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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!
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Four Days in Denver
New York Magazine tapped former “West Wing” writer Lawrence O’Donnell Jr. to write a script about a potential scenario at the 2008 Democratic Convention. Titled “Four Days in Denver,” the piece is lengthy but quite entertaining and good salve for people who miss “The West Wing.” In a way, it reminded me of a guest…
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Former Sen. Dayton shows big heart on the Range
Kudos to former U.S. Sen. Mark Dayton for stepping up to help a young woman with a rare heart condition from my former hometown of Cherry, Minnesota. Apparently this isn’t the first time Dayton has helped pay medical expenses for people in need. Dayton may not have enjoyed his time in the Senate, but he…
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UPDATE: Minnesota moves up wind power rankings
Take a look at this post from Bluestem Prairie, citing a Rochester Bulletin story. Minnesota has moved into third place nationally for wind power generation. And that doesn’t include those lean 25 MW from Taconite Ridge on the Iron Range set to go online this year. Minnesota is windy, let’s make that work for us.…
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The future of small town media in 1,000 words
A really interesting comment about local newspaper websites crossed the blog yesterday morning. As you may know, the ACM family of newspapers on the Iron Range now require readers to sign up for a free account to use its newspapers’ websites. A MinnesotaBrown blog reader responded to the change in this way: What the hell…
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Over at MNBlue today…
I’m running errands this morning, but will be back with some newer material tonight. Meantime, check out my latest contributions at www.mnblue.com. They are rehashes of material I’ve posted here before about wind power on the Iron Range and the potential Republican challenger to U.S. Rep. Jim Oberstar. Sometimes the discussions take interesting turns with…
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Oberstar awaits nameless opponent in 2008
U.S. Rep Jim Oberstar (D-MN8) is the longest serving member of Congress from Minnesota. He’s a socially conservative, economically liberal DFLer in a socially conservative, economically liberal district that is the size of a New England state and where campaign news is still most widely spread by word of mouth. He’s an Iron Ranger in…
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Minnesota bonding bill: "Deal or No Deal?"
The Minnesota House and Senate conference committee released its bonding bill list today and there’s some good news for northern Minnesota. Among other smaller projects across the Iron Range, Itasca County would receive $28 million for infrastructure for Essar’s proposed Minnesota Steel plant near Nashwauk. That’s not nearly the amount required to build the pipeline,…
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Ventura U.S. Senate speculation
Jesse Ventura is toying with the idea of running for the U.S. Senate in his native Minnesota against incumbent Republican Sen. Norm Coleman and his top challenger Al Franken. On one hand this is more plausible than the presidential campaign rumors we heard last week, but on the other I can’t help but think this…
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Genes at the ballot box
Read how one British scientist believes that political ideology might be at least part genetic. This means that I need to start making plans with my family for what might be a long, slow descent into Libertarianism and gun hording. The only known treatment is whiskey, which yields sketchy results. Related posts: No related posts.