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Big picture shows glum future for Range coal gas plant scheme
There was a hearing last night about the Environmental Impact Statement by Excelsior Energy for its Mesaba Energy Project near Taconite. The project would be a $2.3 billion coal gasification power plant. I didn’t attend. Fact is, the EIS is a small part of the issue with this project. The TV news — WDIO in…
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The Pro-Breakfast Candidate
Toddler dialogue from this morning: TODDLER: Santa bring Cranky? (the Crane, from “Thomas and Friends”) ME: That depends, are you a good boy? TODDLER: Hmmm. ME: Are you a good boy or naughty? TODDLER: I like breakfast. Sounds like someone is preparing for a congressional campaign. Related posts: No related posts.
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A little idealism goes a long way
I don’t know how many people read this; 16 maybe? Anyway, I’m a political junkie and I’m just about OD’ed on coverage of next year’s presidential race. I could cite polls, electability estimates, and resumes, but I won’t. Just think about this: who could provide a spark of idealism in American citizens at a time…
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Local politics over power plant
This is a few days old, but look at this excerpt from the Hibbing Daily Tribune’s Nov. 23 coverage of a recent Nashwauk Public Utilities Commission meeting (Nashwauk is a small town on the Western Mesabi, for those new to the Range). In other matters, the PUC:• Approved sending a letter to Excelsior Energy indicating…
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Local paper: ‘Mayday’ for Range schools
The headline might be a little overly dramatic, but here is a sign that in all of our economic “hopin’” on the Iron Range we still have big problems. Since it would take at least five years for the economic development projects everyone is talking about (Essar’s Minnesota Steel plant, PolyMet, etc.) to manifest as…
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Behold … THE FUTURE!
Here’s an invite that I almost ignored, but now I’m going. My book will include a section on the future of the Iron Range so this gives me easy material. I get lazy when the deadlines start snarling at me. My notations are below as well. Have you ever wondered what Grand Rapids will be…
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Surviving the first salvo of the holiday season
I’m generally a positive, happy dude. But it’s hard for me to avoid cynicismduring the holiday consumerism assault. Every year we are treated to the false impressions that our economy relies on everyone buying plastic goods the day after Thanksgiving. We are told what toys are “hot” and what our rooftops should look like from…
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Brown on the Air: "Feminism in the Stand"
My radio essay for KAXE’s “Between You and Me” is special for this week’s topic, “Women Who Hunt.” I’ve written about hunting in the past, including my family’s hunting traditions and the local cultural significance of hunting. This time I focus on how the media likes to beat the heck out of stories like, well,…
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Black Friday observations
The family and I decided to go shopping today despite the many predictable frustrations that would occur on “the biggest shopping day of the year.” Things went fine, by and large, but it sure does raise the blood pressure. My Hibbing Daily Tribune column for this upcoming Sunday deals with the Christmas shopping concept, so…
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Those punks
During college, when other people were “hooking up” and “having fun,” I was editing my college newspaper. I like to tell myself this was a personal choice. Anyway, I just saw last week that my alma mater’s newspaper, the UW-Superior “Promethean” has changed its name to “The Stinger” this year. The Promethean drew its name…
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Happy Thanksgiving from the MinnesotaBrown blog
I’ll be taking a break from the blog on Thursday, mostly to eat and eat and eat. Happy Thanksgiving! Related posts: No related posts.
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More woes for community college football in northern Minnesota
Here’s the news from International Falls. My analysis is below. RRCC ends football program; Provost cites college’sloan default rate as reasonBy LISA KACZKE, International Falls Daily JournalThe football program at Rainy River Community College has been terminated. Provost Wayne Merrell said Monday that the termination is related to the fact that RRCC had the highest…
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Local publishing boom?
The Duluth News-Tribune had a story out Monday about a surge of new small publishing houses in the Duluth area. One of these new companies — Red Step Press — is set to publish my book “Red Dirt and Overburden: Modern Life on the Iron Range” next fall. You can read Jane Brissett’s story in…
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The cycle continues
It’s funny how historic trends just keep on rolling on the Mesabi Iron Range. Bad times, then good times, then labor trouble, then pretty good times, then a crash, then bad times … repeat. We’re just about to hit good times, so here comes the labor trouble. Iron Range Steelworkers prepare for contract talksBy Lee…
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Maybe I’m in the wrong business
As a writer, I find an article like this to be troubling: Reading’s new chapter?A study paints a grim picture of U.S. reading habits, renewing the debate on literacy and learning in the digital age. By Sarah T. Williams, Star TribuneLast update: November 19, 2007 – 12:01 AMIs reading at risk? Or is there a…