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Grand Rapids mall to keep indy bookstore open
Here’s some first hand perspective on book stores in Northern Minnesota. My book, “Overburden: Modern Life on the Iron Range, was published in 2008 by a small house, Red Step Press, based in Duluth. As a local book from a new press we had a good run. Without getting into numbers that might embarrass me in…
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T-bone fever: Tales from a meat raffle
Though humans evolved as omnivores, many people on earth do not eat meat. Early vegetarianism could be found in ancient Greece. Abstinence from animal flesh has been part of Hinduism and Buddhism since the 7th Century BC. One finds vegetarians in many parts of modern society, many swearing by the health benefits and moral authority…
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Masterful navigation brings in ship amid Duluth storm
Here’s an exciting display of the power of the Thursday morning storm that has many in Duluth still without power three days later. Dennis O’Hara posted this YouTube video of the 729-foot Algoma Guardian entering the Port of Duluth through the canal. This Lisa Kaczke story in the Duluth News Tribune tells the story, but…
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Nothing stops viking mauraders, except red tape
By now, many of you may have heard of the woes facing the Norwegian replica longship (aka, viking ship) Draken Harald Hårfagre as it makes its way into the Great Lakes. This ship sails around the world doing exhibitions, and now sails the Great Lakes as part of a tour of historical tall masted sailing ships.…
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The hot, wet violence of Minnesota’s summer
They call it a high pressure dome, hot electric atmosphere more vapor than air, parked over Minnesota like a Ouija board. We get these once or twice a summer, about as often as we get deep freezes in the dead of winter. Days like this remind us that 150 degrees Fahrenheit separate our typical annual…
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Iron Range backyard chickens to cluck stuff up
One-hundred years ago debating whether chickens should be allowed in Iron Range back yards would have been like debating whether or not people should breathe air. Chickens were part of the landscape, along with pigs, goats and even cows. First- and second-generation immigrants had no desire to keep livestock the way dad or grandma did.…
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Many credit Nolan for steel tariff success
U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan (D-MN8) faces another tough challenge from Republican Stewart Mills in 2016. Earlier this year I described this race as a tossup, possibly the biggest fight of Nolan’s later-in-life return to Congress. That’s saying something. Minnesota’s Eighth District has been treated as a swing district since 2010, when Republican Chip Cravaack ended more…
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House 6A candidate decries lobbyist influence
An Iron Range DFL primary usually creates sparks, but until Friday the House 6A DFL contest had been remarkably quiet. One letter to the editor even complained that the candidates seemed too similar to make a decision. The race features four DFL candidates seeking to replace Rep. Carly Melin (DFL-Hibbing), including Nashwauk Mayor Ben DeNucci, teacher Julie…
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Lab seeks new science 2,341 feet below ground
The biggest science experiment on the Iron Range ended just a few weeks ago. Workers now dismantle the neutrino detector at the University of Minnesota laboratory at the Soudan Underground Mine while state officials ponder new use for the unusual facility. This was the topic of a Sunday feature by Jenna Ross in the Minneapolis Star Tribune.…
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Breaking Broadband: progress in rural Minnesota
“If I were the hugging kind, I would hug you.” “OK, then.” I had clearly unnerved the surveyor on my township road, but I knew why he was there. He was mapping the route for new fiber optic cables near my home. You can see the little flags all over the Itasca County countryside.…
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What makes Minnesota alligators different?
Passers-by found a baby alligator along a bike train near Brainerd earlier this week. A reptile handler from a nearby wildlife center retrieved the creature, the aftermath of which you can see in this YouTube video: Authorities believe it was either someone’s pet that escaped or was released illegally. It’s safe to say that alligators will…
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The steel tariffs are working
The good news is that Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves is an avid reader of MinnesotaBrown.com. Apparently that is also the bad news. Tuesday, I received what I would describe as “corporate sass” from Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves after I asked a question at the public forum he and Gov. Mark Dayton held in Nashwauk Township. After the…
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Cliffs CEO promises iron clad future for Mesabi
Tuesday morning’s public forum with Gov. Mark Dayton and Cliffs Natural Resources CEO Lourenco Goncalves sounded like a battle cry before a coming war. Though everyone hopes the war will be short and successful, many unknown factors lie ahead. The meeting’s primary announcement was stunning. Goncalves said that Cliffs is planning a major shift to direct-reduced iron (DRI)…
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Ruffian elk mobs held at bay, for now
When you drive around Minnesota, from the western prairies to the northern forests or southern farmland, you see scads of whitetail deer. They’re everywhere. And sure, they’re beautiful and all. We have that “Bambi” baggage from our childhoods, so we get excited to see them. But deer are plentiful. Even in the “down years” they are not hard…
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Cliffs CEO, Dayton to talk Essar on the Range
Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton and Cliffs Natural Resources CEO Lourenco Goncalves will come to the Iron Range on Tuesday, July 12. Their visit aims to showcase how a long suffering Iron Range mining project might find new life. Dayton and Goncalves will discuss the governor’s recent decision to cancel the mineral leases for Essar Steel Minnesota’s new iron…