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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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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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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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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…
