-
I’ve (not) got the power
Last night’s storm knocked out power for 14,000 Lake Country Power customers, including MinnesotaBrown World Headquarters in Balsam Township. A storm like this knocked us out of power for three days two years ago. I drove into town for a work thing, so I’m going to go shave in the bathroom after I post this.…
-
Timberjay reports stunning legal fees at St. Louis Co. schools
Marshall Helmberger and Tom Klein at the Timberjay newspapers report this week that more than $450,000 in legal fees have been paid by the rural St. Louis County School District #2142 in Northeastern Minnesota over the past two years. That’s a number that dwarfs what similar sized districts paid in the same period. In essence,…
-
Highway 53 plan may create ‘highest bridge in Minnesota’
Iron Rangers might have seen some barges floating out on the Rouchleau pit near Virginia, Minnesota this past week. Crews are drilling the rock formations beneath the deep, cold water pits to see if the craggy mine waste and rock below can sustain the weight of what would become “the highest bridge in Minnesota.” In a…
-
Crowdsourcing comeback for Hibbing’s Bob Dylan hot spot?
This week my friends Linda Stroback-Hocking and her husband Bob Hocking launched a crowdsourcing campaign to reopen Zimmy’s, the Bob Dylan-themed bar and restaurant in Dylan’s hometown of Hibbing, Minnesota. The campaign uses the Indiegogo platform, and represents something of a grand experiment in saving one of the Iron Range’s most unique night spots. Zimmy’s,…
-
LeBron James or pro-mining editorial?
Living most of my life on the Iron Range of Northern Minnesota I’ve always held an affinity for steel towns like Cleveland and Pittsburgh out East. That’s where the iron ore that passed by my house on steaming taconite trains would end up, and the fortunes of folks in those big cities often mirrored the ups…
-
VIDEO: Trampled by Turtles drop ‘Wild Animals’ on Letterman
UPDATE: Here’s the video! It warms my heart to hear David Letterman talk about taconite. Good stuff, and a great performance. Progressive bluegrass/folk band Trampled by Turtles will appear on tonight’s Late Show with David Letterman on the very day their new album “Wild Animals” is released. This is Trampled by Turtles second appearance on Letterman,…
-
Vermilion Range Old Settlers Picnic this Saturday
After talking about the Cuyuna Iron Range yesterday, we have to spend a little time talking about the Vermilion as well. I was just up there last month with my Great Northern Radio Show, and am happy to pass along word that the Vermilion Range Old Settlers Picnic will be held this Saturday, July 19…
-
The secret of Minnesota baseball, where weather is hope
It’s probably for the best that the weather is a little cool for tonight’s Major League Baseball All Star game at Target Field in my state’s capital of St. Paul, Minnesota. After all, the national press will need to toughen up some before the Super Bowl held at our new open air stadium in January…
-
Cuyuna Range mining talk hails old ghosts
What would you do if an old girlfriend or boyfriend called? Would you take them back? What if you haven’t talked in 10 years. Or 20? Try 50. This is the discussion going on in Northern Minnesota these days and it isn’t about love; it’s about mining. There were three active iron mining ranges in Northern Minnesota through…
-
Duluth, Range airports vie for Oberstar name
When longtime northern Minnesota congressman and transportation titan James Oberstar passed away in May, everyone knew that an airport would deservedly be named in honor of his tireless work to expand aviation in northern Minnesota. The question, as the Duluth News Tribune now reports, is which one? Oberstar, a Chisholm native, was instrumental in the…
-
Ruling on steel dumping short term relief for long term issue
On Friday, the United States Commerce Department ruled that recent low-cost imports of foreign steel violated trade rules and imposed tariffs on the predominantly South Korean steel products. This was the outcome domestic steelmakers, steelworkers and leaders here on Minnesota’s Iron Range had hoped for after the major rally against steel dumping held here two…
-
‘Fargo’ nets 18 Emmy nods, likely 2nd season
The Northern Minnesota-based FX drama “Fargo,” inspired by the Coen Brothers movie of the same name, earned 18 Emmy nominations in the mini-series category yesterday, including nods for the four actors who portrayed the main roles. I filed episode-by-episode reviews of “Fargo” from my unique perch here in the real Northern Minnesota. I started watching the show…
-
The Iron Range’s 240-ton pink mining truck
Motorists in Hibbing were treated to a special sight along the Beltline Thursday as the giant pink mining truck bucket of a 240-ton production truck at Hibbing Taconite winded its way through town. Cliffs Natural Resources, part-owner and operator of Hibbing Taconite, will deploy the pink mining truck to raise awareness of breast cancer screening and women’s…
-
10 Reasons Why Robins are like Hipsters
I live in the woods of Northern Minnesota, where birds, deer and wolves live in relative peace except when they eat each other. Years ago, house wrens built a nest under our deck and for several years raised their young as we creepily stared at them through the slats above. Well, last year, robins, which are…
-
Northern Lights Music Festival in full swing
“You can’t love the opera if you never see it.” That’s what Aurora native, concert pianist, and founder of the Northern Lights Music Festival Veda Zupancic told me when I interviewed her this week for my Sunday column. Indeed, the Northern Lights Music Festival combines an educational component for beginning and advanced music students and…