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Panama Canal expansion sails both ways
When President Theodore Roosevelt relentlessly advanced the digging of the Panama Canal more than 100 years ago they called him crazy. In the politics of the moment, it seemed like a long slog. Financial and political delays plagued the project. Workers died by the score, if not from malaria than from some other disease or…
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Iron Range Rep. Carly Melin won’t seek re-election
Today State Rep. Carly Melin (DFL-Hibbing) announced that she would not seek re-election to the House of Representatives. Her announcement was a surprise to many, but those in politics knew the challenges she faced in balancing her job as a lawyer in Hibbing with a young family and legislative service. Melin won a special election to…
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Laid-off miner sticks up for Range industry at SOTU
Iron Range Steelworker Dan Hill of Hibbing was the guest of Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) at President Obama’s final State of the Union address at the Capitol in Washington, D.C. Tuesday. Hill is currently laid off from his job as a millwright at United Taconite in Eveleth. Hill spend the entire day meeting with officials…
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Retailers reeling on East Range; Kmart to close
The Kmart store in the eastern Iron Range city of Virginia, Minnesota, will close in April, joining a host of other retailers in or near Virginia to close early this year. Kmart also closed stores in Superior, Wisconsin, and Ironwood, Michigan. The Mesabi Daily News reported last Sunday that the Hallmark store in the Thunderbird…
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Iron Range kids, Jillian Rae make music with robots
Stop me if you’ve heard this one. A roboticist, a trendy singing violin player and a bunch of kids walk into an Iron Range art gallery. No? OK, here goes. Troy Rogers is a composer, musical robot maker, and educator. He specializes in using robots to create unique musical and educational experiences. A Virginia, Minnesota, native of the…
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Bridge outage snarls Canada’s main highway
Over the weekend the Nipigon Bridge in Ontario heaved amid extreme cold and high winds, closing what is essentially the only road across part of Canada. For a time it seemed likely that the closure would route trans-Canada traffic through Northern Minnesota on Highway 2. Today, however, Canadian officials were able to open one lane…
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Iron Range lessons from Mars
Every time NASA beams down new pictures from Mars we are reminded how much this desolate planet resembles an Iron Range taconite mine. The red landscape. Pits like craters. Dumps like dunes. Yet, every time commodities prices tumble in topsy-turvy global trade we are also reminded that economic survival here can seem just as difficult…
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FLASH: Minnesota cold in winter, especially outside
Minnesota is cold in the winter. Minnesota is the coldest state in the Lower 48 United States. Alaska is colder, but far away. Minnesota has a football team called the “Vikings.” The Vikings are named for the Nordic ancestry of many people here. Vikings were Scandinavian pirates who lived in cold places. They spent years sailing on cold waters. Eventually…
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The hope and woes of Iron Range special session
Before Friday, chances for a special session to address expiring unemployment benefits for laid-off Iron Range miners seemed bleak. Today, state leaders express more optimism. Nevertheless, with the clock ticking, legislative leaders have very little time to plan before some Iron Range miners will lose their benefits. At issue is the fact that Minnesota’s legislative session…
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Former councilor Gardner to seek SD7 seat
Former Duluth city councilor Sharla Gardner announced this week she would seek the DFL endorsement for the Minnesota Senate District 7 seat being vacated by Sen. Roger Reinert (DFL-Duluth). Gardner left office just last week after not seeking re-election last year. Reinert announced he would not seek re-election last Sunday. Shortly afterward, State Rep. Erik Simonson,…
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Essar layoffs signal project hibernation
Around 3 o’clock Friday afternoon, the streets of Nashwauk were busier than usual, a dozen full sized pickups parked outside the town’s two bars, DeNucci’s and Wizards. The bars face each other at the last stop sign I see before heading past Essar Steel, north to my home in the woods of Itasca County on the western Iron Range. “That’s…
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Cold war bombs in the bogs of Northern MN
I came across a fascinating piece of Northern Minnesota history in this Doug Easthouse article “Bombing the Big Bog” in the Minnesota DNR publication, Minnesota Conservation Volunteer. Northern Minnesota gets a lot of attention for its timber and minerals, but it’s also home to many thousand of acres of rich peat bogs. Some of these…
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Emily Larson to be sworn in as Duluth mayor today
Today, Emily Larson will take the oath of office as the new mayor of Duluth, Minnesota. She becomes the first female mayor of this Great Lakes international port city and successor to popular outgoing mayor Don Ness. Here on the Iron Range I refer to this position as the “person we see disproportionately on the…
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Simonson tells supporters he plans Senate run
State Rep. Erik Simonson (DFL-Duluth) told supporters today in an e-mail that he plans to run for the State Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Roger Reinert. Reinert announced this morning he would not seek re-election. Simonson currently represents the 7B side of the district. This is the e-mail, which was forwarded to me: Friends, I…
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Oracle breaks winds of change in 2016
The gas burner spews a flame of blue, red, orange and yellow into the ghostly white sphere above. I’m trying to type on an old manual typewriter, no easy task on a hot flying monstrosity operated by a muskrat. “Gnnaaaaagh!” shouts the muskrat. Steamy breath in cold air, his jaunty captain’s hat adding authority to…