-
ERP Iron Ore finalizes purchase of Magnetation
Bankrupt Magnetation is officially under new ownership. State of Virginia-based ERP Iron Ore finalized a purchase agreement of Magnetation according to ongoing bankruptcy proceedings. WDIO reported the story earlier today. Magnetation, based in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, is a scram mining and iron ore processing company. The company recycles iron ore from waste piles in Northern Minnesota and…
-
MINOS lab departs Soudan mine cavern
This week crews remove components from the MINOS laboratory on the 27th level of the Soudan Underground Mine on Northern Minnesota’s Iron Range. The picture above shows massive steel “neutrino tracking” panels” being removed from the facility. Since 2003, the lab hosted notable experiments testing the nature of subatomic particles in a beam fired underground…
-
Former Range senator Tony Perpich dies
Last Saturday, former Iron Range State Sen. Tony Perpich (DFL-Eveleth) died in his Shoreview, Minn., home at the age of 84. He had battled heart disease. Perpich grew up part of a politically charged first generation Croatian immigrant family raised in the mining location of Carson Lake. With his brothers, he helped reshape Iron Range politics in the 1960s,…
-
Why we need work, not just ‘jobs, jobs, jobs’
Last November, President Trump polled well in the once-venerated Democratic stronghold of the Mesabi Iron Range. I pin this to the issue of “jobs.” Specifically, I credit the fundamental belief baked into our culture that those who work for pay are superior to those who don’t or can’t. People here have lost jobs, or fear…
-
From pipelines to mines, Trumpism on the march
On Tuesday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order clearing the way for the controversial Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipeline projects. Both projects were stalled under President Obama out of environmental concerns. Citing the jobs the projects would create and promising American-made steel in the construction process, Trump waved his order in front of…
-
School gun range shot down by lead complaint
Last October, I shared news of a suddenly controversial gun range in the basement of the Lincoln Elementary School in Hibbing. After efforts to keep the range compliant with safety concerns, it now appears that lead contamination may doom the facility. For sixty years the Lincoln, originally a middle school, featured an underground gun range that…
-
The cold comfort of adulthood
Everything is easy until you open the door. That’s true of life, but especially winter in Northern Minnesota. After Christmas, winter becomes an extended stay in a Residence Inn. We already know what keeps in the hotel fridge, how long to microwave the popcorn, the cost of every item in the vending machine. Our only enemy…
-
Analyzing President Trump’s inaugural address
President Trump’s inaugural address eschewed the literary finesse that most presidents strived for, and instead drove home one of the most confrontational, populist speeches ever uttered in this setting. It could have been Huey Long up there. “While they celebrated in our nation’s capital, there was little to celebrate for people across our land. That all…
-
Slice of Life: 78 years of columns from Floodwood writer
Every once in a while I congratulate myself because I’ve written a continuous weekly newspaper column for the Hibbing Daily Tribune since June of 2001. Every Sunday (and sometimes more often) I’ve had an original thought, sometimes coherent, in the paper. As of today, that’s almost 16 years of columns, not insignificant in today’s media…
-
A cautionary tale from Duluth’s Russian sister city
U.S./Russia relations continue to make headlines during President-elect Trump’s transition. Setting aside reports of Russian interference in American politics, there is the fact that Russia has sought to reassert itself as a counterbalance to American power on the world stage. The Russian intrigue is guaranteed to continue into Trump’s presidency. Trump announced last week that his first foreign trip will…
-
100 years of Finnish independence marked in MN
This year, Finland marks 100 years of independence from Russia, Sweden and any other European powers that at one time held its Nordic territory. And as Jenna Ross from the Star Tribune reports, Minnesota will play a role in the Finnish celebration. An American tour of Finnish cultural performances (including a traveling sauna) will begin and end…
-
Recalling a lovely day in John Lewis’s district
By now perhaps the hubbub of yet another Donald Trump Twitter battle has waned, soon to be replaced some fresh outrage. But this last one caught my attention. The President-elect singled out civil rights hero and Democratic Congressman John Lewis at the dawn of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day holiday weekend. Lewis, of course, is no fan…
-
‘Dig Deep’ with new KAXE/KBXE podcast
Readers here at MinnesotaBrown.com might be interested in one of my new projects. Starting this week, Northern Community Radio will release a new podcast and radio feature called “Dig Deep.” It’s a one hour program featuring Chuck Marohn of Strong Towns fame and yours truly, produced by Heidi Holtan. “Dig Deep” is a monthly conversation…
-
The necessary drama of transition
As divisive as these times may be, at least Donald Trump won’t be sneaking into Washington, D.C., on a midnight train like Abraham Lincoln. After the election of 1860 Lincoln became the most anti-slavery president since John Quincy Adams a generation earlier. Six slave states immediately seceded from the Union, while others threatened to join…
-
Lake Superior shipping season ends today
As cold as it was last week, sailors and dock workers were still on the job in the harsh Lake Superior winds. While there will still be maintenance work to do, the ships are coming in off the water today. The locks at Sault Ste. Marie close today, marking the end of the shipping season on…