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The Range and the "Recession"
The good and bad thing about the Iron Range economy is that it operates somewhat independently from the national economy. Pretty much, our fortunes follow the international steel market. While the so-called mortgage crisis has some reverberation here, people are strangely more optimistic about the future on the Range than they are in the Minneapolis/St.…
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Update on U.S. coal plant woes
Check out this release from a partnership of energy and environmental research groups. In essence 57 proposed new traditional and “clean” coal power plants were officially cancelled, abandoned or shelved in 2007, not 46 as I reported last week. The reasons are primarily economic, based on the high cost of clean coal technology. Included on…
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Good news for Duluth air base
Here’s part of a story from today’s Duluth News-Tribune. The Air National Guard’s 148th Fighter Wing has been in limbo for awhile as the government decides whether it would be part of the military’s plans for future bases or put on the list of those that might close. It would appear that the Air Force…
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Somebody really hates bears
Do you remember the big controversy last month when the DNR announced it was going to shoot one-eared female bear named Solo and her two cubs because they were hibernating underneath a cabin near the Vermilion Range town of Tower? Right, well, after the media flurry the governor “pardoned” the bear, asking the DNR to…
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A cheap swipe by Range’s biggest paper
The attitude expressed in this Mesabi Daily News editorial shows much of what’s wrong with the political climate in my beloved Iron Range. Iron Range residents who realize we are in a battle for the very economic survival of the region don’t need to hear from elected officials that they need more details on several…
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Floods are bad, mmm-kay
I promise: Last bonding bill post for the week. I forgot to mention an item yesterday. The Canisteo Mine Pit is still perched like a big, wet mountain lion over the town of Bovey on the Western Mesabi Range. However, Gov. Pawlenty did not include mitigating the problem in the bonding bill. I spoke with…
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Boots on the ground
The Minnesota caucus campaign is on. I’ve gotten calls from representatives of the Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama campaigns in recent days looking for caucus support and organizers. The Clinton camp had a local activist call me last week. Obama’s people had a field organizer call me tonight. For being only three weeks out of…
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Steel plant bonding bill update
If you don’t like reading about steel or bonding bills, sorry, today’s not your day. As expected, Range leaders came out today stating that Pawlenty’s amount proposed for the proposed Nashwauk steel mill was too low. What I didn’t realize earlier was that more than 2/3 of his proposal involves money from the 21st Century…
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Pawlenty releases 2008 bonding bill
Gov. Tim Pawlenty released his proposal for the 2008 bonding bill in the Minnesota State Legislature. (See MPR’s coverage). This is the plan he would like to see pass, though he will be working with a DFL House and Senate that will have different priorities for borrowing and spending. Two encouraging things for northern Minnesota:…
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Rochester column honors the Range
Greg Sellnow is an accomplished columnist from the Rochester Post-Bulletin. He ranks among Minnesota’s best daily newspaper scribes. He wrote a nice piece about the Iron Range recently. Check it out. See, Minnesota. We’re not the crazy relative; we’re the eccentric, lovable relative. Greg Sellnow: Feeling at home on Da RangeRochester Post-BulletinHIBBING — You can…
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Baby, you can boot up my car
Nothing gets people thinking about the past or future better than a bland, even foreboding present. Possible economic recession? Yuck. Uncertainty in the presidential election? Nothing but ulcers for political junkies like me. And since the past involves “quantified research,” it’s so much easier to just envision the future. That’s what folks did last week…
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Another look at redistricting
I hate to talk about legislative and Congressional redistricting so early, but I caught an AP wire report today and see that there are three potential plans to change how Minnesota will draw its new districts after the 2010 census. It matters because Minnesota may lose one of its Congressional seats and the Iron Range…
