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Range students build working hovercraft
Students in an engineering class at Nashwauk-Keewatin High School recently demonstrated their year-end project: a working hovercraft that can fly over water, snow and land. WDIO has the story, and video: The hovercraft uses a snowmobile engine and is built from a design the students drafted in class. Related posts: No related posts.
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FARGO REVIEW: Episode 7, “Who Shaves the Barber”
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: Molly lives. Malvo lives. But as many answers as we…
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Duluth vs. Minneapolis showdown in online vote
A brutal civil war among Minnesota hipsters has broken out after the announcement that the cities of Duluth and Minneapolis both advanced to the Midwestern finals in Outdoor Magazine’s “Best Place to Live in America” online voting. Voting continues through Thursday. From Canal Park to Hell’s Kitchen, men with scraggly beards and women with fashionable…
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Oh ya, Yooper is a word now
Last Monday, the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary officially enshrined the word “Yooper” in its lexicon. The charming regional entry came with the dictionary’s annual introduction of new words that also included fracking, catfishing and poutine. If you don’t know what a Yooper is, here is the official Merriam-Webster definition: Yoop·er noun \ˈyu̇-ər\ : a native or…
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See 13 hours of meat cooking on Duluth TV
Bob Collins with MPR’s News Cut blog found this gem of a story. Arby’s has been having some commercial success with its smokehouse brisket. That’s not normally news in my world, though I do enjoy slow cooked meat. To advertise their hit sandwich, and prove to the naysayers that their brisket really is smoked over…
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Great Northern Radio Show to air in Duluth
103.3 KUMD in Duluth will rebroadcast our latest edition of the Great Northern Radio Show, recorded live in Virginia, Minnesota, earlier this spring. The show airs from 10 a.m. to noon on Monday, May 26, 2014: Memorial Day. For those enjoying a day outside or traveling to and from the various Memorial Day ceremonies around…
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Dylan Days opens today in Hibbing
For much of Bob Dylan’s meteoric career arc, most people in his Iron Range hometown of Hibbing called him Bobby Die-lin and wondered what he was singing about. Some still do, but by now the practice is reserved as a sort of passive-aggressive protest by people who wish they could get paid that much to…
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KAXE/KBXE passes hat for journalism
We all know the field of journalism has changed dramatically in the past two decades. Do we have to rehash this? The corporate consolidations and rise of the internet? The buy-outs and downsizing? The tendrils of public relations and marketing reaching into the minds of young people, snatching away the best talent for the most…
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‘Red Ore Renaissance’ on the Iron Range
Magnetation continues to grow on the western Mesabi Iron Range. Gov. Mark Dayton named Thursday, May 22, “Red Ore Renaissance Day” in Minnesota. Last night, the company celebrated the ongoing construction of its fourth processing plant, turning piles of waste rock from early iron mining operations into quality iron concentrate for the production of steel. Here’s…
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FARGO REVIEW: Episode 6, “Buridan’s Ass”
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: This week on “Fargo,” Episode 6: “Buridan’s Ass,” the chase…
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Here come the ticks
Yesterday, as I was leaving a store in Hibbing, it occurred to me that I was outside without a jacket and it didn’t hurt. I was completely comfortable walking around in northern Minnesota like a human. That’s a big deal around here, especially when winter goes into overtime as it did this year. You get…
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What’s a Yooper? Check the dictionary
Fans of this site know I keep a watchful eye on the world of popular linguistics. So, big news this week: Our compatriots over in the Upper Peninsula of northern Michigan made the dictionary. On Monday, Merriam-Webster added the word “yooper” to its vaunted list of official words. Here’s the local news: As the AP reports,…
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On China, spies, steel and intrigue
On Monday, the U.S. Justice Department announced it was prosecuting five Chinese military officers for corporate espionage. From the BBC, emphasis mine: In Washington on Monday, [Attorney General Eric] Holder said a grand jury had laid hacking charges against the Chinese nationals, the first against “known state actors for infiltrating US commercial targets by cyber…
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Dylan Days waning in Hibbing
Bob Dylan’s birthplace of Duluth, Minnesota, kicked off its annual Dylan Fest this past weekend with a concert and live music. They’ve got more events going on throughout the week. Then, this Friday, May 23 and Saturday, May 24 (Bob’s birthday), Bob Dylan’s hometown of Hibbing begins its annual Dylan Days event up here on…
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Rukavina will run for St. Louis Co. Board
It’s official. The rumor we discussed a few weeks ago is true. Former Rep. Tom Rukavina is running for St. Louis County Board, District 4. The announcement marks the end of a political retirement that lasted about 20 months. In retrospect, it was amazing that it lasted that long. UPDATE: The Duluth News Tribune offered some more…