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Art in the Park Thursday nights – Welcome to July!
Art in the Park Thursdays at the Minnesota Discovery Center in Chisholm roll onward tonight starting at 5 p.m. Free admission to the MDC (Ironworld, by another name) and a variety of live music in the pavilion. Join us Thursdays June 17 through September 2, 2010, from 5-9 p.m. for Art in the Park, a…
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As I lament the exurban wave
The political redistricting of 2012 is the elephant (or donkey, if you prefer) in the room for those involved. Politics in Minnesota’s Charlie Shaw interviewed me and a favorite former interview subject, state demographer Tom Gillaspy, for a story on how places like northern Minnesota’s Iron Range might be affected by population change and redistricting.…
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Parades, street dances and fireworks: an Iron Range party (for America)
This is an older listing. This year’s schedule is here. SCROLL DOWN FOR RANGE 4th of JULY SCHEDULE Fourth of July is a special time here on the Iron Range. Our immigrant ancestry and almost childlike adherence to the tenets of the American Dream make us a tad more nationalistic and militaristic than your average…
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COLUMN: Survival of the Finnish
This is my weekly column for the June 27, 2010 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. A version of this piece aired on the June 5, 2010 episode of “Between You and Me” on KAXE. Survival of the FinnishBy Aaron J. Brown As Independence Day approaches, thoughts turn to the survival of our republic. Survival…
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Show some "sense," support KAXE tonight!
If you’re reading the internet on Saturday night you are, like me, not normal. Or perhaps we are normal in our common modern social affliction. Regardless, you are a person who appreciates the media, especially good media. KAXE is great media — radio, for sure, but also online news and information and content on demand.…
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Brown on the Air: THE SIXTH SENSE
Tune in tomorrow for the Saturday morning radio spectacular “Between You and Me” on northern Minnesota’s 91.7 KAXE. The show airs from 10 a.m. to noon and each week deals with a new topic for host Heidi Holtan, regular contributors like me, and callers to explore through stories and music. This week we talk about…
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Grow faster!
I’ve been a little behind this week. You might have missed from last week’s Iron Range Resources board meeting that the contract economic development “developer” position held by David Richter, who I’ve interviewed for this blog, was given a sort of three month probation to show results. This all cropped up in a recent controversy…
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About my friend Tom Anzelc
My friend State Rep. Tom Anzelc, who I helped get elected as his campaign manager and strategist in 2006 and who, like me, lives out in Balsam Township, has been in the news these last two days. An ex-girlfriend slapped Anzelc with a restraining order full of salacious charges, pretty much the widest gamut of…
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COLUMN: Know your place
This is my weekly column for the Sunday, June 20, 2010 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune, referencing my visit to Chicago detailed earlier in the week. Know your placeBy Aaron J. Brown I don’t travel much. When you live in the place you want to live and do what you want to do, you…
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Brown on the Air: STATE PARKS
My weekly contribution to “Between You and Me,” KAXE‘s weekly Saturday morning call-in and music show joins this episode’s theme of “State Parks.” What better place to talk about state parks than northern Minnesota, where the really good parks are located? I jump in the fray with the perspective of a northern Minnesotan who lives…
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Weekly Range arts event in Chisholm aims to shake up local scene, bring out families
I let it pass without mentioning, but Ironworld, still operating as the Minnesota Discovery center, reopened a couple weeks ago. I met with the new CEO Paul Dwyer a few weeks ago and one of the things he was planning was a Thursday night arts program, free to the public, where local bands would play.…
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Snap, don’t clap, for this budget message
I’m posting this mostly for its literary significance. When was the last time you heard a beat poem about Minnesota’s budget crisis? That’s what I thought. Related posts: No related posts.
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Range job fails to produce jobs, say job-holders
Over my lost weekend at O’Hare I missed this Bill Hanna story (subscription only, sorry) from the Mesabi Daily News that was reprinted in other SPC papers, including my column’s benefactor the Hibbing Daily Tribune. Headline: “[Iron Range Resources] position directly led to no new jobs.” I almost did a spit take when I saw…
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Cloutless, not clueless
Doug Grow has a good read over at MinnPost about the likelihood of rural Minnesota losing political clout in the state legislature after the 2010 Census spins into 2012 redistricting. Of particular note is Rep. Al Juhnke’s assessment that the next two years of legislative activity are going to become make or break for all…
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Don’t cross check the lion (and other Chicago images)
OK, so I know I failed to offer more Iron Ranger “On the Road” tales from my Chicago trip last weekend. I got mired in conference business and then on the last day I spent 12 hours at O’Hare International Airport fighting for passage back to my native land here in northern Minnesota. More on…