’ll be joining other speakers in talking about the future of the region. Time permitting, I’ll add some live blog content below. MPR’s Minnesota Today is offering a liveblog. MPR Presents: Prospects for the Arrowhead Hit refresh if you aren’t seeing new content. The…
-
Midwest Energy News sifts through "vapors" of reeling Range project
Today, Midwest Energy News posted a story from Minnesota writer Dan Haugen about the past, present and unknown future of Excelsior Energy’s beleaguered Mesaba Energy Project. I’m quoted therein, along with other Excelsior opponents and supporters. I hope you’ll find this to be a reasonable, balanced look at the history of this project and its…
-
State House to debate fate of Range economic fund this afternoon
While I’m preparing for tonight’s MPR “Economic Prospects for the Arrowhead” forum in Duluth tonight, the state House is debating the slashing of an Iron Range economic development fund in St. Paul at 3 p.m. You can follow the debate, which I expect to be colorful, here on the House web TV channel. This conversation…
-
Tuesday Night at the Forum: MPR/KBJR’s Prospects for the Arrowhead
There’s still time to register for Tuesday evening’s “Prospects for the Arrowhead” forum at the Radisson Hotel in Duluth. This event is organized by Minnesota Public Radio and Northland’s NewsCenter and will be hosted by Cathy Wurzer. The reception starts at 6 to be followed by an open discussion of the region’s economic future at…
-
Problems admitted in Range pension issue; important days ahead
As previously discussed, retired Iron Range miners from National Steel (now Keetac, under new management) have been through the wringer on their pensions after National folded in 2003. A specific group of miners receives pennies on the dollar, less than half the promised amount. Late last week the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation, a federal organization…
-
Range labor march slated today in Virginia, Minn.
The April weather in northern Minnesota has taken a February turn, with snow and cold blanketing the Iron Range. Nevertheless, programming is planned for this April 4 “Day of Action” traditionally reserved for community action in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. There are events all over the state, but the one that might interest…
-
COLUMN: Today’s Range pioneers must break the circle
This is my weekly column from the Sunday, April 3, 2011 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. Today’s Range pioneers must break the circle By Aaron J. Brown No position, no land, no political condition may be defended indefinitely. Always in history the walls fall, the barbarians throw open the gates. The same is true…
-
Gone with the thrift store
Here is another installation in my occasional series on Iron Range newspaper classifieds. This one is from the March 31 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune, the only paper I know that’s run an ad for a lost ring right next to an ad for a found ring. TO THE lady who bought “Gone with…
-
Hibbing grad pens NY Times op/ed on value of education
In Wednesday’s New York Times, author Marie Myung-Ok Lee shares her experiences as a student at Hibbing High School 30 years ago. An essay on the often unheralded value of good teachers, this is a loving tribute to two teachers who made an enormous difference in her life. Though I’m separated from her experiences by…
-
Got them post-industrial small town blues
I’ve had a lot of demographic, socio-economic, political, cultural babble running through my brain this last week, as my posts have surely shown. Baseball season can’t come soon enough. Anyway, another way of looking at the woes of the Iron Range is to look at the troubles facing small towns generally. This March 23 “Why…
-
Excelsior Energy IDed as key job creation policy failure
The Star Tribune ran a compelling and damning Sunday, March 27, news analysis piece on failed job creation policies in Minnesota. One of the projects singled out for particular scrutiny is Excelsior Energy’s Mesaba Energy Project, which I’ve characterized as a political patronage scheme run amok. (The Strib story by David Shaffer and Glenn Howatt…