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Cornish pasty finds buttery love at French food expo
The Daily Mail in the UK reports that the Cornish pasty, the butter-crusted meat pie that followed its people to Great Lakes region of the United States, was the big hit at a French food festival. The West Country staple was the surprise star of the renowned event in the city of Lorient in Brittany,…
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Strike looms for St. Louis County in northern MN
Burgeoning labor troubles in the state’s largest geographic county are coming to light. The St. Louis County unit of AFSCME has authorized a strike as contract negotiations appear stalled after a meeting with a state mediator on Friday. There is a 10-day “cooling off” period before a strike would begin. The hope is that negotiations…
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Nisswa turtle racing tradition goes back half a century
Last week my family and I took a little mini-vacation to the Brainerd Lakes area. We did all the typical things, the water park, mini golf, etc., but we also tried to take in some of the local culture. Everyone said we needed to check out the turtle races in Nisswa, and we weren’t disappointed.…
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Metrodome roof enjoys second life as many, many bags
The “Domer” bags, Duluth Pack Minnesotans of my GenX/Y vintage have distinct memories of the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, an historical oddity in sports stadiums. It is, essentially, an inflatable stadium. It’s loud. The roof is the exact same color as a baseball. The Twins would move out to Target Field in 2010. It was…
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Prettner-Solon may not run for Lt. Gov. again, so let’s speculate
Minnesota’s DFL Gov. Mark Dayton is running for re-election next year, and four Republicans are running to challenge him. But this MinnPost story shows that Lt. Gov. Yvonne Prettner-Solon, a former state senator from Duluth, doesn’t seem very interested in running for her job again. A combination of proximity to retirement age and what seems…
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Alas, my shirt is also on vacation
Alas, my shirt is also on vacation By Aaron J. Brown Every human on earth traces his or her origins to people who once conducted their affairs entirely shirtless. These people may have walked the plains of Africa, the rocky crags of Europe, the wilds of North America or the Asian Steppe. Wherever they roamed,…
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UPDATE 3: Ammonium nitrate tanker rolls over by Hibbing Taconite
A tanker truck carrying ammonium nitrate rolled over on Highway 5 near the entrance to Hibbing Taconite, according to reports. Officials say the tank did not leak and there are no evacuations planned. UPDATE: Check that, Northland’s Newscenter is reporting a half mile evacuation zone while the wreck is inspected. UPDATE: (from Wikipedia): The chemical…
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Emerald ash borer at the gates of northern MN forests
Creative Commons, Duane Tate Emerald ash borer, Creative Commons, USDA The emerald ash borer has been found in Superior, Wisconsin, across the bridge from Duluth, Minnesota. This ash tree parasite has been slowly making its way north where forest ecologists have long feared it could seriously damage the ash tree populations of northern Minnesota. The…
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Spec no more
While I was gone the Hibbing Daily Tribune reported on a press event held by the city of Hibbing and officials from Detroit Diesel, who will occupy the spec building out by the airport in 2015. I just wrote about that project a few days ago. It’s a big job-creating project and I join everyone…
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PolyMet optimistic after EPA letter indicates progress
I’m back from a family trip to the Brainerd Lakes area. Let’s see, what have I missed. Hmmm. Oh, look, more nonferrous mining news that can be interpreted differently based your worldview. Well, I can’t pass on that. This week, PolyMet released a letter from the EPA indicating that significant progress has been made on…
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Dead guy wants me to stop talking about writing novel
I subscribe to the Wordserve Water Cooler, a community blog that shares posts by writers, editors and publishing types as a resource for aspiring and practicing writers. I’ll admit, I mainly subscribe as a daily reminder that I should be writing more important things than navel-gazing columns and comedy sketches about talking fruit. I feel…
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Minnesota, land of 10,000 geological blotches
Are you ready to rock? Behold this geological map of Minnesota: Note the snake-like grey line of the Mesabi Iron Range in the northeast, how it divides several distinct geological formations. It also divides biological zones and even weather zones. The people are a little different here, too, something we cover at length on this…
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Close-up video of mosquito bite: cool, gross, informative
Minnesota residents are well aware of mosquitoes, often referred to as the unofficial state bird. In northern Minnesota they are a particular factor in the enjoyment of the outdoors, and here in the deep woods of northern Minnesota where I live mosquitoes are a constant consideration between May and September. I think we all get…
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Vaudeville throwback show slated for two-week Range run
The Lyric Opera House in Virginia, Minnesota. The Lyric Center for the Arts in downtown Virginia, Minnesota, will be doing a Vaudeville throwback called “The Last Train to Winnipeg.” Set in Virginia of the 1920s, the show depicts a Vaudeville troop trying to catch the last train north. “The Last Train to Winnipeg” runs…
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Ex-editors dish on conditions in corporate community journalism
Business North has an exclusive story that might interest readers of Northland newspapers. The former editors of the Ashland Press in northern Wisconsin recently dished on the reasons they left the American Consolidated Media-owned paper. A taste: “It was clear to me that if I wanted a day off, I was going to have to…