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Range Shrine Circus in Hibbing this weekend
The Range Shrine Circus opens today at the Hibbing Memorial Building arena, the biennial event at the heart of building up the tolerance of young ears to random loud noises. The Shrine Circus has always alternated between Duluth and Hibbing each year, since 1953. Jim Fisher wrote about some circus memories and speculates on its…
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All local Duluth sitcom ‘Old Lifty’ to premiere
Some say we’re in the golden age of television, a time when the breakdown of the big networks’ monopoly on production creates new opportunities for smaller, independent artists with good ideas. That’s certainly the white-capped Lake Superior wave that producers of a new web series based in Duluth hope to catch. “Old Lifty” is based on a…
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MPR: Abuse cover-up at Buhl juvenile center
For residents of the Iron Range, the KidsPeace Mesabi Academy in Buhl is just a part of the tapestry of the region’s economic metamorphosis. Once the beloved neighborhood Buhl school, the building was “saved” by becoming a juvenile correction center for boys. This week, American Public Media Reports — a organizational relative of Minnesota Public…
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On Letters of Hope
“Plant a nut, get a nut,” someone once told me about my son Doug’s antics. Approaching 9 years old, he has somehow outpaced my childhood obsession with historical trivia and the macabre. Last year, he wandered down to my home office and extracted a ten-pound American history textbook left over from my college days. “Can…
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Duluth Homegrown runs today through May 8
The Duluth Homegrown Music Festival opens today and runs through next Sunday. This week-long music extravaganza is the hallmark of the emerging Duluth music scene and boasts more live music in one week than some towns see all year long. Quite simply, Duluth Homegrown is back-to-back live music all week long at more than a…
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U.S. Steel charges at Chinese imports
U.S. Steel, once the vaunted industrial giant of the world, is taking one last Rooster Cogburn charge at the global steel crisis that has the Pittsburgh-based corporate titan cornered in some western meadow. J.P. Morgan’s flagship corporation has been contracting for decades, illustrated perfectly by its move out of a Pittsburgh skyscraper into a much smaller suburban…
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Great Northern Radio Show from Pequot Lakes
The speed of life seems to have accelerated lately. End of the semester. Kids in school and activities. In any event, I’ve not talked about my April 9 Great Northern Radio Show from Pequot Lakes, Minnesota. The Pequot Lakes show was a lot of fun and turned out well. The musical lineup delivered big time. Reina…
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Cliffs eyes fall start for United Taconite
In a call to investors yesterday, Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves announced that his company will reopen Northshore Mining in May and plans to restart United Taconite in Eveleth later this year. Goncalves also announced that Cliffs made a profit during the last quarter, which wasn’t expected. However, Cliffs remains more than $2 billion in debt. A few weeks ago, Goncalves said United…
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Kids love rubber mulch for all the wrong reasons
Playground equipment used to be hellish industrial machinery. Kids would bust their arms just looking at the hand pump merry-go-round. The ground was just that: ground. Heck, you were lucky if it was dirt. It might have been pavement. In a quest to make things safer, many new playgrounds use rubber mulch, bouncy chunks reclaimed…
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ArcelorMittal, Steelworkers reach deal
The 2,000 Steelworkers and other workers currently laid off from Iron Range mines have been in the news for more than a year now. For much of that same year most remaining Steelworkers have been working under an expired labor contract. Last fall, labor tensions were high. The major companies, all reeling from big losses and shrinking…
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Aldi grocery chain to build in Grand Rapids, MN
The Scenic Range News Forum reports that the discount supermarket chain Aldi seeks to open a store in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, on the site of a former lumber store. In a subdivision deal, fast food chain Hardees will also open a restaurant on the same site. This lot is located across from the McDonald’s on Pokegama Avenue South. It had been occupied…
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Hooking up: Broadband in Minnesota
On Saturday, a postcard arrived in the U.S. Mail. Perhaps ironically, this small piece of snail mail told us that MinnesotaBrown World Headquarters in Balsam Township, Minnesota, would be connected to high speed fiber optic internet access later this year. It’s official. Paul Bunyan Communication’s Central Itasca Fiber project currently includes my rural neighborhood. You can see the company’s final…
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State luring wood product plant to Northern MN
A large publicly-traded company that makes wood siding is considering building a new plant in Northern Minnesota. According to reports from Minnesota Public Radio and the Associated Press, the plant would employ about 250 people. The company is considering sites near Hoyt Lakes, Cook and Grand Rapids, as well as sites in other states. From Brian Bakst…
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From taconite to tractor
It’s pretty well established that a tractor is made of steel. Iron Rangers generally understand that the trucks hauling iron ore on the edge of town have something to do with making that steel. Nevertheless it can be difficult to understand exactly how ore goes from rock to machine. So much of the process happens outside…
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60 Minutes: Nolan laments telemarketer Congress
Last night U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan (D-MN8) was featured on the venerated CBS news magazine show “60 Minutes” for his work on campaign reform. Nolan is co-sponsoring the STOP Act, co-authored by Florida Republican Rep. David Jolly and others, which would prevent federally elected officials from directly soliciting funds. You can see the story here:…