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An uncomfortable truth about Iron Range’s mining woes
Here on the Iron Range one cannot escape the talk of impending layoffs at area iron mines. You also can’t mistake who company officials and unions alike blame for this situation: foreign steel dumping. “Dumping” means foreign companies, sometimes as extensions of foreign governments, sell steel for less than it costs to produce, just to move it off their shores. Usually their…
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Ma Peep and the way things are
“It ain’t easy being no Peep,” she said. She puffed a jelly bean flavored e-cigaratte on the porch of the large cardboard box her family has lived in since last March. “Things come harder for me, fo’ sho. I went up the doctor’s office, nurse says to me ‘I need a vein.’ I says I…
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‘Bells across the land’ in Minnesota
On April 9, Americans will mark 150 years since the surrender of Confederate sources to the Union Army in the American Civil War. The divisions that caused the Civil War — primarily slavery and attitudes about the role of government — existed for hundreds of years before the war, and continue in some form today.…
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Dry spring jacks up fire danger in Northern Minnesota
It’s been an unseasonably dry spring so far in Northern Minnesota, so much so that yesterday’s high winds generated a tinder box of wildfires across the region. None grew out of control, but forestry people I know were hopping between at least a dozen small fires just in the immediate region. The temperatures fell quite…
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Saturday’s Bemijigamaag Powwow in Bemidji welcomes all
The city of Bemidji, the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwa, Red Lake Band of Ojibwa and White Earth Ojibwa Nation, along with Northern Community Radio, KOJB-The Eagle and a host of sponsors, will join to host the Bemijigamaag Powwow this Saturday, April 4, at Bemidji’s Sanford Center. The event is free and open to all.…
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Poetry in motion: KAXE/KBXE to host third annual Beat Cafe
Every weekday morning, my local public radio station shares a poem recorded by a Minnesota poet in a program called “The Beat.” I must admit, I run hot and cold on these poetry segments. I’ve heard poems that have shook me to my core, but most poems bother me. They irritate. Aggravate. Infuriate. Provoke scorn…
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Ely, MN, bans drones, effective April 1
It’s April 1, which means Ely, Minnesota, is up to its annual shenanigans: Find out more about Ely’s campaign to ban drones. Related posts: No related posts.
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KUMD ‘NorthFest’ welcomes April in style
The independent public station 103.3 FM KUMD in Duluth will launch its first ever “NorthFest” on Wednesday, April 1 with live music all day on the campus of the University of Minnesota at Duluth. The lineup features excellent representatives of the growing Duluth music scene, including several past (and future?) guests of my Great Northern…
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MinnTac to lay off 700 in taconite slowdown
UPDATE (4/1/15): Minnesota Public Radio reports on the conditions in Iron Range taconite mining. I was on the midmorning MPR News program yesterday talking about the situation. (3/31/15) — This morning, U.S. Steel announced 700 impending layoffs at MinnTac, the Iron Range’s largest taconite plant. U.S. Steel had already announced the idling of its Keewatin Taconite property…
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Late night wars go international
Yesterday, Comedy Central surprised nearly everyone by announcing Trevor Noah as the next host of its flagship “The Daily Show,” succeeding the accomplished Jon Stewart. Noah is a Daily Show correspondent, but had only filed three pieces before the announcement. He’s no rookie though, having extensively toured the world as a stand-up comedian and hosted his own news comedy…
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A close look at Essar construction
Yesterday, Dan Kraker of Minnesota Public Radio filed a report about Essar Minnesota, the new taconite plant under construction near Nashwauk, Minnesota, on the Mesabi Iron Range. In essence, the long awaited project — funded in part by massive state and regional investments — has reached the critical mass needed to see completion (as soon…
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Then came the donuts
The Duluth News Tribune reports that a Central Entrance liquor store is being demolished right now to make way for the city’s first Dunkin’ Donuts franchise. This event is replete with the symbolism of the end of a business that supports active alcoholics and the beginning of a business that supports recovering alcoholics. Will Dunkin’ Donuts complete…
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Stunning video shows new Hwy 53 route
If completed as planned, the Highway 53 relocation project on Northern Minnesota’s Iron Range will be the region’s biggest transportation project for a generation or more. We’ve discussed the project’s pros and cons, its route and how it will affect communities here at MinnesotaBrown, but do we really understand what it will look like? Aerial…
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Chaos Theory reigns in global iron ore war
I must admit, somewhat sheepishly, that I first learned about the mathematical concept of Chaos Theory not from exhaustive graduate study, but from Jeff Goldblum in the movie “Jurassic Park.” To quote his character, the wry Dr. Ian Malcam, always quick with a cynical retort amid encroaching dinosaurs, “A butterfly can flap it’s wings in…
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‘Global highway’ would reach Minnesota
The head of Russia’s railway system revealed an extraordinary plan this week that may one day involve the state of Minnesota. Vladimir Yakunin, a high ranking member of Vladimir Putin’s cabinet and widely seen as a potential successor to the Russian leader, is proposing a global highway that would start in London and traverse Europe and all…