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Forum to profile two hot Range primaries
On Thursday, June 23, candidates in the House 6A DFL primary and St. Louis County board district 7 primary will participate in a forum at the Hibbing City Hall sponsored by the Hibbing Area Chamber of Commerce. Even though the prior is a legislative race and the latter a county race, both districts overlap at their…
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‘Finding Dory’ gives ‘seagull treatment’ to Minnesota state bird
How could anyone forget the comic relief in the classic Pixar film “Finding Nemo” as the teeming, hapless seagulls scrapped over morsels of food? “Mine? Mine? Mine?” Heck, the scene was so iconic that the Minnesota Twins — an inland team — plays the gull catchphrase over the loudspeakers every time the visiting team hits…
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Great Northern Radio Show is Saturday @ 5p
This Saturday, June 18, my Great Northern Radio Show will broadcast live at 5 p.m. from Grand Rapids, Minnesota. Grand Rapids is a city at the western gates of the Mesabi Iron Range. (It is an academic argument which side of the gate it may be found). Having grown up along the east central Iron Range, Grand…
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Duluth looking to remodel, not replace library
Last year it seemed the city of Duluth was barreling toward the demolition of its distinctive library building along Superior and Michigan avenues in favor of a new $35 million building. At the time, the consultant hired by the city was saying that it would cost $31 million to perform necessary repairs and remodeling to the…
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Heat (and hustle) is on for big Range project
A $440 million wood siding plant on the Iron Range. More than 800 jobs. Economic diversification. It’s hard not to get excited about information like this. But, as usual, the big bluster requires closer inspection. For instance, how much of that $440 million will come from public sources? At least $40 million, according to this Bill…
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The night Ali lit the torch in Gilbert
I spent most of the summer of 1996 nocturnal. Even though I couldn’t tell you much about those days, the nights seemed hotter and more humid than average. This was Northern Minnesota’s Iron Range, a place where winter cold gets more press than the deceptive heat of summer. I was 16. It was my first summer with a driver’s license,…
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Mining’s musical chairs on the Mesabi
Iron Rangers are celebrating the reopening of United Taconite after parent company Cliffs secured a ten-year contract with ArcelorMittal. In fact, Cliffs is even moving up the opening of the plant to August, instead of October. But with this good news comes the reality that one of the Iron Range’s biggest public and private investments in the last…
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‘Fargo’ heading to St. Cloud with Ewan McGregor
St. Cloud sits at the center of Minnesota like a spleen. What’s a spleen for? Probably something, right? Whatever it is, you’d have to take a college class to know for sure. St. Cloud is one of the regional centers of the state. Yet, unlike Minneapolis, St. Paul, Rochester, Mankato or Duluth, Minnesotans have a tough time…
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The deescalating ‘army worm’ threat
Last night I was texting with a colleague who described her evening thusly: “trying to sit outside but all we hear is army worm [poop emoticon] falling from the trees.” The forest tent caterpillar, also known as the “army worm,” is a June mainstay in the North Woods of Minnesota. Shortly after the forest turns bright green…
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China vows ‘zombie’ hunt in steel wars
One of the frustrations in living through the booms and busts of the Iron Range economy is the simplistic way our mining-based economy is portrayed in the media. It’s either, “The Range will die soon,” or “EVERYTHING IS GREAT!” The problem is neither of these statements have been true at any point in history. It’s especially true…
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The Iron Range soda boss who beat Coke
A few years back I traveled to Atlanta as the arm candy of my wife, who was attending a conference there. I spent time as a tourist in a town seemingly run by the Coca-Cola company. Coke was all you could drink. All pop (yes, pop; I’m from Minnesota) was called Coke, even if it wasn’t…
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Bringing local food back home
We often hear the phrase, “you are what you eat.” It could also be said that “you are where you eat.” Here in Northern Minnesota, people subsisted off the land for millennia. But then came Wonder Bread, TV dinners, hot dogs and Cheetos: tasty, calorific foods that can be named but not necessarily identified. Cheap to buy, these…
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Great Northern Radio Show homecoming June 18
They say you’ve got to pick a genre and stick with it. Don’t be newsy if you want to be funny. Don’t be regional if you want to reach people in other places. Don’t talk about the arts if you want to talk about politics. This is what bloggers are told if they want to build…
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Competitive 2016 races set in Northern MN
The filing period for federal, state and many local races closed Tuesday, May 31. Here in Northern Minnesota some interesting races have emerged alongside many sleepy contests. Minnesota’s Eighth Congressional District No surprises here. Incumbent U.S. Rep Rick Nolan, a Democratic-Farmer-Laborite from Crosby faces challenger Stewart Mills, a Nisswa Republican. The only news from filing is that there…
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Cliffs signs new deal; good news for UTac
Today Cliffs Natural Resources announced it has reached a 10-year agreement to supply iron ore to ArcelorMittal. This is very good news for laid off workers at United Taconite in Eveleth. Earlier this year, Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves said that reopening UTac depended upon winning this contract. Now a fall reopening of United Taconite seems…