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Northern Lights Music Festival in full swing
“You can’t love the opera if you never see it.” That’s what Aurora native, concert pianist, and founder of the Northern Lights Music Festival Veda Zupancic told me when I interviewed her this week for my Sunday column. Indeed, the Northern Lights Music Festival combines an educational component for beginning and advanced music students and…
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Ely explorers retrace Teddy’s fateful journey on Rio Roosevelt
During the last Great Northern Radio Show, broadcast live from Ely (click and save the podcast!), Amy Freeman detailed the North American expedition she and husband Dave embarked on last year. Dave couldn’t be on the show because he was on the Rio Roosevelt in Brazil, conquering the same jungle waters that almost claimed the life of…
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Financing trips up Range mine projects
Sometimes it feels like the entire leadership structure of the Iron Range is standing outside the offices of environmental regulators, waiting for a Willy Wonka-type figure to emerge, do a little flip, and announce whether or not we get to come inside where they keep the permits. But two recent stories about Range mine projects…
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Hear Ely Great Northern Radio Show, support KAXE/KBXE
I took my Great Northern Radio Show up to Ely, Minnesota, on June 14 and had a wonderful time telling stories, making music and approximating humor. People seemed to like the show, which aired live on Northern Community Radio, and I’d argue that it was a pretty good calling card for what we do: explore the…
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To the Nether and back
Summer vacation is well underway, and not more than a few days into the annual ritual the boys had trod well-worn digital paths across the pretend universe of the video game Minecraft. They are obsessed with finding virtual ore to make tools, houses and various contraptions. Though the geology of Minecraft is a bit suspect…
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The ‘bright lights’ of Great Northern Radio Show weekend
We’re headed up to Ely now, getting ready for Saturday’s big Great Northern Radio Show, broadcasting live 5-7 p.m. from the Vermilion Community College Theater. Find out how you can attend or listen here. I love show weekends. Love, love, love. Here’s where we’re going: June 8, 2014 Auroras on Burntside Lake near Ely, MN…
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Great Northern Radio Show heads to Ely
Believe it or not, I don’t sit around thinking about mining and northern Minnesota politics all day. In fact, I try to do as little of that as possible (with middling success). What I’ve really been cooking up here at my woodland compound has been a little show I think you’ll like regardless of your position on…
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‘Timberjay law’ makes gov’t contracts public
Gov. Mark Dayton signed into law a bill that would make public all government contracts, applying the Minnesota Data Practices Act to private businesses. They’re calling it the “Timberjay Law.” Here’s why: Recently, the Timberjay newspaper in Cook, Tower and Ely had sued to make public an $80 million public school contract agreement between the…
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Ely, MN, launches ‘The Ely Channel’
The Ely, MN, Chamber of Commerce announced today, April 1, it was launching the 24-hour cable network “The Ely Channel.” Featuring original programs like “DNR Cold Case,” “The Real Housewives of St. Louis County,” “Iron Range Chef,” and Sauna Wars,” this channel was unveiled at a news conference this afternoon. Today the Ely Chamber is…
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Bob McDonald loses last home game to son’s Ely team
Legendary Chisholm High School basketball coach Bob McDonald’s last home game was bittersweet for the 59-year, 1,000-win coaching veteran. His Bluestreaks lost, but they lost to an Ely Wolves team coached by his son, Tom. And it’s not over. Chisholm now heads to the playoffs where Ely and other opponents won’t be able to look…
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Mining debate splits St. Louis County DFL
While state politicos continue to pontificate over the Lt. Gov. job opening on Gov. Mark Dayton’s DFL ticket, a potentially signifiant political divide over mining continues to widen here in northern Minnesota. John Myers of the Duluth News Tribune reports that the St. Louis County DFL Unit 3 board has voted in a resolution opposing…
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New use for old building? Ely eyes indoor garden
In between arguments about mining, people in Ely, Minnesota, have been wondering what do with an old city building with historical significance but not much practical use. Hey, how about an indoor garden? Organizers have come up with an idea to have an indoor farming operation in the former Ely Community Center, essentially a local…
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Rebecca Otto responds to Iron Range critics
State Auditor Rebecca Otto was on northern Minnesota’s Iron Range this week responding to criticism over her executive council vote against new nonferrous or sulfide mining leases on state-controlled land. The Mesabi Daily News has led a drumbeat of criticism that coincides with an anonymous “Dump Otto” campaign based on the eastern Iron Range. That…
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Confessions of Ely: Post Secret + Northern Exposure
The other day I saw a Facebook community show in my feed out of nowhere, something from “friends” of “friends.” “Confessions of Ely” is like many online confessional projects (Post Secret, e.g.). The difference: Confessions of Ely is all about the people and sometimes bizarre, sometimes banal, always oddly fascinating activities of the people of…
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A new world behind the trees
On a cold November morning, trucks rattle along an old dirt road behind a stand of timber across from our home in the woods of Itasca County. The chains rattle against the trailers in the crisp, clear air. Sound carries. Two miles, maybe three? This land has been logged several times over in the past…