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COLUMN: The Wienermobile rides full circle
This is my weekly column for the Sunday, July 12, 2009 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. For frequent readers of this blog, fear not, this is the last time you should have to read about the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile here for some time. The Wienermobile rides full circleBy Aaron J. Brown You may have…
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Brown on the Air: 7/13 Range Roundup
Tune in to hear my semi-regular Range news and views segment on the Monday KAXE Morning Show. The segment is scheduled for 7:20 a.m. on 91.7 FM in northern Minnesota and streaming online all over the world at www.kaxe.org. Subjects will range from local mining woes, to Excelsior Energy’s recent Hail Mary pass into the…
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Bakk ties Range history to modern times
Grace Kelly at the Minnesota Progressive Project features a video of State Sen. Tom Bakk explaining and analyzing Iron Range history in the context of modern politics. Bakk is actually pretty good at this stuff when you can keep him on point. Check it out. Related posts: No related posts.
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The exodus
This Grand Rapids Herald-Review story relays data that has been in several newspaper stories this week. Census data is showing something that most northern Minnesotan have observed for themselves. People are moving from the towns to the country. This is changing the culture of the region a little more each year: more of a focus…
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Start your excavators
An impasse in negotiations between the state of Minnesota and U.S. Steel is dashing hopes of a new state park on Lake Vermilion. (MDN) Related posts: No related posts.
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Are the Hell’s Angels coming to your town?
West Duluth’s Spirit Valley Days events are moved up two weeks to avoid conflict with a scheduled congregation of the Hells Angels. Apparently the police thought that combining street dance patrons and Hell’s Angels was a little too much like red ants/black ants. Related posts: No related posts.
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‘Overburden’ road show closes Monday in Brainerd
We’re entering the long hot summer of my semi-regular Minnesota tour for my book “Overburden: Modern Life on the Iron Range.” At noon this Monday, July 13, my last (for now) scheduled book event will take place at the Brainerd Public Library (416 S. 5th St.). I’ll be participating in their “brown bag” lunch series…
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Brown on the Air: TURTLES!
My weekly radio essay for Saturday morning’s edition of “Between You and Me” on 91.7 KAXE deals with turtles. Why turtles? Well, each week the program explores a new aspect of life in northern Minnesota (with great music, too!) and this week we are delving into the woes of the many local turtles crossing highways…
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MinnPost series: Iron Range mining among worst hit sectors of Minnesota economy
MinnPost has been doing a series about the state of the Minnesota economy. Their third part ran today and includes a compelling comparison between the various regions and economic sectors of the state. The following excerpt may seem obvious, but sums up our problems here: May’s job statistics tell mining’s story. Unemployment in Duluth was…
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Hurry, the pipeline’s in trouble
The Duluth News Tribune is slapping down late hour protests against Enbridge Energy’s proposed pipeline from Canada to Superior, Wis. The theme: Where were these protesters when there were public hearings? Yeah, yeah, whatever. Listen, I don’t have a dog in this fight. People want a pipeline? Fine. Oil. Tar sands. I care, but not…
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Gaertner interview coming
Thursday I’ll be interviewing DFL gubernatorial candidate Susan Gaertner after the meeting of the Itasca County DFL Social Club in Grand Rapids. Gaertner will be meeting with local DFLers starting at noon at the Itasca Co. DFL headquarters on Highway 169. You don’t have to be a member to attend. I’ll be releasing the post…
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The key to our future
This MinnPost article shows how broadband usage by the American population continues to grow even as the economy shrinks. My back-of-the-envelope math, however, shows that the demographics of the Iron Range still put us in risk of falling behind the rest of the country (and certainly the industrialized world) in both usage and understanding of…
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Oh, and one more thing while I’m getting warmed up
If I can add anything else to my earlier post about Excelsior Energy’s changes to the Mesaba Energy Project it is to remind everyone in Minnesota politics that this project DOES NOT represent a universally agreed-upon solution to economic development or energy policy for the Iron Range or anywhere else. Take heed, our new U.S.…
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Major (and baffling) changes coming to Mesaba Energy Project?
Business North‘s Beth Bily is reporting that Excelsior Energy, an eight-year-old start up company, received some rather hushed assistance in the waning hours of this year’s legislative session from gubernatorial candidate Sen. Tom Bakk (DFL-Cook). It now appears the company is exploring the option of building a 100 mW natural gas peaking plant on the…
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No sound, no work
Mesabi Misadventures describes the feelings of an Iron Range mine worker when there is no mining work. She does a great job incorporating the sights, sounds and emotions of the Iron Range behind the well known news headlines of our various mine shutdowns amid the slumping economy. Related posts: No related posts.