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Range planetarium to close, reopen as white dwarf
Today I follow-up and in all likelihood conclude my coverage of the plight confronting the Paulucci Space Theatre in Hibbing. On Dec. 1, the planetarium will temporarily close for public shows. In the spring, the facility will reopen under a new business model. The planetarium will be rented on an as-needed basis for school groups,…
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I have been to the mountaintweet
Sometimes the world just openly mocks you. The top of Mt. Everest is getting 3G data coverage to offer climbers, and presumably their Sherpas, high speed internet access at the world’s tallest mountain peak. Meantime, efforts to expand high speed internet access on the Iron Range more closely resemble all those guys who froze on…
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COLUMN: A house in order
This is my weekly column for the Sunday, Nov. 7, 2010 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. A shorter version of this piece was broadcast as commentary on a recent edition of “Between You and Me” on KAXE. A house in orderBy Aaron J. Brown It’s probably fitting that the news of the past week…
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In honor of the Pioneer
MPR’s Bob Kelleher reports on efforts in Ely to turn the old Pioneer Mine site into a culture and heritage center. A quasi-high-end hotel with convention facilities now sits across the street from the Pioneer Mine, the culmination of an immigrant miner’s dream. That is, provided the immigrant miner had the foresight to encourage his…
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GUEST POST: Putting Oberstar’s Pork in Context
This is the latest in a semi-regular series of Iron Range posts from historian Jeff Manuel. News coverage of Representative Jim Oberstar’s loss to Chip Cravaack on Tuesday has emphasized Oberstar’s long record of using earmarks to fund projects in Minnesota’s Eighth District. The Star Tribune called Oberstar “a powerful transportation committee chairman who has…
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Brown on the Air: HOUSES
This Saturday on 91.7 KAXE‘s “Between You and Me” guest hosts Michael Goldberg and Gail Otteson will be exploring the topic of “This Old House.” They’ll be taking calls with stories of your current house or a house from your memory. My weekly commentary goes a slightly different direction, talking about the role of houses…
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Brown in the big city
I had a great day speaking to employees at Minnesota Public Radio in St. Paul today for their staff Conversations with Community series. My topic was the Iron Range. My goal, as always, was to express how life here on today’s Iron Range is a complicated, almost literary existence, full of frustration and defeat, hope…
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Crow: It’s what’s for dinner in MN-08
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that I obviously got my final prediction in MN-08 wrong. I had 53-47 Oberstar. However, I was probably the only DFLer predicting a close race, and reviewing the numbers what I see is a remarkable performance by Chip Cravaack throughout the district. He won by crushing margins…
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First in a long time: Iron Range seat falls to GOP
Longtime State Rep. and former Bovey mayor Loren Solberg (DFL-Grand Rapids) has narrowly lost his District 3B race to Carolyn McElfatrick, a Cohasset nurse and GOPer. For the first time in a generation an Iron Range legislative seat will be held by a Republican. Granted, the debate over whether Grand Rapids is part of the…
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Thank you, Jim Oberstar
In 1988 I was a kid whose dad was the site manager for our family-owned junkyard, where we also lived. My dad was a libertarian, my mom a silent liberal, and our family name was both literally and figuratively the color of mud. That year I had an opportunity to go to Washington, D.C., as…
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Two Range races fall to the old guard
Well, my attempt to have Sarah Palin-like influence over local Iron Range races has failed, just like it mostly did for Palin. Lorrie Janatopoulos lost to incumbent Keith Nelson in St. Louis County Commissioner Dist. 6. Liz Kuoppala lost in the Eveleth mayor’s race to former mayor Robert Vlaisavljevich. These are unfortunate losses for the…
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And it happened in the north
There’s so much to dive into on the Cravaack vs. Oberstar race. First, Cravaack did exactly what I expected he would do in the southern Eighth, clean up. But notably he pulled off a surprise in the north, for instance carrying Balsam Township where I live and holding Jim Oberstar under 60 percent in Hibbing…
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The wave happened
Wow and a half. I’ve got a busy 48 hour period that starts right now, which is why I “called it” early last night (a Sleep Party gain). As I wake up this morning I see that Chip Cravaack has prevailed in his upstart campaign against Jim Oberstar, that the Minnesota House and Senate have…
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LIVE BLOG: Election Night 2010 from the Western Mesabi
This is the live blog for tonight, including information about Iron Range turnout, results and observations sent my way. My email is aaronjbrown@yahoo.com and my Twitter handle is @minnesotabrown if you’ve got something. I’m also listed in the Range Directory should you happen to possess such a fine, thick book of mostly unpronounceable names. 11:05…
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Big gov’mint wants children to learn letters, colors (including RED!)
Sometimes when I talk about politics I say how I am increasingly open to entitlement reform, debt-reduction and other reforms. I’ve become a lot more independent, frankly, in recent years. Liberals look at me cockeyed as though to say, “Hey man, we though you were one of us.” Moderates from the other side say, “Hey…