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Minnesota native Bob Dylan awarded Légion d’honneur
The nation of France awarded iconic singer/songwriter and northern Minnesota native Bob Dylan its highest distinction this week, the Légion d’honneur (Legion of Honor). According to the BBC, French cultural minister Aurelie Filippetti gave a glowing speech Nov. 13, 2013, citing Dylan’s influence by French poetry and how he inspired student uprisings in the 1960s,…
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Did we win Cold War, or just ‘Get Lucky?’
To quote Rocky Balboa after his stirring fictional defeat of Ivan Drago in Rocky IV: “During this fight, I’ve seen a lot of changing, in the way you feel about me, and in the way I feel about you. In here, there were two guys killing each other, but I guess that’s better than twenty…
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Virginia Public Library celebrates centennial
As a teenager in the 1990s I spent untold hours in the Virginia Public Library in this Minnesota Iron Range city named for the ‘virgin queen’ of England. Always at dusk. Night came early in the winter. My sister had dance classes downtown and I’d drive her in from Cherry after school. The big chairs…
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The United States of North America?
The massive land tracts of the United States and Canada haven’t been attached to the same nation since before the Revolutionary War. Now one idea percolating in the think-o-sphere includes the eventual merger of these two very large North American nations — an aging superpower in the United States and a natural resources-rich social democracy…
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‘Economic cauldron of neglect’ … um, in a good way?
Last summer I met Gene Rebeck, writer for Twin Cities Business, who covers northern Minnesota news for that publication. He was writing a column about the Iron Range economy and was kind enough to include my thoughts in his August 26 column “Forward, into the Past.” I must have been in quiet a mood that…
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Range paper hits Otto over mining lease vote
The issue of nonferrous mining in northeastern Minnesota is a virtual minefield for politicians, especially those within Minnesota’s Democratic Farmer-Labor party, the political home to both pro-mining labor forces and anti-mining environmental forces. The DFL divide over mining is often played up to force political leaders into specific positions, or punish them if they don’t.…
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Veterans Day: honor what vets did, but also why
Every year I attend the Keewatin American Legion annual Veterans Day Spaghetti Feed with my grandfather, a Korean War-era Air Force vet and 50-year member of the post. I am a rather poor member of the Sons of the Legion, a condition of my attendance at this venerated custom. It’s come to be an important…
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A view from Minnesota’s deer hunting season
For a picture of a crisp, quiet deer hunting season opener, you can do no better than Sam Cook of the Duluth News Tribune joining some Northern Community Radio friends of mine – Randy McCarty and John Latimar – in the woods outside Grand Rapids. This passage seems to capture Cook’s unique ability to capture…
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The Iron Ranger who would not hunt
In honor of the 2013 Minnesota deer hunting season opener (rifles, of course), happy hunting to all those participating. I dedicate this column to all the non-hunters struggling with day-to-day conversation this time of year. I live in northern Minnesota. I’ve lived here all my life. I don’t hunt. Yes, I eat meat. And the…
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MN8 GOP challenger stakes out early message
Stewart Mills is the MN8 GOP challenger to U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan (D-MN8) in next year’s election. He’s a political newcomer who comes from a family that’s run a chain of popular fleet supply stores in Minnesota for generations. Devin Henry interviewed Mills in MinnPost, providing a somewhat clearer picture of Mills’ message and views…
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Range town mergers could protect jobs, services
One of the under-reported outcomes of last Tuesday’s off-year local elections was the overwhelming vote by the northern Minnesota communities of Carlton and Thomson to merge. In local media, this was portrayed as the simple matter of tiny Thomson’s overworked mayor and staff. In practice, however, these towns are providing a blueprint for many small…
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IRRRB OKs loans creating jobs, for a price
On Thursday the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board approved loan packages for two Iron Range business projects to create almost 150 new jobs. The first, which I mentioned yesterday, was a $5.9 million loan for Delta Airlines to expand its Chisholm ticket reservation center, a move that the company says will add 107 jobs…
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Delta reservation center in Chisholm to add 107 jobs
Delta airlines is proposing to remodel and expand its Delta reservation center in Chisholm that would add 107 new jobs at the facility. They’ll be approaching the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation for a loan package at today’s meeting in Eveleth. When Delta bought Northwest many thought the Chisholm ticket reservation facility wouldn’t make the…
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Hampton Inn plans Hibbing hotel
It was announced at the Wednesday Hibbing Economic Development Authority meeting that Hampton Inn and Suites plans to develop the former Ogle’s Foods lot into a new Hibbing hotel. The Hibbing Daily Tribune reports and will have more in tomorrow’s paper. Plans could involve construction beginning as soon as December. This is a bit of good…
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School levies prevail across northern Minnesota
Yesterday’s election didn’t provide many surprises here in northern Minnesota, and my hypothesis that schools would face a more difficult time passing referendums proved incorrect. Voters in Duluth, Hermantown and Hibbing all approved their levy referendums. Only Hermantown and the second Duluth question were remotely close, and even then not really in doubt. (Duluth’s second…