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Essar ramps up Nashwauk construction
Construction is accelerating at the long awaited $1.9 billion Essar iron mine near Nashwauk, while Essar now says it’s optimistic about producing direct reduced iron products here. In a tour of the site on May 21 with Mitch Brunfelt, Essar’s assistant general counsel and director of government and public relations, I took pictures and observed…
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Duluth wraps up Dylan Fest, starts new era
Bob Dylan’s birthday of May 24 passed me by this weekend with little fanfare. In years past as organizer for Dylan Days in Dylan’s hometown of Hibbing, Minnesota, I’d spend that day with Dylan fans from all over the world. This year, we had made the tough decision to let the event go in our…
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U.S. Steel responds to Keewatin Taconite rumors
UPDATE: U.S. Steel spokesperson Courtney Boone just told me that the company did not fire 50 management workers at Keewatin Taconite today. My source was in error. Thus, I am retracting the post for now. The mine really is going into indefinite shutdown next week, however, with some staff staying on for scheduled maintenance projects until…
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Open Duluth mayor race now a contest
At long last, City Councilor Emily Larson has an opponent in the open 2015 Duluth mayor’s race. Chuck Horton, a boxing trainer and promotor, announced his campaign this week. Larson, a DFLer, would still considered a favorite against the more conservative Horton in the generally liberal city of Duluth. But Horton is (pun intended) a fighter. His…
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Hwy 53 funds fall victim to turbulent session
Among the many casualties of the rocky legislative session was primary funding for the relocation of Highway 53, the road that connects Northern Minnesota’s Iron Range to Duluth and the rest of the state. Now, local elected leaders and Department of Transportation officials say that unless Highway 53 funding is part of the anticipated special…
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Bob Dylan among Letterman’s last guests
I’m working on a column about David Letterman’s retirement from the Late Show this week. I wrote about Letterman and late night TV some back in April, but the reality of it is upon us. Wednesday will be Letterman’s last show and the guests haven’t been announced. But Tuesday’s show brings a big name with…
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IRRRB mulls $33 million 2016 budget
Even though the legislative session may go to the wire tonight at midnight, Iron Range lawmakers — who comprise the statutory Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board — will meet Tuesday morning in St. Paul to hash out the agency’s $33 million FY 2016 budget. “I am pleased that over half of the proposed budget…
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On shapes and letters, sound and fury
Today, the Minnesota’s legislative leaders and Gov. Mark Dayton remain in a standoff over education funding. GOP House Speaker and DFL Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk announced a comprehensive budget agreement in principle late last week, but they neglected to ensure that DFL Gov. Mark Dayton would sign the deal. That prospect is now in doubt. Dayton’s well-quoted…
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MN sulfate rule compromise treads water
While the economy will be the bigger story on the Iron Range this summer, we have a development in the ongoing saga of Minnesota’s wild rice sulfate standard and the industries and communities it affects. Earlier this spring, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency proposed adjusting the 10 mg per liter sulfate standard designed to preserve the…
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New NFL team in Duluth, Minnesota?
This week in deeply implausible ideas, a Proctor city councilor has announced he’s bringing a resolution to Monday night’s meeting launching a bid to attract an NFL franchise to the nearby Twin Ports of Duluth and Superior, Wisconsin. Proctor City Councilor Travis White is also bringing a resolution calling for the building of a stadium for this purpose. You can read…
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The emperor has no bandwidth
As I prepare to embark upon another summer of media production and online teaching from my rural Northern Minnesota home, my thoughts again turn to broadband. We already wrote about the blasé outcome for broadband projects in this year’s legislative session. Of course, the technology costs money — a sizable investment for private companies or government to build…
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Duluth Dylan Fest opens Sunday
My May schedule is a little different this year. For the first time in 14 years I’m not organizing a Bob Dylan-themed music, literature and arts event in the folk/rock legend’s Northern Minnesota hometown of Hibbing. We announced the reasons why we folded Dylan Days late last year, but the reality of it has arrived. Nevertheless,…
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NPR chuffs into the Island of Sodor’s philosophical vortex
It’s been a couple years since I’ve “visited” Sir Topham Hatt’s Island of Sodor and his many sentient machines, including most famously Thomas the Tank Engine. Our boys are older now. One boy practices archery. One boy plays video games. One boy draws dramatic, intricate scenes of human carnage and calls out at night, “Mom, I…
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The human connection lives on
I was moved to read this post by Minnesota blogger Aaron Rupar, previously of City Pages and Fox 9, but writing this for his personal site. His grandfather, George Raskovich of Nashwauk, died when he was a young boy, but he recently formed a connection with the man’s memory thanks to the writing of another Northern Minnesota writer…
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An economy stuck on ‘trudge’
According to Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development data from late 2014, for the first time in the 14-year history of this survey, there are more jobs available for residents of Northeastern Minnesota than there are people seeking jobs. That sounds pretty good, until you read the fine print. Last week, the Jobs Now Coalition…