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‘Dirty Shirt’ a rough hewn yet moving tribute to BWCA, family
My Sunday column referenced a new book by Jim Landwehr called “Dirty Shirt: A Boundary Waters Memoir.” I figured I’d spend a little more time talking about that book today. Here’s what I said in “On Wilderness“: Landwehr, a St. Paul native now living in Wisconsin, writes about he and his family’s special relationship with…
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Legislative Auditor to investigate IRRRB
The Star Tribune reports that the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board agency will face a review by Minnesota’s Legislative Auditor after months of scrutiny by the state’s largest newspaper. The April 18 story seems to indicate that Legislative Auditor Jim Nobles would focus on a widely reported deal to help relocate a Democratic-leaning call…
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On wilderness
This week the ice retreated from the lake. Hard-blowing southern winds warmed the jackets off our backs before knocking over the driveway basketball hoop just hours after we set it up. Colorful birds, fresh off winging 2,000 miles, flitted through our old trees, considered the scene, moved on. When you live in the woods of…
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On fate and one last good deed
The city of Duluth is still shaken up by a deadly bus accident that occurred on Superior Street last Tuesday. The driver of one Duluth Transit Authority bus experienced a medical emergency which caused that bus to careen out of control on Superior Street, striking another DTA bus. One man was killed and nine were injured in the…
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Lindström is only the beginning
Lindström, Minnesota, made news this week, winding its way into the New York Times and Washington Post for one simple reason. It wanted its dots back. Specifically, the central Minnesota city wanted the umlaut that makes the distinct Swedish “ö” in the distinctly Swedish immigrant story of Lindström. When the Minnesota Department of Transportation put up the new…
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‘Vintage’ baseball on the Iron Range
Here’s the deal, see. They’re forming a ball club, see. Up at the Minnesota Discovery Center, see. Yeah, the old Ironworld. Yeah, by the Glen Location, see. Grow your best muttonchops and handlebar mustache, see. We’re getting the Orators back together. That’s right, the Chisholm Orators, terrors of the infield back when Silent Cal Coolidge was…
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KAXE/KBXE music event will spin you right round in Bemidji
This Saturday in Bemidji, Northern Community Radio will host its first-ever vinyl and CD music sale fundraiser in honor of National Record Store Day. This independent northern Minnesota public radio organization has been collecting donated LPs and CDs for the past month to sell as part of this live music event Brigid’s Pub in downtown Bemidji starting noon…
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Iron Range Earth Fest promises blend of heart and Sol
If you follow national and international news, it’s easy to see some underlying trends hovering just off the front pages. The cost of solar energy has gone way down in the last couple years, making it affordable and arguably a leading prospect for new energy production in the near future. Climate change continues to affect places all…
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McCollum bill seeks to protect BWCA from mining
As the mining industry readies its strategy for the next few years, those seeking environment protections in Northern Minnesota generated headlines this week as well. Yesterday, U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN), representing the St. Paul metro district, introduced legislation that would prevent mining in the same watershed as federal wildernesses like the Boundary Waters Canoe…
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Iron Range mines must modernize to survive
As the iron mining and steel industries gird for a hard year of low prices and intense international competition, iron mining executives and academics meet in Duluth this week for the Society of Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration (SME) Minnesota conference. WDIO reported on the Tuesday keynote by Don Fosnacht, director of the Center for Applied Research and…
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Tempest winds lean hard on a century
Today, April 14 or what’s left of it, is “Ruination Day.” Described fittingly by the Gillian Welch song, Ruination Day marks the date that President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated (1865), the date the Titanic struck an iceberg (1912) and the date a dust storm consumed much of the high plains amid the aptly named Dust Bowl (1935). Not coincidentally, it was…
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Ugly ship probably has a nice personality
Great news, everyone! The first ocean-going vessel, or “salty,” of the season was slated to arrive in the Lake Superior Port of Duluth today. The Maltese grain ship, the Kom, passed beneath the Aerial Lift Bridge and it was just … … stunning. Sure is … yellowish. I, uh, gotta check if I got my dip/tet…
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Are you hot, interesting and handy? Now is your time
A Colorado production company is developing a reality television program centered around a Minnesota couple that does lake home renovation and construction projects. Only one problem. They don’t have their couple yet. Maybe you know someone? “The ideal team will consist of a 25-45 year old, attractive and dynamic couple living in Minnesota who have…
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Eat the exercise, drink the burn
If exercise were a food or drink, I would want more of it. It makes me feel great. It helps me function better around other people. My clothes fit more comfortably and I have more energy. But I can’t eat exercise, nor can I chug it from a brown paper sack. So when the time…
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‘Rural agenda’ without broadband is rural sham
Yesterday the Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities and others jumped on a troubling aspect of the House GOP budget proposal. Speaker Kurt Daudt’s caucus proposes to essentially end the Border-to-Border Broadband Development Grant Program and eliminate the state Office of Broadband Development. This, even as universal broadband is now widely embraced by Democrats and Republicans alike as…