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Today’s vote has Range school district on the ropes
Today there’s a levy referendum for the Greenway School District on the western end of the Mesabi Iron Range. If you’re not from the Range, this is one of the schools who used to kick your school’s ass in hockey. Part of the reason they haven’t been kicking your ass lately (I’m talking about you,…
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Session wrap in waiting
I didn’t get to the Minnesota legislative session analysis I had hoped to write today. Here’s the short version: despite the challenges, this was a good session for the Iron Range in general. Not perfect but pretty good considering. Check out round-ups from the DNT. The Range papers have stuff, too, but it’s not posted…
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Minnesota holding blue tone for 2008
The Star Tribune releases polls today showing any Democrat beating John McCain in Minnesota by about 10 points. Barack Obama in particular does very well, showing numbers similar to Amy Klobuchar’s lead over Mark Kennedy in last cycle’s U.S. Senate race at this point. What does this mean? If the year plays out the way…
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State budget deal reached
The DFL legislature and Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-Minn.) are going to announce a budget deal at noon Sunday. I’ll dig into the details when I see the deal. Related posts: No related posts.
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I’ve got the Power! (for now)
There’s a lot going on around Minnesota and the Iron Range. I had about six posts I was going to work on this weekend in between paper grading (finals week!) until the wind started. High winds knocked out power around 4 p.m. Saturday out here in the deep woods Brown Compound. You know what you…
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Dylan changed the world; so can we
This is my weekly column for the Sunday, May 18, 2008 Hibbing Daily Tribune. I archive my columns at my writing site. Dylan changed the world; so can we When I tell people I’m one of the co-chairs of Dylan Days I usually get a look. It’s a look that says, “You? You’re too young…
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Ventura hinting Senate run again
Former Gov. Jesse Ventura (I-Minn.) is hinting at a U.S. Senate run again. As Larry Jacobs notes in the story, his timing may be right … again. As much as I am a fan of DFLer Al Franken, he has higher than average negatives for a challenger. Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) has higher negatives and…
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Today in Coal
What do you think? Is “Today in Coal” a show you would watch? Anyway, two items came across my desk this morning and both are about coal. 1) The Range’s biggest power plant, Minnesota Power’s Clay Boswell facility in Cohassett, is entering its second summer of construction on a $200 million environmental upgrade. Like U.S.…
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Steelworkers endorse Obama
Here’s a union endorsement in the presidential race that has implications on the Iron Range. (Found via yellowdog) The Range was going to be John Edwards country on Feb. 5 and Obama needs to hold the big DFL margins up here to win Minnesota. The Steelworkers aren’t necessarily the largest constituency up here anymore, but…
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McCain gets all futuristic on the TV
I just watched John McCain give a speech that was carried live on cable news. I came in late so it took me a minute to realize that his rhetorical construct was “it’s the future and here’s what I did in my first term.” He was saying things like “the economy is robust and people…
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Obama deserves to win because…
… he got ABC to break into World News with live coverage of his rally with John Edwards … the day AFTER he lost West Virginia by 40 points. Hot damn! That’s no small feat. Here’s the whole Edwards speech from CNN: Related posts: No related posts.
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UPDATE X2: Folstrom drops out of 4A DFL race; Persell poised as frontrunner
Dammit, blogging, I can’t quit you. So much for the “no blog” Tuesday afternoon. FLASH! From the House District 4A DFL endorsement race. Irene Folstrom withdrew her bid for the endorsement today, leaving a clear path for the other candidate, John Persell, a Beltrami County Soil and Water commissioner and longtime DFLer. Persell has worked…
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Midnight in the halls of Iron Range power
I didn’t think Excelsior Energy could go a whole legislative session without deploying its vast lobbying force for something. Recently, in the tax bill conference committee, State. Sen. Tom Bakk inserted language that extends the property tax exemptions from 2010 to 2012 for everyone’s favorite black hole of government giveaways and special favors. Excelsior is…
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Five questions about the Iron Range economic boom
Tony Barrett, an economics professor at St. Scholastica in Duluth, poses five excellent questions about the Iron Range’s prospective economic boom in today’s Duluth News-Tribune. I sense on the streets and back roads of the Iron Range that people are sitting back, perhaps a bit too comfortable in the belief that good times are about…
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Democracy on the March: Batman vs. the Penguin
In the old Adam West TV show, Batman once battled the Penguin (both in full costume) in a democratic election. Sadly, the satire is particularly appropriate for this year. My favorite is Robin’s reaction at the end of the clip. Related posts: No related posts.