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FARGO REVIEW: From Bemidji to Duluth
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. The second episode of “Fargo” continues the grisly story that unfolded in the highly promising…
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Duluth Homegrown: on the rise and coming soon
If I were a fancy free singleton or DINK (Double Income, No Kids) I’d want to be at the Duluth Homegrown Music Festival, kicking off this Saturday in Duluth and running through May 4. Why, look at all these bands. Local bands. Duluth has a scene. A wholly-realized, by-God scene. If I were one of…
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IRRRB OKs $21.5 million investment in Segetis
The IRRRB today approved a major investment in a biochemical company’s expansion to Hoyt Lakes, Minnesota, on the Mesabi Iron Range. Here’s the press release: EVELETH, Minn.—The Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board (IRRRB) approved $21.2 million in funding to renewable biochemical company Segetis, Inc. at today’s board meeting in St. Paul. Segetis plans to…
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Report: Hedge fund seeks Cliffs takeover
Business North reports that a hedge fund with significant holdings of Cliffs Natural Resources stock is pushing for new board elections to install its own CEO. Cliffs owns and operates several iron ore mines in Minnesota and Michigan, including three here on the Iron Range: Hibbing Taconite, United Taconite in Eveleth and Northshore Mining in…
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Tower seeks to save decaying ‘back door’ bridge
The old iron ore bridge that provides a rusty retreat from the Iron Range city of Tower is in poor shape. They’d tear it down, but it’s one of the only ways out of town. The Tower Timberjay reports that the bridge qualifies for federal funding: The city had successfully argued that the bridge serves…
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The Easter Bunny’s Terrible Mistake
Morning light washes over a pastoral meadow view, bespeckled with budding flowers and flickering sun-touched dew drops. A small grey rabbit tentatively hops into view, sniffing her way toward a long, narrow clearing. She labors to lift a ball peen hammer over her tiny, furry head to pound two heavy iron stakes into the soft,…
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Enjoy Easter weekend with the Great Northern podcast
At long last the Virginia show podcast from my Great Northern Radio Show is online, ready for download and distribution. Right click and download this link, loading the MP3 into your iTunes or whatever system you use to listen to such things. A side note, I am well aware of how annoying it is to…
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Easter Bunion
“Easter Bunion” is part of my 2014 winter/spring sanity project. I will post original cartoons about modern life in northern Minnesota every Friday until the snow melts. Related posts: No related posts.
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Segetis seeks $21 million from IRRRB for big project
Segetis, a Golden Valley-based biochemical company, is planning a $105 million expansion to Hoyt Lakes on the eastern Iron Range. They’re asking for $21 million in support from the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board at its April 22 meeting. The promise: 545 jobs and $55 million in annual economic impact. That appears to be…
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REVIEW: ‘Fargo’ on FX as seen in northern MinneSOta
Earlier this week I wrote about the new FX series “Fargo” before it had aired, focusing on the lamentations of my fellow residents of northern Minnesota any time they hear so much as the title of this series or its 1996 Coen Brothers movie predecessor. “They don’t get the ayyyyyyyxcents ryyyyght,” they say. I urged…
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New Partners takes over for Eveleth telemarketer
The Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board today announced that a new business would be moving into the Eveleth building owned until recently by the now defunct Meyer telemarketing firm. Meyer Associates closed earlier this month. EVELETH, Minn. — Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board (IRRRB) Commissioner Tony Sertich today announced that New Partners Consultants,…
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Video game lets you fight zombies in Duluth, MN
Lake Voice News reports that two University of Minnesota Duluth students created a new zombie-fighting video game set in Duluth. The game “Left 4 Duluth” features scenes in several iconic Duluth locations, including the UMD campus, the Aerial Lift Bridge and other downtown areas. Mayor Don Ness voiced several cameos in the game, including emergency…
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Iron Range native wins Pulitzer for cartoons
An Iron Range native just won a Pulitzer Prize. Though I never knew that Kevin Siers, a political cartoonist for the Charlotte (N.C.) Observer, was from Biwabik, the Duluth News Tribune‘s Mike Creger apparently did. He filed a fascinating feature on Siers and the Pulitzer Prize for cartooning he won Monday. In his 20s, while doing…
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Minnesota minimum wage to gradually rise to $9.50
On Monday, April 14, 2014 Gov. Mark Dayton (D-MN) signed a minimum wage increase into law. Over the next couple years, the minimum wage in Minnesota will gradually rise to $9.50 per hour for most businesses, excluding many small businesses and resorts. The wage will eventually be indexed to inflation beginning in 2016. The UpTake…
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Metal train touts mettle of Minnesota iron mining
The Iron Mining Association of Minnesota, the trade group representing northern Minnesota’s taconite mines and processing plants, is rolling out a new marketing campaign that asks people to “imagine LiFE without iron.” The premise is that it’s hard to imagine life without iron, which is in most of the things we use every day. And…