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MN Caucuses: canary in U.S. political coal mine
This evening, Minnesotans head to their precinct caucuses to declare their preference for the next President of the United States. The Minnesota Caucuses begin at 7 p.m. I wrote about what to expect at your caucus in my Sunday column. (Also includes jokes). Meantime, 10 other states will hold primaries or caucuses today as part of Super…
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Obama OKs more enforcement to block steel dumping
Late last week, President Obama approved new measures to better enforce trade protections against illegal steel imports. The efforts would provide more funding to investigate allegations of steel dumping, or selling steel for less than it costs to make. The move comes amid some relief in steel pricing on the world market, a factor that…
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Biochemical firm craps out on Range project
When Segetis, a Golden Valley, Minnesota, biochemical firm first proposed a $105 million project near Hoyt Lakes, it stoked some badly needed hope for the Iron Range. The Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board approved a $21.5 million loan package with little opposition. Science! Smart people in lab coats would help save the local economy.…
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On new space in a bright, green place
Fundamentally, this blog is about place. One of the interesting things about place is how you can always zoom in to see how places are not uniform. Places can be divided into unique stories, times in history, people and plots of land. Now that I live in a rural section of eastern Itasca County, I have become…
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Lyric’s Range of Arts festival underway
Though the opening day was yesterday, it’s still worth noting that the Lyric Center for the Arts has kicked off its 13th Annual Range of Arts festival in Virginia, Minnesota. The Lyric Center for the Arts is a gallery and small stage on Chestnut Street in this Mesabi Iron Range town. It’s part of a…
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In union jacket, Bernie Sanders speaks in Hibbing
By Aaron J. Brown and Courtney Kerns / Photos by Wes Bailey and Courtney Kerns This morning Bernie Sanders brought his Democratic Presidential campaign to the historic Hibbing High School auditorium on the Mesabi Iron Range. Wearing a United Steelworkers jacket from Minntac Local 1938, the Vermont Senator took the same stage where a teenage Bob Dylan once played. Hibbing…
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Nolan staffer Tom Whiteside to run for 6A DFL nod
Today, former Rick Nolan staffer Tom Whiteside, 28, of Hibbing joined the growing field of DFL candidates for District 6A in the Minnesota House of Representatives. This central Iron Range seat will be open this year after Rep. Carly Melin (DFL-Hibbing) announced she would not seek re-election. “I am ready to serve and motivated to…
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Bernie Sanders to campaign on the Iron Range
Minnesota’s storied Mesabi Iron Range will host a major presidential candidate this Friday. Sen. Bernie Sanders plans a Feb. 26 morning rally at the Hibbing High School auditorium. See Sanders’ website for information. Doors open at 7:30. Minnesota’s presidential preference vote will take place at major party precinct caucuses next Tuesday, March 1. The Hibbing…
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On the Anzelc-Layman race in MN-5B
This week Republican Sandy Layman of Grand Rapids announced her candidacy for Minnesota House District 5B in Itasca and Cass counties. She will challenge incumbent State Rep. Tom Anzelc (DFL-Balsam Township), who last week announced his plans to seek a sixth term. Layman is the former commissioner of the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board…
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VIDEO: Obama vows to address steel dumping
UPDATE: U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan (D-MN8) has issued a statement saying that White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough has told him that a comprehensive plan to address steel dumping will be revealed over the next two weeks. UPDATE II: The Duluth News Tribune reports on Obama’s pledge to address steel dumping. Today, President Obama…
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UPDATE: Interesting races on St. Louis County board
St. Louis County is a huge swath of land in Northeastern Minnesota. The county includes the region’s largest city of Duluth, more than half of the Mesabi Iron Range, and much of the Boundary Waters Canoe Wilderness Area — along with miles and miles of woods, waters and small towns. Geographically St. Louis is the state’s largest…
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The mine bosses’ lament: ‘I owe, I owe’
Yesterday, my Hibbing Daily Tribune column detailed the persistently low prices for iron ore at the root of many of the Iron Range’s current woes. Today, I’m going to talk about debt. Supply and demand is one part of the economic picture for iron ore. Debt is what will probably determine the health of the companies who…
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IRRRB to discuss new projects, public works
Yesterday we previewed the new school proposal that the Mountain Iron-Buhl school district will make to the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board when it meets at 11 this morning. That’s pretty interesting on its own, but there are a number of other potentially controversial or politically intriguing items on today’s agenda. First, the board will…
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MI-B seeks collaboration funds for new school
Following legislative action in 2014, the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board created a school collaboration fund from local taconite production and occupation taxes. The broad goal was to encourage fiscally challenged Iron Range school districts to share resources, curriculum and staff, or even consolidate. But in practical, baldly political terms, this fund was created…
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On golden pond hockey
Tomorrow morning, the puck will drop at 8 for the first game of a new pond hockey tournament on McKinney Lake in the storied hockey town of Grand Rapids, Minnesota. The North Woods Pond Hockey Tournament is modeled after the famous U.S. Pond Hockey Championship held annually at Lake Nokomis in Minneapolis. The tournament begins at…