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Replanting the seeds of public education
The tradition of Iron Range public education excellence once required no explanation. Most local kids attended grand, palatial high schools with theaters, pools, cutting-edge science labs and vocational training facilities. Range superintendents recruited the best college education graduates in the state to teach the sons and daughters of miners. The children learned about boundless opportunities…
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Hate and hope on the Iron Range
A century ago, Iron Rangers cheered, fretted and fought the rise of the Ku Klux Klan across the Mesabi. The hate and hope of this time remain with us today. Word of the Klan arrived much earlier. A hit movie, “The Birth of a Nation,’ played in Duluth and Iron Range theaters in 1915 and…
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The last days of the Republic
People use the word “nostalgia” to describe fond remembrances of the past. But that’s not the real meaning. Nostalgia comes from the Greek words nóstos álgos, or “pain of homecoming,” or perhaps “pain from an old wound.” It referred to the specific psychological aching that comes from remembering something that is gone. We feel nostalgia…
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Quiet craftsman builds things to last; so can we
Sad fact is, most of the expensive junk we buy won’t last any longer than us. My wallet is wearing out. I could use a new cell phone. In just the past few years, I’ve dumped an entertainment center, television and propane grill at the county waste station — each a valuable item in its…
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Recent tests improve odds of big helium stake near Babbitt
In the early days of iron exploration on the Mesabi Range, the thrill of discovery was dampened somewhat by the slow process of assaying what they found. It’s a little like how we once had to wait for film to develop to see how pictures turned out. The Merritt Brothers’ carried around inspiration for years…
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Our housing crisis is a very, very fine mess
Get a job. Start a family. Buy a house. For many — even most — these simple-sounding goals become our life’s work. But jobs, families and housing have all changed significantly in recent years. It’s important to recognize those changes as we collectively seek “the pursuit of happiness” promised in the U.S. Constitution. Employment data…
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‘The Wild Mississippi’ starts close to home
“But I never saw the good side of a city, ‘til I hitched a ride on a river boat queen.” “Proud Mary,” by John Fogerty John Fogerty wrote “Proud Mary,” arguably the definitive song about the Mississippi River, for Creedence Clearwater Revival. But Fogerty isn’t from anywhere near the river. Rather, he was born and…
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An emergency deferred
The 2024 session of the Minnesota Legislature provided all the overwrought drama and political resentments we’ve come to expect, but lawmakers managed to do one thing right. A new law passed with bipartisan support provides $24 million in short term emergency aid for rural emergency medical service (EMS) providers. The measure also funds an experimental…
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Heart du coeur del corazón
Years ago, my wife and I experienced magical moments when we heard our babies’ heartbeats for the first time in the ultrasound room. Even though a flickering pulse sounds like an old dishwasher through a walkie-talkie, we were moved by the hopeful cadence of new life. However, when I sat in the same room almost…
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The West rises on the Mesabi Range
A flurry of new exploration and extraction could shape the next few decades of iron mining on the Mesabi Range. The exact outcome, however, seems as uncertain as a “Choose Your Own Adventure” book. Local communities should read closely before turning the page. The general public just learned that the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources…
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An ode to Pops
If you’re in your 40s and still have grandparents, you’re pretty lucky. I certainly am. In a couple days my grandfather turns 90, one of those big, round impossible numbers you hear about sometimes. Nonagenarians sometimes dole out advice, such as following a strict regimen of diet and exercise, avoiding all vices. But that certainly…
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Hopeful future combines STEM and humanities
Have you talked to a teenager lately? I see teenagers at work and home, so I talk to them plenty. It seems harder to choose a path in life than I remember at the same age. For one thing, careers have changed. Automation and new technology created enormous specialization across the economy these last 20…
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Mixed Blood theater spotlights Iron Range culture
Sometimes I hear folks here say they don’t have a culture. Other people have cultures — people on TV, people from someplace else. But us? We’re just … regular. Iron Range history demonstrates that a collision of many cultures produced a local culture so unique we share a distinct dialect studied by linguists. Outsiders talk…
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Solar winds of change in U.S. industrial policy
Tell me if you’ve heard this one before. China invests untold billions into an industry before selling the product overseas at less than cost. That lets China capture global markets while driving competition out of business. You might think I’m talking about iron and steel, but today I’m talking about technology and renewable energy, fast-growing…
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Only local birds
I live on a quiet little hill above a swamp at the end of a long dirt road in the woods. The nearest stoplight stands some 27 miles away. Out here, it’s easy to feel lonely. Or at least it seemed that way when we moved from town almost 20 years ago. Time, however, revealed…