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Building energy resilience in rural Minnesota
My latest column for the Minnesota Star Tribune is out today, entitled, “Green shoots of hope: Despite harsh political winds, renewable energy can help communities weather the storm.” If we boil all things down to ideology and opposition, there are some people who will never accept renewable energy as anything worth their time or consideration. Meanwhile,…
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When the thundering noise hits home
It’s been a momentous couple of weeks on the Mesabi Iron Range, notably marred by a major layoff at two mines. But let’s be honest, it’s been a momentous year for the country. Our world is changing. American political institutions are falling apart. People disagree about whether this is good or not, but it’s happening…
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Kindling a small, but growing flame in rural manufacturing
The manufacturing industry has always been a tough nut to crack in northern Minnesota. This place produces great amounts of raw materials, such as iron ore and timber, but lies far away from customers who buy manufactured goods. Thus, only small scale and specialty manufacturing has succeed, and less so as time has gone by.…
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On joining the Minnesota Star Tribune editorial page
At last, I can share a really big update. This week, I joined the Minnesota Star Tribune as a full time columnist and member of the editorial board. I’ll be working remotely, based here at MinnesotaBrown World Headquarters in Balsam Township, with liberty to travel the state as necessary. In fact, I’ll be the first…
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Solving high costs, low availability of child care
My latest column for the Minnesota Star Tribune is out today: “Child care is expensive, but no one is getting rich from it.” Monday is “Day Without Child Care” in Minnesota. Child care providers, families and employers will raise awareness and lobby for policies that reduce the cost and improve the availability of child care…
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All good things end
This will be my last column in the Mesabi Tribune. No sense in burying the lede. But to end something, you really should start from the beginning. My first professional byline was in the erstwhile Hibbing Daily Tribune shortly after I graduated high school. I met my wife Christina in the newsroom. In June 2001,…
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A note to historical researchers, 100 years hence
For about three years, I spent much of my free time reading century-old Hibbing newspapers on a microfilm machine in my basement. Please don’t throw your undies, ladies; it’s not as sexy as it sounds. My book research took on added meaning as I slowly absorbed the sensibilities of the 1910s and ‘20s. After a…
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Iron Range helium shows quality; now, what about quantity?
Activity at the Pulsar Helium Topaz drill site near Babbitt picked up recently with the drilling of a second test well, Jetstream #2. I was there two days before drilling commenced on Jan. 16. It was everything you’d expect from a gas drilling site. Heavy equipment groaned beneath a tall derrick near an office trailer…
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TikTok dustup exposes empty menace of social media
I hope you survived the Great TikTok Shutdown of 2025. For a few hours last Sunday, the popular social media app went dark in the United States. The company wasn’t required to shut down this way, but acted in response to an impending ban that had been upheld in a rare unanimous Supreme Court decision.…
