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Journey to the Center of the Sax-Zim Bog
Like a gnarled oak, the world below the Iron Range is as complicated as the one above. This becomes clear riding underground in the DrillRover 5000X, boring a bullet’s highway from the long forgotten I. Tripplarbee underground mine south of Eveleth into the moist morass of the Sax-Zim bog. The DrillRover 5000X is a curious…
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An obituary reminds of the power of Jensen v. Eveleth Mines
The New York Times ran an obituary this week for a Minnesota native and successful lawyer. Though this attorney had won many cases securing equality, fairness and non-discrimination in the workplace, the Times spent most of its time describing just one: the class action suit brought by a miner, Lois Jensen, on behalf of her…
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New Iron Range plant produces ore ahead of schedule
Fans of “Star Wars” might appreciate this reference: The scram mining and iron producer Magnetation announced on New Year’s Eve that its Plant 4 production facility is quite operational. Just like the Death Star in “Return of the Jedi,” the ongoing completion of construction wouldn’t deter the timely execution of the company’s strategy in 2015. A strained metaphor perhaps (Magnetation…
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MinnesotaBrown’s Top Posts for 2014
Another year of posts are stacked in the virtual silo of the MinnesotaBrown.com electronic archives. The fact that few people ever read the archives when they visit a website is a sad reality of our modern information age. Much to know, little to remember. As such, today I remember the year that was, the posts you liked, the…
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I’ve decoded mystery of Duluth Tall Ships 2016 ‘surprise’
Last week, organizers announced that the enormously popular Tall Ships festival will return to the Port of Duluth, Minnesota in the summer of 2016. In teasing the event, promoters said there would be some kind of “special surprise” as part of Tall Ships 2016. My thought at the time was that this must be some kind of…
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These fancy tent people seem to be getting attention
A classically brisk Northern Minnesota winter finally set in this week. After an abnormally warm December, I might have been among a minority glad to feel the sharp chill of extreme cold when I walked out the door last night. Then again, easy for me to say; I don’t live in a tent. Minnesota Public…
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Duluth named among top U.S. cities for finding a job
According to the job search and recruiting site Zip Recruiter, Duluth, Minnesota, is the #2 city in the nation for finding a job. From the post: A 4.3 unemployment rate and a rock-solid healthcare sector with roots in the two regional medical centers in the city, Duluth has rebounded from a post-industrial crash to become a job…
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Half and half; Minnesota’s greater metro divide
I think I’ll enjoy reading the work of new Pioneer Press reporter and veteran political data journalist Derek Montgomery. Today he’s up with a blog post showing the urban-rural divide in Minnesota. Simply put, he generated a graphic displaying population split using State Senate districts. What’s striking about this exercise is that the divide here is roughly half…
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Districts seek more production from school trust land
If you ever get tired of trying to figure out how the IRRRB works, another unique foible of Minnesota’s relationship with iron mining is the state school trust fund. About 2.5 million acres of land, primarily in Northern Minnesota, are set aside to raise funds for school districts throughout the state. Some of this land…
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Running no more
Today is my 35th birthday. With this monumental occasion comes an important announcement. Despite now being constitutionally eligible to run for President of the United States, I am suspending my campaign to do so which began 1992 in Mr. Softich’s sixth grade class at the Cherry School. When they brought in the button making press…
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Essar seeks legislation to avoid paying back public funds
Last week, Northern Minnesota media sources, with help from new lobbying activity by Essar Steel Minnesota, finally connected the dots that this proposed new Iron Range taconite mine would really, truly not build a steel mill with its project as originally planned. As such, Essar is due to run afoul of the agreement that brought $67 million in…
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Hibbing’s Dylan Days committee disbands
I bring some long awaited, sadly official news tonight. Dylan Days, the arts and literary event held every May in Bob Dylan’s hometown of Hibbing, Minnesota, will be going on indefinite hiatus. The three-member steering committee (of which I was a founding member) voted to disband this fall. In the time since we’ve been working…
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Season’s Greetings from the wintery joyscape of Minnesota’s Iron Range
Merry Christmas from MinnesotaBrown.com! I’ll be spending the holidays with my family touring across the mighty Mesabi Iron Range of Northern Minnesota’s scenic winterlude. Posting might be sporadic since the kids are home from school. I’ll have my annual year-end review, though … whenever it’s good and ready. I’d like to leave you with the classic…
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Spend holidays with the Great Northern Radio Show
On Dec. 6, 2014, I hosted the winter edition of my Great Northern Radio Show in a live broadcast from the Northern Lights Casino in Walker, Minnesota, as guest of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwa. That show will re-air Wednesday, Dec. 24 — Christmas Eve — from 7-9 p.m. on Northern Community Radio, 91.7…
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Tall Ships will return to Duluth in 2016
Nothing quite excites the people of Duluth, Minnesota, and its surrounding area like the Tall Ships. These tall-masted, wooden ships that harken the 1800s now tour the lakes and seas as a tourist attraction and recreational sailing exhibition. After another successful Duluth event in 2013, officials are now planning the next Tall Ships event in Duluth…