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Duluth library faces dramatic, expensive fate
I’m 34, pushing 35. The other day I was thinking, hey there Me! I’ve lived some good life and still have plenty to go. Good for Me! Thanks, Me! And then I read this story about the 34-year-old, almost 35-year-old Duluth Public Library. Peter Passi reported in Sunday’s Duluth News Tribune on a grim view…
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The good ol’ boy litmus test
Before reading this post, please respond to the following quiz: Do you think everything that has been done in [any given Iron Range town] by its local leaders is pretty gawl-darn amazing, that the city is a flawless ideal of 21st Century prosperity, and should be celebrated far and wide, regardless of critical thought? Do new or remodeled industrial…
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ELECTION DAY: Last minute advice for the undecided voter
There was a colony of insects working out in a field one fall day. There was much work to be done, and tempers were starting to flare. “Watch where you’re waiving that maxillary palp,” said one beetle. “Well, we wouldn’t have this problem if your big ol’ rostrum wasn’t in the way,” said the other.…
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Celebrity sillies in Minnesota’s election countdown
So, this happened. One commercial break during Sunday’s football game mostly included Christmas shopping ads, while the next commercial break was wall-to-wall political ads. That’s right. Christmas season has overlapped with election season. Since Christmas isn’t officially “holy” until Dec. 25, I’m going to declare this most unholy. I get a lot of press releases…
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A schoolhouse divided will not stand
Last week, the Nashwauk-Keewatin School Board voted to dissolve its shared services agreement with the Greenway School District on the western Mesabi Iron Range. Days later Greenway also backed away from most elements of the partnership. This marks the end of an experiment exposing many hard truths about the future of school and community collaboration on the Iron Range.…
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A story in data: Northern Minnesota’s next challenges
The Center for Rural Policy and Development issued its State of Rural Minnesota 2014 Report this week, including a number of compelling graphics about the current and projected economic status of Greater Minnesota counties. The report might prompt different conclusions based on who reads it, but since I write about Northern Minnesota, I see a…
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400 families respond to Itasca broadband push
Itasca County, continuing its push for broadband for all residents, gave an update on its progress since the reinvigorated effort to collect survey results from interested residents unserved or underserved by current broadband providers. The press release follows: Itascans want better broadband. Over 400 Itasca County families have indicated that they want better access to…
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LIVE BLOG: VP Joe Biden at Hibbing Community College
Vice President Joe Biden speaks at Hibbing Community College on Minnesota’s Mesabi Iron Range today, Oct. 23, 2014, in a “get out the vote” campaign rally for U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan (D-MN8). The event begins at about 2 p.m. I’ll provide live blog coverage here with the help of students at the college who were granted…
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Only one debate in MN-8, but stark differences show
At long last Taconite, Minnesota’s entrance sign rings true: Northern Minnesota is once again “hub of the nation.” Minnesota’s “Fightin’” Eighth Congressional District is one of just a few in the country in which the outcome is not 99 percent assured. Yet despite several million advertising dollars scorched on behalf of Democratic incumbent Rep. Rick…
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Mayor Don Ness will not seek re-election in Duluth
This morning Duluth mayor Don Ness announced on social media that he would not seek a third term. He had hinted months ago that he was leaning against running, but said a formal decision would be made in the fall, about one year before the Fall 2015 election (I had written then about why it…
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‘Mesabi Pioneers’ spins fiction amid rich history
Ever since humans first crawled from the primordial ooze they have made futile attempts to write novels, ultimately abandoning these crude failures inside file cabinets crafted from the bones of long-extinct beasts. So it was in the beginning, so it shall be in the end. I’ve got a botched literary bun in the stone-cold oven…
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U.S. Steel cancels KeeTac expansion plan
Business North reports that U.S. Steel announced several strategic decisions today, one of which was to cancel expansion plans at Keewatin Taconite on the Mesabi Iron Range. From the story: U. S. Steel executives said they considered its future raw materials needs for iron ore and coke, and found its current production capability sufficient. The…
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DFL economist, 7A candidate Schultz dissects MNSure news
It’s been a long time since a candidate for office sent me a press release that was both substantive and informative. Jennifer Schultz is a health care economics professor at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. She’s also the DFL candidate for the open seat in State House District 7A in eastern Duluth. Tonight she sent out…
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The tricky trouble of polling Northern Minnesota
This piece was cross-posted with my Up North Report blog at the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Today, the latest in a battery of polling data from Minnesota’s U.S. Senate race was released, this time the Star Tribune’s Minnesota Poll. The results of the poll are not my reason for this post, though if you’re interested Sen. Al Franken, the incumbent…
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Rail delays knock Minnesota power plant units offline
For more than a year, rail congestion in the Upper Midwest has created high-profile delays for the iconic Empire Builder passenger train. Oil and coal trains out of the western Dakotas and Montana have clogged rails from Williston to Chicago. This week, however, brought the issue to another level. Wisconsin Public Radio reported yesterday that…