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Great Northern Radio Show: Actual Wolf
This week I’ll be talking up the featured guests for Saturday’s Great Northern Radio Show, broadcasting live from the Reif Center in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. MinnesotaBrown readers can still get free tickets by calling 218-327-5780 (seating at 4:30, live on Northern Community Radio at 5). Today, it’s Actual Wolf. A lot of people ask if…
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Great Northern Radio Show nabs local headlines
The Great Northern Radio Show, seen from above during our winter show in Bigfork. The Great Northern Radio Show is coming soon, with our biggest show ever this Saturday, June 29 at the Reif Center in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. We’ll be live on Northern Community Radio from 5-7, with free tickets available to our live…
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Here’s what you won’t see: thousands of floating candles
This is cool, but will not happen. (Kernz & Kompany) Looking ahead to the Sept. 21-23 hot-air balloon festival slated for this September in Duluth, Minnesota, event organizers quickly retracted a June 11 press release touting the launch of thousands of wax-fueled paper luminaries into the sky over Lake Superior as part of “Le Festival…
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Psychology of failed Iron Range project’s ‘sunk cost’
The agreement by the IRRRB to extend the loan, reduce the payments and otherwise throw a life line to Excelsior Energy last week escaped with relatively little outrage. Even my own response to this topic I’ve written hundreds of posts about was rather muted. It got a local story in the Grand Rapids and Hibbing…
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Dispatch from the army worm front
This is my Sunday column for the June 23, 2013 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. Dispatch from the army worm frontBy Aaron J. Brown The forest tent caterpillar is actually quite an attractive little critter if you happen to observe just one of them. Blue-green, speckled white and black, the caterpillar seems a friendly…
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Hibbing native’s homegrown indy film premieres at LA Film Fest
Publicity still from “Pollywogs“ Hibbing native Karl Jacob (he goes by that, though is Wiiliainen by birth) filmed his independent movie “Pollywogs” here on the Iron Range in 2011. Last week it premiered at the L.A. Film Festival to good reviews. Chris Hewitt of the St. Paul Pioneer Press recently wrote about the movie, which…
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Celebrating midsummer night’s eve in the people’s park
I’ve written before about Mesaba Co-op Park near Cherry, the cooperative recreational facility built by Iron Range workers in the 1920s. Mesaba Park holds its annual midsummer festival this weekend. Cindy Kujala of the Hometown Focus in Virginia, Minnesota, compiled a historical column on Mesaba Park in a recent edition. You should read the whole…
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Teen’s Range historical group meets today
Tucker Nelson is a pretty interesting guy. At 16, he’s a talented actor and musician at Virginia High School. He appeared in our Eveleth Great Northern Radio Show last fall. He also has an eye for history, frequently posting to popular Iron Range history pages on Facebook. Today Nelson is hosting the first meeting of…
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Peeking into the boat house
My dad’s old boat is still in my garage. Reading what I wrote about it, I realize it’s now been there five years. The motor requires the kind of attention that I just can’t provide. But we reckon with it daily, what it is, what it was and what it could be — all very…
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IRRRB OKs extension for failed Range project
On Monday the IRRRB voted to approve the reorganized loan agreement for Excelsior Energy, the failed Iron Range economic development project that spent $40 million in taxpayer dollars with no results. The agreement extends the loan until 2019, since the company is unable to make payments. The Duluth News Tribune reported on the proceedings. Board…
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Running of the bulls in Zim
I was raised on a family-owned junkyard out in Zim, Minnesota, a tamarack marsh that provided refuge to Finnish immigrants blacklisted from early 20th Century iron mines for their labor organizing. Sleepy old Zim doesn’t get much press, lessen you count the birds, but it did Sunday. Bull. No, bulls. Two buills have been running…
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In the sticks? Mind the ticks
It occurs to me that I’ve lived my entire life in Tick Alley. From the Minnesota Department of Health The late spring confounded ticks in our area, but they are out in full force by now. By the time the black flies come out the ticks usually thin out a bit. It’s been a heavy…
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Adventure-seeking northern Minnesotans need your help
Whales! They kayaked with whales! A couple months ago I wrote about Dave and Amy Freeman, the northern Minnesota couple who kayaked, dog sledded and canoed across and around North America as part of an educational project. Dave and Amy have been nominated for the Spirit of Adventure award by Canoe and Kayak Magazine. It’s…
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May the force be with you this Father’s Day
This is my Sunday column for the June 16, 2013 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. May the force be with you this Father’s DayBy Aaron J. Brown Before we begin, I must disclose that my credentials as a full-fledged Star Wars nerd are pretty thin. I saw all the movies as a kid, of…
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Great Northern Radio Show to rebroadcast Bagley show Saturday night
As we prepare for the June 29 Great Northern Radio Show at the Reif Center in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, you can hear our most recent show this weekend. From 9-11 p.m. Saturday, Northern Community Radio will rebroadcast our March 2013 program, which aired live from the Bagley High School auditorium. If you’ve missed it, this…