Category: News

  • Halloween blizzard, 20 years later

    Halloween blizzard, 20 years later

    Happy Halloween, everyone! Your focus today might be on the kids, trick-or-treating and/or other elaborate adult celebrations. (My Facebook photo feed over the weekend revealed many things about my friends, things that cannot be unseen). But for a lot of us in northern Minnesota, Halloween brings memories of the 1991 Halloween snowstorm. It broke records…

  • Magnetation to HQ operations from Grand Rapids

    Magnetation to HQ operations from Grand Rapids

    An executive with Magnetation, the scram mining operation on the western Mesabi Iron Range, tells Business North that the company will be relocating its small headquarters from Nashwauk to Grand Rapids. The proximity to an airport and high-end hotels was a key factor, according to the story. Magnetation’s Site #1 is Keewatin, where workers have…

  • Iron Range mayor biter story reaches toothy denouement

    Iron Range mayor biter story reaches toothy denouement

    The second of three defendants charged in connection with an incident involving a late-night attempted robbery of the mayor of Hibbing was sentenced last week. This would be the defendant who bit Mayor Rick Cannata as he attempted to subdue him for police. The defendant’s name: Thundercloud Rodriguez. Thundercloud Rodriguez and two associates attempted to…

  • The night the Soviets occupied Hibbing

    I was absolutely floored by this item on the new Minnesota-based “Historically Inclined” blog by Jayson Hron. He describes in exquisite, luscious detail the frigid January 1959 night when the Soviet hockey team played an exhibition game in Hibbing, whipping a young American team in the Memorial Building arena. You must read this and you…

  • Daddy wears a Twins cap

    Daddy wears a Twins cap

    NPR’s Robert Krulwich, part of the wonderful program RadioLab, posted an item on the NPR blog entitled “The Tyranny of Fathers.” He explores data showing that the single most important indicator of which sports teams you support is the fan loyalty of your father. Far and away, it’s not even close. Mothers, grandparents and friends…

  • Ship it, ship it good

    Ship it, ship it good

    Business North’s Ron Brochu explores a study showing the economic impact of Great Lakes shipping, which is strongly influenced by the Port of Duluth and northern Minnesota iron mining. Maritime commerce on the Great Lakes Seaway system created nearly a quarter million jobs last year and salaries of $14.1 billion, according to a report released…

  • Anzelc’s IRRRB daylight idea fails, for now

    Anzelc’s IRRRB daylight idea fails, for now

    The news roundup from yesterday’s IRRRB meeting includes some valuable observations. The Duluth News Tribune‘s Peter Passi reports separately on the cuts to the mining production tax rebate program, with money diverted to public works projects. Passi also reported on Rep. Tom Anzelc’s motion for IRRRB support of legislation he’s drafting to repeal a 2008…

  • Local food showcase slated Nov. 1 in Grand Rapids

    One of the trends you’ve seen build in recent years is the idea of local food production and consumption, an idea centered around sustainable life. Here in northern Minnesota that used to be called “surviving the winter” and nearly everyone did it. The practice fell out of favor with the advent of the Twinkie, only…

  • Range board trims mine tax rebate, rebuffs transparency plea

    Range board trims mine tax rebate, rebuffs transparency plea

    I’ve gleaned two bits of news from today’s Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board meeting. First, the iron mining production tax refund (money paid back to mines after taxes for capital projects) was cut in half amid the record mining profits of the last year. The money kept will be dedicated to public works projects…

  • 10,000 Lakes, 10,000 Logos

    10,000 Lakes, 10,000 Logos

    Now this is neat. Nicole Meyer, a graphic designer in Minneapolis, has begun creating original logos for each of Minnesota’s famed 10,000 lakes (actually there are 11,842), something she’s calling “Branding 10,000 Lakes.” She estimates this will take 27 years. These are wonderful pieces of art. Lake Vermilion: Check out all the subtle angles in…

  • The wolves of October

    The wolves of October

    It was sleeting as Henry and I went out to the bus stop this morning. We were chatting over the sounds of our shoes rousing the gravel. The driveway is north and where we live there’s nothing north for miles and miles. Then we stopped walking. A pack of wolves was howling, a desperate, pained…

  • Forum, straw poll in Hibbing could shape MN-8 race

    Forum, straw poll in Hibbing could shape MN-8 race

    This past Saturday in Hibbing, Minn., as I was hosting a little radio show on one side of Highway 169 the 8th District DFL was holding a central committee meeting, fundraising dinner and the first scheduled Congressional Candidate forum across the street at the Park Hotel. Four candidates are vying for the DFL nomination to…

  • COLUMN: Detroit state of mind

    COLUMN: Detroit state of mind

    This is my Sunday column for the Oct. 16, 2011 Hibbing Daily Tribune. I wrote it before the Tigers lost to the Texas Rangers yesterday, but what can you do? Detroit state of mindBy Aaron J. Brown With the dismal conclusion to the Minnesota Twins baseball season, coupled with the dismal beginning of the Minnesota…

  • Silicon Energy opens Range facility

    Silicon Energy opens Range facility

    The company Silicon Energy opens its doors at its new Mountain Iron location this morning at 10 a.m. for an open house. The company produces a new, durable sort of commercial and residential solar panels. Though Silicon Energy is a smaller company it’s exciting to see such production on the Iron Range. 10 a.m. to…

  • Fanning kicks off campaign, joining Clark, Anderson and Nolan in DFL MN-8 race

    Fanning kicks off campaign, joining Clark, Anderson and Nolan in DFL MN-8 race

    On Sunday, Daniel Fanning kicked off his DFL campaign for Minnesota’s 8th Congressional District at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. He joins Tarryl Clark, Jeff Anderson and Rick Nolan in the race to challenge U.S. Rep. Chip Cravaack (R-MN8) as the first DFL nominee in MN-8 not named Jim Oberstar since 1974. Last week Fanning, an…