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Talkin’ middle school parking lot blues
Let me be clear. I do not plan to murder anyone. But if I did the crime would almost certainly take place in the parking lot of my son’s middle school. Winter parking in Northern Minnesota is hard enough. Ice and snow cover the yellow lines. Every slight maneuver involves spinning tires and the risk…
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Golden opportunity for broadband on the Iron Range
Many people reading this have access to reliable high-speed internet access for less than $60 a month. You use this bountiful bandwidth to work from home, communicate with family, attend college, or help kids with homework. But for people who live in rural townships throughout the Iron Range this service isn’t available. They pay twice…
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Navasota project tied to Minnesota Power plan
Earlier this week, I shared a developing story about a new natural gas peaking plant proposed for the city of Cohasset, home of Minnesota Power’s giant Clay Boswell coal-fired power plant. After a great deal of initial confusion, we established that the $300 million proposal by Navasota Energy of Texas for a 400 MW plant…
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Cohasset proposes $300 million power plant
UPDATE: New information offers more clarity to this story. Cohasset City Administrator Max Peters said that the city backed the Navosota project as a matter of routine for potential buyers for lots in its industrial park. Though there are other bidders for this project in the Upper Midwest, this is the only one looking at…
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Reed Drug in Grand Rapids, MN, to close
Reed Drug, arguably the most iconic downtown business in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, will close its pharmacy this Monday, Nov. 23 at the end of the business day. The gift store will close at the end of the year. The store has been at this location since 1955, though has been operating in Grand Rapids since…
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State to fund Itasca County rural broadband proposal
Company officials just announced that Paul Bunyan Communication received a nearly $2 million grant from Minnesota’s Border to Broadband program to bring high speed internet to underserved regions. Their proposal would connect 1,250 households in rural Itasca County to better, more affordable internet options than currently available. My friend Tom Anzelc, fellow Balsam Township resident…
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Magnetation warns union of plant shutdown in 2016
Today, Magnetation announced it has warned its union that it will likely shut down one of its Iron Range iron concentrate plants on or after Jan. 31, 2016. Fifty More than 160 employees could be laid off or otherwise affected for longer than six months. Magnetation, based in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, is a scram mining operation on the…
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UPDATE: The growing pains of today’s Grand Rapids school vote
UPDATE (11 p.m.): The District 318 school referendum failed by more than 2,000 votes. Every precinct voted no. It was a crushing defeat that will send the school district back to the drawing board for its future plans. Here are the totals. My analysis is that the project was not fully formed enough to convince voters…
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Don Ness, Teague Alexy take book tour to Iron Range
On Wednesday, Oct. 21, Duluth mayor Don Ness and musician Teague Alexy will bring their shared book tour across the Mesabi Iron Range. Ness’s book is “Hillsider: Snapshots of a Curious Political Journey,” a self-published creative memoir combining essays, stories and photographs by the popular outgoing mayor of the Zenith City. Alexy’s book is “The New Folklore:…
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Seeing indigenous history on the Iron Range
For many reasons, the stories of native Northern Minnesota and the Northern Minnesota that formed after European and American settlement are often considered entirely separate matters in most history classes and casual conversation. The latter, written by the ancestors of most people who live here, tends to get much more attention. If kids learn about the prior, it’s usually…
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‘What’s Left: lives touched by suicide,’ opens in Grand Rapids
Last spring I wrote about a personal story as it related to my friend and colleague John Bauer’s project to open dialogue about the effects of suicide on the people left behind by their loved one. He successfully funded the project, which is entitled “What’s Left.” The exhibit will open Friday, Sept. 4 at the MacRostie Art…
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Nascent Blandin project would take over Showboat Landing
Long in the works, a new biofuel project in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, may soon come to fruition, but is attracting the ire of arts backers in this western Mesabi city. Though the project has yet to be confirmed by UPM-Blandin, city officials say it will take over a section of Mississippi River shoreline commonly called Showboat Landing.…
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Hot lineup at Northbound Caravan this weekend
The Northbound Caravan music tour kicks off once again this weekend in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. It’s a good ticket this year with a solid lineup of Minnesota musicians, including past Great Northern Radio Show guests the Slamming Doors, along with the Fattenin’ Frogs, i like you and Rob Wheeler. The Northbound Caravan show opens under…
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Sam Miltich & Co. to perform at B’nai Abraham on Iron Range
The B’nai Abraham Cultural Center in Virginia continues its free summer concert series with a show this Saturday, Aug. 1 at 7 p.m. featuring Sam Miltich and his band. Sam Miltich is a Gypsy Jazz guitarist, born and raised in the woods of northern Minnesota. He is a musician by profession and plays regularly in…
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Actual Wolf to play hometown Tall Timber Days
