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LIVE FEED: Dayton, legislative leaders discuss 2013 agenda
Gov. Mark Dayton (DFL-Minnesota) and legislative leaders from the state House and Senate will hold a joint press conference today at 11:30 a.m. Courtesy of The Uptake, I’ll carry the event live here at MinnesotaBrown.com. Last week, state budget forecasters announced a deficit of about $1.1 billion, about what was expected. Still in the mix…
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Nolan featured in NY Times story on political experience
Rep.-elect Rick Nolan (D-MN8) is in the lede of a story in the New York Times about the importance of experience in political leaders. Nolan ran as an experienced “down-home” small businessman, but had this little nugget in his resume: he served in Congress 30 years ago and left of his own choice because of…
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The Great Northern gets front page for Bigfork show
The Grand Rapids Herald Review was very kind to the Great Northern Radio Show in Sunday’s paper. They ran our press release and put my stage-lit mug up over the mast on the front page and sprawled across the culture section. I question the effect this will have on rack sales, but I suppose that’s…
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COLUMN: Hay! What? Hay bales (that’s the joke)
This is my Sunday column for the Dec. 9, 2012 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. I previewed this column earlier in the week, complete with the 1998 Cherry High School class picture, in which my class posed in a hay field with hay bales. Also, I am wearing white pants. Hay! What? Hay bales!…
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Twitter list is a big deal … you know, regionally
On Monday I’ll be posting details on the next Great Northern Radio Show next Saturday, Dec. 15, at the Edge Center for the Arts in Bigfork. I’m editing the script right now. There’ll be a lot of that next week. So no time for news today, but how about an internet narcissism break? You didn’t…
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Looking in on Hibbing’s ‘Castle in the Wilderness’
WCCO’s Bill Hudson did a “Finding Minnesota” story about Hibbing High School, one of the most ornate and visually stunning school houses in the state. Most Iron Range locals take this place for granted, or at least are desensitized to its grandeur. This building and its history are a fascinating part of the area’s rich…
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Hey! Hey! Hands off my hay!
This morning, NPR aired this story about hay thefts on the Great Plains. With drought across much of the country, hay is a precious commodity these days, commanding double the normal price. This has prompted hay rustling, which is funny when you think about the size and highly visible location of most hay bales. I…
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Nolan lifts curtain on backroom congressional fundraising
WTIP’s Jay Andersen has this intriguing interview with Rep.-elect Rick Nolan (D-MN8) as he prepares to take office in January. It was noted in the interview that Nolan’s election this November represents a 32-year span between his last term, which ended in 1980, and the one he’ll begin soon. Nolan spends most of the interview…
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‘Value-added’ setback reminds of Range’s inherent value
The Mesabi Daily News penned a Sunday, Dec. 2, editorial about the decision by Magnetation to locate their pellet production plant in Reynolds, Indiana, instead of on the western Mesabi Iron Range where they mine and partially process their raw ore. The Bill Hanna opinion is one shared across the region: disappointment. “And that should…
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Unique gifts from northern Minnesota’s Iron Range
If you’re looking for unique gifts with a connection to northern Minnesota’s Iron Range, check out Made on the Range. This was rolled out several months ago but is updated for the holiday season now. Tony Sertich, commissioner of the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board (IRRRB), held a press event touting the website yesterday.…
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Remixing the Rainbow
This hit the spot this morning: Another PBS ‘remix’ of a popular children’s program, this one “Reading Rainbow.” Oh, boy, it occurs to me how much I dug Reading Rainbow as a kid. This video gave me flashbacks. When I realized that Levar Burton from “Reading Rainbow” was Jordy on “Star Trek: The Next Generation”…
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Swedish paper profiles complicated story of Bob Dylan in Hibbing
Reporter Kristin Lundell and photographer Karin Grip visited Hibbing in October to do a feature for the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet, one of the nation’s largest dailies. Today, Lundell’s story and Grip’s photos ran in a huge three-page feature in the Culture section. You can read the story in Swedish here or the Google translation…
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COLUMN: Today’s labor battles found in retail aisles
This is my Sunday column for the Dec. 2, 2012 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. Today’s labor battles found in retail aisles By Aaron J. Brown Nothing sets the table for an interesting period in history like a failed strike. There was much-ballyhooed strike over Thanksgiving weekend surrounding employees at Wal-Mart. Garnering great attention,…
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The holiday project, light unto a dark universe
Today ends November and welcomes December, a month that, in America at least, brings a contradictory swirl of non-stop holiday and additional work duties. Have fun! Relax! Get your work done! We usually fire people before the end of the year! Don’t worry, though, we wouldn’t do that on Christmas! The topic on Saturday’s “Between…
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The lessons of a Rust Belt upbringing
I read this post, “Born into Ruin: How the Young are Changing Cleveland” by Richey Piiparinen yesterday and it floored me. Read this: It’s true. I am not happy all the time living in Cleveland. But I don’t want to be happy all the time. That’s unnatural. Said Nietzsche: “Sometimes, struggles are exactly what we…