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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…
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Highway 63 Revisited
They say the Iron Range is entering a modern age, a time of renaissance and progress and probably even fancier words that will be invented when the new noun factory opens just outside Buhl. I have seen proof that this is true but it has nothing to do with our impending new steel plant or…
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Brown on the Air: "The Books of Youth"
Saturday brings my weekly essay on KAXE’s “Between You and Me” with Heidi Holtan. The show runs as usual between 10 a.m. and noon at 91.7 FM and streaming online at www.kaxe.org. This week’s topic is our favorite books from childhood. I talk about how some of the books from my kid and teen years…
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High-Speed Rail: worthy goal for the Iron Range
My big goal in life is to participate in the modernization of the Iron Range. We’ve got a lot of work to do and I’ve often said that our current “economic development” funds should be spent on infrastructure and community enhancement rather than endless incentives for private companies. I’ve already written plenty about the need…
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Midweek flurry
I’m doing book interviews and a couple meetings today. I might only get an hour at my desk, so not much time for writing or blogging today after yesterday’s equally fruitless blog day. I’m still ticking away at the banana column for Sunday’s paper which may take a different turn before it’s done. Stay tuned…
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Bananas on deadline
I’m going to give readers a glimpse into the creative process. I write two things on a weekly deadline, a newspaper column and a radio essay. The radio essay topic is generally dictated by KAXE’s “Between You and Me” show topic that week. In a way, that makes this piece easier to write because it’s…
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Universal coverage closer than imagined
If you add your out-of-pocket insurance expenses to your taxes that support existing government health care programs, you’ll probably find that you’re already paying plenty for health care, more than enough to cover actual medical expenses. So converting to a universal system is really more a matter of getting the money we already pay devoted…
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Brown on the Air: Veterans Day
I’m on the air Saturday morning with another of my weekly radio essays. “Between You and Me” with Heidi Holtan will visit the topic of Veterans Day tomorrow between 10 a.m. and noon on 91.7 KAXE and online at http://www.kaxe.org/. This essay is the early form of a longer piece I plan to include in…
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Rukavina leads early balloting for U.S. Senate
Today is your last chance to vote in the online poll at the bottom of the site. The question? Which DFL figure would be most likely to defeat Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) in the 2008 U.S. Senate race. Your options are Al Franken, Mike Ciresi, Norm Coleman from 1996 (then a Democrat who endorsed Paul…
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New media punch, old media counterpunch
I’m no stranger to letters to the editor taking issue with something I’ve written, but today was a first. I got a letter opposing a column that never ran. In a recent column, Aaron Brown made several inaccurate statements as he reviewed my editorial from the Duluth News Tribune. That editorial was in support of…
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Ness wins Duluth mayor’s race
Don Ness will be the next mayor of Duluth. The two-term Duluth city councilor and former Jim Oberstar campaign manager will take office after the new year. Ness beat businessman Charlie Bell by about 1,600 votes for a 52-47 percentage point victory on Tuesday. Regular readers (notice I say “regular” and not “normal”) know my…