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Duluth’s Glensheen Mansion as seen from the air
In case you’ve ever wondered what Duluth’s historic Glensheen Mansion looks like to seagulls and/or CIA drones, this remote-cam flyover video by Cory Fechner should give you a pretty good idea. Glensheen Mansion Aerial Fly Over from Cory Fechner on Vimeo. Seeing this place always reminds me that I could slide into being an eccentric…
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Hibbing Taconite mine tours run June 19-Aug. 8
With all the talk about mining in Minnesota, maybe you’d like to see what a real northern Minnesota iron mine looks like in the year 2014. Never mind the picks and shovels, the technology and scope of today’s mining will surprise you if you haven’t seen it before. You can catch guided Hibbing Taconite mine tours in…
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Oh, just vote Duluth already
I often chastise Iron Range leadership for wasting time arguing over meaningless resolutions about new forms of mining. So, how should I feel about the entire city of Duluth, in its comparatively stronger and more diverse economic position, spending an inordinate amount of time trying to win an online poll for “Best Outdoors Place to Live”…
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‘Gems of Itasca,’ exploring the 1,000-lake county
A pair of filmmakers with backing from stakeholders around Itasca County has produced a series of short films about life in this northern Minnesota county where the western Iron Range spills into the woods and waters of more than 1,000 freshwater lakes. Called “Gems of Itasca,” the series selects various topics about life here. As…
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FARGO REVIEW: Episode 9, ‘A Fox, A Rabbit, and A Cabbage’
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: Last week, “Fargo” jumped a year into the future, bringing…
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Starting a new conversation about MN-8 and mining politics
I filed a post at my Up North blog at the Star Tribune this morning that you may wish to check out. The theme is contrasting the widely-circulated “narrative” about northern Minnesota mining politics (that mining will dictate the outcome of the Nolan/Mills race, or shape the outcome of statewide races) with what I see…
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Whither army worms?
The warnings started last year. The big one. It’s coming. A year like that one year 10-15 years ago (no one remembers exactly). The year of the forest tent caterpillar. The year of the Army Worms. This native Minnesota insect is pretty in ones, interesting in tens, but disgusting in the thousands — which is…
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June icebergs linger longer on Lake Superior
Contrary to appearances, this is not a Coors Light TV ad. This is real life. MPR and others are reporting the Wisconsin DNR’s discovery of more icebergs patrolling the frigid waters of Lake Superior, even well into the summer month of June. Lake Superior stays cold all year round, but usually the ice is completely…
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Rural broadband forum coming to Iron Range
State Sen. Matt Schmidt (DFL-Red Wing), local State Sen. David Tomassoni (DFL-Chisholm) and others will hold an Iron Range informational meeting about the new rural broadband funding available after this last legislative session. The meeting will take place Thursday, June 12, at 4 p.m. at the Balkan Township Hall. Balkan is north of Chisholm on…
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75 years of Oz in town that gave us Judy, but lost Ruby Slippers
Starting Tuesday, June 10 and running until Sunday, June 15, Judy Garland’s northern Minnesota hometown of Grand Rapids, Minnesota, will celebrate the 75th anniversary of “The Wizard of Oz” with films, family events and entertainment. The 1939 picture based on L. Frank Baum’s fantastical novel (itself a thinly-veiled satire of late 19th Century American politics)…
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Northern Minnesota moose meta-crisis
Dan Kraker of Minnesota Public Radio reports on efforts to find out why Minnesota moose populations have been in serious decline in recent years. The problem has caused the indefinite suspension of the Minnesota moose hunting season and a series of studies as to why so many moose are dying young. Ironically, one of the…
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‘Sometimes a Great Notion’
Come look: Where the big pile of uncracked books rises up against the ocean of my bed, see the wide river of reading failure flow down to the ocean, ebbing back up with the tide of unfinished scripts and banal blog posts. But I did finish reading one book, one big, rickety book that came…
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Great Northern Radio Show heads to Ely
Believe it or not, I don’t sit around thinking about mining and northern Minnesota politics all day. In fact, I try to do as little of that as possible (with middling success). What I’ve really been cooking up here at my woodland compound has been a little show I think you’ll like regardless of your position on…
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MN services for Jim Oberstar set June 26-27
After former longtime Minnesota Congressman Jim Oberstar died last month, funeral services were held in the Maryland community where he and his wife have lived since he left Congress. Many here in Minnesota were disappointed that additional events couldn’t be held back in the northern Minnesota District which he served in Congress for 36 years. Oberstar’s hometown…
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Daniel Kramer Dylan photos in Hibbing all summer
During Dylan Days almost two weeks ago I was able to see the premiere of the GRAMMY Museum traveling exhibit “Daniel Kramer: Photographs of Bob Dylan” at the Paulucci Space Theater on the campus of Hibbing Community College in the singer’s Minnesota hometown. The event was a who’s who of Hibbing, and a wonderful display of…