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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…
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Company: Essar Steel Minnesota not for sale
Essar Steel Minnesota isn’t for sale. That according to the India-based steelmaker seeking to build a new taconite plant on the western Mesabi Iron Range. Earlier reports had indicated that the company might be packaging its new plant for sale once its completed in 2015, but Essar says those reports were speculative and incorrect. Given the…
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FARGO REVIEW: Episode 8, “The Heap”
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: Deputy Molly is on the ropes and the weasel Lester…
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Northern MN lessons from the ‘town for misfits’
For weeks, I’ve been enjoying some success at this blog writing about “Fargo” the TV show on the FX network. One of the most common questions about that show is “why do they call it ‘Fargo’ when most of it takes place in northern Minnesota?” My view is that in both the movie and the book, “Fargo” describes…
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Entenza springs primary challenge on Otto: Is this about mining?
As the final minutes ticked away on Minnesota’s election filing period, former State Representative and 2010 gubernatorial candidate Matt Entenza strolled to the counter and became a candidate for State Auditor. He’ll challenge incumbent and fellow DFLer Rebecca Otto, who was already girding for a tough race in November amid pockets of resistance in the…
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Northern MN House races set for 2014
The filing period for state and federal offices, along with many local offices, closed Tuesday afternoon. The State Senate isn’t up for election this year, so here is a look at the State House of Representatives races that have formed in northern Minnesota: 1A (Roseau): Dan Fabian (R) – inc. Bruce Patterson (DFL) Rematch of…
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Summer shows at Range’s Jewish heritage center
The B’nai Abraham Cultural Center in Virginia, Minnesota, announces its summer concert series. Stressing strong musicianship with Iron Range roots, the schedule allows you to experience the arts in the Iron Range’s last Jewish cultural heritage center. There’s a lot of history in this building. The first show lets you see one of Minnesota’s best…
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U of M students commended for skeptical PolyMet paper
This is certainly one of those stories that will be read very differently by various audiences, but it’s worth a read regardless. A group of undergraduate economics students at the University of Minnesota won scholarships in a juried competition for an ethical economic analysis of the PolyMet project in northern Minnesota. Their finding: PolyMet is not…
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A year out: MN teen sleeps outside through hard winter
Rudy Hummel, 17, of Hermantown, will spend one more week sleeping outside his northern Minnesota home before a long-awaited return to the indoors this Saturday. Hummel has slept outside every night for nearly a year. Yes. In northern Minnesota. Some nice writing from Sam Cook at the Duluth News Tribune: [Hummel] started with the idea…
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The DFL mining battle that wasn’t
Last week the question was how badly a pro-mining resolution would damage the electoral prospects of DFLers after this weekend’s state convention in Duluth. What we’ve learned is that Democratic-Farmer-Laborites have at least figured out that the more they bicker in public on this issue, the worse things get for them — especially among a…