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Thanks … now the work continues
A belated thank you to all the people who have attended the KAXE Community Journalism Project blog sessions across the Iron Range. We held our third session in Virginia last night and a great group of people spurred a good discussion of community blogging. The work continues. Stay tuned for news about future sessions and…
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Turbine time!
From today’s Mesabi Daily News: Work is progressing rapidly on the Taconite Ridge Wind Turbine project in Mountain Iron. These towers are part of a ten tower project which will produce 25 megawatts of power and will be hooked into the Minnesota Power grid. When completed the towers will be about 315 tall. Photo by…
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Blog revolution needs more revolutionaries
UPDATE: We’re on! You can still register, but we have enough people to hold the session now and you can just show up if you want. If you’re interested, please register for Wednesday night’s free blogging seminar at in room C-156 at Mesabi Range Community and Technical College in Virginia. You can just show up…
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Internet changing the nature of news?
Here’s an interesting column from Swampland’s Michael Scherer on how the Internet has changed the ebb and flow of the national news media. Here is a basic shift that has occurred in the news business: Because of the Internet, you, the reader, no longer have to buy information in pre-fabricated packages like “newspapers.” You can…
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‘Round the dinner table on the Iron Range
I can’t stress enough the importance for Democrats to resolve the presidential race soon, before the convention, before June and preferably before Memorial Day. I write from the Iron Range, a place that gets little attention in political coverage ironically because of its reliably important role in Minnesota’s electoral makeup. The Range delivers 40 point…
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Final take on Clooney/Zellweger visit
I’ll let yesterday’s George Clooney/Renee Zellweger Duluth visit go after this, but here is the morning edition story from the Duluth News-Tribune. My new favorite detail: There were a few jabs in the news conference about the city’s size. Northland NewsCenter News Director Barbara Reyelts introduced herself as being from the city’s NBC and CBS…
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Fate of Iron Range school district hangs in the balance
Education remains one of the top political issues (and largest portion of the state budget) in Minnesota. But on the Iron Range, education takes on special importance. Here’s why: 1) As a blue-collar region with an immigrant history, quality public education has been the #1 priority for the Iron Range for about a century. It…
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Range power boondoggle, despite 80 percent backing from feds, remains likely to fail
I’ve written and blogged plenty about the Mesaba Energy Project (notably here, and most recently here). This boondoggle proposal is built on a foundation of lofty economic and environmental promises that can’t be fulfilled without a realignment of the universe. So I’ll just point out this interesting MPR story from last week that shows the…
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Clooney: "Brrr!"
UPDATE: The closing two graphs of the DNT wrap on the Clooney/Zellweger story seem kind of sad. After about 40 minutes, when the stars’ handlers declared the time for questions were over, Clooney overruled them and took a question from a Duluth woman in the center of the crowd behind the press. Joan Koski presented…
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Range town wants balls back
From today’s Mesabi Daily News, the new administration in Virginia, Minn., has revived the tradition of the annual “Mayor’s Ball,” a big formal dance that was abandoned by his predecessor. I’m sure this adult prom is a fun tradition and that it could raise money for charity (in this case, perhaps a bit too ironically,…
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Famous people almost here!
Certified famous people George Clooney and Renee Zellweger will be appearing in Duluth at the Lake Superior Railroad Museum soon. Their event (rally?) is scheduled for 11 a.m., with public “greeting” at 1 p.m. I’ll liveblog it using 19th century blog rules. In other words, I’ll find out later and tell you when I damn…
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Closing gender gap in Range leadership a worthy goal
This is my weekly column for the Sunday, March 23, 2008 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. My columns are archived at my writing page. Closing gender gap in Range leadership a worthy goalBy Aaron J. Brown Anyone familiar with the news these days knows that the issues of race and gender play a big…
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Ron Paul vandalism just catching on up north
I know the stereotype is that the Iron Range is behind the times when it comes to trends. These punks aren’t helping. Vandals deface Iron Range welcome signsBy Janna GoerdtDuluth News Tribune Four highly visible signs on the outskirts of Eveleth, Virginia, Gilbert and Mountain Iron were spray-painted with obscene political messages earlier this month.…
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Fire damages landmark Iron Range pizza joint
Perhaps not big news to everyone, but the original Sammy’s Pizza in Hibbing was damaged by fire yesterday. (Well, actually the original was in Keewatin before moving to a different location in Hibbing and then to this spot, but that’s just the sort of local local history tedium that you don’t need). The Hibbing Daily…
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Update: Clooney, Zellweger to interact with Northlanders
The Star Tribune reports on Monday’s George Clooney/Renee Zellweger visit to Duluth. We now learn that common folk without media passes can meet the famous people at 1 p.m. at the entrance to the Depot. We also learn that the pair’s movie, “Leatherheads,” based on the real 1920s pro football team in Duluth called the…