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Easter Bunion
“Easter Bunion” is part of my 2014 winter/spring sanity project. I will post original cartoons about modern life in northern Minnesota every Friday until the snow melts. Related posts: No related posts.
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Segetis seeks $21 million from IRRRB for big project
Segetis, a Golden Valley-based biochemical company, is planning a $105 million expansion to Hoyt Lakes on the eastern Iron Range. They’re asking for $21 million in support from the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board at its April 22 meeting. The promise: 545 jobs and $55 million in annual economic impact. That appears to be…
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REVIEW: ‘Fargo’ on FX as seen in northern MinneSOta
Earlier this week I wrote about the new FX series “Fargo” before it had aired, focusing on the lamentations of my fellow residents of northern Minnesota any time they hear so much as the title of this series or its 1996 Coen Brothers movie predecessor. “They don’t get the ayyyyyyyxcents ryyyyght,” they say. I urged…
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New Partners takes over for Eveleth telemarketer
The Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board today announced that a new business would be moving into the Eveleth building owned until recently by the now defunct Meyer telemarketing firm. Meyer Associates closed earlier this month. EVELETH, Minn. — Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board (IRRRB) Commissioner Tony Sertich today announced that New Partners Consultants,…
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Video game lets you fight zombies in Duluth, MN
Lake Voice News reports that two University of Minnesota Duluth students created a new zombie-fighting video game set in Duluth. The game “Left 4 Duluth” features scenes in several iconic Duluth locations, including the UMD campus, the Aerial Lift Bridge and other downtown areas. Mayor Don Ness voiced several cameos in the game, including emergency…
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Iron Range native wins Pulitzer for cartoons
An Iron Range native just won a Pulitzer Prize. Though I never knew that Kevin Siers, a political cartoonist for the Charlotte (N.C.) Observer, was from Biwabik, the Duluth News Tribune‘s Mike Creger apparently did. He filed a fascinating feature on Siers and the Pulitzer Prize for cartooning he won Monday. In his 20s, while doing…
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Minnesota minimum wage to gradually rise to $9.50
On Monday, April 14, 2014 Gov. Mark Dayton (D-MN) signed a minimum wage increase into law. Over the next couple years, the minimum wage in Minnesota will gradually rise to $9.50 per hour for most businesses, excluding many small businesses and resorts. The wage will eventually be indexed to inflation beginning in 2016. The UpTake…
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Metal train touts mettle of Minnesota iron mining
The Iron Mining Association of Minnesota, the trade group representing northern Minnesota’s taconite mines and processing plants, is rolling out a new marketing campaign that asks people to “imagine LiFE without iron.” The premise is that it’s hard to imagine life without iron, which is in most of the things we use every day. And…
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Grammy’s Bob Dylan photo exhibit coming to Hibbing
Here’s a stroke of great news amid a rough year for Bob Dylan fans in the music legend’s hometown of Hibbing, Minnesota. The Grammy Museum exhibit “Daniel Kramer: Photographs of Bob Dylan” will be making its United States debut after stops in Paris and London. Not in New York. Not even in Minneapolis. The Kramer…
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Iron Range Pizza Hut zero hour
I’ve encountered a number of reports that Pizza Hut restaurants in Hibbing, Grand Rapids and other locations in the region have closed today. I don’t yet know how many Pizza Hut restaurants have closed and I have not yet confirmed why they are closing, or if the closings are permanent. One employee suggested a franchisee…
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Fargo TV show arrives; now in fictional Bemidji
I was in high school when Joel and Ethan Coen’s “Fargo” came out in theaters. Initially, I was excited to see a movie set in my home state, but quickly I was more mesmerized with the filmmaking. “Fargo” is grim and cold, probably the best way to describe winter in Minnesota. In fact, the movie…
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Hibbing VFW Post 8510 closes
The Hibbing Daily Tribune reports that Hibbing VWF Post 8510 Club has closed. This is the big bar and event hall visible from the main highway through town. The club had previously struggled with money, but had clawed its way out of the red. The reason for the closure is simply that the VFW post…
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Jazz Hands
“Jazz Hands” is part of my 2014 winter/spring sanity project. I will post original cartoons about modern life in northern Minnesota every Friday until the snow melts. Related posts: No related posts.
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Entering the next generation of late night
When David Letterman announced his retirement last week, I wrote this note on social media: For about six years I watched Letterman every night. I don’t know what that means, or if the numbers matter, but it feels to me like this mattered a lot. I hope this doesn’t come across as silly, but when…
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‘Green Envy’ for Iron Range botanical garden
This Saturday, April 12, from 4:30-8 p.m., the Friends of the Greenhouse in Virginia, Minnesota, will hold its second annual “Green Envy” fundraiser for the Olcott Park Botanical Gardens. The greenhouse and gardens at Olcott Park are holdovers to a time when many Range towns poured effort into beautifying their public spaces. Virginia has held…