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Former Ironworld facility to reopen
Word has come from St. Paul that the Iron Range Resources Board has approved a plan that would reopen of the Minnesota Discovery Center to the tune of about $1 million. This would entail a stripped down version of the operations seen before the facility closed amid financial struggles late last year. Details will be…
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A political opportunity for the Iron Range
This Mary Lahammer post from TPT reminds us that there are some serious Iron Range implications in the upcoming gubernatorial endorsement and 2010 election. Naturally, we’ve got a Range legislator in the scrum at the DFL convention trying to get endorsed (Tom Rukavina is considered to be in the second tier, according to MinnPost, MNPublius…
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Oberstar’s GOP opponent endorsed
Eighth Congressional District Republicans have endorsed Chip Cravaack to take on longtime northern Minnesota Congressman Jim Oberstar. Cravaack is an airline and Navy pilot from central Minnesota. Oberstar, from Chisholm, remains heavily favored and will still almost certainly win. That said, he’ll take some heat from Tea Party types and he might lose some of…
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Oh, yeah, I’m ‘working’ right now
NY Times columnist David Brooks casually mentioned that he was cheering for Duke in the men’s college basketball final last week, and that Duke beat the smaller, working class team not because it was rich, but because talented people get rich through hard work (I’m paraphrasing, you can read the original dialogue). Matt Taibbi wrote…
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My first Iron Range economic post for MinnEcon
Today I pull another media crossover/convergence/synergy gambit with this inaugural contribution to the MinnEcon blog by Minnesota Public Radio. I’ll be offering occasional video and text reports on the Iron Range economy as it relates to the state economy as a whole. This first one talks about how the Range economy is emerging from a…
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How iron becomes steel, starring the Range (for beginners)
Video: mxylkaxl by way of History Channel, found via MinnPost. This is the geeky sort of thing that inspired my book “Overburden: Modern Life on the Iron Range,” though I throw in more jokes and talk about my feelings. Related posts: No related posts.
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COLUMN: "Fiber and Steel"
This is my weekly column for the Sunday, April 4, 2010 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. Fiber and SteelBy Aaron J. Brown I’m going to talk about the Iron Range economy today but it’s not really about the economy, is it? It’s about us. From the workplaces and bars, coffee klatches and school functions,…
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Brown on the Air: FAVORITE SMALL TOWNS
My contribution to this Saturday morning’s edition of “Between You and Me” on 91.7 KAXE will join the call-in and music program’s weekly topic of “favorite small towns.” Listeners will be able to share stories and insights about their favorite small towns, particularly the many excellent small towns here in Minnesota. This topic arrives in…
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Peppermint Patty and Marcie up north
You all know I love living in northern Minnesota and talk about it all the time. But why? Well, there’s the trees and lakes and history, but that’s just stuff I write books about. No, I’m a media person and I judge a place by its media. And northern Minnesota is the only place in…
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And now we all learn how to spell "lieutenant"
For observers of the MN-GOV race, particularly the DFL side, we now enter the strange lull before the April 23-25 DFL Convention in Duluth. Naturally, the candidates planning to go “all in” for the endorsement will be calling the thousand-plus voting delegates and doing events around the state. The only other thing they can do…
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COLUMN: "About that accent"
This is my weekly column for the Sunday, March 28, 2010 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. An earlier version of the piece aired on “Between You and Me” on 91.7 KAXE. About that accentBy Aaron J. Brown The tricky thing about accents is that no one knows they have an accent until someone else…
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Obscure regional author ‘sweetens the pot’ for Bob Dylan
The second video for Iron Range Tourism’s “Come Home Bob” campaign is here. This one ought to shake things up. Me and my crazy side projects! Join the cause in welcoming Bob Dylan back to the Iron Range at “Come Home Bob.” Related posts: No related posts.
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Go(ogle) jump in a lake
Duluth’s efforts to be selected as one of the test sites for Google’s new super high speed fiber internet technology have reached fever pitch. In addition to filming a high end short film with the entire community last weekend, organizers have been using all sorts of online, grassroots efforts to demonstrate the city’s desire for…
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Another delay gives the Range some time to think
Several outlets, including the Duluth News-Tribune, report delays to the Essar Steel Minnesota plant outside Nashwauk on northern Minnesota’s Iron Range. Essar has cleared the site but because of changes to the original plan the company now must refile its Environmental Impact Statement to amend its permits. Overly optimistic predictions of production in 2011 are…
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And then there was one (Iron Ranger)
Iron Range State Sen. Tom Bakk (DFL-Cook) has dropped out of the DFL gubernatorial race before next month’s endorsing convention. As the Iron Range guy in the Minnesota blogosphere you might be curious if I have any insights on this. Well, I’m from the Midwest. So if did, I’d never say in the first paragraph.…