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Pardon me, my blog is showing
This is my weekly column for the Sunday, Feb. 24, Hibbing Daily Tribune. I keep an archive of my columns at my homepage. Stay tuned for my book about modern life on the Iron Range due out next fall. Pardon me, my blog is showingBy Aaron J. Brown 02/22/08 09:44 a.m.This column is about blogs.…
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Angry Serbs
If you missed it, Kosovo seceded from Serbia this week and the U.S. recognized Kosovo’s independence. Serbia doesn’t like this. The BBC reported the following: Several hundred protesters have attacked the US and other embassies in Serbia’s capital in anger at Western support for Kosovo’s independence. Protesters broke into the US compound in Belgrade and…
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Political tidbits
I was swamped yesterday and we’re saying a lot of prayers for my grandmother who is in the hospital in very serious condition. Anyway, I didn’t get to some interesting tidbits I found over at www.mnblue.com, a progressive political blog of which I am a contributor. As the MNBlue’s “token Iron Ranger,” I had to…
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The world of water cooler politics is flat, too
President Bush recently visited Tanzania, one of the few nations in the world where he enjoys an approval rating above 50 percent. Despite Bush’s relative popularity, questions about Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign to become Bush’s successor dominated the visit, according to a Sheryl Gay Stolberg story from last Sunday’s New York Times. Outside of town,…
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Kudos, but thanks/no thanks, to Range cloth diaper company
A couple from Britt (part of the wooded wonderland just north of the Mesabi iron formation) is making a name for themselves as owners of an online cloth diaper company. Read the story in today’s Duluth News-Tribune. Since my house is full of babies, the story stood out to me. Good for them. We opted…
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DNT: Locals, ‘outsiders’ equally to blame for Duluth crime
The Duluth News-Tribune is running a fascinating series on the social impact of “outsiders” in Duluth. Talk to most Duluth folks (or Range folks, for that matter) and they’ll tell you that those darn “outsiders” cause most of the problems (crime, drugs, welfare fraud, etc.) in their area. The DNT did some investigative reporting and…
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Franken questions coal gas plant in the Bemidji Pioneer
Al Franken, DFL U.S. Senate candidate from Minnesota, gave an interesting interview to the Bemidji Pioneer. (No, Bemidji is not on the Iron Range but many of our people go to college and drink a lot of beer there, so it is a city of note). Essentially, Franken was stressing his support of basic northern…
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Range mining: another perspective
Mining. The Range. Sounds familiar, right? A friend sent me some links about mining on the western range that put a new perspective on some of the mining stories we report so often here on Minnesota’s Iron Range. These are stories from the High Country News about some of the tough economic choices that need…
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How to date an Iron Ranger
This is my Hibbing Daily Tribune column for Sunday, Feb. 17. A version also ran as a radio essay on 91.7 KAXE Saturday, Feb. 16. We’ve passed Valentine’s Day, which means by now your mate has settled back into his or her comfortable ambivalence toward you and your relationship. Sorry about that. I’m sure the…
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Bonding bill nothing to snooze over
The chatter I keep hearing from folks who attend lots of under-reported public meetings is that the $67 million bonding request to fund infrastructure for the Minnesota Steel plant near Nashwauk is vital to the project’s viability. In quiet rail authority and city meetings, company representatives and city officials communicating with them say that the…
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Obama and the Iron Range
This post is shared with my friends at www.mnblue.com, a progressive Minnesota political blog. I’ve heard that some Range leaders are nervous that Sen. Barack Obama’s underperformance in central Range precincts like Hibbing and Chisholm despite his massive statewide win in the caucuses. (Sen. Hillary Clinton carried those core Range towns about 60/40; Obama carried…
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Coleman KAXE interview reveals northern strategy, foretells battle over coal gas boondoggle
U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman gave an interview to Scott Hall on the KAXE morning show today in which he covered a broad range of issues. KAXE is a unique and popular independent public radio station serving most of northern Minnesota. The most interesting details came near the end after Scott asked his final question, and…
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250 MW of clean energy coming downstream
Maybe some folks think I’m out to choke out the upper Midwest’s power supply after last week’s column in which I once again criticize the Mesaba Energy Project, that boondoggle coal gas power plant pushed by lobbyists here on the Iron Range. Not so, my business friends. In fact, my arguments fall squarely in line…
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Pawlenty’s (literally) bumpy road to the vice presidency
(This post might have been timely if I had actually finished it before my crazy Friday schedule. Hell, I’ll just post it now anyway). By now many have heard the frequent speculation over whether Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty will be John McCain’s running mate now that McCain has essentially secured the Republican nomination. McCain has…
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Health care tour comes to Hibbing today
State Rep. Carolyn Laine, an Iron Range native, will be in Hibbing today with other legislators to tout a bill for universal health care that she and others will be proposing this session. Those interested in the health care debate should check it out. I would go if it weren’t cross-scheduled with the dinnertime insanity…