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We’re not out of the woods, but hope grows
Today’s column (gift link) dives into a surprising, and very welcome, piece of good news for those of us who live in rural Minnesota communities. The Center for Rural Policy and Development issued its “State of Rural 2026” report last week, which shows a slight increase in population across most rural Minnesota counties, along with…
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Welcome to our big wet water funding crisis
Today’s column (gift link) is about water infrastructure. One of civilization’s greatest secrets is that we, as individuals, are much more necessary to its continuation than we might think. Have you ever seen the show “Life After People” on the History Channel? It uses digital effects to imagine what would happen to cities and other…
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Fear and loathing at your local Walmart
For reasons explained in today’s column (gift link), I spent about six full days of my life at the Hibbing Walmart last year — roughly 150 hours. We try to mix up our family shopping. We’re fortunate to be able to pay more for better products at other grocery stores, and shop at specialty stores…
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Protecting our last great institution
Today’s column (gift link) makes a simple argument for public libraries. And yet, it emerges from a mind boiling with frustration. I want to shake people. I want to tell them, “I know things are bad. We don’t have to make it worse.” As all the money in our substantial economy rushes upward like oil…
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Bringing Iron Range past to digital life
One of the most intimate relationships in my life has been with a 200-pound microfilm machine. Each rendezvous flashed sparks of passion. Dim light. Late nights. Clunking. Grinding. Fire and ice. But let’s start from the beginning. Microfilm stores a high resolution photograph to archive periodicals like newspapers. Compared to saving fragile hard copies, microfilm…
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The Iron Range from above
The other morning I slept in. It was the weekend and a good time to rest. As I lazed in half-sleep, half-contemplation, I looked above me to see something I hadn’t seen before. My wife loves owls so we have owls all over the house. On the top shelf of the bookcase near my side…
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This bill kills
A full description of the so-called “Big Beautiful Bill” remains a moving target. But if the version of the budget reconciliation deal being debated in the U.S. Senate on Monday afternoon is any indicator, it could be one of the most devastating bills for rural health care in a generation. The health care system is…
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Talking mental health on business podcast
This Sunday, my series of columns on mental health issues in rural Minnesota continues. Before then, here’s something related. On Friday, I appeared on an episode of “Business Talk, Sister Gawk” with Rebekkah Anderson. Anderson shared some of her personal experience with mental illness as an adoptive and foster mom for my column. She also…
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Sewing it all together
As I explain in my latest column, I’ve always had an unusual relationship with fabric stores. My mom dragged me to the Joann Fabrics stores in Virginia and Hibbing when I was a kid. The store in Virginia closed a few years ago, but my mom and my wife both continued to drag me to…
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When the thundering noise hits home
It’s been a momentous couple of weeks on the Mesabi Iron Range, notably marred by a major layoff at two mines. But let’s be honest, it’s been a momentous year for the country. Our world is changing. American political institutions are falling apart. People disagree about whether this is good or not, but it’s happening…
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Solving high costs, low availability of child care
My latest column for the Minnesota Star Tribune is out today: “Child care is expensive, but no one is getting rich from it.” Monday is “Day Without Child Care” in Minnesota. Child care providers, families and employers will raise awareness and lobby for policies that reduce the cost and improve the availability of child care…
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All good things end
This will be my last column in the Mesabi Tribune. No sense in burying the lede. But to end something, you really should start from the beginning. My first professional byline was in the erstwhile Hibbing Daily Tribune shortly after I graduated high school. I met my wife Christina in the newsroom. In June 2001,…
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A note to historical researchers, 100 years hence
For about three years, I spent much of my free time reading century-old Hibbing newspapers on a microfilm machine in my basement. Please don’t throw your undies, ladies; it’s not as sexy as it sounds. My book research took on added meaning as I slowly absorbed the sensibilities of the 1910s and ‘20s. After a…
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The U.S. Steel deal is dead; long live uncertainty
When it comes to the U.S. Steel/Nippon merger, it’s all over but the crying. And there will be quite a lot of expensive crying in federal courtrooms over coming months and years. But that doesn’t mean the story is over. We’re going to learn a lot. This is the start of something, not the end.…
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‘A Complete Unknown’ in Bob’s hometown
What were you doing two years after you graduated from high school? Going to college? Raising kids? Turning a wrench? Perhaps you were fighting a war in Vietnam, Iraq or Afghanistan. Or maybe you were fighting one of 22 wars in the Call of Duty video game franchise. Me? I was commuting from Hibbing, Minnesota,…