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Birches be like …
We took a week off last week for the Great Northern Radio Show. Back to the grindstone for another entry in my cartoon series: “Birches be like” 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…
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Range newspaper joins call for rural broadband
I often find myself out of step with the editorial page of the Iron Range’s largest newspaper, the Mesabi Daily News, particularly as it relates to economic priorities. So today I’m glad to report that the Mesabi Daily News has made a strong, compelling case for something we agree about entirely: expansion of Minnesota’s rural…
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Construction job workshop in Duluth on Monday
For a lot of people coming out of school or the doldrums of winter unemployment in northern Minnesota, here is a ray of sunshine. The state is sponsoring a construction job workshop in Duluth on Monday. Here are the details: Do you want to explore a career in the construction and trades field? Attend an…
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Bill would rename Asian carp; solve everything
This blog is nothing if not your inconsistent source for up-to-date Asian carp snark. We also cover politics. Today these worlds collide, as a bill to rename Asian carp as “invasive carp” has made its way into the hopper at the Minnesota Legislature. UPDATE: Holy carp. They might actually to do this. WDIO has the…
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Hibbing grapples with beer brewhaha
Communities across the country are working on an abstract concept called “wellness.” Healthy, happy people are more productive and efficient, costing local, state and federal governments less money to pump full of drugs and replacement joints. So, that’s why there’s a wellness committee at my job, and a wellness event scheduled in Hibbing, Minnesota, next…
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Dylan Days 2014 to continue despite Zimmy’s closure
As many of you know I’ve been part of the team that organizes Dylan Days in Hibbing, Minnesota, since 2001. This has been one of our hardest years yet, with the closure of Zimmy’s Restaurant, the spiritual and cultural hub of Dylan Days, where “Dylan pilgrims” have landed for decades. Well, Dylan Days 2014 will…
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Beat spring fever with 2-day bus trip to different part of Midwest
So, the other night I was watching the local news in real time, which means watching actual commercials as they happen. (You know, the way “normals” watch TV). We often see the morning news shows, but usually miss the 10 p.m. edition. Anyway, that’s where we saw this ad for a new bus-to-bus service offered…
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Grand Rapids event adds voice to homelessness images
People tend to think of social problems being concentrated in the cities because population density forces people to see them. In rural areas and the small towns of northern Minnesota, the problems exist in similar proportion: just often outside the view of most people, most of the time. This is how so many people here…
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Minnesota DNR maps help explore state with new eyes
The above image was created with a maps feature from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources web site. You can use data to create all kinds of different maps. This is the Mesabi Iron Range, as seen from the air in 2010. Naturally, I spent my time on the site checking out places around the Iron…
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Schultz wins DFL nod in 7A, shocking tough field
Four strong candidates. Seven ballots. By the end, Jennifer Schultz had won the DFL endorsement in House District 7A to succeed retiring Rep. Tom Huntley (DFL-Duluth). The Duluth News Tribune has a detailed story. Schultz, a political newcomer, is a professor of economics and director of the health care management program at the University of…
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My place in the woods
I’ve talked to city people who have a hard time falling asleep without the ambient noise of traffic or the hum of industry. And I know country people who say the same thing about the sounds of nature or wind through the trees. It’s a misconception that the woods are quieter than the city. True,…
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Great Lakes ships cut their way out of Duluth port
March in northern Minnesota is a season where spring is observed not necessarily in warmth, flowers and rain like in other places, but it other rhythmic patterns. For instance, this weekend they began chopping some big ships out of the icy prison of the Port of Duluth so they can begin the 2014 Great Lakes…
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Great Northern Radio Show is Saturday night
It’s an exciting day: the live broadcast of my Great Northern Radio Show on Northern Community Radio is Saturday night, beaming out from the Mesabi Range College theater in Virginia, Minnesota. The Great Northern Radio Show broadcasts from small towns and offbeat theaters around northern Minnesota, telling the story of the place and its people,…
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Port of Duluth to be blessed today as spring nears
This afternoon in Duluth, Minnesota, brings the annual blessing of the port, a ceremony conducted before the opening of the shipping season. This is an additional reminder that though it does not feel like spring in northern Minnesota, it truly and technically is. From the Duluth Seaway Port Authority on behalf of the Twin Ports…
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Mesaba Concert Association gets you 15 shows for $35
When we talk about building a vibrant, diversified, creative future for the Iron Range we can’t discount the things we’ve already got going for us. For decades, the Mesaba Concert Association, and their counterparts in Virginia and Ely, have brought quality professional musical entertainment to the Iron Range. They keep the cost to the audience…