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Al Franken joins Google Twin Ports coalition of the willing
Another clever video from Google Twin Ports, seeking the selection of Duluth, Minn., as the Google Fiber test city. Kudos to Sen. Franken for lending his efforts to this one. Related posts: No related posts.
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Funny, true, thus sad
A little bit o’ the profanity, but a worthwhile summary of cable news: (h/t Sullivan) Related posts: No related posts.
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COLUMN: "Rural homeless: out of sight, out of hope?"
This is my weekly column for the Sunday, March 7, 2010 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. It was originally written for last week but rescheduled to run today. Rural homeless: out of sight, out of hope?By Aaron J. Brown It’s easy to forget that poverty, mental illness and personal crisis leave people homeless in…
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Another Iron Range DFL convention: Curiouser and Curiouser
I attended the Itasca DFL convention today in Bovey and can report the following: Nothing I say will make the 2010 DFL endorsement process any more understandable or predictable. I expected Tom Rukavina, fresh off a big win at his nearby home convention in SD-05 last weekend, to win handily. He did win the most…
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"Overburden" talk in Bemidji on Sunday
Here’s to remind everyone in the Bemidji area to stop by the Headwaters Unitarian Universalist Fellowship at 522 America Ave. NW in Bemidji Sunday morning at 10 a.m. I’ll be the featured speaker for the regular service. After the service I’ll be hosting a book reading at 11:30 where I’ll read some hot new material,…
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Brown on the Air: STRANDED
Tune in to 91.7 KAXE‘s “Between You and Me,” a call-in and music program featuring the voices of northern Minnesota, this Saturday morning from 10 a.m. to noon. The topic this week is “Stranded.” Have you ever been stranded? Where? Why? I’ll be joining the fray as usual with my regular radio commentary. Trust me,…
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What teachers do in Bemidji on Sunday
My book “Overburden: Modern Life on the Iron Range” has been out for 18 months (gack, the time!) but I’ve yet to do an author event west of Grand Rapids. That sad reality ends this weekend as I make my first speaking/book appearance in the great city of Bemidji on Sunday. I’ll be the featured…
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Duluth, MN, pwns Topeka, KS
For years I’ve been pushing high speed internet and 21st century e-commuters as perhaps the most important way to diversify the natural resource-based economy of northern Minnesota. We can’t out-sprawl the suburbs. We can’t out-hipster the big cities. We can be ourselves and attract people who like the laid-back, comfortable, yet education-focused atmosphere of northern…
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Iron Ranger on the CBS to-night!
So back in college I used to have this summer job where I would travel around the seven-county area of northern Minnesota’s Arrowhead region, including the Iron Range, to inspect youth summer work sites and write press releases. That’s boring, except for the part where the guy who took the job after me is on…
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Range DFL gov candidates consider unity plan
I have learned from two sources that Tom Bakk told people at the SD-05 convention that he and Tom Rukavina have discussed combining forces before the April DFL state convention, uniting behind the one of them with the most pledged support. This puts even more importance on Bakk doing well in his home district and…
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Rukavina whips Bakk in SD-05 DFL convention
A highly placed source informs me that yesterday’s SD-05 DFL Convention in the heart of the Iron Range was a blowout. State Rep. Tom Rukavina took 16 delegates to fellow Iron Ranger Tom Bakk’s mere 3. Four delegates were elected as uncommitted. Rukavina represents District 5A, which is the core of the Mesabi Iron Range’s…
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This week’s column bumped for newspaper vs. teachers fight
My weekly column for today was bumped from the opinion page of the Hibbing Daily Tribune to make space for an ongoing kerfuffle between HDT publisher Wanda Moeller and the local teacher’s union, a sprawling epic that’s played out each of the past three Sundays. I expect my column — which was about rural homelessness…
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Your job today is to join KAXE
Do me a favor. Go over and look at the website for 91.7 KAXE. If you’re in northern Minnesota, tune in to 91.7 FM or, if you’re anywhere else, stream the audio feed (click “Listen”). Spend some time looking at that website. Read the blogs. Read about the people. Read about some of the programs.…
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Employees picket the Duluth News Tribune
Employees at the Duluth News Tribune picketed the building today in protest of continued job cuts at the Forum Communication-owned property. The entire newspaper industry is enduring economic hardship, particularly at dailies, but the cuts at the DNT have been staggering over the past few years, lately augmented by an increasingly tense relationship between management…
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EPA EPA EPA!
The Canadian mineral company Polymet’s proposed copper-nickel mine on the Iron Range hit turbulence this week with a ding to its draft environmental impact statement from the federal Environmental Protection Agency. “Inadequate” was the word used to describe Polymet’s plans to mitigate the environmental protections for the new-style nonferrous minerals mine on the former LTV…