-
Who eats whom in Nashwauk mine showdown?
There’s an old trope you see in a lot of cartoons and movies. Someone is running through a jungle or forest, pursued by some fearsome beast. Only at some point an even more fearsome beast leaps from the shadows to snatch and devour the previous monster. And just as THAT creature takes off after our…
-
U.S. Steel to reopen Granite City Works
When the steel industry hit the skids three years ago, one of the biggest signals of woe was the shuttering of U.S. Steel’s mill in Granite City, Illinois in 2016. That mill took iron ore from the Mesabi Range. Company officials cited its closure as one of the reasons for the idling of Keewatin Taconite.…
-
Endorsement politics in Minnesota’s Eighth District
On April 14, almost 200 Eighth District DFL delegates will meet in Duluth to endorse a successor to retiring U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan. Five candidates want the job. Five candidates will seek the endorsement. But considerable speculation remains over whether some of them press on to a Aug. 14 primary regardless of the convention outcome. Former FBI…
-
Hainey to run for Iron Range State House seat
With State Rep. Jason Metsa running for Congress, his vacated House 6B seat becomes an interesting undercard in the impending Iron Range political scrum of 2018. Today, the first DFL candidate announced his candidacy. Shaun Hainey, an employee in the St. Louis County assessor’s office, is a hobby farmer and union member from Pike Township…
-
Farewell video stores, your strange era is over
Forbes, Minnesota, lies on the four corners of Highways 7 and 16 just off the central line for the Duluth, Missabe, and Iron Range Railroad. The railroad was there before the roads, one of the early routes hauling iron ore from the Mesabi Range to the docks in West Duluth. Those tracks were the reason…
-
Trump’s steel tariffs rile markets, please miners
Last week I wrote that “The Steel War is Nigh.” That day has come. On Thursday, President Trump announced a 25 percent tariff on most foreign steel. He cited Section 232, essentially arguing that the tariffs were in the interest of American national security. Most nations typically discourage using that nebulous language, because any nation…
-
DFL lawmaker Jason Metsa enters Eighth District race
Today, State Rep. Jason Metsa (DFL-Virginia) announced his bid for the DFL nomination for Congress in Minnesota’s Eighth District. “I am running for Congress because I know that we only make progress for Northern Minnesota families when we have each others’ backs and stand up to fight for each other,” said Metsa in his announcement.…
-
Great Northern Radio Show hits BSU this Saturday
The dawn of March in Northern Minnesota is like those sample stations at your local grocery store. Try this sausage on a toothpick. Here’s a tiny pie on a tiny plate. Tastes pretty good. But do you live in a world where you can just buy a box of those special foods? Are these rare creamy…
-
Mills opts out, leaving Stauber for GOP nod in MN-8
As coverage of the suddenly open Congressional seat in Minnesota’s Eighth District intensifies around the DFL candidates, Republicans had also been waiting to see who was in and who was out. Well, their math got easier today. Yesterday Stewart Mills III, twice a candidate for the job, announced he was sticking with his original decision…
-
Happy Cornish Pasty Week!
Before I wrote this I worried that I might spend too much time writing about Cornish pasties here at MinnesotaBrown. Perhaps you have heard enough about the buttery, flakey meat and vegetable pies served hot and consumed copiously by underground miners like my ancestors. Perhaps. But on the other hand, if you want to talk…
-
With Anderson, Lourey out, MN-8 race grows complex
Yesterday, Jeff Anderson announced he would not run for Congress in Minnesota’s Eighth Congressional District. He had been considering such a run. However, the former Duluth City Councilor and District Director for retiring U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan (D-MN8) didn’t stop there. Anderson endorsed Iron Range State Rep. Jason Metsa for the job. Metsa (DFL-Virginia) has…
-
Heroes on ice: Team Shuster homecoming today
By now you might know about the dramatic Olympic men’s curling tournament comeback that led to a historic Gold Medal for the United States. Team Shuster returns home to Duluth, Minnesota, today. Team USA was led by skip John Shuster, a Chisholm native now living in Superior, and rounded out by John Landsteiner, Tyler George…
-
The horrible, solvable problem of hunger
A mother flees an abusive husband with her four children. She hasn’t worked in a long time and her parents live out of state. She’s leaving the shelter soon, but isn’t on her feet yet. An retired contractor wracked with a bad back can’t pick up jobs anymore. He is alone. One day he finds…
-
Shuster Rink wins historic men’s curling gold for U.S.
Redemption makes the best stories. The hardest thing in life is to be knocked down and come back better than before. It doesn’t matter if it’s navigating relationships, recovering from injury, overcoming failure, or sliding a 40-pound stone across the ice. The U.S. Men’s Curling team, led by Chisholm native John Shuster, won the gold…
-
NY Times lauds Minnesota Olympic triumph
Oh, boy. The New York Times doesn’t know what it’s done. On Friday, America’s vaunted newspaper of record gave Minnesotans something they’ve long craved: big city validation. In a story titled “Team USA? More like Team Minnesota” Pat Borzi argues that the U.S. Olympics team’s biggest successes came because of Minnesota athletes. From key members…