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Today Congress honors an Iron Ranger
This evening at 5:30 the House of Representatives is slated to offer its tribute to departing U.S. Rep. Jim Oberstar (D-MN8), the outgoing House Transportation and Infrastructure Chair. Check out C-SPAN. There might be a lot of dispute about Oberstar’s politics but his legacy in Congress for the latter 20th century into this 21st is…
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Footage of Metrodome collapse
Here’s exclusive Fox Sports video of the Metrodome collapsing from the inside. Minnesotans seem torn on whether this will ultimately send the Vikings into a new stadium or to Los Angeles for a boatload of money and a new name. Then again, they could go the Lakers route and just keep the Minnesota-specific name for…
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Metrodome collapses under heavy snow
The roof of the Metrodome collapsed last night under the estimated 17-20 inches of snow that fell in yesterday’s near-record Minnesota blizzard. Fortunately today’s Vikings football game had already been rescheduled for Monday (and now probably some other time, possibly some other place). It bears mentioning that the officials’ decision to postpone the game was…
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Johnny Cash and the Iron Range
My friend Jason Scorich wrote a history column for the Hometown Focus about the time Johnny Cash played the Iron Range (Eveleth, specifically) in 1958. This is worth a read. Scorich juxtaposes Cash with the Range’s own Bob Dylan. Then Robert Zimmerman, Dylan lived in Hibbing at the time of the Cash show and was,…
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Iron Range Resources: let the light shine in
It bears mentioning every time I find myself in complete and total agreement with a Bill Hanna editorial in the Mesabi Daily News. The Iron Range Resources agency needs reform, a refocusing on quantifiable results, and increased transparency. Iron Range Resources is a difficult agency to explain to outsiders, many of whom think it’s just…
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We don’t collapse, we fall hard on purpose!
Salon.com details four ways that America could collapse in the next 15 years. Good news: most of the ways are fairly bloodless. Bad news: this is a thing. Related posts: No related posts.
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Range boondoggle dealt ironic setback: being ignored
This isn’t so much news as it is the gradual realization of the haphazard Iron Range economic development planning surrounding the Mesaba Energy Project, a coal gasification power plant proposed 10 years ago by the ethereal Excelsior Energy of Minnetonka. The U.S. Department of Energy recently removed the plant from its listing of so-called “clean…
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How does it feel, to be somewhat older than before?
The Wall Street Journal poses the question “Should Bob Dylan retire?” The Duluth native and Hibbing-raised musician is a favorite here as I help coordinate Dylan Days in Hibbing and have long been a fan of the man’s songwriting and songs, particularly his 1965-1975 catalog. This is not the first time we’ll be asking such…
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COLUMN: The return of winter’s empire
This is my weekly column for the Sunday, Dec. 5, 2010 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. The return of winter’s empireBy Aaron J. Brown All things change. In reading history all things change with regularity only because we have the advantage of looking back at vast amounts of time condensed into tiny paragraphs. For…
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Tech infrastructure only the first half of the battle
In recent years I’ve advocated high speed internet infrastructure as one possible way to diversify the Iron Range economy and move us past the local dependence on natural resource industries to provide jobs. My reasoning, in truth, sounds more like faith than fact. I have faith that with high speed, world class communication capabilities, and…
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Oberstar’s exit leaves behind huge political questions
The Star Tribune had a nice interview and video of Jim Oberstar’s last day at his Congressional Office in Washington, D.C., from Tuesday. Check it out. It occurs to me that Oberstar’s defeat remains so surprising that I haven’t known what to write about it or what comes next for Democrats in MN-08. In truth…
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Mining vs. the Environment: a debate not centered in reality
The debate continues over new forms of mining in northern Minnesota, the way it always does: dueling op/eds. Deciding Iron Range issues via op/eds is like having zoning disputes being settled by a figure skating competition between Oksana Kryksstrkgghg and Svetlana Rokavrrrkgrrgh. What? What is going on? Who won? She did? Really? What I’m saying…
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MPR: "The giant, Mesabi, places a bet"
Minnesota Public Radio features a guest commentary of mine over at their website today. Titled “The giant Mesabi places a bet,” the piece is cut from the same flank of much of my writing but refined for the big city audience. This is the result of my lecture at MPR earlier this month. If this…
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Gogebic a go-go?
Here’s a Duluth News Tribune update by way of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on that proposed open pit iron ore mine in northern Wisconsin along the Gogebic Range. My prediction: developers overstating the number of jobs will do battle with environmentalists overstating the environmental risk. The result will underwhelm us all. I support anything that…
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It is not "me" season
You really don’t realize how much your normal wardrobe resembles the general appearance of a common whitetail deer until you move to a rural section of northern Minnesota and the annual rifle deer hunting season arrives. For instance, my shoes are brown (BLAM!), my parka is brown (BLAM!) and my flapped winter hat is also…