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FARGO REVIEW: Episode 4, ‘Fear and Trembling’
The fourth episode of “Fargo” Season 2, entitled “Fear and Trembling,” 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…
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Chisholm sets forum to talk about Hwy 5 reroute options
The city of Chisholm has called a Nov. 16 forum with people from neighboring towns and townships to discuss the rerouting of St. Louis County Highway 5 for mining expansion at Hibbing Taconite. In a post that inspired robust conversation in the comments section, we talked about the fact that Chisholm was questioning the county/mine…
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Emily Larson is Duluth’s next mayor
Emily Larson cruised to a victory in Tuesday’s election for Mayor of Duluth with more than 70 percent of the vote. With her defeat of Chuck Horton, she will become the first woman to lead the Zenith City of the Unsalted Seas. Voters selected Elissa Hanson and Noah Hobbs as the next at-large city councilors,…
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Naked parties expose awkward moment for Iron Range city
This morning the city public safety committee met in Virginia, Minnesota. On the agenda: naked parties. Specifically, what can be done about naked parties held in city limits? (Spoiler: It’s not clear). The issue stemmed from an awkward exchange at last week’s city council meeting. If you’re looking for a little light office cubicle viewing, by all means advance to 24:15…
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UPDATE: The growing pains of today’s Grand Rapids school vote
UPDATE (11 p.m.): The District 318 school referendum failed by more than 2,000 votes. Every precinct voted no. It was a crushing defeat that will send the school district back to the drawing board for its future plans. Here are the totals. My analysis is that the project was not fully formed enough to convince voters…
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Range native holds high hopes for ‘Cold November’
This week, hunters across Northern Minnesota will check sights, erect stands and procure truckloads of cheese curds and jerky before opening the rifle deer season next Saturday. Most hope for that perfect shot, the big trophy and a freezer full of venison, but that’s often not the most important detail. For some, it’s the first…
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IRRRB to discuss $26 million biochemical project in Mt. Iron
Friday, the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board will meet to discuss new projects and public works spending. A number of interesting items will be on the docket. Topping the list is a proposal to loan $18 million as part of a state and Iron Range package of $26 million to a company called Sweetwater Energy. Sweetwater is…
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Governor Dayton tours mines to inform his PolyMet decision
I’ve already expounded upon challenges facing the iron mining industry on the Mesabi today, but state political news is focusing on the much louder though more theoretical debate over nonferrous mining in Northeastern Minnesota. Well, that debate is finally starting to get real. Gov. Mark Dayton visited the Gilt Edge Mine in South Dakota yesterday and…
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Another highway debate shows power tilting toward mines
By now, most of you are pretty familiar with the massive Highway 53 project between Virginia and Eveleth on Northern Minnesota’s Mesabi Iron Range. That $240 million re-route of the Iron Range’s most important north-south highway will build two new bridges, included the state’s tallest, to accommodate a 1960s-era agreement with the mines to move the highway…
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Pro-Horton song warns of Duluth’s potholed heroinscape
We haven’t discussed the Duluth Mayor’s race in a while, partly because city council president Emily Larson is so widely expected to rout boxing trainer and drug counselor Chuck Horton next Tuesday. But Horton’s supporters aren’t letting up, as evidenced by the most jaw-dropping local political media I’ve experienced in a very long time: Behold,…
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FARGO REVIEW: Episode 3, ‘The Myth of Sisyphus’
The third episode of “Fargo” Season 2, entitled “The Myth of Sisyphus,” 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…
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Book serves Range food favorites to new generation
Every member of the Cherry High School band knew from Day 1 there would come a time where we would spend the entire night in the school cafeteria making pasties for the big annual fundraiser. It was as sure as the sunset or a freshman missing the high notes. When pasty night came, every kid…
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Great Northern ‘goin’ up the country’ for Nov. 7 barn show
The blog will be entering another “hot idle” for the same reason as last time. I’ve got a show to write. On Saturday, Nov. 7, my Great Northern Radio Show will broadcast live from Larson’s Barn outside McGregor, Minnesota. The show airs 5-7 p.m. on Northern Community Radio and its northern translators. To be clear, we…
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FARGO REVIEW: Episode 2, ‘Before the Law’
The second episode of “Fargo” Season 2, entitled “Before the Law,” 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…
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Don Ness, Teague Alexy take book tour to Iron Range
On Wednesday, Oct. 21, Duluth mayor Don Ness and musician Teague Alexy will bring their shared book tour across the Mesabi Iron Range. Ness’s book is “Hillsider: Snapshots of a Curious Political Journey,” a self-published creative memoir combining essays, stories and photographs by the popular outgoing mayor of the Zenith City. Alexy’s book is “The New Folklore:…