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Chisholm has a clown problem
The local paper doesn’t issue “Breaking News” alerts very often. Mine closures, fires and meth busts, mostly. But on Wednesday night the Hibbing Daily Tribune issued a breaking news alert about a clown. What’s the big deal? Well, the video below, which originated from a tweet by William Butkovich, shows someone dressed as a clown throwing around a…
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‘Makers’ in the STEM spotlight on the Iron Range
The Range Engineering Council will host its annual Iron Range STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) Showcase this Friday, Oct. 7, at the Hibbing Memorial Building. Among the exhibitors will be Iron Range Makerspace, the new company seeking to create space for creative people to build and design things using sophisticated technology that few garage tinkers…
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Newsweek: Trump favored foreign steel in his projects
In this week’s edition, Kurt Eichenwald writes about a Newsweek investigation of presidential candidate Donald Trump’s construction projects. The magazine found that Trump favored cheaper Chinese steel and aluminum in two of his three major recent projects. Trump, the candidate, has attracted support from many former Democratic strongholds across the Rust Belt, including here on…
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Time runs out for Northland Building
In a follow-up to an earlier story, St. Louis County will demolish the historic Northland Building in Virginia, Minnesota, next year, according to this Jerry Burnes report in the Mesabi Daily News. The building is owned by St. Louis County, which seeks to replace the facility with a new office complex. Attempts to find new tenants or a new…
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Milford Mine now a regional park
In 1924, the Milford Mine near the Cuyuna Iron Range town of Crosby, Minnesota, was the site of the worst mining disaster in state history. Forty-one miners died when a lake flooded the underground mine. I’ve written about the story before, and we explored the history in the Crosby edition of my Great Northern Radio…
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Sanders, Nolan to campaign in Duluth Tuesday
Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.) will campaign with U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan (D-MN8) in Duluth on Tuesday evening. The pair will also make their pitch for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton to Northern Minnesotans. Sanders carried Minnesota and Nolan’s district handily at last March’s Minnesota caucuses in his unsuccessful run for the Democratic nomination. Sanders, who has since…
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Grandpa has something to tell Grandma
Gray skies hang low over the idled Keewatin Taconite plant. I meet my grandpa, Marv Johnson, at the very busy Sinclair gas station. We’re on a secret mission. “Too crowded,” he says. I peek around the corner at the gas station’s only table and chairs. Several townsfolk stare back like whitetail deer. Grandpa’s already back…
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Mark Cuban on American automation
One of the more disturbing thoughts about the 2016 presidential election is how little we know about what’s actually going to happen after it’s done. Hillary Clinton could win, but how will she break the congressional logjam that vexed her more popular boss President Obama? No landslide will help her. Donald Trump could win, but how will…
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Bob Dylan’s ironwork built to last
Bob Dylan is only a few years younger than my Grandpa Brown. In fact, Robert Zimmerman grew up just down the street from Pops in Hibbing, Minnesota. Pops would have been one of the tough kids revving engines past the Zimmerman place on 25th Street, perhaps prompting young Bobby to look down from his bedroom…
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In Minnesota, you can vote … today
Election Day in the United States will be Nov. 8, 2016. That should surprise no one. Media reports and social media frenzy constantly remind us of this day’s importance. The television spurts political ads like crude oil on the Clampett farm. But early voting continues to grow in popularity around the country. The practice takes many…
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Brangelina blowout happened in International Falls
Normally I strive to break the notion that Northern Minnesota is “flyover” country. We must fight the pervasive notion that we of Middle America only serve as the soft marshmallowy interior for the much more interesting coastal regions. And I’ll resume that campaign in the near future. Meantime, we are learning that the high profile breakup between…
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The Power of Tower on the Great Northern Radio Show
See if you can connect the following: What could all this have in common? This weekend, I’ll head up to Tower, Minnesota, for the next installment of my Great Northern Radio Show on Northern Community Radio. We’ll be broadcasting two one-hour episodes back to back starting at 5 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 24.…
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Murder loons show mercy on baby duck
Loyal readers of this site might recall a post last year detailing the fixation on murderous black birds shared by contributors to the Mesabi Daily News “Orchids and Onions” section. Nothing is sacred to the hardcore Onionites of the eastern Mesabi: certainly not even Minnesota’s State Bird: the common loon. “Open your eyes!” wrote one…
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Shred some trail on Lookout Mountain
On Thursday, Sept. 22, the U.S. Forest Service and Iron Range Off-Road Cyclists (IROC) will celebrate the opening of the Lookout Mountain Multi-Use Trail system. This new single-track mountain bike trail and recreational area hugs the Laurentian Divide overlook just off Highway 53 north of Virginia, Minnesota. From the U.S. Forest Service press release: Local mountain…
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Nolan, Mills clash in MN-8’s only 2016 debate
Today, U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan (D-MN8) debated Republican challenger Stewart Mills in a Duluth News Tribune/Duluth Chamber of Commerce forum. You can see the debate at my previous post. This was a good debate. In about one hour, significant and substantive policy differences found their way into the discussion. Neither candidate necessarily “won,” but both…