-
Milford Mine site now open to public
The first phase of a memorial site for the Milford Mine disaster of 1924 is complete in Crow Wing County. The Milford tragedy took the lives of 41 miners on the Cuyuna Range, one of the three major historic iron ranges in northern Minnesota. A park commemorating something so awful might not be the ball…
-
The ugly yet possible truth of balancing the federal budget
We’ve heard a lot of talk about balancing the federal budget, securing our nation for our children and grandchildren lately. It’s a tea party mantra, but not a new idea. Several decades of deficit spending under governments run by either or both parties have led us to this low place. Esquire magazine took a few…
-
Alternate reality in the State of Superior: Election 2010
This is the first of an occasional series exploring the people and times of an alternate reality. In this world, the areas today known as northern Minnesota, northern Wisconsin and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula joined together as the Lake Superior Territory in 1848 and became the State of Superior in 1866. With vast mineral and timber…
-
Duluth News Tribune follows through with Cravaack endorsement
The Duluth News Tribune followed through with its endorsement of challenger Chip Cravaack over incumbent Jim Oberstar in the MN-08 congressional race. My tip proved accurate. What I wrote Thursday then still stands. In fact the tone of the editorial only seems to back up the notion that the rowdy first debate was being used…
-
Oberstar, Cravaack face off on the edge of the western Mesabi Range
Tonight’s second MN-08 debate between Rep. Jim Oberstar (D) and challenger Chip Cravaack (R) in Grand Rapids was a marked improvement over the first. A civil and well-run affair, this debate allowed Oberstar and Cravaack to detail — albeit in shorthand — the core principles of their campaigns. Moderators Patrick Marx, a journalist formerly of…
-
I didn’t want to blog about politics, but … MN-08!
I spent the better part of a year trying to ramp down my political blogging. I was waxing poetic about the small joy of mist rising over the pits and the unknown possibilities that are ignored in the small towns and townships of the Iron Range. I thought I could weave a tapestry of wonder…
-
More intrigue in the Oberstar/Cravaack race for MN-08 – UPDATED
UPDATE: This news is on hold as the paper did not endorse today as sources were told. The debate tonight thus takes on even more significance. I apologize to readers for jumping the gun.Well, the Duluth News Tribune‘s shamefully poor management of Tuesday’s debate between Rep. Jim Oberstar and challenger Chip Cravaack now has new…
-
Downballot Parade: a generational battle in Hockey Town USA
Another Iron Range political race worth watching on Nov. 2 is in Eveleth. City councilor Liz Kuoppala is running against Bob Vlaisavljevich in an open mayor’s race. This is another instance where I know one candidate better than another, having interviewed and otherwise conversed with Kuoppala recently, not to mention our shared Cherry High School…
-
The fightin’ MN-8th gears up for Friday night (possibly literal) fight
U.S. Rep. Jim Oberstar and his GOP challenger Chip Cravaack will take part in their second debate Friday night at 7 at the Davies Hall on the campus of Itasca Community College in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. This event will have limited seating, mostly dedicated to students. One hopes this debate goes better than the one…
-
Downballot Parade: The sheriff is a’ near
Itasca County Sheriff I know you have your own ridiculous local sheriff’s race to worry about and, really, that’s the point of me writing about mine. Here in Itasca County on the western Mesabi Range where I live, home to 1,000 of Minnesota’s “10,000 lakes,” we’ll have a new sheriff in January. Current Sheriff Pat…
-
Downballot Parade: The Iron Greek vs. the Confederate Ranger
This is part of a rolling series of analysis on off-the-map political races from the Iron Range region. St. Louis County Commissioner – Dist. 6 I’ve written recently about the unique universe of St. Louis County politics. Today we look at one board of commissioners district, #6, that runs from the area just north of…
-
Carryin’ signs say hooray for our side
The debate between Jim Oberstar and Chip Cravaack on Duluth News Tribune TV seems like a lively affair. The crowd had to be talked down from catcalling several times. The audio feed was weak and my rural satellite internet speed is not helping me this morning. I’ll catch the full debate on television this Friday,…
-
City councilor snipes at city administrator, for realz
Virginia, Minn., city operations director John Tourville was injured in a hunting accident by a member of the city council. I wasn’t going to say anything, in deference to a bad situation, but the story is getting statewide play and it appears Tourville is going to be fine. Tourville’s successor as Hibbing city administrator famously…
-
Oberstar, Cravaack to debate Tuesday morning
With all the new attention heaped upon the Minnesota 8th Congressional District race between Rep. Jim Oberstar and Chip Cravaack, you might be interested a Tuesday morning debate between the two candidates. The showdown is Tuesday at 8 a.m. You know, “the debate hour.” Everybody’s fresh. Should be good. The Duluth News Tribune debate is…
-
All your base are belong to Iron Range
Politics in Minnesota recently sniffed around the theory the Iron Range could see increased political power after this year’s election. The Briana Bierschbach story most specifically explores the possibility of State Rep. and House Majority Leader Tony Sertich (DFL-Chisholm) becoming Speaker after the departure of Margaret Anderson Kelliher. I’m quoted within, but my most predominant…