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The Iron Range blog experiment: a year in review
Happy New Year’s Eve, everyone. Here are the most viewed posts from this blog in 2008, according to Google. 1. Go to Hell, KSTPAfter Twin Cities ABC affiliate KSTP did a misleading hit piece on Ironworld under the guise of “investigative journalism,” I gave them the business. The day the story ran I was getting…
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In all things, moderation
Thomas Friedman isn’t as bad as my fellow progressives think he is. From his latest column in the New York Times: … we don’t just need a bailout. We need a reboot. We need a build out. We need a buildup. We need a national makeover. That is why the next few months are among…
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Duluth News Tribune is gonna live forever (gonna learn how to fly … high)
The editor of the Duluth News-Tribune reassures readers in the prominent Sunday edition that the paper’s owners are “planning to stick around a long, long time.” That’s good news for the DNT, its workers and readers. But, to be fair, that’s exactly what I would tell a newspaper if I planned to sell it off…
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Another take on an Iron Range issue
I posted last week about the many different media approaches to the Iron Range Resources meeting this past Thursday. This is the meeting where Essar Steel received a one-year extension on its loan for its mining and steel project near Nashwauk. Here’s another: Beth Bily reports on the same meeting for Business North, reporting on…
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Friday night follow-up for Iron Range stories
Two late follow-ups to Iron Range stories that have appeared here: The Star Tribune reports on the public meeting in which experts explained the progress of U of M researchers exploring a rare kind of cancer that is more prevalent among Iron Range miners. Beth Bily of Business North covers the “Focus on India” conference…
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Loans, taconite and forbearances, oh my! (UPDATE)
The Iron Range Resources Board met Thursday on a variety of topics, summarized here in a post by Lee Bloomquist at the agency’s blog Rangeviews. News stacking is always a judgment issue, so I’ll note that the non-agency WDIO TV (Duluth’s ABC affiliate) led its 6 p.m. Thursday news with Minorca Mine announcing it had…
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India and the Iron Range: the start of a beautiful friendship?
In the early days of the Iron Range immigrants from more than 50 countries came to area for mining, logging and support industries. India was not then among those countries. This past week India took center stage for a special regional conference and cultural program called “Focus on India” at Hibbing Community College. This comes…
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The fed haze standard and the Iron Range
The EPA has backed off its efforts to eliminate two laws that developers say discourage clean-coal power plants. One of them has huge implications here in Northern Minnesota. Pro-coal EPA officials were trying to undo the federal haze standard that limits pollution near national parks before President-elect Obama takes office. Essentially, there is only so…
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Agency: huge Iron Range steel project still on track, despite economic news
I may have already tubed my invitation to the Iron Range Resources teddy bear picnic, but in the spirit of the holidays I’ll take a minute to point out some pro-IRR news. My friend and fellow Cherryite Lee Bloomquist, the IRR information officer, posted a status update on the Essar Steel Minnesota combined mine and…
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Obama win may mean faster rural internet… in the future
Sure, Democrats have lots to be happy about with Barack Obama’s win, but this item from “Wired” shows that the biggest benefit might come for everyone in the form of improved and expanded Internet access in rural areas and among economically strapped populations. For the first time in several decades the FCC may not be…
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Cliffs to idle three pellet furnaces on the Iron Range
From today’s Hibbing Daily Tribune online. Cliffs idling three ore furnaces in MinnesotaLay-offs loom Tuesday, October 28, 2008HDT Staff ReportCLEVELAND — Cliffs Natural Resources Inc., said in a written statement that it will temporarily idle three iron ore pellet furnaces in Minnesota, cutting 300,000 tons of monthly production capacity as demand for steel softens. The…
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Iron Range division on Legacy Amendment (and my thoughts)
Minnesotans are starting to see a fairly intense effort to pass the Minnesota Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment, which would create a set fund from state revenue for environmental and arts initiatives. In this story, the Mesabi Daily News profiles former State Sen. Bob Lessard, who first pioneered the idea, while explaining what the…
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Sustainability: Iron Range style
This is my weekly column for the Sunday, Oct. 19, 2008 Hibbing Daily Tribune. A shorter version of this piece aired as an essay on KAXE’s “Between You and Me” last month. I will be reading a longer version of this piece for the Nov. 5 Northeast Higher Education District Sustainability Conference at Hibbing Community…
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Parliamentary system is incoherent, but honorable
Who watched the Canadian election results last night? Me, me! I know I’m supposed to be depressed that the Conservatives won again, keeping Prime Minister Stephen “Getcha’ hands offa’ my Northwest Passage, eh!” Harper (pictured at right with the Canadian Minister of Cuteness and Awww) in power for another vague period of time determined by…
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A gathering storm over a bad idea that got big (UPDATED)
I’ve read and considered the Office of the Legislative Auditor report on its audit of the $9.5 million in Iron Range Resources loans to Excelsior Energy for the Mesaba Energy Project. If you read this blog, you know I think that project is a bad idea for a lot of reasons. This audit revealed some…