-
Hear Ely Great Northern Radio Show, support KAXE/KBXE
I took my Great Northern Radio Show up to Ely, Minnesota, on June 14 and had a wonderful time telling stories, making music and approximating humor. People seemed to like the show, which aired live on Northern Community Radio, and I’d argue that it was a pretty good calling card for what we do: explore the…
-
End of the Range Artists Association
An Iron Range organization that has planned the art exhibit at the annual St. Louis County Fair and run camps and art education programs for decades is no more. The Range Artists Association voted to disband its 501(C)3 nonprofit organization last spring and is now in the process of vacating its Howard Street studio in…
-
2,000 attend Iron Range ‘Save Our Steel’ Jobs rally
Going into Monday’s “Save Our Steel (SOS) Jobs” Rally outside the Miner’s Memorial Building in Virginia, Minnesota, I was unsure how well people would turn out given the nice weather and otherwise healthy taconite production the Range. Well, about 2,000 people showed, according to media estimates. That exceeded what I expected. This was a well-coordinated…
-
Eveleth on Eveleth: the Range’s internet problem
Though most people there probably don’t know it, Eveleth, Minnesota, made The Atlantic magazine this week. Rose Eveleth, a tech writer for the venerated publication, wrote an interesting personal essay exploring how she came to know the town by virtue of it having the same name as her family. In essence, she got an e-mail…
-
No time for desperation on the Iron Range
It was my freshman year of high school and I was running for re-election as class president. As a power-hungry nerd, you can imagine the stakes. I had come to school that day prepared to fend off challenges. I was ready for everything, except one thing: fate. As a joke, my friends decided to nominate…
-
The Good & Bad of MN jobs data
This week the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) released new employment numbers. The news was good: The agency said the state has added 45,617 jobs in the past year, a growth rate of 1.6 percent, compared with a U.S. growth rate of 1.8 percent during that period. Since January 2011, the state has…
-
IRRRB mulls 2015 budget, projects, school funds
This Monday the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board will consider its Fiscal Year 2015 budget at its regular meeting at the IRRRB headquarters south of Eveleth, Minnesota. Next year’s budget tallies in at almost $41 million, about $2.5 million less than this year. Major changes include a continued focus on shifting funds to K-12…
-
FARGO REVIEW: Series Finale, “Morton’s Fork”
The FX series “Fargo,” inspired by the 1996 Coen Brothers film, is based in northern Minnesota. As northern Minnesota’s leading pop culture, news, entertainment, iron mining and invasive species blog, MinnesotaBrown is here to review the show through Minnesota eyes. Now, to this week’s episode: For the past 10 weeks, the makers of “Fargo” have treated…
-
Iron Range ‘Save our Steel Jobs’ rally Monday
United Steelworkers and U.S. Steel are joining forces to protest the dumping of foreign steel on the American market. Among many events around the country, a major “Save Our Steel Jobs” rally on northern Minnesota’s Iron Range will be held Monday, June 23 at 10 a.m. at the Miner’s Memorial Building in Virginia, Minnesota. Among…
-
Check out this trippy underground mine trampoline light show
The largest underground mine in the world was a slate mine in Wales that had been mined off and on since the Roman Empire. Mining there ended in the early 20th Century and the mine would gradually become a tourist attraction, not unlike northern Minnesota’s own Soudan Underground Mine State Park. But there’s no way…
-
Mt. Iron-Buhl explores Plan B: new school
An unpopular plan to build a large new high school for the Iron Range districts of Mountain Iron-Buhl, Eveleth-Gilbert and Virginia now abandoned, MI-B is considering building its own new school. This according to Jana Hollingsworth of the Duluth News-Tribune and other local media covering the district’s board meeting this week. One interesting feature here…
-
Duluth ‘best place to live’ in ‘Outside’ poll
Late Sunday night, Duluth, Minnesota, claimed victory in the “best outdoors town” online poll put on by “Outside” Magazine, defeating Provo, Utah, by about 12,000 votes. The contest has drawn a lot of attention in Duluth, and some good-natured chiding here at my blog. After all, what could an online magazine poll really mean for…
-
A reminder of the Finnish story in Northern MN
MPR NewsCut’s Bob Collins was on the Iron Range recently and stopped off along the back route at the Kalevala Hall near Kettle River. He’s got several pictures and observations in his post here. Having just been up in Ely for the Great Northern Radio Show, I had my Finnish roots on my mind when I…
-
To the Nether and back
Summer vacation is well underway, and not more than a few days into the annual ritual the boys had trod well-worn digital paths across the pretend universe of the video game Minecraft. They are obsessed with finding virtual ore to make tools, houses and various contraptions. Though the geology of Minecraft is a bit suspect…
-
The ‘bright lights’ of Great Northern Radio Show weekend
We’re headed up to Ely now, getting ready for Saturday’s big Great Northern Radio Show, broadcasting live 5-7 p.m. from the Vermilion Community College Theater. Find out how you can attend or listen here. I love show weekends. Love, love, love. Here’s where we’re going: June 8, 2014 Auroras on Burntside Lake near Ely, MN…