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Bernie Sanders to campaign on the Iron Range
Minnesota’s storied Mesabi Iron Range will host a major presidential candidate this Friday. Sen. Bernie Sanders plans a Feb. 26 morning rally at the Hibbing High School auditorium. See Sanders’ website for information. Doors open at 7:30. Minnesota’s presidential preference vote will take place at major party precinct caucuses next Tuesday, March 1. The Hibbing…
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On the Anzelc-Layman race in MN-5B
This week Republican Sandy Layman of Grand Rapids announced her candidacy for Minnesota House District 5B in Itasca and Cass counties. She will challenge incumbent State Rep. Tom Anzelc (DFL-Balsam Township), who last week announced his plans to seek a sixth term. Layman is the former commissioner of the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board…
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VIDEO: Obama vows to address steel dumping
UPDATE: U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan (D-MN8) has issued a statement saying that White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough has told him that a comprehensive plan to address steel dumping will be revealed over the next two weeks. UPDATE II: The Duluth News Tribune reports on Obama’s pledge to address steel dumping. Today, President Obama…
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UPDATE: Interesting races on St. Louis County board
St. Louis County is a huge swath of land in Northeastern Minnesota. The county includes the region’s largest city of Duluth, more than half of the Mesabi Iron Range, and much of the Boundary Waters Canoe Wilderness Area — along with miles and miles of woods, waters and small towns. Geographically St. Louis is the state’s largest…
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The mine bosses’ lament: ‘I owe, I owe’
Yesterday, my Hibbing Daily Tribune column detailed the persistently low prices for iron ore at the root of many of the Iron Range’s current woes. Today, I’m going to talk about debt. Supply and demand is one part of the economic picture for iron ore. Debt is what will probably determine the health of the companies who…
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IRRRB to discuss new projects, public works
Yesterday we previewed the new school proposal that the Mountain Iron-Buhl school district will make to the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board when it meets at 11 this morning. That’s pretty interesting on its own, but there are a number of other potentially controversial or politically intriguing items on today’s agenda. First, the board will…
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How low can iron ore go? We’ll find out
To paraphrase an old cliche, do you want the good news or the bad news? Well, the bad news is that a recent commodities forecast by BMI Research predicts iron ore prices will find their floor in 2016, with prices falling further from their current lows through next fall. Iron ore is expected to trade at $35/ton on…
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MI-B seeks collaboration funds for new school
Following legislative action in 2014, the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board created a school collaboration fund from local taconite production and occupation taxes. The broad goal was to encourage fiscally challenged Iron Range school districts to share resources, curriculum and staff, or even consolidate. But in practical, baldly political terms, this fund was created…
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On golden pond hockey
Tomorrow morning, the puck will drop at 8 for the first game of a new pond hockey tournament on McKinney Lake in the storied hockey town of Grand Rapids, Minnesota. The North Woods Pond Hockey Tournament is modeled after the famous U.S. Pond Hockey Championship held annually at Lake Nokomis in Minneapolis. The tournament begins at…
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Remembering Duluth journalist Larry Fortner
Former Duluth News Tribune editor and longtime Northern Minnesota journalist Larry Fortner died early Wednesday from cancer. The Duluth News Tribune remembers Fortner in a Peter Passi front page story today. After work in Florida and Kentucky, Fortner found his way to Duluth, Minnesota in 1979. He would become editor of the DNT, going on…
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‘Rogue’ baby born in family van on Hwy. 38
Most babies are born the typical way, popped out in a hospital surrounded by medical personnel. But sometimes, babies quite literally “go rogue.” Last Saturday, Feb. 13, a Minnesota woman went into labor in the remote northern Itasca County logging town of Bigfork. While Bigfork has a hospital, it does not have an obstetrics unit,…
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DFLer Mike Thompson joins crowded 6A race
Mike Thompson, a DFLer from Cherry, announced in today’s Hibbing Daily Tribune that he will run for the House 6A seat being vacated by State Rep. Carly Melin (DFL-Hibbing) this fall. Thompson is a car salesman who works at the Hibbing Chrysler Center. Though it’s not clear how many candidates plan to honor the DFL…
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Lost Mittens: A Love Story
It’s fitting that Valentine’s Day, a holiday celebrating romantic love, comes in the thick of Northern Minnesota’s sprawling winter. Just as many people have lost love over the years, so it goes for our gloves and hats after months of regular use. By now, gloves have been removed and placed in pockets more times than…
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Hear the Aurora Great Northern Radio Show today
Last Saturday, Feb. 6, 2016, I hosted another live broadcast of my Great Northern Radio Show from the Mesabi East Auditorium in Aurora, Minnesota. We were there to help celebrate the Laskiainen Finnish Sliding Festival in nearby Palo and “the beginning of the end of winter.” You can hear the rebroadcast of this episode today…
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PUC rejects lower power rates for mines
The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission dismissed the Minnesota Power petition to allow lower rates for its industrial customers, most notably Iron Range taconite mines, while raising rates for residential customers. The request by Minnesota Power came after a new law passed the state legislature allowing the mines to seek lower rates. Minnesota’s iron mines are reeling amid…