Earlier this week I wrote a piece about the need for empathy amid racial discord on the Iron Range, mentioning the story of Isaiah Gatimu, a former Greenway student who faced racially-motivated harassment and later took his own life. The Scenic Range News Forum obtained a copy of the report from the Minnesota Department of… Read More →
On the Range, Race and Healing
December 1, 2014 by 3 Comments
Race is one of the main variables of American life. This fact was written directly into our flawed Constitution more than two centuries ago, a truth demanding hard reckoning ever since. Sometimes it can be comfortable to pretend that race isn’t one of the main variables of life here in Northern Minnesota, however. This is an… Read More →
A schoolhouse divided will not stand
October 31, 2014 by 6 Comments
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…. Read More →
‘Red Ore Renaissance’ on the Iron Range
May 23, 2014 by 7 Comments
Magnetation continues to grow on the western Mesabi Iron Range. Gov. Mark Dayton named Thursday, May 22, “Red Ore Renaissance Day” in Minnesota. Last night, the company celebrated the ongoing construction of its fourth processing plant, turning piles of waste rock from early iron mining operations into quality iron concentrate for the production of steel. Here’s… Read More →
Scenic Range NewsForum expands web presence
January 15, 2014 by Leave a Comment
The Scenic Range NewsForum on the western Mesabi Iron Range recently launched its new website, a mobile-optimized site that tosses aside its clunky PDF reader-style predecessor. Along with this comes news that the Scenic snatched the low bid for becoming Itasca County’s newspaper of record, leaving the Grand Rapids Herald-Review to this painfully defensive story. As… Read More →
Range mine extracts holiday spirit with clever video
December 22, 2013 by Leave a Comment
One of the big 2013 success stories in northern Minnesota’s Iron Range has been Magnetation. The scram mining operation is hiring workers and turning over old mine dumps to extract iron with new technology. But, importantly, Magnetation’s recent holiday video shows that iron concentrate isn’t the only product Magnetation produces. Why, look, they’re helping out… Read More →
Range town mergers could protect jobs, services
November 8, 2013 by 5 Comments
One of the under-reported outcomes of last Tuesday’s off-year local elections was the overwhelming vote by the northern Minnesota communities of Carlton and Thomson to merge. In local media, this was portrayed as the simple matter of tiny Thomson’s overworked mayor and staff. In practice, however, these towns are providing a blueprint for many small… Read More →
Go west, young miner!
October 5, 2011 by 4 Comments
Today’s Duluth News Tribune explains a proposed new taconite plant between Coleraine and Grand Rapids. That’s right, I said Grand Rapids, the historic non-mining western edge of the Iron Range. Magnetation, a scram mining operation that’s worked along the western Mesabi iron formation, mostly near Keewatin and now Taconite, Minn., is looking ahead to its… Read More →
