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Life of an Iron Range blogger, Part 4
Book revisions continue through the week. Here I continue the visual tour of life as an Iron Range blogger.It’s not all good. Sometimes bugs like these land on your shoulder or leg. They’re huge and they bite. This one is now a lobbyist working for a confederation of energy and transmission line companies. It will…
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You say ‘review,’ I say ‘audit’: Either way, the Iron Range is getting bamboozled
As reported, the Office of the Legislative Auditor is spending two months reviewing two loans totaling $9.5 million given by Iron Range Resources to a collection of lobbyists and lawyers calling themselves “Excelsior Energy.” Isn’t that kind of like an audit? Apparently there’s a difference. Anyway, the Hibbing Daily Tribune followed up on my post…
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Greater Minnesota job seekers are hurting
I’ve written about the work of the folks at the Jobs Now Coalition in St. Paul in the past. Basically, they’re doing research and spreading the word that the jobs currently being created in rural economies do not pay the bills for average families, which makes positive employment statistics cited by the government fairly misleading.…
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Life of an Iron Range blogger, Part 3
Work on my book continues, so I continue with the tour of images that make up life as an Iron Range blogger. One of the interesting things about living on the Range is that you need to find entertainment in unusual places. We don’t have night clubs and Tom Petty never comes here. The names…
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Franken weathers bad month like freight train full of rocks
… er, smart rocks. Something clever. I have to work on my blog headlines. There was a time there a few weeks ago when my favorite candidates, Barack Obama for president and Al Franken for Senate, were going through their respective former preacher and faux tax controversies at the same time. And, boy howdy, I…
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The important difference between wi-fi and high speed
A recent column from Mark Stencel of CQ Politics details the woes of major municipal Wi-Fi networks. The one in Philadelphia is currently going down in flames. I continue to advocate that northern Minnesota’s Iron Range must use its unique revenue and public governance structure to create a universal high speed internet network, whether that…
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Life of an Iron Range blogger, Part 2
I’m working on other projects this week, so instead of my normal posts I’m sharing a glimpse into some of the images that make up my life as an Iron Range blogger. When people think of the Range they might think of mines, rough-looking blue collar towns, piles of red dirt, pine trees and lakes.…
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Whitepine talks about steel wars
Paul at Whitepine, my east Range counterpart, is writing about the same modern-day steel baron wheeling and dealing that I have been talking about. His main argument is that we Iron Rangers need to have a backup plan because there’s a lot we don’t know about Essar and the Minnesota Steel project. I agree. Check…
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Life of an Iron Range blogger, Part 1
It’s officially summer in my world, which — unlike other teachers — means more work than ever. I have a book due June 16, a summer course starting next week and a legislative campaign committee to fire up. Therefore, this week and perhaps the next few weeks will be light on blogging. Instead I’ll be…
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Boondoggle vs. Audit
I may be slowing the blog for the next few weeks but I do have a couple stories that I’m following, including continued educated rumors that the expenditure of a $9.5 million Iron Range Resources loan to Excelsior Energy is being audited by the Office of the Legislative Auditor. I’m getting very plausible reports that…
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Range high speed internet debate comes to Nashwauk
Once again, opponents line up to say we don’t need universal, affordable high speed internet on the Iron Range. They don’t want competition and are unwilling to provide the service themselves. I don’t care whether it’s FiberNet, Qwest or someone else — our leaders need to recognize that if the Iron Range doesn’t make a…
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Critical Greenway referendum fails
Greenway’s referendum failed after Tuesday’s votes were counted. My information comes second hand from someone in administration. I don’t have vote totals, but what I heard was the measure failed by about 200 votes out of about 1800 — roughly a ten-point defeat. (UPDATE: From the May 21 Grand Rapids Herald-Review, referendum fails 1170-898. That’s…
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Dylan Days opens Thursday, May 22
Dylan Days opens tomorrow and runs through Sunday in Bob Dylan’s hometown of Hibbing, Minnesota. For those who don’t remember, I am one of the organizers of Dylan Days. I use this blog, perhaps inappropriately, to promote the event to the strange collection of political operatives, computer-owning Iron Rangers and Google searchers looking for articles…
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Rangers declare session successful
Better late than never; here’s Brady Silver’s roundup of the legislative session from an Iron Range perspective that ran in today’s Hibbing Daily Tribune. First hand accounts from my friend and colleague Rep. Tom Anzelc echo the sentiment that, while long and arduous, the session just plain went better than last time. Related posts: No…
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Legal troubles for Minnesota Steel owner
The company that aims to buy and run the proposed Minnesota Steel plant near Nashwauk is running into legal problems related to its recent attempt to gain a larger share of the North American steel market. A MinnesotaBrown reader gave me this tip. From Business Standard: Domestic conglomerate Essar’s latest US possession, Esmark, is caught…