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Tuesday’s Range headlines
Here’s an abbreviated roundup of stories with Range impact this morning: Pawlenty fires shot at House Majority Leader Tony Sertich (Duluth News-Tribune) for going public with comments the governor admits making in private. In his rebuke, T-Paw said Sertich is “fond of the theatre,” which sounds like some kind of 1872 insult. The outlook for…
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Dylan’s Pulitzer montage
City Pages has a post about the Iron Range’s own Bob Dylan and his recent special citation Pulitzer Prize. The post includes a unique collection of You Tube clips showing Dylan’s increasingly unusual career path. Dylan’s Pulitzer is going to be mentioned often as we continue to promote Dylan Days, May 22-25, in Hibbing. Related…
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What my TV told me this morning…
As many who consume political news online know, the only reason to watch political news on television is to see how political events are playing “on the street.” For instance, I read Barack Obama’s comments about the frustrations of small town voters in context last weekend and formed my own opinion. Then, over the course…
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Blight Me: the unique aesthetics of the Iron Range
This is my weekly column for the Sunday, April 13, 2008 Hibbing Daily Tribune. I archive my columns at my writing homepage. Blight Me: the unique aesthetics of the Iron RangeBy Aaron J. BrownIt’s spring on the Iron Range. I know this because last week we had to hire a guy with a loader to…
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Pawlenty vs. Range battle running hotter
More evidence of increasingly difficult relations between Gov. Tim Pawlenty and the Iron Range legislative delegation. This story is from today’s Duluth News-Tribune: ST. PAUL — House Majority Leader Tony Sertich says Gov. Tim Pawlenty erased $1.5 million in state construction projects from his district as revenge for comments he made about the Republican governor.…
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Coal gas boondoggle circling the drain
There hasn’t been much coverage about the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission meeting from this past Thursday. Two decisions regarding my least favorite Iron Range economic development project emerged from that meeting. As you may know, Excelsior Energy is proposing the Mesaba Energy Project, a coal-gas power plant for the Iron Range. The project enjoys a…
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Enjoy these fine Range blogs
I’d like to point out a couple of quasi-political blogs that people have sent me. The blogging community on the Iron Range is rather small so I am happy to spread the love, and links, when I can. These two blogs are both run by guys named Paul, but one is east Range and the…
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Pawlenty fails to understand Iron Range, again
I’m not as harsh in my criticism of Gov. Tim Pawlenty as most other Iron Rangers and most other progressive bloggers. I’ve always considered him a likable guy and a worthy political foe. But today, the governor deserves special rebuke for his threat Thursday to veto funding for a state study to investigate the cause…
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Guessing about 2010
MN Publius, one of the state’s top progressive blogs, has a great backgrounder on potential candidates for the 2010 DFL gubernatorial nomination. Read it right now. I commented on their post over there and decided to share some of those thoughts here: Since this is just a good ol’ guessing game, I’ll make my educated…
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Thank you, sir, may I have another?
The TV weather people are being administered oxygen on the air. See, there’s a blizzard coming to northern Minnesota. All this after last weekend’s oppressive snow storm. And in April! Here’s what I’m hearing around the region. I hear it’s the storm to end all storms! I hear the snow from this blizzard are the…
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Ore chasing
For hardcore Iron Rangers or those interested in how mining plays into our culture, take a look at this guest column from today’s Hibbing Daily Tribune by retired mining engineer Thomas J. Mesich. He talks about taconite (a low grade iron ore that used to make steel) veins around the central Iron Range and how…
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Denny Anderson faces health issues
Dennis Anderson is the Walter Cronkite of northern Minnesota. The Duluth News-Tribune reports today that Anderson, evening anchor of the top-rated Duluth newscast at WDIO/WIRT, is fighting prostate cancer. The prognosis is good, according to the report. Still, thoughts and prayers go out to the dean of Northland media. For those outside northern Minnesota, Anderson…
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You say biofuel, I say moonshine!
I take a lot of pride that this is the only blog in Minnesota, nay, the WORLD, that had been using “moonshine” as a tag label long before this story ran yesterday. It appears that a demolition worker uncovered several bottles of prohibition era alcohol in unmarked bottles at Sammy’s Pizza in Hibbing, under renovation…
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Pawlenty’s bonding vetoes bring mixed bag for Northern Minnesota
Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty announced line-item vetoes on several items in the bonding bill Monday. This was a modest surprise for some in state political circles because it was believed that Pawlenty might veto the whole thing to force legislators to make the unpopular choices about which projects to cut. Instead, Pawlenty did the dirty…
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Snow Day!
As I mentioned yesterday, we got walloped with a blizzard over the weekend. We got about 25-27 inches in my driveway and I am still trapped here at the house. That’s OK today because my workplace cancelled classes, but we’ll see how the rest of the week goes. Over on the East Range, Virginia “won”…