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Duluth Mayor Don Ness will decline pay hike
Last night the Duluth City Council voted 5-3 to increase the mayor’s salary by 25 percent. The proposal was advanced by City Councilor Sharla Gardner, who said that the salary hasn’t been increased since 2000. Today, Duluth mayor Don Ness said that he would not accept the pay increase, saying that adjusting the salary might…
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Christmas City of the North charade
Last Friday night brought the annual frozen spectacle of the Christmas City of the North Parade in downtown Duluth, Minnesota. What’s to say about the Christmas City of the North Parade? It’s a holiday parade with floats and high school bands from throughout the region. What makes it different? Special? Nothing, except for one thing.…
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Interactive Dylan video ‘channels’ new art concept
Though it’s already been around the internet for a week or so, this new interactive Dylan video is a groundbreaking must watch. Bob Dylan’s classic song, “Like a Rolling Stone,” has been named by the magazine Rolling Stone as the most important rock ‘n’ roll song of all time (to be fair, the magazine drew…
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Court rules against Timberjay information request
The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled in a case with wide-reaching public information implications last week, declaring that a private contractor employed by an Iron Range school district did not have to divulge data to the Timberjay newspaper. The Timberjay information request, led by its publisher Marshall Helmberger, sought more information about the multi-million dollar St.…
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Bentleyville flips switch on Northland holiday time
Bentleyville opened this weekend at Bayfront Park in downtown Duluth, Minnesota. The annual “Festival of Lights” display is a major event for many families, who enjoy the free holiday event featuring millions of lights and holiday cheer. Bentleyville’s opening weekend included the skydiving entrance of Santa Claus, a spectacle that went much better than…
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Vikings stadium to use foreign steel
It was revealed over the weekend that the new Vikings stadium will be importing some foreign steel despite provisions requiring “Iron Range steel” be used in the construction of the huge new complex. Contractors say that portions of the new stadium require a certain kind of steel so specific that it’s not available on the…
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KARE reports on Glencore involvement in PolyMet
KARE 11 filed this report about the PolyMet nonferrous mining project in northern Minnesota. Though it was already well known to those familiar with the project, the largest single owner of PolyMet (about 30 percent) is Glencore, an international company with mining interests all over the world. KARE 11 explored Glencore involvement in PolyMet in…
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Iron Range nursing program offers advanced degrees
This week officials announced that a new shared program by Minnesota State University-Mankato and Hibbing Community College will create the opportunity for nurses to earn their RN Baccalaureate degree, Masters degree in Family Nurse Practitioner or Doctor of Nursing Practice degrees on the Iron Range. Dubbed Iron Range Nursing and modeled after the successful Iron…
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Anzelc bill would put $10 minimum wage on MN ballot
State Rep. Tom Anzelc (DFL-Balsam Township) will introduce a bill in the 2014 legislative session that would pose a Minnesota constitutional amendment question to establish a $10 minimum wage permanently attached to the rate of inflation. The ballot question that would be posed to voters in the Anzelc bill is this: Shall the Minnesota Constitution…
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Gettysburg Address fueled immigrant hopes of freedom
Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, delivered this day in 1863: Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation: conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation…
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Amazing video of deer rescue from lake ice
WDIO reports on a deer rescue on the ice of Nichols Lake near Cotton. You’ve got to see this video: The thin skim of ice over northern Minnesota lakes right now is thick enough to hold some weight, but highly dangerous. It’s common for deer (and people) to fall through this time of year. Unfortunately,…
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Northern MN Team Shuster wins USA curling trials
With the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia approaching quickly, here’s some exciting news for curling fans. The northern Minnesota-based Shuster “rink” (curling-speak for “team”) has won the USA Curling trials and advances to an international tournament in Germany to determine if Team USA qualifies for the Olympics. They are favored to do so. Team…
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Bob Dylan: ‘I’ve been around iron all my life’
(POST UPDATED 11/18/2013) — Bob Dylan was born Robert Zimmerman in Duluth, Minnesota, raised up north in Hibbing on the Mesabi Iron Range. Much is made of his relationship with his hometown. He, like many Iron Rangers in the 1950s, left and built a life elsewhere. Bob Dylan’s life so happens to include five…
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IRRRB’s Tony Sertich to lead legislative reforms
Sunday’s Star Tribune reported on Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton’s 2014 legislative strategy. The governor hopes for a short session focused mostly on modest reforms to improve government efficiency. One interesting tidbit: Dayton will tap Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board Commissioner Tony Sertich to shepherd his legislative agenda. Tony Sertich is three years into his…
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Chisholm coach Bob McDonald to retire after season
Big news in Iron Range boys basketball. This week, Chisholm coach Bob McDonald announced he would retire after this upcoming season. McDonald holds the record for most coaching wins in Minnesota history and has the most wins of any active coach in the United States. He’s also known here on northern Minnesota’s Iron Range as…