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In a small Iron Range town, the ‘Eye of the Tiger’ blinks shut
I can still hear the tinny speakers perched above Tommy Koskela Memorial Field at my alma mater of Cherry High School. A cassette tape pulsates the floppy, weather-worn woofers, creating the approximate sound of Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger.” This was the sound of Friday nights in the fall through my teen years, both as a…
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Gas falls below $3 across Northern Minnesota
There’s a strange phenomenon happening amid the high-churn noise of the Information Age. Events of just a few years ago are quickly forgotten or, as a former president might have said, “misremembered.” Such is the case as, today, stories of gas prices falling below $3 across much of Northern Minnesota hit the front pages and newscasts…
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Connect Itasca redoubles effort to expand rural broadband
UPDATE: Hear the Morning Show interview that I did with Itasca County manager Trish Klein and Northern Community Radio’s Scott Hall Tuesday about this topic. Itasca County’s efforts to bring broadband access to every resident continue despite an early setback. The initial goal is to gather survey responses from underserved residents. Early confusion made it difficult for many…
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LIVE at 8 a.m.: Only scheduled MN-8 debate via @theuptake
The 2014 election is now less than a month away, and while several Minnesota polls show statistically significant leads for DFLers Gov. Mark Dayton and Sen. Al Franken, other state races are very much coming down to the wire. Control of the State House of Representatives could come down to a few hundred votes in a dozen…
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Remembering my mentor and friend Mike Simonson
UPDATE 2: Mike’s full obituary ran in the Wednesday Duluth News Tribune. I was honored that his wife Jennifer asked me to write this, with her expert editing. UPDATE: Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 11 at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, 4831 Grand Ave., in Duluth. Visitation will be held…
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‘Mesabi Pioneers’ spins fiction amid rich history
Ever since humans first crawled from the primordial ooze they have made futile attempts to write novels, ultimately abandoning these crude failures inside file cabinets crafted from the bones of long-extinct beasts. So it was in the beginning, so it shall be in the end. I’ve got a botched literary bun in the stone-cold oven…
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Great Northern Radio Show to rebroadcast Park Rapids show
UPDATE: You can now download the podcast here. This Sunday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. you can hear the rebroadcast of my Great Northern Radio Show, which aired live last Saturday night from Armory Square in downtown Park Rapids, Minnesota. The show will air on Northern Community Radio, including 91.7 KAXE (Grand Rapids and…
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Hej, Bob: Swedish scientists sneak Dylan lyrics into papers
Living or working in Bob Dylan’s hometown means you form connections with people for unusual reasons, beyond your control and unrelated to your own ego. Some guy, class of ’59 I think, wrote a thousand songs and got so famous that people in China learn English just to decipher his lyrics (good luck with that, China).…
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The lights are on in Duluth
This piece in the Duluth News Tribune shared a fascinating find: photographic evidence of one of Northern Minnesota’s most iconic folk legends from the economic collapse of the early 1980s. As the story goes, shown to be true in the above snapshot, someone put up a billboard up on I-35 that year imploring “would the last one…
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Essar claims financing; Magnetation rolls pellets
It’s been a big week of economic news on the western Mesabi Iron Range. Late last week, Magnetation LLC, announced it was producing taconite pellets at its Indiana processing plant using iron ore concentrate recovered from Itasca County pits. “This first production marks another significant milestone in Magnetation’s history,” said Larry Lehtinen, CEO of Magnetation.…
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VIEW NOW: Watch Franken vs McFadden, Dayton vs Johnson
This morning, U.S. Senator Al Franken (D-Minn.) will debate GOP challenger and investment broker Mike McFadden for their first formal debate of Election 2014, which takes place just over a month from now. Tonight, Gov. Mark Dayton (D-Minn.) will debate GOP challenger and Hennepin County Commissioner Jeff Johnson in their first debate. The Uptake will…
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Iron ore stashed as rail delays snarl Upper Midwest
I just finished reading “Mesabi Pioneers” by Russell Hill and Jeffrey Smith, a new historical novel set in the early days of iron mining on Northern Minnesota’s Iron Range. I’ll have more thoughts about the book in my Sunday newspaper column, but the story did remind me of the central struggle facing the pioneering Merritt…
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Take a trip in the tortoise time machine
Think back to childhood. Do you remember that one nontraditional pet you had? I’m not talking about a dog or cat here. Dogs and cats see their names stitched in Christmas stockings. They wear sacred vestments, such as collars and sweaters. Dogs and cats insist upon themselves in ways that caged animals usually don’t. Non-traditional…
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It could be years, not months, for PolyMet progress
It’s been several months since the public comments period closed for the environmental review and permitting process for PolyMet, a controversial proposed nonferrous mineral mine in Hoyt Lakes, Minnesota. Most had hoped for news about the completion of the Environmental Impact Statement and a clearer timeline for the final permitting by this fall. However, a Marshall Helmberger interview…
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‘Great Northern’ weekend in Park Rapids starts now
My favorite weekends are Great Northern Radio Show weekends. They are exhausting, invigorating and inspiring. And another one begins today. The Great Northern Radio Show, my personal twist on the old variety show format, will broadcast live from Armory Square in downtown Park Rapids, Minnesota, this Saturday from 5-7 p.m. on Northern Community Radio. At…