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500? Maybe more … (UPDATED x3)
The word is that a very large crowd is gathering right now over at the site of the Minnesota Steel project north of Nashwauk. Company officials are expecting 500, but I think there could be more. Also, we’ll be getting the new name of the company soon. My money’s on something that combines two “proactive”…
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Duluth paper announces layoffs
The Duluth News-Tribune announced staff cuts months ago, but today finally announced the official layoffs. 8 jobs, including 4 full and 4 part time. As usual, they got the managing editor. Managing editors are like second lieutenants in a war movie. All glory, usually posthumous. Related posts: No related posts.
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The hazards of an ownership society
Most of you know I write this blog alone and that, politically, I align with the Democrats. That’s enough for good ol’ MinnesotaBrown to be declared a “liberal blog.” But I do, on occasion, deliberately expose myself to conservative ideas to see what’s going on on the other end of the spectrum. Today I’m highlighting…
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Minnesota Steel groundbreaking approaches
From today’s Duluth News Tribune, a reminder of the monumental groundbreaking taking place Friday on the Iron Range: Groundbreaking ceremony is Friday for $1.6 billion Minnesota Steel Plant to be built near Nashwauk Duluth News TribuneThursday, September 18, 2008 What: Groundbreaking for Minnesota Steel plant Where: North of Nashwauk, near the former Butler Taconite plant…
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More sportsman shenanigans
The Mesabi Daily News ran a story today about the new Iron Range group “Sportsmen for Obama” led by my state senator, Tom Saxhaug (DFL-Grand Rapids). This is in response to the recent “Sportsmen for McCain” group that formed to spread fear that Obama would take away our guns (he won’t). Tomorrow, a press conference…
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Massive new Iron Range steel project to break ground Friday
Here’s the press release, via the Mesabi Daily News: NASHWAUK — Groundbreaking for the new Minnesota Steel Industries LLC plant is slated to begin at 11:30 a.m. Friday. The public is invited. Gov. Tim Pawlenty, R-Minn., the CEO of Essar Steel Minnesota and local elected officials will speak. A new company name is expected to…
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Debate success is only way out of the fog
This New York Times story from yesterday tells of the fog of the 24 hour modern news cycle. With so much information being pumped into the political debate at all times, it is virtually impossible to control a message outside of an accompanying major news event. By and large, people are tuning out political messages…
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Target Field
The new Twins stadium will be named Target Field, in honor of the Minnesota-based Target Corporation. Carl Pohlad cites Target as one of many Minnesota-based companies that vied for the naming rights. This got me wondering. What are the Iron Range-based businesses that might be able to afford naming rights for a stadium? We have…
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Hey … this bank stuff sounds kinda important
Hey, everybody! The banks are failing. Lots of them. OK, some of them aren’t “failing,” they’re “restructuring.” Ever build something that fell apart? You could restructure it, but it still failed. Not to worry. Historically, massive national bank failures are only followed by long periods of crippling economic decline some of the time. And hey,…
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Dispatch from Heartland Tour’s Range stop
The Barack Obama “Heartland for Change” tour wraps up today with events in Duluth. I attended the Hibbing stop at Grandma’s Restaurant. I have to declare the event a success, but that’s mostly because it combined my great loves: politics and drinking beer when the sun is up. The Iron Range swing of the tour…
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A new era to begin next week
Minnesota Steel has scheduled groundbreaking for its innovative new Nashwauk direct-reduced iron mine and steel plant for next Friday, Sept. 19. This occurs 26 years, nearly my whole lifespan, after the shuttering and demolition of the old Butler Taconite plant. That dark event, and the massive layoffs across the Iron Range that came with it,…
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Glass ceiling? Up north, you betcha’
In the frenzied quasi-reporting of women’s issues during the Democratic and Republican conventions you might have heard vague mention of the pay disparity between men and women. Nationally, women make only about 70 percent of what men make. In a recent interview on KAXE, Business North reporter Beth Bily talks about the fact that women…
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Heartland tour reaches Range on Friday
Though today the campaign goes silent in honor of the 9/11 victims, Friday brings the Range leg of the Barack Obama “Heartland for Change” tour. This is where the campaign sends an RV with local Democrats and campaign leaders to listen to folks all over Minnesota. The tour starts in Ely Friday morning at 9:30…
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Ferguson unites common sense and patriotism in election rant
This has been going around a lot today. I even saw it on “Good Morning America.” Comedian Craig Ferguson expresses in an eight minute, entirely nonpartisan monologue how I feel about the state of American politics today. It’s funny, it’s angry, it’s inspiring and it’s spot on. Why do we rely on comedians to say…
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In other news …
In other primaries, Tony Sertich easily beat Marc Pocrnich in the 5B DFL race, 87-13%. Pocrnich didn’t get more than 20 percent anywhere, not even Hibbing where he had centered his “campaign.” There were also some Range city primaries with no major trends to report. Check out the Hibbing Daily Tribune, Mesabi Daily News, Grand…