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‘Global highway’ would reach Minnesota
The head of Russia’s railway system revealed an extraordinary plan this week that may one day involve the state of Minnesota. Vladimir Yakunin, a high ranking member of Vladimir Putin’s cabinet and widely seen as a potential successor to the Russian leader, is proposing a global highway that would start in London and traverse Europe and all…
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Grand Rapids Library wants YOU to make Peep diorama
There is only one constant, and that is change. Our lives are but marks along the way of change. Nowhere is that more evident in the fact that four generations after mud roads and a multi-lingual society in the remote forests of Northern Minnesota, the Grand Rapids (Minn.) Area Library is now sponsoring a Springtime Peeps…
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New future for Old Central?
Last year we learned that a group of investors was exploring the idea of starting a brewpub restaurant in the Old Central School in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. Earlier this week community members met with architects for the project to ask questions and air their concerns about the idea. The idea is still very much in…
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New Iron Range plant produces ore ahead of schedule
Fans of “Star Wars” might appreciate this reference: The scram mining and iron producer Magnetation announced on New Year’s Eve that its Plant 4 production facility is quite operational. Just like the Death Star in “Return of the Jedi,” the ongoing completion of construction wouldn’t deter the timely execution of the company’s strategy in 2015. A strained metaphor perhaps (Magnetation…
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Rock and a hard place, change coming to the Iron Range
Some of life’s biggest myths are that 30 years is a long time, that today doesn’t matter, and that anything is permanent. Here on Northern Minnesota’s Mesabi Iron Range, the lessons of change that come from digging out the ground beneath our very feet have been hard learned. But what’s learned is so easily forgotten after those paltry 30 years.…
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Longyear finally buys former Ainsworth site in Grand Rapids
Two years ago, I wrote about one of the Iron Range’s oldest families of mining and logging tycoons after Longyear, Inc., signed a purchase agreement for the former Ainsworth mill site in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. The story slipped out of sight for 26 months, until late this last week when the deal was finally completed.…
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‘What’s left’ project nears goal with time running out
If you recall my column of Nov. 23, 2014, “What’s Left Unsaid,” I shared the personal story of my uncle’s suicide in order to explain my friend John Bauer’s “What’s Left” project. John lost his daughter Megan to depression last year and has found a way to channel his emotions into something hopeful. This multimedia art…
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Miltich’s ‘Live at the VFW’ is jazz with heart
I have to admit something rather upsetting to people I know. I … don’t … really … care for jazz. As a genre. A few bars into most jazz standards and I’m having flashbacks to my elementary music teacher trying to teach me syncopation with wood blocks. (tock tock TOCK tock tock tock TOCK tock). For me, jazz is…
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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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Connect Itasca redoubles effort to expand rural broadband
UPDATE: Hear the Morning Show interview that I did with Itasca County manager Trish Klein and Northern Community Radio’s Scott Hall Tuesday about this topic. Itasca County’s efforts to bring broadband access to every resident continue despite an early setback. The initial goal is to gather survey responses from underserved residents. Early confusion made it difficult for many…
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Silent strain: growing hunger in community demands action
A kindergarten teacher ducks into the lounge shortly after first bell. She rustles through a collection of abandoned snacks: forgotten granola bars and leftover lunches. She got the call from a working mother who was running late. Her daughter would be here soon. “She never gets to eat on mornings like this,” says the teacher.…
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Grand Rapids investors plan brewpub in Old Central School
A Grand Rapids, Minn., bank executive and the president of Magnetation are teaming up to bring a brewpub restaurant to the first floor of the Old Central School in the Itasca County seat. Ed Zabinski, a city councilor and vice president at Grand Rapids State Bank and Matt Lehtinen, chief operating officer of the scram…
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Mississippi River Music Armada begins in Grand Rapids
With summer coming to its calendar-based conclusion (even if we have some good weather yet to come), I’ve heard about a really interesting concert series kicking off this week in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, just off the western Mesabi Iron Range. David Fort of the Canadian folk duo Twin contacted me with news of the 3rd annual Mississippi…
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Northbound Caravan brings some of MN’s best bands to Grand Rapids, MN
It’s been a good summer for live music in Northern Minnesota. Though I was too busy to write about it back then, the KAXE Mississippi River Festival last month, featuring past Great Northern Radio Show acts like Actual Wolf and the Roe Family Singers, was fantastic. The same venue — the Rotary Tent outside KAXE…
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On the fair, tall timber and Thomas the Tank Engine
In a quiet summer reverie I hear the chuffing of a steam engine around the tracks of a country bend. What could it be? Why, it’s a train with a face, of course. Our boys are officially too old for Thomas the Tank Engine and his Island of Sodor; Sir Topham Hatt and all the…