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The secret of Minnesota baseball, where weather is hope
It’s probably for the best that the weather is a little cool for tonight’s Major League Baseball All Star game at Target Field in my state’s capital of St. Paul, Minnesota. After all, the national press will need to toughen up some before the Super Bowl held at our new open air stadium in January…
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Cuyuna Range mining talk hails old ghosts
What would you do if an old girlfriend or boyfriend called? Would you take them back? What if you haven’t talked in 10 years. Or 20? Try 50. This is the discussion going on in Northern Minnesota these days and it isn’t about love; it’s about mining. There were three active iron mining ranges in Northern Minnesota through…
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Duluth, Range airports vie for Oberstar name
When longtime northern Minnesota congressman and transportation titan James Oberstar passed away in May, everyone knew that an airport would deservedly be named in honor of his tireless work to expand aviation in northern Minnesota. The question, as the Duluth News Tribune now reports, is which one? Oberstar, a Chisholm native, was instrumental in the…
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Ruling on steel dumping short term relief for long term issue
On Friday, the United States Commerce Department ruled that recent low-cost imports of foreign steel violated trade rules and imposed tariffs on the predominantly South Korean steel products. This was the outcome domestic steelmakers, steelworkers and leaders here on Minnesota’s Iron Range had hoped for after the major rally against steel dumping held here two…
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Bringing aria to area: Northern Lights fest illuminates Range
Iron Range residents are often presented a simplified interpretation of the past: many of our ancestors came from overseas to mine the ore that built a nation. What is often missed in this description is why. Save for a handful of Cornish mining jacks, these men didn’t come here because they liked to mine heavy…
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‘Fargo’ nets 18 Emmy nods, likely 2nd season
The Northern Minnesota-based FX drama “Fargo,” inspired by the Coen Brothers movie of the same name, earned 18 Emmy nominations in the mini-series category yesterday, including nods for the four actors who portrayed the main roles. I filed episode-by-episode reviews of “Fargo” from my unique perch here in the real Northern Minnesota. I started watching the show…
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The Iron Range’s 240-ton pink mining truck
Motorists in Hibbing were treated to a special sight along the Beltline Thursday as the giant pink mining truck bucket of a 240-ton production truck at Hibbing Taconite winded its way through town. Cliffs Natural Resources, part-owner and operator of Hibbing Taconite, will deploy the pink mining truck to raise awareness of breast cancer screening and women’s…
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10 Reasons Why Robins are like Hipsters
I live in the woods of Northern Minnesota, where birds, deer and wolves live in relative peace except when they eat each other. Years ago, house wrens built a nest under our deck and for several years raised their young as we creepily stared at them through the slats above. Well, last year, robins, which are…
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Northern Lights Music Festival in full swing
“You can’t love the opera if you never see it.” That’s what Aurora native, concert pianist, and founder of the Northern Lights Music Festival Veda Zupancic told me when I interviewed her this week for my Sunday column. Indeed, the Northern Lights Music Festival combines an educational component for beginning and advanced music students and…
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All-Star week brings ‘Miracle Field,’ Kent Hrbek to Hibbing
On Wednesday, June 9, at 6 p.m., the Minnesota Twins will help unveil a new “Miracle Field” in Hibbing, Minnesota, as part of the weeklong run-up to the Major League Baseball All-Star Game July 15 at Target Field in St. Paul. The new ball field is located at Bennett Park on the north side of Hibbing,…
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Ely explorers retrace Teddy’s fateful journey on Rio Roosevelt
During the last Great Northern Radio Show, broadcast live from Ely (click and save the podcast!), Amy Freeman detailed the North American expedition she and husband Dave embarked on last year. Dave couldn’t be on the show because he was on the Rio Roosevelt in Brazil, conquering the same jungle waters that almost claimed the life of…
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On Duluth, Don Ness and keepin’ it fresh
This weekend, Duluth Mayor Don Ness told his Facebook followers that he was leaning against running for a third term as leader of northern Minnesota’s largest city. Ness is famous for making important statements and breaking news on social media; it’s one of the things that has made him so popular in a city once better…
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Financing trips up Range mine projects
Sometimes it feels like the entire leadership structure of the Iron Range is standing outside the offices of environmental regulators, waiting for a Willy Wonka-type figure to emerge, do a little flip, and announce whether or not we get to come inside where they keep the permits. But two recent stories about Range mine projects…
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Why the turtle crossed the road
In “The Grapes of Wrath,” John Steinbeck dedicates an entire chapter to an old turtle crossing the road. Though the passage confuses the heck out of high school students, (pro tip) the turtle chapter pretty much summarizes the entire book through symbolism. Some years back my family and I settled in the woods of Itasca…
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Highway 53: So much to keep what we have
Planning continues for the Highway 53 reroute project between Eveleth and Virginia, Minnesota. For those just catching up, an iron mine is invoking a 50-year-old agreement that the state would move the highway when mining activity reached the ore reserves underneath. Highway 53, however, is one of the most important roads on the Iron Range.…