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The tax shell game shows up in numbers
Minnesota 2020 has a fascinating analysis of a Minnesota Department of Revenue tax study. When you factor in local taxes with state taxes, high income Minnesotans pay less as a percentage of their income than low income Minnesotans. Local property taxes are taxes. Tuition is a tax. Fees are a tax. Minnesota has abandoned its…
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Group warns utilities about proposed Range coal gas plant risks
An Iron Range citizen group is cautioning public utilities in Minnesota against any power purchase deal with the startup company Excelsior Energy, the proponent of the coal gasification Mesaba Energy Project. Mike Jennings posts a story for the Hibbing Daily Tribune: The message, which a leader of CAMP says was sent by e-mail last week…
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Dylan Days 2009 … more accordion!
My weekly morning Iron Range news roundup on 91.7 KAXE continued today (I forgot to shamelessly plug the appearance … that won’t happen again!). Today the topic was Dylan Days, the grassroots arts event held each May in Hibbing of which I am one of the organizers. We had a great talk about Bob Dylan’s…
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Range paper: Arrrr-Qaida?
I missed this gem of an editorial from the Mesabi Daily News last week. Those weren’t pirates, those were “Somali Muslim Terrorists!” This one comes complete with an unsubstantiated suggested al Qaida link, a la spring ’03. Can’t beat the classics. Using this new definition of terrorism we should all be on Red Alert. Any…
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‘Overburden’ gets boffo review in DNT
My book “Overburden: Modern Life on the Iron Range” was featured in Sunday’s “What are you reading?” segment in the Duluth News Tribune. This is the segment that replaced an actual human book editor with submitted reader reviews. But hey, why sweat the journalistic implications when a reader has something this nice to say about…
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A Range blog worth reading
I like to point out when other blogs from northern Minnesota’s Iron Range start up. I have to recommend this one, Mesabi Misadventures, which I quoted in my column this week. This is a very funny blog but her most recent post is sobering for me to read and deeply related to the column I…
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A better welcome wagon means fewer farewells
This is my weekly column that ran in the Sunday, April 19, 2009 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. Ironically, this piece written in an 18th century format was inspired by a prompt from the ProBlogger 31 Days to a Better Blog challenge. What a world! A better welcome wagon means fewer farewellsBy Aaron J.…
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Support independent media by becoming a KAXE fan
Today’s “Between You and Me” program on 91.7 KAXE kicks off the station’s goal of getting 1,000 Facebook fans before the station’s 33rd birthday next Thursday. Ironically, this is the same sort of thing that many 33-year-olds who rely on the generosity of others like to do. Wocka wocka! In all seriousness, KAXE has a…
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Thank you, Superior!
Thanks to everyone who came out for my “Overburden: Modern Life on the Iron Range” lecture at UW-Superior yesterday. It was a nice crowd, especially considering how beautiful the weather was over in Superior Friday afternoon. Outside, college students wandered around in shorts. All the beverages and foodstuff that had frozen in my car over…
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Brown on the Air: SOCIAL NETWORKING!
My essay for KAXE’s Saturday morning call-in and music show “Between You and Me” will join the weekly program’s current topic: social networking. If you didn’t know, this show seeks to showcase the unique culture and voices of northern Minnesota. Unfortunately for hipsters like me that means living in a world in which half the…
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Rolling south to Sup-town
Don’t forget: I’ll be giving a free lecture/reading at UW-Superior today for my book “Overburden: Modern Life on the Iron Range. The program begins at 2 p.m. in the Manion Theater of the Holden Fine Arts Building. I’ll be talking partly about the book, a blend of humor, history and cultural observations of the unique…
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No joke: Range course named top pick by golf mag
The Wilderness at Fortune Bay, on the eastern Iron Range, has been named a a top course by Golfweek. Here’s the story from the Northland News Center (Channels 6, 3, 11 et al). I gave up golf for all practical purposes after I was no long eligible for the cheap student green fees, so I’ve…
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Study: Mining remains foundation of northern Minnesota economy
A new University of Minnesota-Duluth study indicates that mining remains the immovable foundation of the current Iron Range (indeed, northeastern Minnesota) economy. In all, mining activities account for 34 percent of the Northland’s gross regional product, said Jim Skurla, the study’s author and acting director of UMD’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research. “How important…
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‘We are change’ forum on Friday
Another item I’m passing along: “We Are Change” Forum at Itasca Community College The “We Are Change” Progressive Forum will be held on Friday, April 17, from 1 – 9 p.m. at Itasca Community College, 1851 E. Hwy 169 in Grand Rapids. This will be an opportunity for the community to listen, learn, and exchange…
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Iron Range development ‘constipated,’ says me
Matt Perrine of the Duluth Budgeteer interviewed me for the “Five Questions” segment this week in advance of my Friday appearance at UW-Superior. The post also appears at the Duluth News Tribune website. Asked to describe Iron Range economic development in one word, I chose “constipated.” How could you not click on that? Related posts:…