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Northern Minnesota musher has Nome-where to go
Nathan Schroeder of Chisholm, originally of Warba, is mushing in the Iditarod Sled Dog race in Alaska right now. After winning last month’s John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon in Duluth for the third time, Schroeder and his canine racers are making their first-ever run at the best-known and most grueling sled dog race in the world.…
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WWII mystery over the skies of northern Minnesota
“I believe submarines Underneath deep blue seas Saw the flags: Japanese No one will believe me” ~ “Submarines,” by The Lumineers In 2014, history seems buried six feet under the bookshelves. Grandparents know a little more, doling out dusty recollections over the meat and potatoes of family gatherings. If there was a sculpture struck, a…
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Business North: Grand Rapids Kmart to close
The Grand Rapids, Minnesota, Kmart store is about to ship its pants for the last time, according to Business North. Unofficial reports put the closure of the Grand Rapids Kmart sometime in June. City officials notified of the coming closure are now planning to work with the building’s owner to seek new tenants or alternative…
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Actual Wolf sings ‘Victims and Things’ live
You could do a lot worse things with three and a half minutes of your life than listen to this live recording from the Current featuring Actual Wolf and his new single “Victims and Things.” Actual Wolf, nee Eric Pollard and his band, is a northern Minnesota act headed to Nashville. They’ll have a full-length…
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‘Rhythmic biological pattern of life’ goes on
In Sunday’s Duluth News Tribune, Sam Cook writes of the last mail run of retiring postal carrier John Latimer, who doubles as the staff phenologist at KAXE-Northern Community Radio. (Phenology is a Tuesday morning radio show, and also the “rhythmic biological pattern of life”). While John might not be delivering mail in rural Itasca County…
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Trampled by Turtles return for 2014 MN/WI tour
Duluth and Minneapolis-based progressive bluegrass band Trampled by Turtles will be making another Minnesota/Wisconsin tour this year, reprising their successful home-state swing from last year. Here in the north, TBT will be back at the Reif Center in Grand Rapids on March 25 and in Bemidji on March 28. You can find out more or…
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Grand Rapids’ Actual Wolf has top MN album of 2013
Grand Rapids, Minn., native Eric Pollard’s alter ego Actual Wolf was seen performing at a coffee shop in his western Iron Range hometown today, a jaunt home for the Duluth and Minneapolis-based singer/songwriter who is quickly moving up in the music world. Actual Wolf’s new self-titled album is out now and the Wolf is…
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Detectives still seek missing ruby slippers from Oz
The story made national headlines and ample fodder for late night jokes when one of the pairs of ruby slippers worn by Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz” was stolen from the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota in 2005. There were no arrests. It was a crude “smash and grab” job on a…
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A view from Minnesota’s deer hunting season
For a picture of a crisp, quiet deer hunting season opener, you can do no better than Sam Cook of the Duluth News Tribune joining some Northern Community Radio friends of mine – Randy McCarty and John Latimar – in the woods outside Grand Rapids. This passage seems to capture Cook’s unique ability to capture…
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Celebrating 30 years of public radio Phenology
Tonight at 6:30, KAXE/KBXE Northern Community Radio celebrates the 30th anniversary of the Phenology Show with John Latimer. Now, maybe you’re some kinda cat who doesn’t listen to the Phenology Show on this marvelous independent public radio station (the station, by the way, that distributes my radio show as well). Or maybe you were like…
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Dave Karr, Sam Miltich to play Grand Rapids tonight
Jazzman Dave Karr has been making music for more than 60 years, most of that time in Minnesota. Karr, an esteemed saxophonist and composer, got his start in his native New York City, cutting his teeth alongside Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, the guy who every band teacher in the country simultaneously tells trumpet students…
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Minnesota minimum wage debate amid labor changes
The debate over raising the Minnesota minimum wage comes north tonight with a community forum on the subject in Grand Rapids at 7 p.m. An statewide interfaith group is pushing an increase of the state’s minimum wage to $9.50. The current minimum wage in Minnesota is $6.15, well below the federal rate of $7.25 and essentially…
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Bigfoot says ‘Good for you’ to area fitness walkers
As a resident of Itasca County in northern Minnesota, the western edge of the Mesabi Iron Range, I am growing to appreciate the whimsy this northern county shows in comparison to its larger St. Louis County neighbor. Case in point: Spud, the Bigfoot (pictured here). Get Fit Itasca commandeered this Bigfoot cut out from a…
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Bear #56, in memorium
Bear #56, a female black bear from the Marcell, MN area, died of old age last week. She was the oldest wild bear ever recorded. Was she the oldest wild bear ever? Hard to say. Is this Jordan Carlton Schaul National Geographic piece the best obituary for a bear you’ve ever read? Probably. I know…
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This is a photograph of local police chasing a bear
Shannon Leigh Sweeney Shannon Leigh Sweeney took this photo of an area law enforcement official chasing a black bear cub on Willow Lane in Grand Rapids, Minnesota this morning. She posted it to the Grand Rapids Herald-Review Facebook page. I’m sure there are more details and we’ll share them in time, but let’s just enjoy…