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Range ‘Boom’ talk continues to intesify
The Duluth News-Tribune has another story of note today, one that asks the question “Is the Iron Range ready for all the change that will come if some of these major economic development projects come to fruition?” The full story is available here. Exciting times, for sure. My only qualm is that it seems officials…
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Duluth’s mayor-elect readies for change
Duluth will have a new mayor and city council this January. This is important to us Iron Rangers, partly because Duluth is an important part of the local economic equation but mostly because we are subjects of the Duluth media market and must sit through stories about Duluth ribbon cuttings and task forces to hear…
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Bill, the Big O and the Big Mo
This is the make or break weekend for the Iowa caucuses. We’re going to find out how big a help or liability Barack Obama’s “celebrity factor” is in winning over voters as Obama’s high-profile supporter Oprah Winfrey stumps for him. On one hand, it’s exciting and potentially groundbreaking political theatre … on the other it…
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Copper and nickel to become pennies, nickels in local economy?
Sorry for the headline. If you’ve ever had to write newspaper headlines you spend the rest of your life unable to lay off the puns. They’re like crack. Anyway, check this out: more mining news from today’s Duluth News-Tribune. Mining company expands Range copper, nickel deposits estimateDuluth News Tribune – 12/04/2007The size of a copper-nickel…
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Another ‘new’ mine in Iron Country
Steel Dynamics and Cleveland-Cliffs closed a land deal that will allow the Steel Dynamics iron nugget plant to begin construction on the East Range in the vicinity of the former LTV taconite plant. LTV’s demise in 2001 kicked off a mini-panic on the Iron Range that included other taconite plant shutdowns or closures and paved…
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Iron Rangers: a fickle weather lot
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Minnesota U.S. Senate race heats up on the Range
I see at MN Publius that State Sen. Tom Bakk (DFL-Cook) has endorsed attorney Mike Ciresi for Minnesota’s upcoming U.S. Senate race. The editors at MN Publius believe this may portend future Ciresi endorsements from other Range legislators. It might, but this situation is indicative of the overall woes of this Senate race. Incumbent Norm…
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A little idealism goes a long way
I don’t know how many people read this; 16 maybe? Anyway, I’m a political junkie and I’m just about OD’ed on coverage of next year’s presidential race. I could cite polls, electability estimates, and resumes, but I won’t. Just think about this: who could provide a spark of idealism in American citizens at a time…
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Local paper: ‘Mayday’ for Range schools
The headline might be a little overly dramatic, but here is a sign that in all of our economic “hopin’” on the Iron Range we still have big problems. Since it would take at least five years for the economic development projects everyone is talking about (Essar’s Minnesota Steel plant, PolyMet, etc.) to manifest as…
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Behold … THE FUTURE!
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Brown on the Air: "Feminism in the Stand"
My radio essay for KAXE’s “Between You and Me” is special for this week’s topic, “Women Who Hunt.” I’ve written about hunting in the past, including my family’s hunting traditions and the local cultural significance of hunting. This time I focus on how the media likes to beat the heck out of stories like, well,…
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Local publishing boom?
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Highway 63 Revisited
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High-Speed Rail: worthy goal for the Iron Range
My big goal in life is to participate in the modernization of the Iron Range. We’ve got a lot of work to do and I’ve often said that our current “economic development” funds should be spent on infrastructure and community enhancement rather than endless incentives for private companies. I’ve already written plenty about the need…
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Rukavina leads early balloting for U.S. Senate