-
Range mine strike averted
Cleveland Cliffs and the Steelworkers have announced a tentative labor agreement at Hibbing Taconite and United Taconite in Eveleth, averting a strike. UPDATE: Neglected to mention that Minorca settled … no mine strikes this year. Related posts: No related posts.
-
Range miners talk strike as negotiations heat up
With a strike vote authorized by Steelworkers at Arcelor Mittal’s Minorca mine near Virginia, Minn., we now learn that Cleveland Cliffs is negotiating with Steelworkers over soon-to-expire contracts at that company’s Hibbing Taconite and United Taconite (Eveleth) mines. The big sticking point is health care. That problem will never go away until the system is…
-
As the rail authority turns …
The Itasca County Regional Rail Authority held a special meeting Tuesday. At stake, the future of a $1.6 billion project that has stood as the golden economic hope of the Iron Range people. Like I said, the Range often operates like the South in that vital decisions are made at the most obscure of public…
-
The Big Picture on Rural Broadband
I just came across a great interview on a blog called “Another Signpost on the Information Superhighway.” The blogger, identified as “bfpower,” in a post called “The Rural Broadband Crisis” prints a transcript of an interview with Frank Odasz of Lone Eagle consulting, someone identified as an expert in rural broadband. I strongly encourage you…
-
Fresh Start
It’s day one of a new school year. One of the nice things about working in education is that you have a natural flow to your year and every year brings a new beginning. Today is just such a new start. I’ve got a fresh pack of pens and a clean grade book, ready to…
-
Bloomberg profiles PolyMet
Bloomberg has a story about the global mining picture that includes PolyMet’s operations on the Iron Range. Updating an older post, PolyMet’s Environmental Impact Statement is on hold until September, according to the state DNR. Related posts: No related posts.
-
Excelsior dealt serious blow at PUC
Excelsior Energy’s boondoggle Mesaba Energy Project — a proposed coal gas power plant that exists solely through lobbyist will and legislative fiat — was dealt a serious blow today at the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission. Commissioners shot down almost all of what Excelsior needed to move forward. The project’s backers will attempt a more positive…
-
An empire or a beacon?
The Russia/Georgia situation is looking grim. It begs the question, how much can saber-rattling ensure democracy across the world? The message our country has projected the last several years has been “be democratic or we’ll whoop you.” Now, that might work if we could actually whoop every nation on earth, including Russia and China. But…
-
Free Obama button via the missus
My wife, the Northern Cheapskate, is profiling a deal where you can get a free Obama button. Maybe you want an Obama button, but I’m pointing this out because it’s so very rare for my apolitical spouse to take a bold step like this. Her frugal mom readers tend to run a little more conservative.…
-
Wood power woes
Here’s another story from Wednesday’s Hibbing Daily Tribune that shows an unexpected problem with wood biomass as a source of electricity. The treetops used for power generation rely upon there being outside demand for the larger tree trunks below them. If there is no market for the lumber, the boilers get shut down as is…
-
Krugman’s take on universal health care
Paul Krugman offers a smart take on universal health care as an issue for this year’s election in today’s New York Times. He points out the merits of overhauling our health care delivery system but is wise to the many political barriers to ever doing so. This is an under-the-radar issue that could be used…
-
A year ago …
MinnPost has the story of the day: G.R. Anderson Jr.’s vivid story and analysis of the Minneapolis I-35 bridge collapse from a year ago today. Fine work retelling a terrible event. Related posts: No related posts.
-
Apparently it will take two random bridge collapse tragedies
This AP analysis shows that the nation has done little to improve highway infrastructure after last year’s bridge collapse in Minneapolis. But don’t they realize how much we’ve talked about the issue? Like, a lot. And that’s almost as good. Related posts: No related posts.
-
Extreme American Housing Sector Crisis
Perhaps not so ironically, one of the largest homes built by ABC’s “Extreme Home Makeover” faces foreclosure. The $450,000 home built by volunteer labor might just be a perfect symbol of America’s mortgage crisis. The show is premised around the idea that a ridiculously large new home will solve the problems of any family, anywhere.…
-
The Timmy Factor
Conventional wisdom has John McCain’s running mate list pared down to our Gov. Tim Pawlenty and former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney. Barack Obama is supposedly down to Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh, though Kaine has been getting most of the buzz in the…