Minnesota Brown

One of the most common observations made about the Iron Range by outsiders is that we Rangers put on a hell of a Fourth of July every year. Parades, street dances, fireworks, stuff for the kids, stuff most definitely for the adults. We’ve got it all. A lot of people walk out with a smile,…

Amid the stream of bad news that’s come out today, don’t forget that there is a great opportunity to get together with friends and neighbors and enjoy a great show to save HCC Theater tonight. The HCC Theater Support Gala featuring the Blues Brothers and hosts of other performers will take place at 7:30 p.m.…

On a scale of 1-10 on the “Oh, hell no” Iron Range bad economic news metric, this would be a 7. Cliffs Natural Resources has announced that Hibbing Taconite may remain in temporary shutdown until April 2010 because of the global economic slump and slow steel sales. This is bad news at a bad time.…

A strong reaction in opposition to the decision by the former Ironworld’s management to rename itself the Minnesota Discovery Center. This June 20 Mesabi Daily News op/ed by Pam Brunfelt is worth a read. Pam was a key source in my book “Overburden: Modern Life on the Iron Range.” Related posts: No related posts.

This is bad news. Monson trucking, a longstanding trucking company in northern Minnesota and throughout the region, is closing. 200 jobs lost. The loss of these kinds of jobs will deeply affect people living on the margins between middle and low income levels. Anyone who’s driven up Highway 53 or from West 169 into Virginia…

The HCC Theater Support Gala is Thursday, 7:30 p.m., at the Hibbing High School auditorium. I’ve been sharing the preview videos featuring the star attraction(s): The Blues Brothers. This event has the added benefit of being a perfect Blues Brothers metaphor, the reunion of an old collection of performers to save something that matters to…

I’ve been holding onto this for a couple days trying to find time to write about it. Check out this June 27 story from the Sault Star (Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario) about Essar’s Algoma steel facility. The Algoma CEO explains Essar’s long range strategy in North America, including its plans for Essar Minnesota in Nashwauk.…

The real problem facing the Iron Range and places like it is population loss. You can argue about any matter of policy you want, but things won’t really start getting better around here or anywhere in the Rust Belt, small towns or rural areas until population loss is reversed. This Mesabi Daily News story explores…

I’m about to blog about small town planning. DON’T LEAVE THERE IS SO MUCH SEX IN THIS POST! OK, there isn’t, but the possibility that I’m lying might get you through the next paragraph. Anything goes. What’s a small town SLASH rural SLASH urban industrial corridor (ie. Iron Range) guy supposed to do in this…

It’s happening on the east Range, too. After the Nashwauk-Keewatin/Greenway administrative merger last week, Mt. Iron and Virginia schools are also moving in the direction of more sharing and the seeds of administrative consolidation. Note that they are also inviting Eveleth-Gilbert to the table as well. This group of schools has the potential of creating…

Some positive news on the HCC Theater story. Hibbing Community College has announced a resumed search for a full time theater director to be hired on a temporary basis. This will allow the theater community to reorganize and adopt a model that includes outside fundraising to fill in where the budget cuts have hit the…

Fox News reported on the debate over nonferrous mineral mining on the Iron Range near the Boundary Waters. The online story is boilerplate “jobs vs. environment” chatter, but the video is good fun regardless of your opinion of Fox News. Megyn Kelly mispronounces Ely and references “taking a crack at that zinc and so on.”…