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Sup Town is on our side
And here’s why I like Superior, Wisconsin: EDITORIAL: Pawlenty favors dogma, jeopardizes developmentThe Superior Daily TelegramPublished Tuesday, October 30, 2007 It appears Republicans are courting Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty to run for vice president. Why else would he jeopardize a $1.6 billion Iron Range development to defend Republican terrorism dogma? Pawlenty is threatening to oppose…
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October nears end
We’ve got a couple days, including Halloween, left in October. So the month is kind of like the Bush Administration now. Almost done, but several acts of civil disobedience will probably occur before its completely done. Here’s a round up of what’s going on in Brown country this week: Flu shot dayToday is flu shot…
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Update: After stinging report, gov seeks facts
Gov. Tim Pawlenty has officially asked the U.S. State Dept. for clarification about Essar Global’s involvement in Iranian oil. It’s a good thing he did this before he called a press conference blasting state support for Essar’s Nashwauk steelmaking project as Minnesota possibly funding terrorism. Oh, wait. D’oh! Pawlenty asks State Department for clarification on…
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Steel plant Iran away; we need to Iget it back
The shakeup over Gov. Pawlenty’s new found opposition of the Essar Minnesota Steel mining/steelmaking plant near Nashwauk continues. Local and state officials are uniting behind a cohesive message (for once): that the Iron Range wants to enter the global marketplace and that snap decisions and loaded rhetoric like Pawlenty’s Sunday diatribe harm the Range economy…
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‘Chain of Command’ worth seeing
On Saturday, we saw the HCC production of “Chain of Command,” an original play about the Iraq war directed by my friend Mike Ricci and written by Minneapolis playwright Dominic Orlando. The play was excellent. The script wasn’t finished until less than two weeks before the first performance and this cast of amateur actors did…
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Bell’s stock rising in Duluth
I’m reversing my prediction for the Duluth mayoral race. This isn’t reflective of any personal opinion about the candidates, just a gut political feeling. I had predicted Ness would win by about four points. I now predict Bell will win by 8. Here’s why: Ness and Bell had their profile stories in the Duluth News-Tribune…
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Aarrrrrrgh!
Remember yesterday? The Iron Range seemed to be closing the deal on the Essar Global Minnesota Steel project near Nashwauk, the all-in-one iron ore to steel plant that has been in the works for a decade and a half. Yeah, that was cool. Until Gov. Tim “Lucy” Pawlenty pulled the football out from under our…
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Obvious safety tips for the Halloween oblivious
Halloween Safety Tip #2If you see more than one child dressed as a soldier, confirm that they are in fact celebrating Halloween and not staging a military coup. If it is a coup, assess their strength and determine whether you should alert authorities or aid the rebels in order to protect your family under the…
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Steel plant, mining study make statewide news
A couple of items discussed this week made Saturday appearances in non-Range papers. The Minneapolis Star-Tribune has a story today (“Iron Range steel mill fires up region’s hopes”) about the Essar Global Minnesota Steel plant in Nashwauk. This is the first major positive news about something on the Range to hit the Star Tribune in…
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Brown on the air: Oct. 27
I’m on the air Saturday with another original essay for Heidi Holtan’s “Between You and Me” radio program on 91.7 KAXE. The show’s topic this week is “junk drawers.” Every week the show explores some seemingly random and sometimes timely topic to offer a glimpse into the culture and heart of Northern Minnesota. Music, interviews,…
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The missing voice
There are plenty of memorials for Paul Wellstone in today’s papers and in the blogosphere. I did one back in 2004 and I feel the same today. I just can’t let the anniversary of Wellstone’s untimely passing go by without commenting. People who met Paul Wellstone liked him, even when they didn’t agree with him.…
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IRR project season off to fast start
The Iron Range Resources Board met Thursday. (Iron Range Resources is the unique state agency dedicated to diversifying and strengthening our volatile Range economy, supporting public works and infrastructure across the region while repairing the damage from a century of mining. Some call the agency a form of socialism; others call it the shining hope…
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Health carnage system
What really gets me about the health care debate in this country is that so many people are willing to continue tolerating or even supporting a system that almost everyone believes is broken and unsustainable. At the federal level, President Bush and the Republican minority caucuses in the House and Senate are holding the line…
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Another sad announcement
There was a car accident on Highway 169 this week that resulted in the death of Lester Tangedahl from Chisholm. When I was 16 I decided to volunteer for the local DFL party because I had decided that Paul Wellstone needed to get re-elected to the U.S. Senate. I marched into the local campaign office…
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Passing of an Iron Range legend
If the Iron Range was a book, Mary Anderson would have been one of the most important characters. Anderson passed away yesterday. I never had the chance to meet her, but she remains one of the great figures in Range history. She’ll always be most remembered for leading the city of Kinney’s secession from the…