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Rukavina, Hujanen face off in marquee local race
I was out of town when last week’s Primary Election results came rolling in. I’m back and it’s time to analyze some of the more interesting races. I’ll start with the race for St. Louis County District 6 Commissioner, where longtime Iron Range State Rep. Tom Rukavina of Pike Township seeks a return to elected office.…
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Discovering new attitude, new hope for Northern Minnesota
What if the economic prospects in Northern Minnesota aren’t nearly as bad as people make them out to be, but will get much worse if we don’t act soon? What if a working plan for a better future will require an entirely different way of thinking, but there is a solution if we’re willing to…
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Minnehaha: a place to rest where the water falls
Slowly approaching a premature middle age I find myself firmly anchored in the woods of Northern Minnesota. Each occasional trip to our state’s Twin Cities metropolis is less a drive and more the unraveling of one life for the winding up of another. The rules change. People wear different stripes, gather in exponentially larger numbers.…
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Air Force Brass to play the Range on Sunday
The Lyric Center for the Arts in the Iron Range city of Virginia, Minnesota, is sponsoring a free concert by the United States Airlifter Brass this Sunday, Aug. 17, at 3 p.m. at the Olcott Park bandstand. I’ve seen this group play before and I can’t imagine a more fitting sound to hear in a…
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Rowdy auditor race, GOP intrigue highlight MN primary
Primary election polls in Minnesota are open and will remain so until 8 p.m. tonight. I wrote about the election last Sunday, although in a fairly obtuse, Mark Twain sort of way. I’m on the road right now and won’t be able to provide much in the way of live blogging tonight. Rest assured, I’ll…
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Itasca County seeks to extend broadband to every household
This is some of the most exciting news I’ve had a chance to share in a while. For at least a decade I’ve advocated for rural high-speed internet investment here in Northern Minnesota where technological infrastructure will be an important part of economic diversification. Itasca County, which includes Grand Rapids, forests, 1,000 lakes, the western…
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Some Minnesotans eligible for property tax rebate
Americans tend to have the deadline for income tax return applications engrained in their minds. (Though, if you’re doing it right, you should break even every year). Because property taxes are managed by local governments, we tend to accept them at face value. Well, by act of the legislature, Minnesota residents will have the ability…
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2014 Minnesota primary: sorting out best of what’s available
I remember once sitting at the kitchen table with my dad shortly after he turned 30. I was 8 or 9 and in the process of memorizing an encyclopedia on American Democracy. “Dad,” I said, “You’re old enough to run for the Senate!” I was busy imaging his campaign. (He’d need to wash off that…
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Foreign steel dustup shows challenge of GOP Range strategy
As the fall of another Election Year approaches, I’m often asked if this is the year that the quirky Iron Range DFL coalition falls apart, sending pro-mining Democrats running to the Republicans in order to, as the well-worn saying goes, “protect our way of life.” This is certainly a big part of Republican campaign strategy…
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Mount Polley disaster spurs scrutiny of Minnesota nonferrous mine plans
Sometime in the middle of the night on Monday, Aug. 4, the dam holding together a tailings basin at a British Columbian copper and gold mine gave way, sending 1.3 billion gallons of tainted, sludgy water into local streams and lakes. Officials tell residents in the closest town, Likely, B.C., not to use the water from several lakes and rivers near the Mount…
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Northbound Caravan brings some of MN’s best bands to Grand Rapids, MN
It’s been a good summer for live music in Northern Minnesota. Though I was too busy to write about it back then, the KAXE Mississippi River Festival last month, featuring past Great Northern Radio Show acts like Actual Wolf and the Roe Family Singers, was fantastic. The same venue — the Rotary Tent outside KAXE…
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Franken & foes in first MN-SEN debate (via @TheUptake)
This morning at 10:30, U.S. Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), Republicans Mike McFadden, Jim Abeler and David Carlson, and presumptive Independence Party nominee Kevin Terrell will participate in Election 2014’s first full MN-SEN debate at Farm Fest. Next week, McFadden, Abeler and Carlson will compete in a Tuesday, Aug. 12, primary election in which the endorsed…
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CenturyLink drops the Big Gig in Twin Cities
For some continued perspective on the drive to improve broadband infrastructure in rural Minnesota, note that cable giant CenturyLink is rolling out a 1-gigabit per second service in the Twin Cities over the next few months. CenturyLink announced its plans this week. That’s roughly similar to the speeds touted by Google Fiber, which has garnered huge attention…
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MN-8 ‘toss-up’ is more than just politics
Last week, the non-partisan Cook Political Report moved the race for Minnesota’s 8th Congressional District between Democratic incumbent Rick Nolan and Republican Stewart Mills from “Lean Democratic” to “Toss-Up.” This news has already attracted attention from most of the state’s political writers, so I’m not here to rehash the day-to-day politics. Roll Call still says Nolan is slightly…
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Report: Putin ‘wants to regain Finland’
A former advisor to Russian President Vladimir Putin says that his ex-boss wants to reestablish the Russian state in its original, pre-Bolshevik form. Among other jaw-dropping targets ranging from the Baltic states to parts of Ukraine, Georgia and Belarus, Putin apparently has eyes on reclaiming the independent Nordic nation of Finland at some point in his rule.…