-
Last salty leaves Port of Duluth-Superior
The winter solstice brings another kind of change to Northern Minnesota, the end of the 2014 shipping season in the Port of Duluth, Minnesota and Superior, Wisconsin. The last “salty” (ocean-going vessel) left on Dec. 20, and they’ll be running as many “lakers” (ships confined to the Great Lakes) as they can unless it becomes too…
-
Paul Metsa to star in musical based on trippy autobiography
One of the more successful musicians to emerge from the Iron Range later in the 20th Century was Paul Metsa, a singer-songwriter who certainly fits in the mold of the Range’s somewhat-more-successful star, Bob Dylan, crossed with a bit of Bruce Springsteen to boot. Metsa, who is from the Range city of Virginia, has lived and…
-
Rock and a hard place, change coming to the Iron Range
Some of life’s biggest myths are that 30 years is a long time, that today doesn’t matter, and that anything is permanent. Here on Northern Minnesota’s Mesabi Iron Range, the lessons of change that come from digging out the ground beneath our very feet have been hard learned. But what’s learned is so easily forgotten after those paltry 30 years.…
-
Overheard in the Santa line
Christmas arrives Thursday. This, after weeks of new Yuletide songs mixed by club DJs trying to pay mortgages, blinking houses and assorted efforts to render consumerism as Christ-like as possible. For those who celebrate Christmas, nothing can compete with joyous hope of the actual holiday. For everyone else, the promise of a return to normal…
-
Longyear finally buys former Ainsworth site in Grand Rapids
Two years ago, I wrote about one of the Iron Range’s oldest families of mining and logging tycoons after Longyear, Inc., signed a purchase agreement for the former Ainsworth mill site in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. The story slipped out of sight for 26 months, until late this last week when the deal was finally completed.…
-
Remembering Ely storyteller Mike Hillman
As I travel around the state with my Great Northern Radio Show I’ve had the privilege of meeting many wonderful and talented people in all the towns we visit. Mike Hillman was one such person. Mike told stories in our Ely show last summer. One story was an old pioneer legend from the early day…
-
Loving and loathing where we’re from
If you’re interested in the survival and development of small towns and rural places, you’d be well served to follow my friend Chuck Marohn, CEO of the nonprofit Strong Towns, a firm helping smaller cities make good decisions with their money. Chuck’s a big advocate of the notion that many expensive infrastructure investments that small…
-
Sertich scores historic win in final IRRRB meeting
Earlier this week I wrote that outgoing Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board (IRRRB) Commissioner Tony Sertich would either emerge from his last meeting today as Gary Cooper from “High Noon” or end up like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. We have our answer. I just checked in with my friend Rep. Tom Anzelc…
-
Emily Larson announces bid for Duluth mayor
At 12:30 p.m. today in front of the Duluth Library, City Councilor Emily Larson will announce her plans to run for mayor of Duluth. Larson becomes an early entrant in what could become a fascinating campaign to succeed popular incumbent Don Ness, who is not seeking re-election. Larson, a DFLer, is currently president of the…
-
‘Night Before Christmas’ dances onto iconic Hibbing stage
A Hibbing High School alumnus will bring her dance company to the school’s historic auditorium stage this Saturday, Dec. 20, at 7 p.m. for a free holiday show based on the classic poem “The Night Before Christmas.” Danielle Ricci founded the award-winning Borealis Dance company in 2008 in Austin, Texas, before moving it to Minneapolis last year. This…
-
Celebrate the solstice at Olcott Park Greenhouse
The longest nights of winter will be this weekend, but that doesn’t mean you can’t live it up in a warm tropical environment right here on Northern Minnesota’s Iron Range. The Friends of the Greenhouse will be hosting their second annual Celebration of the Winter Solstice this Saturday, Dec. 20, at noon at the Olcott…
-
Ambitious plans, controversy for Sertich’s final IRRRB meeting
On Thursday, the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board (IRRRB) will hold its final meeting of the year, and the last in which Tony Sertich will be commissioner of the board’s unique state agency funded by local Iron Range mining revenue. The agenda is filled to the brim with everything the IRRRB has come to be known…
-
In the South, the politics of culture still show ‘Huey Long’ gap
I’ve always found the story of the late Louisiana Gov. and U.S. Sen. Huey P. Long to be a fascinating tale of the shifting power and potential of America in the early half of the 20th Century. My favorite book is “All the King’s Men” by Robert Penn Warren and, while I agree with Warren…
-
Northeastern Minnesota: jobs a’ plenty, wages a’ thppphtt
For the last year I’ve written fairly consistent economic observations of living and working on Northern Minnesota’s Iron Range: There are jobs here, but most of them pay low wages and are found in the service sector, not in mining. An overwhelming majority of the region’s workforce is found outside the “traditional” blue collar careers typically associated…
-
Northern journalists taunt each other with lutefisk
The “Great Northern” states extend from the Dakotas through Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan and are marked by the strong and enduring influence of Scandinavian immigrants. In addition to being the genetic forebears of many people who live here, these Scandinavians (Norwegians and Swedes, in particular) brought and kept many traditions that have lasted to this…