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COLUMN: Don’t rest on divides; climb past them
This is my Sunday column for the Nov. 13, 2011 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. I’ll be discussing this and other Iron Range news, including mining project updates (hot hot!), on 91.7 KAXE’s Morning Show at 7:20 a.m. Monday. Listen live or pick up the archive later at www.kaxe.org. Don’t rest on divides; climb…
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Eleven Eleven Eleven Eleven Eleven
It’s 11:11 on 11/11/11. Let’s talk about 11. Eleven is the number that says, “Things are about to get different.” Eleven is the number that says, “Stop right there, our numeric system is Base 10.” Eleven teaches kids that one and one does not always make two. Eleven is beyond fingers. It needs more. Eleven…
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Clark wins Steelworkers nod, Anderson talks hunting in MN-8
Two items of news from the growing din of the 2012 MN-8 race. First, Former St. Cloud-area State. Sen. Tarryl Clark received the backing of the Steelworkers yesterday. The Steelworkers represent Iron Range miners and some medical workers in the region. This is big news, as the Steelworkers are among the top organizers in DFL…
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Range roots rocker-turned-writer to play Kaleva Hall
Up on the north side of Virginia, Minnesota, along a stretch of road some still call the Finntown Flyway you’ll find an old temperance hall built by Finnish immigrants to impart future generations with music, literature and the power of the mind necessary to overcome demon liquor. Unfortunately, the fire water is still around, but…
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NE Minn. elections preview exciting races ahead
A mild set of Tuesday elections nestled in amid a sea of voter apathy and general outrage, yielding only one lesson: the message matters Some school referenda passed, others failed. Statewide, 70 percent of all referenda passed — indicating some level of support for education amid state budget cuts. In Duluth, however, voters overwhelmingly defeated…
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MPR online forum tests MN-8 DFLers
The MPR online forum for Minnesota’s 8th Congressional District DFL candidates concluded earlier today. They’ve posted the feed of the questions and responses, which is worth a read. The question I submitted made the list. Reading the archived feed is a little like stumbling into a very polite Facebook battle a couple hours after the…
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Essar’s steel arrives in Nashwauk
The first steel beams for the Essar Steel Minnesota plant in Nashwauk arrived yesterday. The steel arrived on tractor-trailers from Baltimore, where the 120 metric tons arrived from its point of origin in India. The decision to use Indian steel, part of a financing requirement for the India-based Essar, was controversial here on the Iron…
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MPR to host MN-8 online forum Tuesday
Minnesota Public Radio will host an online forum featuring the four DFL candidates for Minnesota’s Eighth Congressional District 11:30 a.m. Tuesday. Though Jeff Anderson, Tarryl Clark, Daniel Fanning and Rick Nolan have all appeared at many of the same events, I believe this will be the first event in which all four of them appeared…
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Virginia, Minn., hospital vote on tap Tuesday
Another big vote tomorrow will take place in Virginia, Minnesota, on the eastern Mesabi Iron Range. Voters there will decide whether to sell their municipal hospital system to a private health care company, most likely Essentia — the conglomerate that recently took over the St. Mary’s/Duluth Clinic system. Financial trouble for the Virginia Regional Medical…
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Upcoming Duluth election not too hard, not too soft
Working media in northern Minnesota means operating in the sphere of the Duluth TV market. Duluth, the largest northern Minnesota city, is the seat of the state’s largest geographic county, St. Louis. Politics in Duluth, though still dominated by the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, have nevertheless been contentious and sometimes hard to predict. That’s less true this…
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COLUMN: The lost causes are not lost forever
This is my Sunday column for the Nov. 6, 2011 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. It’s an expanded version of the “Mr. Smith” essay I shared yesterday on KAXE’s “Between You and Me.” The lost causes are not lost foreverBy Aaron J. Brown In 1939 Frank Capra directed Jimmy Stewart and Jean Arthur in…
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Brown on the Air: MOVIES!
This Saturday morning’s “Between You and Me” program on 91.7 KAXE explores the topic of movies with music, commentary and your calls. Guest hosts “Mom of Pop Culture” Julie Crabb and retired film professor Jack Nachbar will guide the discussion. My regular contribution explores what is still my favorite movie, “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.”…
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I’d hunt if I needed to, OK
Minnesota’s famed rifle deer hunt begins tomorrow morning at dawn. Indications suggest a strong deer population for the shootin.’ The deer hunt is one of those cultural touchstones one must learn to embrace or at least tolerate to succeed in northern Minnesota. In this place, all men are asked if they hunt and those who…
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Good times roll on the Range, in theory
Another development on the growth of salvage mining operations on the Iron Range was reported today. Magnetation and a related company are teaming up to recover ore from an area near Chisholm. The St. Louis County Board is expected to approve the work at a meeting today, according to a story by the Duluth News…
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A good sound man is hard to find
With my foray into live radio production this year I’ve made mention of the creative influence of A Prairie Home Companion on my work. Today I join others in mourning the loss of that show’s famed sound man Tom Keith, a longtime MPR host and personality. He died of a heart attack Sunday. A Prairie…