Minnesota Brown

Minnesota Brown: Modern Life on the Iron Range

Category: Projects

  • This bill kills

    This bill kills

    A full description of the so-called “Big Beautiful Bill” remains a moving target. But if the version of the budget reconciliation deal being debated in the U.S. Senate on Monday afternoon is any indicator, it could be one of the most devastating bills for rural health care in a generation.  The health care system is…

  • When a broken system blocks rural patients from effective treatment

    When a broken system blocks rural patients from effective treatment

    The fourth in my series of columns about mental health issues in Minnesota is out now.  One of my biggest goals in this series was to convey that there is hope for those facing mental illness. There is widespread agreement that effective treatments exist for those suffering most forms of mental illness. The problem is…

  • Live from New York, it’s a new world of politics

    Live from New York, it’s a new world of politics

    What could a corn-fed Midwestern boy add to the glut of analysis about the New York City mayoral race?  Only this, that Zohran Mamdani’s upset win in Tuesday’s Democratic primary seems relevant to trends in modern American politics, including some upcoming races here in Minnesota. What’s happening is much bigger than tit-for-tat partisanship. Whether you…

  • But wait, it gets worse: barriers to modern civility

    But wait, it gets worse: barriers to modern civility

    I already wrote about civility in the aftermath of last week’s tragic murders and shootings in Minnesota. What more to say? How about how easy it is to say you’re against violent rhetoric while allowing it to go unchecked on your side of the street. Or how we have freedom to say just about anything,…

  • What’s a ‘golden share’? Let’s find out

    What’s a ‘golden share’? Let’s find out

    The successful merger of U.S. Steel with Nippon Steel of Japan will go down as one of the big business stories of the year. On Minnesota’s Mesabi Iron Range, the deal holds special meaning. It will bring in significant investment to aging taconite plants at Keewatin and Mountain Iron, but it’s hard to say what…

  • No sickness like soul-sickness

    No sickness like soul-sickness

    The news snuck up on me, which is funny now that I work for a large newspaper. It was Saturday and we had plans to attend a graduation party and pick up groceries afterward. I saw rumblings on social media about a shooting in Brooklyn Park, but in America there are shootings. You still make…

  • Floating an idea for airships in Minnesota

    Floating an idea for airships in Minnesota

      I can get very excited about new ideas, sometimes too excited. Well, be warned, my latest column drifts into this territory. Not all of the topics I’ve explored over the years panned out the way I hoped. In my early days writing editorials for the Hibbing Daily Tribune I went all in on high-speed…

  • To save a tree, we must first save the forest

    To save a tree, we must first save the forest

    The forest is a living organism. Maybe you’ve heard this kind of thing before, perhaps from a hippie or some cheesy environmental meme. I’m here to tell you that it’s true. When you live in a forest and pay attention, you see all the ways each plant or animal — even me! — blends into…

  • For small towns, the bill’s come due and the hard part lies ahead

    For small towns, the bill’s come due and the hard part lies ahead

      Sometimes it feels like life in a rural area is just one long string of budget cuts. It’s a perception thing, perhaps. Rural areas expanded services as their populations crested decades ago. Since then, the population has dropped and everything got more expensive. But this is a heck of a way to live; a…

  • Police should not be the front line of Minnesota’s mental health crisis

    Police should not be the front line of Minnesota’s mental health crisis

    A mental health crisis can take many forms. Often, it’s hard for witnesses to understand. Perhaps it manifests as an outburst, strange comments, non-communication, or frantic behavior. It can be frightening. That’s why law enforcement often ends up the first point of contact for people experiencing mental illness.  As I write in today’s column, it…

  • Nippon-US Steel deal will be transformative for Range, though risk remains

    Nippon-US Steel deal will be transformative for Range, though risk remains

    Last Friday, as Memorial Day weekend was just about to hit, President Donald Trump announced in his haphazard way that he supported a relabeled version of Nippon Steel’s proposal to buy U.S. Steel. U.S. Steel owns and operates the country’s largest iron ore mine at Minntac in Mountain Iron. It also runs Keewatin Taconite, where…

  • Sewing it all together

    Sewing it all together

    As I explain in my latest column, I’ve always had an unusual relationship with fabric stores. My mom dragged me to the Joann Fabrics stores in Virginia and Hibbing when I was a kid. The store in Virginia closed a few years ago, but my mom and my wife both continued to drag me to…

  • The ‘shrooms and smelt shall set us free

    The ‘shrooms and smelt shall set us free

    It’s hard to find peace in a culture war. It’s designed not only to divide us, but to perpetually push us apart like two north magnets. Today, I write that it takes something common to bring us together. In Minnesota we have the woods, the water, and each other. Last weekend, I picked mushrooms in…

  • A.I. already dominates the classroom, so now what?

    A.I. already dominates the classroom, so now what?

    It’s hard to say that artificial intelligence snuck up on us. People have been yammering about it for years. Most people I know have either generated A.I. content or mindlessly shared it on social media. It doesn’t matter if you don’t know what it is, it’s already in your house. And it’s the topic of…

  • Northern Minnesota fires highlights growing threat

    Northern Minnesota fires highlights growing threat

    I’ve written about wildfire before, but only in the context of fires somewhere else or fires in history. Now the fires are at our door. And that’s what I was worried about all along. Now I’m writing about wildfires in northern Minnesota. The Brimson fire complex, which includes the Jenkins Creek and Camp House fires,…