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Go west, young miner!
Today’s Duluth News Tribune explains a proposed new taconite plant between Coleraine and Grand Rapids. That’s right, I said Grand Rapids, the historic non-mining western edge of the Iron Range. Magnetation, a scram mining operation that’s worked along the western Mesabi iron formation, mostly near Keewatin and now Taconite, Minn., is looking ahead to its…
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NY Times highlights Range air service debate
The plight of the Range Regional Airport and the federal Essential Air Service program made the New York Times today. The Times featured an interview with Hibbing Mayor Rick Cannata and City Councilor Patty Shafer. The region’s U.S. Rep. Chip Cravaack (R-MN8) is a central player in a budget cut process that could limit flights…
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Fanning to announce MN-8 bid
Daniel Fanning, a U.S. Army Iraq war vet and former staffer for Sen. Al Franken, will announce his campaign for Minnesota’s 8th District DFL nomination on Sunday in Duluth. Fanning, who lives in Duluth, recently resigned as northern Minnesota field coordinator for Sen. Franken to focus on what has been a long exploration into running…
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Remembering Ron Ciochetto
Ron Ciochetto was first in line at my first book signing in 2008. He was a dedicated reader of this blog and a good guy. He passed away over the weekend after a long illness. A retired miner and Vietnam vet, Ciochetto was like a lot of guys you see on the Iron Range. But…
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Farewell September, October looks interesting
This hasn’t been a great week for blog content but I will give you a hint at some of the things I’m working on. Naturally, Item #1 has been the Great Northern Radio Show coming up Saturday, Oct. 15 on the stage of Hibbing Community College and live on 91.7 KAXE. I’m also working on…
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Babbitt, reeling from fire, makes plans
The people of the Iron Range town of Babbitt are figuring out what to do after the devastating fire that took Zup’s Grocery, the drug store and damaged several other downtown businesses last weekend. Northland’s NewsCenter had a story, which I am sharing because of their handy embed capabilities. Related posts: No related posts.
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My TEDx talk, Courage: Northern Minnesota’s Untapped Resource
This is my talk from last week’s TEDx 1,000 Lakes Conference at the Reif Center in Grand Rapids. Enjoy! UPDATE: You can watch the whole conference, speech by speech, here. There were some great talks that day. I’ll post more with some context in the near future. Related posts: No related posts.
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Winter and other seasons
Sometime it’s informative to see how others see the places and institutions you live every day. To that end, the Duluth News Tribune recently ran a story from the Times of Northwest Indiana (covering Hammond, Gary and surrounding areas). The story runs over some familiar territory, showing how Duluth faces many of the same struggles…
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Babbitt fire destroys Zup’s grocery, other businesses
A fire destroyed Zup’s grocery store in the eastern Iron Range city of Babbitt early this morning. A drug store was also destoryed and other nearby downtown businesses were damaged. This is a terrible blow for this small Range town, essentially devestating the business community there. WDIO has the story and links to pictures. Range…
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MN-8 seems destined for lively DFL primary
The 2012 election in Minnesota’s Eighth Congressional district could become the more significant contest in the region’s political decade. The conservative swing seen in the 2010 election of Rep. Chip Cravaack (R-MN8) could be solidified with his re-election. Or the GOP trend could be repelled with the election of a DFL challenger. Still more, this…
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Cougars go east
Fans of my column about the Black Hills/Connecticut cougar a couple weeks ago might appreciate that this summer another cougar was spotted heading east in view of trail cams across northern Minnesota and northern Michigan. The plot thickens! Related posts: No related posts.
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Oberstar accepting retirement as 2012 battle brews
On Tuesday, MinnPost’s Doug Grow penned an interesting profile of the activities and attitudes of recently defeated former U.S. Rep. Jim Oberstar (D-MN8) as his former district girds for a new political fight in 2012. It’s worth a read. Notably, he appears to be accepting retirement and vows to stay out of the 2012 race.…
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MPR: ‘Grandpa Taconite keeps the Range family together’
I’m still catching up from yesterday’s wonderful TEDx 1,000 Lakes Conference in Grand Rapids. They’ll be posting the videos early next week and I’ll write a detailed post then with links to some of the great ideas I heard, along with my speech (for those who are interested). It was a marvelous event, owing much…
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Speaking at #tedx1000lakes today
There’s a lot going on in northern Minnesota and we’ll get to it in due time. Today I’m speaking at the TEDx 1,000 Lakes Conference at the Reif Center in Grand Rapids, Minnesotta. The event theme is “Expanding Opportunity” and my speech is titled “Courage: Northern Minnesota’s Untapped Resource.” I’ll be speaking in the morning…
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Speaking Monday at #tedx1000lakes in Grand Rapids, Minn.
I’m excited to announce that I’ll be speaking this Monday at the TEDx 1,000 Lakes Conference in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. The event runs most of the day on the stage of the Reif Center for the Performing Arts. The theme is “Expanding Opportunity” and my presentation is titled “Courage: Northern Minnesota’s Untapped Resource.” TEDx is…