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N. Minn., Canada share deep economic ties
The other day I got a note from a longtime reader saying something I wrote “sounded positively Canadian.” And while I’m a proud citizen of the U. S. of A., it’s true that my beloved homeland here in Northern Minnesota is very near (and rather influenced by) Canada. A Northern Minnesota accent sounds more like a Canadian accent than…
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MinnesotaBrown, KAXE at the State Fair
I’ve seen the numbers. Even though this is the only independent blog wholly dedicated to “Modern Life in Northern Minnesota,” nearly half of you live or work in the Twin Cities metro area. That’s fine. We’re cool. But it means we never get to have awkward exchanges at the grocery store, or silently wonder what’s…
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On ‘Clarence’ and wallets filled with gravity
My kids like to watch a show called “Clarence” on Cartoon Network. To be honest, I like it, too. This oddball kid Clarence lives in Aberdale, a suburb of a large city in the American Southwest. His mom is a hair stylist and her boyfriend Chad, Clarence’s father figure, is unemployed. All but one or…
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Radio consolidation swells in Northern Minnesota
Back in high school in the 1990s, two radio stations impacted my life. The first was the one I listened to: KQDS out of Duluth. Classic rock ‘n’ roll, something I preferred to pop. You couldn’t always get KQ on the Iron Range, but you could on the jacked-up antennae my dad put on our roof…
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Magnetation facing potential Sept. 30 shutdown
Magnetation, LLC, announced today it would prepare for a potential Sept. 30 shutdown of its Plant 4 scram mining operation in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, and its processing plant in Reynolds, Indiana. Magnetation is an iron ore mining and processing company based in Grand Rapids. The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notice (WARN) of a potential shutdown relates to an effort to…
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Essar owes $1.1 billion in bankrupcy
Bankruptcy proceedings began recently for Essar Steel Minnesota, the struggling subsidiary of the Indian company Essar Steel, which seeks to build a new iron mine in Northern Minnesota. The story draws rapt attention from residents and leaders on the Mesabi Iron Range. For good reason. The outcome of this case will determine if hundreds of new…
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Bonding spat ends in election season splat
Last week, Minnesota legislative leaders and Gov. Mark Dayton abandoned hope of a special session this year. That means that the legislature’s failure to pass a bonding bill, and Gov. Dayton’s veto of the tax bill, will stand through this November’s election. This sort of thing can happen with divided government. Gov. Dayton is a…
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Dig a mile in another man’s skid steer
As khaki-wearing bloggers go, I interact with a unusually high number of people who operate heavy equipment. These people move dirt for fun and profit using machines that suck diesel fuel the way a dry horse drinks water. I owe part of this to family ties. My Grandpa Brown, now an octogenarian, uses his skid…
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Teeming masses for Duluth Tall Ships
On Friday, the family and I made the trek down to Duluth for the 2016 Tall Ships Festival, which runs through Sunday. I love history. I love ships. Good times. I won’t lie, this event was considerably more crowded than the previous Tall Ships events we had attended. In fact, we attended our first Tall Ships by mistake. We…
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Chisholm council ruffled by criticism over failed studio
Looks like MinnesotaBrown.com made the paper. At the Aug. 11 Chisholm City Council meeting, Mayor Mike Jugovich and other city councilors criticized council candidate Brandan Fiedler for sharing on Facebook a blog post I wrote several weeks ago. Marie Tolonen of the Chisholm Tribune Press wrote a story about this exchange that also ran in the Hibbing Daily Tribune on…
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For most, a mind is a terrible thing to change
Lately, logging onto Facebook has been a little like making a daily visit to the hospital to watch someone’s condition deteriorate. No, I’m not talking about cat videos. Even the insipid game requests hearken to a more bygone era of wasting time on the internet. No, I’m talking about the art of politics as performed by…
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‘Be Prepared’ for change
When a Boy Scout or Girl Scout heads into the woods, he or she is prepared for any number of changing conditions. Rain. Wind. Long hikes or vigorous paddling on a choppy lake. The one thing constant in life is change. And really, all you can do is what the Boy Scouts preach: Be Prepared.…
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Sandstede wins House 6A DFL primary
As we reported last night, music teacher and union leader Julie Sandstede (DFL-Hibbing) advances to the Nov. 8 general election in Minnesota House District 6A. She’ll face Republican special education teacher Rob Farnsworth of Hibbing and active write-in candidate and union equipment operator Steven Hakly of Cherry. Sandstede’s win surprised many, including me. But looking at the…
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LIVE BLOG: Primary Night on the Iron Range
Welcome to the Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2016 MinnesotaBrown primary election live blog. Your intrepid host Aaron Brown will provide analysis of Iron Range results throughout the evening. We’ll pay close attention to the House 6A DFL contest and St. Louis County commissioner races. 11:00: There will be more to write in coming days, but we can…
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Help on the way for St. Louis County workers
County government is probably the most overlooked part of our democracy, and yet in Minnesota it’s the point of contact for the people who need the most help. This includes the messy work of law enforcement, child protection and family welfare, social services and the very apparatus of humane treatment of our citizens. When county government…