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Magnetation warns union of plant shutdown in 2016
Today, Magnetation announced it has warned its union that it will likely shut down one of its Iron Range iron concentrate plants on or after Jan. 31, 2016. Fifty More than 160 employees could be laid off or otherwise affected for longer than six months. Magnetation, based in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, is a scram mining operation on the…
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FARGO REVIEW: Episode 6, ‘Rhinoceros’
The sixth episode of “Fargo” Season 2, entitled “Rhinoceros,” aired last night on FX. What follows is a Minnesota-centric review that contains spoilers. This year, “Fargo” takes us to Southwestern Minnesota in 1979, the same year I was born on the other side of the state. A small town family crime syndicate based in Fargo is…
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Cliffs will idle another Iron Range mine through March
This morning Cliffs Natural Resources announced that beginning on Dec. 1 it would idle Northshore Mining in Babbitt and Silver Bay at least through March of 2016. Cliffs also announced that already-idled United Taconite in Eveleth would remain shut down at least that long as well. Company leaders say the shutdown will end when market conditions…
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See author of historic Range cookbook in Hibbing, Chisholm
You might recall my review of the wonderful new Iron Range-themed cookbook “Come, You Taste” by B.J. Carpenter. I thought the book was a fantastic cultural artifact, historical document and functional cookbook. My wife Christina Brown recently reviewed the book for her site, the Northern Cheapskate, and actually made one of the recipes! (PS: Yum!) Carpenter…
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Stop it. Dot com. Dot … html.
Remember that cantankerous “60 Minutes” commentator Andy Rooney? Or the old Chicago metro columnist Mike Royko? Even the Duluth News Tribune had Jim Heffernan. They each had an opinion about everything. As a young writer I admired them more than would be considered normal. I remember one of them, Heffernan I think, wrote something about…
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Miss the barn show? Tune in Sunday
LISTEN NOW to the Larson’s Barn show. Last weekend, I hosted another edition of the Great Northern Radio Show on Northern Community Radio. This one aired live from Larson’s Barn outside McGregor, Minnesota. It was our 17th show and marked four full years doing these hyper-local variety programs from small towns and off-the-beaten-path places around the…
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Hunting drama ‘Cold November’ gets its deer
You might remember a couple Sundays ago I wrote about Hibbing native Karl Jacob, a Minneapolis-based actor and director, who was back on the Iron Range filming a new coming-of-age movie about deer hunting. “Cold November” tells the story of a girl struggle with the elements and the emotions of growing up, set amid what Jacob considers to be one…
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Iron Range mines could see boost from Brazilian disaster
An awful mine disaster in South America is now cited as spurring a recent turnaround for Cliffs Natural Resources and possibly other mining companies with interests on Minnesota’s Iron Range. On Nov. 5, a tailings dam burst at the Samarco Mine in Brazil, flooding nearby villages. Six people — including miners and local residents — were killed with another 22 missing,…
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PolyMet EIS done, but project still faces hurdles
Last week the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources released the final Environmental Impact Statement for PolyMet, an important step in the company’s goal to open a new copper-nickel mine near Hoyt Lakes on the eastern Mesabi Iron Range. A milestone, yes, but certainly not the end of the story. Marshall Helmberger’s Timberjay offers a pretty good explanation…
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FARGO REVIEW: Episode 5, ‘Gift of the Magi’
The fifth episode of “Fargo” Season 2, entitled “Gift of the Magi,” aired last night on FX. What follows is a Minnesota-centric review that contains spoilers. This year, “Fargo” takes us to Southwestern Minnesota in 1979, the same year I was born on the other side of the state. A small town family crime syndicate…
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Essar Steel Algoma files for protection from creditors
Essar Steel Algoma — sister company to Essar Steel Minnesota in Nashwauk — announced it would file for bankruptcy creditor protection in Canada and the United States today. The steel mill is located in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, and is part of Essar’s plans to use pellets made at the taconite plant under construction now on the…
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Ya, I guess I do have an accent then
Folks, it’s been brought to my attention that I have a Minnesota accent. It’s true. I didn’t believe it either. But last month I toured with a Swedish journalist researching mining in Northern Minnesota. In English better than most of my relatives, he concluded by saying he just had to ask me about my accent.…
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Come on down to the big barn show!
This Saturday, Nov. 7, I will join a dedicated group of radio professionals, musicians and barn enthusiasts to do another edition of our critically-acclaimed Great Northern Radio Show. This time we’re broadcasting live from a barn, specifically Larson’s Barn near McGregor in rural Aitkin County, Minnesota. We’ll have the Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank, a great…
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PolyMet EIS to be released today
Today at 12:30 p.m., the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources will release its final 3,000-page Environmental Impact Statement for the controversial PolyMet copper nickel mine in Hoyt Lakes on the eastern Mesabi Iron Range. I expect the document will be posted here, at the project site on the DNR website. Dropping a document of this…
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Political theater ensures people keep ‘driving through’ Range
It’s been a busy week and will be a busy weekend, so I can’t get too wound up about highway politics on the Mesabi Iron Range. After all, I’ve probably said enough in recent months about State Highway 53 and St. Louis County Highway 5, both of which are on the move to accommodate mining…