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Enrollment decline poses new challenge to state colleges
Trying to read trends is difficult. You have to figure out what’s part of a normal cycle and what might be indicative of change. And then, if it is real change, you have to determine what’s causing the change. Is it inevitable or malleable? Are you causing it or is it something else? That’s the…
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IRRRB backs off plan for private trust
On Wednesday, the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board agreed with Commissioner Mark Phillips that plans to create a private trust for a large agency fund aren’t ready yet. The agency will take the idea back to the drawing board. I wrote about the challenges of balancing the public interest with politics just yesterday. John…
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Getting politics out of IRRRB? Not so easy
With another legislative session approaching, we see new attention paid to the ever changing Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board (IRRRB). The IRRRB now finds itself enveloped in the recently renamed Minnesota Department of Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation. Earlier this week, a southern Minnesota Republican raised concerns about the creation of a new trust…
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New model of journalism won’t happen on Facebook
Lately I’ve been contemplating the difference between how I felt about being on Facebook after signing up a decade ago and how I feel logging on now. It’s a world of difference. In a way, this change explains the reason Facebook is abandoning efforts to curate journalism, and why that probably won’t work either. Looking…
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Remembering Bill Ojala, radical conscience of the Iron Range
Bill Ojala, a former Iron Range legislator and later gadfly social justice activist, died last Saturday at the age of 92. John Lundy of the Duluth News Tribune penned a good obituary (“‘A true son of the Iron Range’: Lawyer, politician Bill Ojala dies at 92“) in yesterday’s paper. Ojala, descended from Finnish-American immigrants on…
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Thoughts on improved Minn. population trends
For the first time in 15 years, more people moved to Minnesota from other parts of the U.S. than moved away. Added to immigration and a positive birth rate, Minnesota’s population is growing. Trends here are better than among our Midwestern neighbors. That’s the good news. The bad news is that all of this is…
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Rural Broadband: An Oral History
If you get a chance, read “‘If it were easy it would have been done by now’: Why high-speed internet remains elusive for many in rural Minnesota” by Tim Gihring of MinnPost. It’s a good story about a topic we cover here at MinnesotaBrown, but it also includes an almost embarrassing amount of press for…
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Is our robot society ready to be human?
A 19-year-old Swedish miner sees new automation coming to the underground mine where he works. “In less than 10 years, he says, “this will then all be automated, but I’m not worried — there will always be other work tasks.” Another miner guides a haul truck through a winter-cold mine shaft. He’s sitting in a…
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A new year of Truth in 2018
A new year. A new truth. Every year I share the list of top words from the Global Language Monitor of Austin, Texas. This firm tracks worldwide use of the English language on the internet, looking for trends, useful cultural insight and changes in the language itself. Though I found this organization in the flood…
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Meanwhile in Minnesota, Ms. Smith Goes to Washington
Today, Gov. Mark Dayton appointed Lieutenant Governor Tina Flint Smith to fill the seat vacated by Sen. Al Franken until a special election next fall. Smith then announced she will run for the opportunity to complete Franken’s term, which expires two years later in 2020. Call it a cliche if you want, and one political…
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Go North for a Bold New Future
In “Why Millennials Should All Move to North Dakota,” Sean Braswell of Ozy.com dives into a recent analysis of economic opportunity around the U.S. He finds that seven of the top 20 states in the opportunity index may be found in the Great Plains. They include Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska and…
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Ben DeNucci elected to Itasca County board
Voters elected Nashwauk Mayor Ben DeNucci as the next District 5 Itasca County Commissioner in a special election held today, Tuesday, Dec. 12. DeNucci carried 959 votes, or 58 percent, while his opponent Lawrence Township Supervisor Casey Venema carried 691 voters, or just shy of 42 percent. This according to a late night press release…
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Itasca County special election coasts to Dec. 12
On Tuesday, Dec. 12, voters will finally cast their ballots in the Itasca County District 5 commissioner special election called more than half a year ago. The seat opened with the resignation of Commissioner Mark Mandich on June 21. County officials scheduled a special election an insane six months later, with a primary in October.…
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2018 becoming year of reckoning in Minnesota
Today, U.S. Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) is expected to resign amid numerous credible accusations of past inappropriate behavior with women. This according to a report by Minnesota Public Radio. I wrote about Franken in the context of the larger issue of sexual harassment and abuse of power in a Nov. 26 column. In full disclosure,…
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Dig Deep on political realignment
This month, the Northern Community Radio Podcast “Dig Deep” considered the topic of political realignment. The episodes aired on the radio last week. This program features conservative commentator Chuck Marohn and myself, the liberal commentator. The goal is not argument, however, but the open and honest exploration of new ways to understand and even solve…