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The Mr. Spock/Wrath of Khan rule of politics
From my read of local, state and national politics, Mitt Romney has this exactly right: “Don’t ever get involved in politics if you require winning an election to pay your mortgage or if your kids are young — you don’t want money to shape your views, and you don’t want your kids’ heads turned by…
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COLUMN: ‘Peddler from the Range’ leaves great mark, complicated legacy
This is my Sunday column for the Dec. 4, 2011 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. On the same page of the newspaper my old neighbor from town days wrote a more detailed account of Paulucci’s history. ‘Peddler from the Range’ leaves great mark, complicated legacyBy Aaron J. Brown Early Thanksgiving 2011 Jeno Paulucci passed…
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IRRRB retools, hires Range mayor for development
Virginia, Minn., Mayor Steve Peterson, fresh off his re-election last week, has been hired by the IRRRB to fill a new position: Executive Director of Development. This position is part of Commissioner Tony Sertich’s reorganization of the unique Iron Range agency’s management structure. Gone is the position of Deputy Commissioner. Now we find this more…
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COLUMN: Don’t rest on divides; climb past them
This is my Sunday column for the Nov. 13, 2011 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. I’ll be discussing this and other Iron Range news, including mining project updates (hot hot!), on 91.7 KAXE’s Morning Show at 7:20 a.m. Monday. Listen live or pick up the archive later at www.kaxe.org. Don’t rest on divides; climb…
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Clark wins Steelworkers nod, Anderson talks hunting in MN-8
Two items of news from the growing din of the 2012 MN-8 race. First, Former St. Cloud-area State. Sen. Tarryl Clark received the backing of the Steelworkers yesterday. The Steelworkers represent Iron Range miners and some medical workers in the region. This is big news, as the Steelworkers are among the top organizers in DFL…
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NE Minn. elections preview exciting races ahead
A mild set of Tuesday elections nestled in amid a sea of voter apathy and general outrage, yielding only one lesson: the message matters Some school referenda passed, others failed. Statewide, 70 percent of all referenda passed — indicating some level of support for education amid state budget cuts. In Duluth, however, voters overwhelmingly defeated…
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MPR online forum tests MN-8 DFLers
The MPR online forum for Minnesota’s 8th Congressional District DFL candidates concluded earlier today. They’ve posted the feed of the questions and responses, which is worth a read. The question I submitted made the list. Reading the archived feed is a little like stumbling into a very polite Facebook battle a couple hours after the…
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MPR to host MN-8 online forum Tuesday
Minnesota Public Radio will host an online forum featuring the four DFL candidates for Minnesota’s Eighth Congressional District 11:30 a.m. Tuesday. Though Jeff Anderson, Tarryl Clark, Daniel Fanning and Rick Nolan have all appeared at many of the same events, I believe this will be the first event in which all four of them appeared…
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Virginia, Minn., hospital vote on tap Tuesday
Another big vote tomorrow will take place in Virginia, Minnesota, on the eastern Mesabi Iron Range. Voters there will decide whether to sell their municipal hospital system to a private health care company, most likely Essentia — the conglomerate that recently took over the St. Mary’s/Duluth Clinic system. Financial trouble for the Virginia Regional Medical…
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Upcoming Duluth election not too hard, not too soft
Working media in northern Minnesota means operating in the sphere of the Duluth TV market. Duluth, the largest northern Minnesota city, is the seat of the state’s largest geographic county, St. Louis. Politics in Duluth, though still dominated by the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, have nevertheless been contentious and sometimes hard to predict. That’s less true this…
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COLUMN: The lost causes are not lost forever
This is my Sunday column for the Nov. 6, 2011 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. It’s an expanded version of the “Mr. Smith” essay I shared yesterday on KAXE’s “Between You and Me.” The lost causes are not lost foreverBy Aaron J. Brown In 1939 Frank Capra directed Jimmy Stewart and Jean Arthur in…
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Brown on the Air: MOVIES!
This Saturday morning’s “Between You and Me” program on 91.7 KAXE explores the topic of movies with music, commentary and your calls. Guest hosts “Mom of Pop Culture” Julie Crabb and retired film professor Jack Nachbar will guide the discussion. My regular contribution explores what is still my favorite movie, “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.”…
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Anzelc’s IRRRB daylight idea fails, for now
The news roundup from yesterday’s IRRRB meeting includes some valuable observations. The Duluth News Tribune‘s Peter Passi reports separately on the cuts to the mining production tax rebate program, with money diverted to public works projects. Passi also reported on Rep. Tom Anzelc’s motion for IRRRB support of legislation he’s drafting to repeal a 2008…
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Range board trims mine tax rebate, rebuffs transparency plea
I’ve gleaned two bits of news from today’s Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board meeting. First, the iron mining production tax refund (money paid back to mines after taxes for capital projects) was cut in half amid the record mining profits of the last year. The money kept will be dedicated to public works projects…
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Forum, straw poll in Hibbing could shape MN-8 race
This past Saturday in Hibbing, Minn., as I was hosting a little radio show on one side of Highway 169 the 8th District DFL was holding a central committee meeting, fundraising dinner and the first scheduled Congressional Candidate forum across the street at the Park Hotel. Four candidates are vying for the DFL nomination to…