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Iron mining’s cold war on the western Mesabi
As Iron Range economic development phantasms go, the Essar Steel Minnesota project near Nashwauk has always felt rather personal. The construction site sits just a few miles from my house. When the wind carried, I could hear them running equipment, crushing rocks for fill, and erecting the plant structures which today remain unfinished on the horizon of my…
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Making our community whole
Last Sunday, the Hibbing Daily Tribune reported that the Hibbing Food Shelf would close later this month. Among the reasons cited was a lack of community volunteers and funding, and the rising cost of food. This happened despite the growing number of people who need the temporary assistance of a food bank. Across Northern Minnesota,…
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Hibbing J.C. Penney store to close
The Star Tribune reports that the Hibbing J.C. Penney store is among eight small town locations closing in Minnesota amid the company’s nationwide downsizing. Other locations include: Baxter, Fairmont, Faribault, Hutchinson, Red Wing, Thief River Falls and Winona. The inventory liquidation sales begin on April 17, according to the Star Tribune. The store will close June…
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Art project to brighten Bob Dylan’s Iron Range hometown
After Bob Dylan received his Nobel Prize in Literature, something clicked in Dylan’s hometown of Hibbing, Minnesota. A group of community members formed the Hibbing Dylan Project, with the goal of celebrating the legacy of the folk troubadour’s Iron Range roots. As I’ve written, I was active in Dylan Days, which enjoyed a 14-year run in Hibbing.…
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Trump’s tricky American steel promise
What happens when the promise of political change meets the rocky cliffs of reality? Every president, every Congress, every legislature must weather this shift. History shows that all suffer at least some political fallout in the process. There’s a reason incumbent parties tend to lose seats in the midterms, and that presidential approval (usually) starts high…
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‘Flowetry in Motion’ for 2017 MN State All Hockey Hair Team
Northern Minnesota continues to celebrate the exciting conclusion to the Minnesota State High School Boys Hockey Tournament. For the first time since 1998, two northern teams won the Class A and Class AA championships, respectively. But the real fun is only getting started. After the tournament, Game On! Minnesota released its 2017 Minnesota State High…
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Government in the bag
At age 10, I controlled the government. It all started with a knock on the door of our trailer house. We lived on the family junkyard along County Highway 7, a couple miles south of Eveleth Taconite in the Sax-Zim bog. Such knocks came rare and usually involved directing toothless men back to the shop…
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‘All-218’ final for state high school boys hockey title
UPDATE: Hail, Hail the 218! Grand Rapids and Hermantown win the AA and A championships, respectively! The sun rises on a hockey holiday in the state of Minnesota. The class A and AA championship games take place today in St. Paul. Thrilling many here, no doubt, these showdowns feature three teams from our hardscrabble hockey-loving 218 area code…
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In Russia, accordion plays you
Russia seems to dominate political discussions these days. Overlooked in all this is the fact that, on better days, Russians lay down some tight folk music. This Sunday, March 12, accordionist Stas Venglevski and dulcimer player Tatyana Krasnobaeva will perform at the World of Accordions Museum and Harrington Arts Center across the bridge in Superior, Wisconsin. The show starts…
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Culver’s to open in Grand Rapids, MN
A new Culver’s restaurant will open this year in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. The restaurant recently posted a “crew member” job for a new location at 1175 Pokegama Ave. South. That address is found between the McDonald’s and Jimmy Johns locations near the former Kmart building. The headhunting site Johnson Jobs lists July 3 as the posting date,…
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Pierre the Pantsless Voyageur now also armless
They say March in Northern Minnesota comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb. Well, that lion just bit off the arm of an enormous French Canadian who lacks trousers. High winds raged across the region on Tuesday, March 7, knocking out electrical lines and blowing snow across the roadways. Wind gusts of more…
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Minnesota governor signs Sunday liquor into law
Minnesota’s long Sunday nightmare is over. Today, Gov. Mark Dayton signed into law a provision that allows the sale of liquor, wine and beer on Sundays. As I wrote during the legislative debate on this matter, Minnesota has long banned liquor on Sundays as part of an old set of “blue laws.” One part prohibition and one…
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Power plays go beyond hockey on the Mesabi Iron Range
This week the state hockey tournament takes place in St. Paul. This sporting spectacle doubles as a cultural celebration for the people of the North Star State. Once, the whole state bowed to the gods of hockey from our beloved blue collar Mesabi Iron Range. Today, however, the big suburban schools dominate the competition. The…
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Layman, Bakk IRRRB reform bills get closer
Following up on my post earlier this week, the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board met this week in St. Paul. Also this week, two Iron Range legislators, one Republican and one DFLer, moved toward each other with bills to reform the agency. In a contentious 5-4 vote, the board endorsed a plan to privatize Giant’s…
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The end of ‘Vanity’ stores, mainstay of Minnesota malls
KFGO Radio in Fargo reports that Vanity is closing all 140 of its stores in 27 states, including the ones found in malls across Northern Minnesota. The move is part of a bankruptcy that company executives from the 60-year-old Fargo-based clothing store chain blame on competition from online retailers. According to KFGO, Vanity employs up…