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Bob McDonald loses last home game to son’s Ely team
Legendary Chisholm High School basketball coach Bob McDonald’s last home game was bittersweet for the 59-year, 1,000-win coaching veteran. His Bluestreaks lost, but they lost to an Ely Wolves team coached by his son, Tom. And it’s not over. Chisholm now heads to the playoffs where Ely and other opponents won’t be able to look…
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Robo-rooters clog commissioners with septic sniping
The Mesabi Daily News’ top Sunday story this week was about hundreds of robo-calls to St. Louis County Commissioners over a septic policy change. Two of the most targeted commissioners — Keith Nelson from the eastern Mesabi, and Mike Forsman from the Vermilion Range — feel the calls were inappropriate and filled with misinformation, according…
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What economic diversification looks like
All you really need to do is ask someone who used to live on the Iron Range, “what do you see when you come back to the Range?” While there might be nostalgia over happy memories or familiar sites, more often than not they’ll say, “What happened?” What happened to the businesses that used to…
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“Soon Prosperity”
I will continue posting original cartoons about northern Minnesota every Friday until the snow melts as part of my 2014 winter/spring sanity project. Related posts: No related posts.
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Filmmaker set to release Minnesota wolf documentary
Last winter, a California director filmed scenes for “Medicine of the Wolf,” a documentary on the Minnesota wolf featuring renowned wildlife photographer and writer Jim Brandenburg. Julia Huffman now seeks to finish her movie, adding some crucial interviews and perspective, and she’s almost halfway toward doing so on Kickstarter. The political battle since the onset…
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Tourists swarm Apostle Island ice caves
The Apostle Island ice caves in northern Wisconsin are this season’s hottest site-seeing destination for northern Minnesotans and Wisconsinites. Favorable ice conditions have allowed walking access to the sea caves for the first time in five years, and the sites inside the caves are truly spectacular. How do I know this, since I haven’t gone…
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Metrodome pitcher, bullpen mounds head to the Range
I’ve been following this in conversations at my day job (instructor at Hibbing Community College) but today it’s official: the pitcher’s mound and bullpen mound from the Metrodome are headed to northern Minnesota’s Iron Range. From the employee newsletter this morning: There are no stadium seats for sale, but HCC baseball coach Dave Bevacqua bid…
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U.S. team with northern Minn. roots falls at Sochi
The Olympic dreams of the U.S. Men’s Curling team have ended, meaning the Sochi Winter Games are over for the Shuster rink whose Iron Range and Duluth roots pulsed out the TV screens every time they played. With the 6-3 loss to Switzerland early this morning, Minnesota time, followed by yesterday’s devastating defeats to likely…
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Iron Range sustainability group to fund community projects
The Iron Range Partnership for Sustainability has established a Community Sustainability Initiative. They’ll be awarding grants of up to $500 for community projects dedicated to community sustainability or health. The Iron Range sustainability application describes the program this way: The community sustainability initiative is intended to provide the opportunity for groups in northeastern Minnesota to…
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Olympics have me wondering, ‘what’s my time?’
Watching the Winter Olympics always makes me glad we don’t have to walk around knowing where we rank at this point in our lives and how many seconds off the leader we are. If you’ve been watching the Olympics you know what I’m talking about. Alpine skiers screech down a mountain at 80 mph, faster…
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Team USA’s Shuster Rink down to last stones
The U.S. men’s curling team from northern Minnesota played three more games yesterday and today. Unfortunately, the news is rather grim for Team USA’s Shuster Rink at the Sochi Olympics. On Thursday, the American men lost a close 5-3 game against medal favorite Great Britain, but were outplayed masterfully at every end. Today brought the…
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MinnesotaBrown cartoon series: “Spring-Winter Talks”
Starting today through the melting of the last snow I’ll run an original cartoon every Friday here at MinnesotaBrown.com. I’m not trained as a cartoonist or as an artist. My drawings lack precision. But I have developed a motif using sketches and colorful paper supplies located in my office. So let’s run with this. To…
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Bird, Bird, Bird (Bird is the Word) in Sax-Zim Bog
Starting today, Friday, Feb. 14, and running through Sunday, Feb. 16, the Friends of the Sax-Zim Bog will be holding their 7th annual Sax-Zim Birding Festival, based out of Meadowlands, Minnesota. The Sax-Zim Bog is a mighty marshland found just south of the Mesabi Iron Range and north of Duluth. It was once the basin…
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MN DNR OKs controversial deer feed amid harsh winter
For the first time in 17 years, the Minnesota DNR is making widespread plans to feed starving deer as this harsh winter enters its long conclusion. John Myers has a story in today’s Duluth News Tribune. The issue is controversial. DNR wildlife managers don’t believe it’s wise or necessary to feed wild deer, as the…
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Volkswagen union scuffle has Range senator putting out welcome mat
Auto workers in a Tennessee Volkswagen plant voted yesterday on whether to join the United Auto Workers union. VW has stated they would welcome the union if workers opt for it, but Republican politicos in this deep red state have interjected, hoping to keep organized labor out of a region where it has been resisted…