-
Husk of Nashwauk gas station finally to be razed
More than eight years after the fire that charred and closed a downtown Nashwauk gas station, city officials expect the building to be razed this Wednesday, April 30. The owner of the building has fought for those years to keep the city from doing so, but never presented a plan or funds to repair the…
-
Joining the Star Tribune blog team
Today, I’ll be joining the state’s largest newspaper, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, as a blogger. I’ll be posting on the Strib’s “Your Voices” blog once or twice a week with some of my greatest hits from here at MinnesotaBrown and occasional original pieces written for a statewide audience. I’ll have a standing blog page called the…
-
Antlers for fighting; ain’t easy being a baby bird
I live in a forest. Growing up just outside the red-stained cities of the Iron Range I never considered that I’d one day live even further away from stoplights and pizza delivery than I already did. But here I am in the woods of Itasca County. The deer stroll by out front, more like neighbors…
-
You don’t play trees like that
“You don’t play trees like that” 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.
-
BREAKING: Congressman to live-tweet UPS ride-along
Fresh across the wires, U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan (D-MN8) will be live-tweeting a ride-along with a UPS driver in Duluth, Minnesota, this morning. How could you not check in on this? His campaign indicates that Nolan paid for his college education working as a UPS driver back in the day. UPDATE: Oh, this is happening.…
-
Northern Minnesota’s 3rd snowiest winter on record
With last night’s snow, Duluth, Minnesota, has now posted its third-snowiest winter on record. Several media outlets are reporting the news. While we didn’t break the records for “overall” cold, we also broke the record for number of consecutive days below zero back in January and February. Related posts: No related posts.
-
Nolan calls for U.S., Iron Range steel in pipelines
U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan (D-MN8) is calling for steel used in the construction of proposed transnational oil and gas pipelines to be made in America, with American iron ore. Nolan discussed his proposed bill with the Mesabi Daily News yesterday in an interview published today. We don’t know the political status of the bill, but…
-
Range lawmakers cool to broadband bill
As Katie G. Nelson reports for the Mesabi Daily News, Hibbing Tribune and Grand Rapids Herald-Review, Iron Range lawmakers are taking a decidedly unenthusiastic stance on a bill that would fund new broadband infrastructure in Minnesota. On one hand, there is acknowledgement that $25 million is not enough to extend broadband to unserved regions of…
-
ABC’s Elizabeth Vargas visits Range for arson story
Though I failed to say anything about it when it was happening, the talk of the Iron Range some time ago was the Babbitt fire chief who was caught setting fires. I didn’t say anything because it was kind of a sad story (the guy has some problems), not one befitting of my normal snark…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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,…