-
Some progress, more work ahead for Minn. rural broadband
Yesterday, work began on the Greater Minnesota Broadband Collaborative Project, extending internet speeds and connectivity in northern Minnesota. A project in southern Minnesota also began construction. These projects largely stem from the controversial federal economic stimulus efforts of 2009 and remind us that those efforts are not yet complete. Most of you know I have…
-
Tony Hayward story making waves in Range mining vs. environment clash
Northland’s NewsCenter offers an update to yesterday’s revelation that former BP head Tony Hayward is now working for Glencore, the company behind the PolyMet project here on the Range: UPDATE: I must add, as I mentioned yesterday, that PolyMet has said that Hayward will not be involved in its Range project. That’s true, but I…
-
Much-maligned former BP boss Hayward to oversee Range project?
MinnPost’s Don Shelby has a fascinating scoop about how the parent company of Polymet, which is proposing new nonferrous mining on the Iron Range, has hired Tony Hayward. You might remember Hayward as the CEO of BP during the massive underwater Gulf Coast oil spill last year. Hayward’s job with Glencore: Overseeing environmental policy and…
-
Cuddyer pitches; universe disturbed
Last night Minnesota Twins outfielder Michael Cuddyer was asked to pitch the 8th inning in a 20-6 drubbing by the Texas Rangers. The good news is that after pitching into a jam he closed the inning without giving up any runs. The bad news is that we live in a world where this happens. (Image…
-
‘Let the Great World Spin’
I keep threatening to write a novel the way the barbarians once kept threatening to overrun Rome. Unthinkable, but one day it could happen. On my journey I’ve decided to rejigger my reading list to include more fiction. And today I’m glad I’ve done so. “Let the Great World Spin” by Colum McCann (2009) doesn’t…
-
The ‘greatest days’ of Range summer nearly here (and gone)
One summer a few years back I was in the Noon Rotary Club in Hibbing, Minnesota, and along with my colleagues was tasked with taking tickets at the St. Louis County Fair in the nearby town of Chisholm. It was a fundraiser for the club and an opportunity for service at the biggest single summer…
-
MinnesotaBrown on Google+, I think.
Though I still don’t know what I’ll do with it, I’ve entered the Google+ world. You can “+1” this site using the button below or in the side bar. Follow me? Or don’t. It works differently. I will learn it when Twitter dies, which is supposed to be soon I guess. Related posts: No related…
-
COLUMN: History echoes through our modern democracy
This is my weekly column for the Sunday, July 24, 2011 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. History echoes through our modern democracyBy Aaron J. Brown Maybe you’ve got a book like this in your house, a big one: heavier than most new computers, too big to hide. For me this book was “The Rise…
-
Time out of Mind on Minnesota’s Iron Range
There are a lot of odd patterns on the Iron Range. Finding them is great fun, and why I’ve endeavored to stay here and write. Most people see the economic patterns. Mines up, mines down. Pawn shops and the Wal-Mart. There’s the drawn out process by which the Friday night boys cruising main street in…
-
Brown on the Air: OMENS!
This Saturday morning on 91.7 KAXE‘s “Between You and Me,” guest hosts Michael Goldberg and Gail Otteson explore the topic of omens with music, calls from listeners and the writing of several commentators such as myself. Omens can be good, but most folks tend to focus on “ominous” signs, or the bad. But not all…
-
Successful first term, future cuts leave Duluth’s Ness unopposed
And in regional political news, Don Ness will be unopposed this fall in his bid for a second term as mayor of Duluth. That’s right, the town that usually celebrates every fourth year with a bellowing kerfuffle on the city ballot will instead crown the youngish, internetty Ness the Hipster King of the Zenith City.…
-
Northern Minnesota air service may die by federal blade
Here’s a story that shows how things have changed in northern Minnesota politics. A federal budget debate in D.C. could end rural transportation subsidies which would cause the suspension commercial air service to the Iron Range, International Falls and Thief River Falls. The program to ensure air travel to rural areas was strongly advocated by…
-
The sound and the fury over Range taconite revenue
This morning Gov. Mark Dayton signed the last of the budget bills ending the Minnesota state government shutdown and funding the next biennium. Though the deal was messy and unpopular, arguably unwise, it will be nice to have a semblance of normalcy return to what was once regarded as a good governance state. I’m also…
-
Rural, post-industrial closures are opportunities in disguise (For real!)
One thing people in rural and post-industrial places like the Iron Range need to do is … Sigh. Here I go again. Listen, just look outside your window right now. Do you see a green or blue thing that is not a building where animals live or could live? I mean big ones, not squirrels.…
-
The internet freedom fight for the future
Last week I had a conversation with a local business owner in northern Minnesota who provides WiFi internet to her customers. Or, at least, she did. Her internet provider shut down her service because someone, presumably a customer, had illegally downloaded music using the connection. Efforts to implement security to prevent such downloads did not…