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Hibbing among medical cannabis dispensary sites
When Gov. Mark Dayton signed a medical marijuana bill into law after last year’s legislative session, it was not without controversy. Not only does a step toward more lenient cannabis laws ruffle some conservatives and law enforcement groups, but many legalization advocates found the bill far too restrictive to be useful. Nevertheless, many families are…
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Report: Evidence of discrimination at Greenway school
Earlier this week I wrote a piece about the need for empathy amid racial discord on the Iron Range, mentioning the story of Isaiah Gatimu, a former Greenway student who faced racially-motivated harassment and later took his own life. The Scenic Range News Forum obtained a copy of the report from the Minnesota Department of…
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Great Northern Radio Show will be live in Walker, Dec. 6
UPDATE: Jim Northrup is recovering from heart surgery and will not be able to join us in Walker on Saturday. We wish him the very best for a speedy recovery! Hard to believe, but we are about to do the 13th edition of my Great Northern Radio Show. We will defy the bad luck of that number…
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Answers like dust: miners’ health study closes with questions
Yesterday, researchers unveiled results of a $5 million University of Minnesota study exploring the connection between iron mining and the rare lung disease mesothelioma. What was billed as the final public forum about the study was held last night at the Hibbing Memorial Building. John Myers of the Duluth News Tribune had the story in…
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U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree arrives from Northern MN
The National Christmas Tree, which was harvested here in Northern Minnesota within the Chippewa National Forest, has reached its destination on the U.S. Capitol lawn in Washington, D.C. This tweet from Rep. Rick Nolan shows the scene: Our #christmastree is finally here all the way from Chippewa National Forest in #MN – looks great on…
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On the Range, Race and Healing
Race is one of the main variables of American life. This fact was written directly into our flawed Constitution more than two centuries ago, a truth demanding hard reckoning ever since. Sometimes it can be comfortable to pretend that race isn’t one of the main variables of life here in Northern Minnesota, however. This is an…
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Winter in a place called ‘North’
Talking weather in Northern Minnesota is dangerous business. There is very little chance of being right about anything. Conditions change too quickly to allow anyone but a hibernating bear to be properly prepared. In short, conversations about weather are just meaningless filler between meaningful nonverbal grunts, the sounds actual Minnesotans use to communicate language, art…
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Hibbing native pens Thanksgiving immigrant tale in NY Times
Marie Myung-Ok Lee, a Korean-American writer from Hibbing, had a Thanksgiving memoir of her family’s time in the Iron Range city published in the New York Times today. Her story is touching and real. The town simultaneous fought to help her father, at one time the town’s only anesthetist, stay in the country, but she and…
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Despite appearances, this turkey is not lucky
Gov. Mark Dayton welcomed a tom turkey along with representatives of the Minnesota Turkey Growers Association and Hunger Solutions to the capitol on Monday to announce the traditional annual donation of turkey to people in need this Thanksgiving. Turkeys can’t smile, but even if they could it’s unlikely the turkey in the picture above would have…
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Star Tribune pens glowing Essar Steel update
Today’s front page feature in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Minnesota’s newspaper of record, was a Dee DePass story entitled “After seven years, Essar’s giant Iron Range project finds a groove.” The story is about progress at Essar Steel Minnesota, the spinoff of Essar Global, an Indian company which seeks to build a new taconite plant on…
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Iron Range musicians keep ghost town alive
It was a pleasant surprise to see a front page MinnPost feature on Rich Mattson and Germaine Gemberling of Sparta Sound over the weekend. This musical pair and their merry band are keeping the small mining location of Sparta alive with their church-turned-studio a stone’s throw from an active iron mine. From the Nov. 21…
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What’s left unsaid
Last Monday, we pinned ceremonial ribbons of red, green and yellow onto our oldest son’s Webelos uniform. It was a proud moment. I remembered having my Webelos ribbons pinned onto my Cub Scout uniform when I was his age. Remembering is like a hole in the dam; one hole quickly becomes many. It was a…
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New route, same cold for Duluth’s Christmas City parade
Tonight at 6:25 Duluth, Minnesota, hosts the Christmas City of the North Parade, a longstanding tradition of one of the local TV stations, NBC affiliate KBJR-TV (aka Northland’s NewsCenter). Designed to elicit holiday cheer, and excitement for the shopping season, the Christmas City of the North Parade has always been something of a paradox. For one thing, it’s…
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It might be cold out, but Minnesota job growth stays hot
Minnesota continues its economic expansion. Yesterday, the MN Department of Employment and Economic Development announced another stellar month of job growth in October. The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate has dipped below 4 percent for the first time since the 2008 recession. Highlights from the press release: ST. PAUL – Minnesota employers added 9,500 jobs in…
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UPDATE: MN DOT picks high bridge over mine pit for Hwy 53
Today the Minnesota Department of Transportation recommended its preferred alternative for the Hwy 53 Relocation project. MN-DOT wants the northernmost route, which will build the state’s tallest bridge — 1,100 feet — across the Rouchleau Pit outside Virginia. After hinting it would do so weeks ago, the DOT explains why it selected the northern route: After lengthy study of several…