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‘Overburden’ now available on Amazon
Below is the press release I’ve put out for my “Overburden: Modern Life on the Iron Range” book tour stop in the Twin Cities next Wednesday and Thursday. In honor of the occasion, we finally got “Overburden” up on Amazon.com. We’ve been on bn.com since the beginning but you Amazon purists no longer have an…
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Brown on the Air: THANK YOU!
My weekly essay for KAXE’s Saturday morning “Between You and Me” program joins the show in exploring the concept of thanks. KAXE will be thanking everyone who participated in their winter fundraiser (if you haven’t kicked in your share yet, join KAXE now). I will be talking about the words “thank you” when emitted from…
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Cherry readies for a fight
A defiant school board member Darrell Bjerklie speaks out in defense of my alma mater: Cherry High School. The community is girding for a fight as the St. Louis County schools look for big cuts amid a financial crisis. Cherry isn’t any worse off than the other schools; it’s just close enough to other schools…
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The return of the 1980s?
Comparisons between this period in Iron Range economic history and the dismal 1980s, the time when I grew up here, are cropping up all over. Earlier in the week the St. Paul Pioneer Press broached the subject from a statewide perspective and yesterday Catherine Conlan wrote an Iron Range-specific story on the topic for MinnPost.com.…
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Sharp response to DNT editorial
When I suggested that the Duluth News Tribune‘s pro-copper mining editorial from last Sunday deserved some further inspection, I further suggested that retired Range miner and participant on this blog Bob Tammen should provide an environmental perspective from an Iron Range resident’s perspective. As it turns out, in Thursday’s Duluth News Tribune, he’s done just…
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Who are the true owners of these lands, forests and waters?
I am a proud resident of rural Itasca County in the great north woods of Northern Minnesota. My corner of the world stands on the western end of the storied Iron Range which itself rests on the edge of a massive forest that stretches for miles, fading into marshes, rivers, lakes and the Canadian border…
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March 11: hockey, the Range and the ‘Overburden’ Twin Cities debut
The Virginia Blue Devils defeated Hibbing to win the Section 7A hockey tournament tonight, advancing to the Minnesota State Hockey Tournament next week. Virginia will be representing the Iron Range at state and, despite being a Hibbing native with only limited knowledge of hockey in general, I’ll be backing the Devils at state. The Iron…
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Klobuchar secures funding for International Falls plasma energy project
U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.)secured $1 million in funding to explore turning municipal waste into energy in International Falls. The border town’s State Rep. Tom Anzelc (DFL-Balsam Township) had secured early funding last year that allowed the city to do preliminary studies for the concept. Municipal waste burners are not without their controversy, but at…
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The real story on these banks
I don’t often insist that you do something, but I am doing that now. Check this out. I am a frequent listener of “The American Life” on NPR and released as a very popular podcast. The shows are always interesting, providing a fascinating look at aspects of American society and culture. But their show this…
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Classic Iron Range showdown tonight
Tonight the Hibbing/Chisholm Bluejackets battle the Virginia/MIB Blue Devils for the Section 7A boys hockey championship in Duluth. Hibbing vs. Virginia is a classic Range rivalry. The only shame here is that the game isn’t taking place at an Iron Range arena. The winner goes to the state tourney next week. As the Iron Range’s…
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In times like these, what’s a Big Coal paper to do?
If you want to know what a quintessential Mesabi Daily News editorial looks like, check out today’s offering. In some random protest in Washington, D.C., a protester shouted “No coal, no oil.” Because of that (outrage!), readers are told we need the “clean coal” boondoggle Excelsior Energy on the Iron Range — a project bloated…
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Gloomy night
There was a somber feeling all over the city of Virginia last night. ArcelorMittal made it official Tuesday by announcing that the Minorca Mine would be idled for an additional three months after its scheduled April maintenance shutdown. This was expected, but in combination with MinnTac’s announced 590 layoffs from last week it adds to…
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Back to the underworld
Yesterday, Minnesota Public Radio’s Bob Kelleher described the highway work being done to Highway 169 by Chisholm as part of the federal stimulus bill. This part of the Iron Range had already drawn attention because of the vast “underworld” of abandoned mine shafts dug beneath the modern workings of the place. These underground mines caused…
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‘Overburden’ tour arrives in Virginia Tuesday night
Don’t forget to make plans for my Tuesday evening reading of my new book “Overburden: Modern Life on the Iron Range” at the Lyric Center for the Arts in downtown Virgina. The lecture begins at 6 p.m. and will be followed by a discussion and book signing. I’m thinking of throwing in some new material…
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Rhetoric heats up in Range mining battle
The Duluth News Tribune ran a Sunday editorial blasting the environmental bill that would place new restrictions on nonferrous mining in Minnesota. It’s interesting to watch the DNT editorial board these days. They lurch to the political left and right at random, it seems. It’s like watching the state TV station of a South American…