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Governor names Mark Phillips as IRRRB commissioner
Today, Gov. Mark Dayton is expected to name Mark Phillips as the next Commissioner of the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board (IRRRB). Phillips, an Eveleth native, served as Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development in Dayton’s first term, resigning in October 2012. He has worked in the private sector as a business…
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The intrigue, impact & warning of lower gas prices
I live in the woods of Northern Minnesota’s western Mesabi Iron Range, 27 miles from the town where my kids go to school and 27 miles from the town where I work. That was a choice. We live on old family land. Nevertheless, public transit is not available and the cost of gasoline is a significant part…
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LIVE: Gov. Mark Dayton, constitutional officers sworn in today
Today at noon, Gov. Mark Dayton, Lt. Gov.-elect Tina Smith, Secretary of State-elect Steve Simon, State Auditor Rebecca Otto and Attorney General Lori Swanson will all be sworn in. The Uptake is providing live coverage, followed by an archived link if you care to see the ceremonies and remarks: As an interesting aside, Lori Sturdevant…
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Hibbing ‘New Year Baby’ descendent of Hatfield-McCoy feud
To prove the world is a small, strange place, the first baby born at the Fairview Range Medical Center in Hibbing in 2015 is the ninth generation descendent of a world-famous family feud from the Appalachian region of Kentucky and West Virginia. Kelly Grinsteinner of the Hibbing Daily Tribune reported the story last weekend. Conner Hatfield…
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The Iron Range’s Highway 53 paradox
It’s rare to see an issue unify people of different political persuasions, but perhaps even rarer for the reason to be abject bafflement. So it goes for the not-so-small matter of the Highway 53 relocation project on Minnesota’s Mesabi Iron Range. As we learned late in 2014, the state department of transportation has selected a preferred…
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An obituary reminds of the power of Jensen v. Eveleth Mines
The New York Times ran an obituary this week for a Minnesota native and successful lawyer. Though this attorney had won many cases securing equality, fairness and non-discrimination in the workplace, the Times spent most of its time describing just one: the class action suit brought by a miner, Lois Jensen, on behalf of her…
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New Iron Range plant produces ore ahead of schedule
Fans of “Star Wars” might appreciate this reference: The scram mining and iron producer Magnetation announced on New Year’s Eve that its Plant 4 production facility is quite operational. Just like the Death Star in “Return of the Jedi,” the ongoing completion of construction wouldn’t deter the timely execution of the company’s strategy in 2015. A strained metaphor perhaps (Magnetation…
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MinnesotaBrown’s Top Posts for 2014
Another year of posts are stacked in the virtual silo of the MinnesotaBrown.com electronic archives. The fact that few people ever read the archives when they visit a website is a sad reality of our modern information age. Much to know, little to remember. As such, today I remember the year that was, the posts you liked, the…
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I’ve decoded mystery of Duluth Tall Ships 2016 ‘surprise’
Last week, organizers announced that the enormously popular Tall Ships festival will return to the Port of Duluth, Minnesota in the summer of 2016. In teasing the event, promoters said there would be some kind of “special surprise” as part of Tall Ships 2016. My thought at the time was that this must be some kind of…
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These fancy tent people seem to be getting attention
A classically brisk Northern Minnesota winter finally set in this week. After an abnormally warm December, I might have been among a minority glad to feel the sharp chill of extreme cold when I walked out the door last night. Then again, easy for me to say; I don’t live in a tent. Minnesota Public…
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Duluth named among top U.S. cities for finding a job
According to the job search and recruiting site Zip Recruiter, Duluth, Minnesota, is the #2 city in the nation for finding a job. From the post: A 4.3 unemployment rate and a rock-solid healthcare sector with roots in the two regional medical centers in the city, Duluth has rebounded from a post-industrial crash to become a job…
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Half and half; Minnesota’s greater metro divide
I think I’ll enjoy reading the work of new Pioneer Press reporter and veteran political data journalist Derek Montgomery. Today he’s up with a blog post showing the urban-rural divide in Minnesota. Simply put, he generated a graphic displaying population split using State Senate districts. What’s striking about this exercise is that the divide here is roughly half…
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Districts seek more production from school trust land
If you ever get tired of trying to figure out how the IRRRB works, another unique foible of Minnesota’s relationship with iron mining is the state school trust fund. About 2.5 million acres of land, primarily in Northern Minnesota, are set aside to raise funds for school districts throughout the state. Some of this land…
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Essar seeks legislation to avoid paying back public funds
Last week, Northern Minnesota media sources, with help from new lobbying activity by Essar Steel Minnesota, finally connected the dots that this proposed new Iron Range taconite mine would really, truly not build a steel mill with its project as originally planned. As such, Essar is due to run afoul of the agreement that brought $67 million in…
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Hibbing’s Dylan Days committee disbands
I bring some long awaited, sadly official news tonight. Dylan Days, the arts and literary event held every May in Bob Dylan’s hometown of Hibbing, Minnesota, will be going on indefinite hiatus. The three-member steering committee (of which I was a founding member) voted to disband this fall. In the time since we’ve been working…