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Hibbing opens roads, some streets to ATV traffic
The Iron Range city of Hibbing is opening its roadways to all terrain vehicles (ATVs). Hibbing joins Itasca County and other Iron Range towns in considering and ultimately adopting looser regulations for the popular recreational vehicles. The Hibbing Daily Tribune reports on the ATV ordinance, passed in a March 22 council meeting. It opens up…
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The Chinese engineer who mined an American life on Minnesota’s Iron Range
Wen Ping Pan was arguably the fastest man in China in 1912. Also among the nation’s best tennis players, he had his pick between competing in the Olympics against Jim Thorpe or playing in the esteemed Davis Cup tennis tournament. Ultimately, he did neither. Geopolitical change would radically alter this young man’s life, most of…
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For peat’s sake: making the most of the moist
I grew up in the Sax-Zim peat bog in Northern Minnesota. This glorious 300 square mile swamp provides bountiful food and breeding ground for migratory birds the world over. It was also the site of my family’s ill-fated junkyard where, so far as I knew, all water swirled in rainbow hues. Growing up in a…
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Boomtown Brewery to open in Hibbing at former Zimmy’s location
Amid tough times for small businesses on the Iron Range, one entrepreneurial couple bucks the trend. Eric and Jessica Lietz, owners of the iconic Whistling Bird Jamaican restaurant in Gilbert and Boomtown in Eveleth, will now open a brewery in Hibbing. The Boomtown Brewery will be located at the former Zimmy’s Bar and Restaurant in the…
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Dylan talks hunting, fishing and Northern Minnesota in new interview
Like most who grew up on the Iron Range, Bob Dylan reminisces about hunting and fishing. He also insists there’s a profound difference between Northern and Southern Minnesota. Dylan, born in Duluth and raised in Hibbing, doesn’t give many interviews. When he does, they become their own art form. His answers, rarely direct, ebb and flow around some ambiguous concept,…
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Making our community whole
Last Sunday, the Hibbing Daily Tribune reported that the Hibbing Food Shelf would close later this month. Among the reasons cited was a lack of community volunteers and funding, and the rising cost of food. This happened despite the growing number of people who need the temporary assistance of a food bank. Across Northern Minnesota,…
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Hibbing J.C. Penney store to close
The Star Tribune reports that the Hibbing J.C. Penney store is among eight small town locations closing in Minnesota amid the company’s nationwide downsizing. Other locations include: Baxter, Fairmont, Faribault, Hutchinson, Red Wing, Thief River Falls and Winona. The inventory liquidation sales begin on April 17, according to the Star Tribune. The store will close June…
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Art project to brighten Bob Dylan’s Iron Range hometown
After Bob Dylan received his Nobel Prize in Literature, something clicked in Dylan’s hometown of Hibbing, Minnesota. A group of community members formed the Hibbing Dylan Project, with the goal of celebrating the legacy of the folk troubadour’s Iron Range roots. As I’ve written, I was active in Dylan Days, which enjoyed a 14-year run in Hibbing.…
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Armadillo Project seeks to lift soldiers from darkness
Shelly Hanson was the first director and stage manager for my Great Northern Radio Show. One of her jobs was to warm up the crowd before we went live. I still remember the show night when, during the warmup, her phone buzzed. She told the crowd that she knew it was rude to look at…
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Cliffs boasts big earnings, state support in Essar battle
Last week, Cliffs Natural Resources CEO Lourenco Goncalves announced that his company posted a $199 million profit in 2016. That reflects a positive swing of almost $1 billion from the dismal 2015 downturn of the American steel industry. It’s also basic math, as Cliffs finally has all its Minnesota mines up and running, filling orders…
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The union for now: Labor at the crossroads
Regardless of your opinion about organized labor, or whether you’re in a union yourself, the labor movement now faces its most tenuous challenge in more than a century. Politically, there is this. According to a Feb. 1 Milwaukee Journal-Sentinal story, Vice President Mike Pence conferred with Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin in late January. They…
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Animation depicts Hibbing’s new Beltline roundabout
This summer, the Minnesota Department of Transportation and the Iron Range city of Hibbing will install a two-lane roundabout at the intersection of Highways 169 and 37. News of this change has already caused many Range residents to go, “blurggle, blurggle, a-fuff-fuff-fuff!” This is one of Hibbing’s busiest intersections. I spend a portion of most mornings…
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Minnesota fifth largest source of U.S. minerals
Minnesota is the fifth largest producer of American mineral resources according to a recent report by the U.S. Geological Survey. The state remains the largest producer of iron ore in the country, but also produces many millions of dollars worth of industrial sand and stone. From the Myers story: The USGS report reiterated what…
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Former Range senator Tony Perpich dies
Last Saturday, former Iron Range State Sen. Tony Perpich (DFL-Eveleth) died in his Shoreview, Minn., home at the age of 84. He had battled heart disease. Perpich grew up part of a politically charged first generation Croatian immigrant family raised in the mining location of Carson Lake. With his brothers, he helped reshape Iron Range politics in the 1960s,…
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Why we need work, not just ‘jobs, jobs, jobs’
Last November, President Trump polled well in the once-venerated Democratic stronghold of the Mesabi Iron Range. I pin this to the issue of “jobs.” Specifically, I credit the fundamental belief baked into our culture that those who work for pay are superior to those who don’t or can’t. People here have lost jobs, or fear…