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Another take on Coleman and the Range
Another blogger, Eric Zaetsch, reached an interesting conclusion about Norm Coleman’s Iron Range newspaper appeal. Related posts: No related posts.
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Norm’s Range plan, and why it’s half baked
As a former daily newspaper editor, who never once endorsed anyone for political office while editor (I don’t believe that newspaper endorsements are wise editorial policy), I have been watching with interest the ferocious attention paid the newspaper endorsements this 2008 election cycle. In the old days, when the assumption was that newspapers were liberal-leaning,…
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All Hallow’s Eve Special
My car is still in the shop so I am riding around in the family minivan today. I got to drive over the spot on 56 where I scraped three Gs worth of car parts off my wagon’s undercarriage in the car/deer incident a few days ago. The blood spot looks like an execution site…
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Cliffs announces record profits as steel market fades
After announcing “work adjustments” and the idling of three pellet furnaces yesterday, Cliffs Natural Resources is now announcing record profits. It’d be easy to say this is just another example of corporate greed, but to be fair this is just evidence that we’re coming off of a classic “high” in the global steel market and…
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Confirmed: layoffs to come with Cliffs production cutbacks
Several news organizations are reporting on Cliffs Natural Resources’ decision to slow production at two of its northern Minnesota taconite plants. Today, we have confirmation that this will involve immediate layoffs at United Taconite and Northshore. Though these kinds of layoffs are common and usually temporary at Iron Range mines, this will make the Iron…
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Red and Blue history
You’ve probably got an image of the map of red and blue states (ie: Republican and Democratic electoral vote results) in your head from the last three U.S. Presidential elections. But this site, which I found through my favorite electoral vote tracking site Electoral-Vote.com, shows the history of the electoral vote map going back to…
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Cliffs to idle three pellet furnaces on the Iron Range
From today’s Hibbing Daily Tribune online. Cliffs idling three ore furnaces in MinnesotaLay-offs loom Tuesday, October 28, 2008HDT Staff ReportCLEVELAND — Cliffs Natural Resources Inc., said in a written statement that it will temporarily idle three iron ore pellet furnaces in Minnesota, cutting 300,000 tons of monthly production capacity as demand for steel softens. The…
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Beer me: We will live forever!
In news that should rock the Iron Range to its core (and probably also the Minnesota blogosphere), researchers are close to developing a healthy beer that could prolong the life of people who drink it. We will live forever! Related posts: No related posts.
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Range’s biggest paper uses bloated boondoggle to endorse Coleman
First, the least surprising news in the history of the Iron Range: the Mesabi Daily News endorsed Norm Coleman for re-election on Sunday. This could have been predicted from the very beginning of this election from the paper’s heavy spin of Coleman as the “jobs” candidate and the constant pushing of anti-Franken stories and editorials.…
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Iron Range division on Legacy Amendment (and my thoughts)
Minnesotans are starting to see a fairly intense effort to pass the Minnesota Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment, which would create a set fund from state revenue for environmental and arts initiatives. In this story, the Mesabi Daily News profiles former State Sen. Bob Lessard, who first pioneered the idea, while explaining what the…
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Range readies for belated impact of economic downturn
Peter Passi at the Duluth News-Tribune has this Sunday story about the economic downturn’s inevitable impact on the steel industry and the Iron Range. Right now, the economic slide has not yet hit the Range. In fact, for a lifelong Ranger, this has been a strange couple of months as the local economy has been…
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The scary season
This is my weekly column for the Sunday, Oct. 26, 2008 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. The scary seasonBy Aaron J. Brown Halloween is coming. This is one of those holidays that grew from bizarre, pagan origins to cultural mainstay and then descended back into debauchery. What am I saying? “One of?” It’s pretty…
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Steelly Down
A poll published in Steel Business Briefing shows that 50 percent of the publication’s readers, mostly steel industry insiders, believe steel prices will drop 25-50 percent in 2009-2010. Almost 90 percent expect a drop of more than 10 percent. Meantime, other metals are also plummeting in price right now, especially copper and nickel. (Good thing…
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Comment insanity at the MDN
The Mesabi Daily News is the Range’s largest newspaper. Its online comments section is like Lord of the Flies. Look. Do not get involved; these are stray dogs not to be petted. OMG. (And, no, I am not one of the commenters). Related posts: No related posts.
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SNL’s best political sketch of the year
This is everywhere, but sometimes Saturday Night Live can summarize in six minutes what a historian or political scientist could write in an entire book. Republicans won’t like this sketch, but it a brutally stark look at the cultural and political dynamic of the GOP ticket in 2008. Will Farrell as Bush is the best…