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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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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…
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I drank ‘shine … and more
The firearms deer season opened this weekend, a time-honored tradition on the Iron Range that I’d never participated in … until now. On Saturday I joined the festivities at my family’s hunting shack in the woods that separate the Iron Range from Canada. My grandfather, dad and uncles have spent a lot of time putting…
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Health care future hinges on community strength
Government’s main purpose is to serve the people in all ways that the private sector and market can’t. That includes highways, public works, education and, more than ever, health care. And it seems we’re closer than you’d think to being able to solve some basic service issues, especially on health care. ~An excerpt from my…
