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Yet unresolved Range pension issue coming into focus
I’m a few days behind on this, but it’s worth mentioning that a top official with the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation traveled to the Iron Range to reassure National Steel retirees who saw their pensions stripped down after the company declared bankruptcy in 2003. The PBGC pledge to fix the problem now enters its strongest…
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Essar moves ahead with Nashwauk plans
Business North leads today with an update on the Essar Steel project slated over the boneyard of the old Butler mine outside Nashwauk. Company officials explain the progress of what is supposed to become the first integrated mining and steelmaking facility on northern Minnesota’s Iron Range. Others, (including, as I now see, myself), are quoted…
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COLUMN: Old school without even trying
This is my weekly column for the Sunday, April 17, 2011 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. Old school without even tryingBy Aaron J. Brown It happened, like many things, in Target. A good marketer can tell you that there’s an innate difference in the aesthetics between major retailers like Target and Wal-Mart. These cathedrals…
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Brown on the Air: ONCE MORE, WITH FEELING
The 91.7 KAXE Saturday morning call-in and talk show “Between You and Me” tries again with the “Even my friends don’t know” topic. Host Heidi Holtan is on the mend from her lost voice. Tune in from 10 a.m. to noon on 91.7 FM or streaming live at www.kaxe.org. I explained more last week, if…
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Range profile eyes political culture, trends of storied region
Session Weekly’s Nick Busse pens a profile of the Iron Range legislative delegation worth reading. Perhaps repetitive for political insiders, “Ranger in a Strange Land” is a great primer for those who have wondered about the mindset of the fabled Range Delegation, which held its annual “Ranger Party” in St. Paul last Tuesday. For me…
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Leave Marble Alone
When I described my feelings wandering around the Iron Range city of Marble last weekend in a recent post, my observations spurred some unexpected squabbling in the comments. Alert reader Tony used the opportunity to create this: I think this needs to go viral. The less context the better. Related posts: No related posts.
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IRRRB to meet Friday; anger to be sustained afterward
The Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board meets 1:30 Friday afternoon at the agency’s headquarters south of Eveleth. Afterward there will be a press conference by Iron Range legislators to discuss several issues, most notably the economic development fund at stake in the legislative budget negotiations in St. Paul. Related posts: No related posts.
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Knights, Eagles become Night-hawks in symbolic Range school news
Yesterday Janna Goerdt wrote a story for the Duluth News Tribune about the renaming of the Babbitt-Embarrass school to reflect the St. Louis County school district internal consolidation between B-E and Tower-Soudan. The school will be called the Northeast Range School and its mascot will be the “Night-hawks.” Naturally, the locals are not sure about…
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The places of the Range, bypassed, bygone, but not to be ignored
The other night Christina and I went out to dinner and took our time getting home, driving around the towns of the western Mesabi. For as long as I’ve lived and worked around this part of the state there are still corners I’ve never had happenstance to visit. One of those places was Marble. If…
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MPR: Lagging connections in rural areas a drag on Minnesota’s prosperity
I’ve got the feature commentary spot at Minnesota Public Radio’s website today. In “Lagging connections in rural areas a drag on Minnesota’s prosperity,” I talk about the digital divide between the Twin Cities and rural Minnesota, particularly the Iron Range. This gap threatens more than just the future of rural Minnesota, but the whole state’s…
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On matters of pants, I stand with George F. Will
Every word of this Washington Post column, “Demon Denim,” by conservative intellectual columnist George F. Will is in accordance with my beliefs about pants. Will and I are in total, unmitigated agreement. I am disturbed by this, but not as disturbed as you after you read the column. It bears mentioning that I am 31…
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Peruvian copper mine blocked after protests
For a different take on how nonferrous mineral mining debates can proceed, check out this story from Peru. The government there is stopping a copper mining project after locals rioted. We in northern Minnesota can take some comfort that no one has died during our debate on mineral mining. Nevertheless, the environmental impact of this…
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COLUMN: Mr. Apple lives forever
This is my weekly column that ran in the Saturday, April 9, 2011 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. I was bumped off the Sunday page for a large number of letters to the editor. Mr. Apple lives foreverBy Aaron J. Brown I’m learning that life’s challenges wait in the misty valley between things you…
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Brown on the Air: EVEN MY FRIENDS DON’T KNOW
UPDATE: Heidi lost her voice before the April 9 show, so this topic including my essay will be revisited for the April 16 program. This week’s topic for 91.7 KAXE‘s Saturday morning “Between You and Me” program could generate quite a tizzy. “One Thing Even My Friends Don’t Know About Me.” We all have little…
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Young voices in rural Minnesota
MinnPost’s Jeff Severns Guntzel interviews young adults in the “Rural Minnesota: A generation at the crossroads” project. He talked to some of my students at the college. These voices are very important to a region like northern Minnesota to understand itself and make the right policy choices down the line. This will be a project…