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Spec no more
While I was gone the Hibbing Daily Tribune reported on a press event held by the city of Hibbing and officials from Detroit Diesel, who will occupy the spec building out by the airport in 2015. I just wrote about that project a few days ago. It’s a big job-creating project and I join everyone…
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Top Iron Range, Canadian officials to meet in Hibbing Tuesday
Things you see through your windshield at train crossings on the Iron Range. Tmrw, 11:30, Hibbing: Canada and #IronRange convo w/ @IRRRB @Tonysertich @Jamshed_MPLS cc: @duluthnews @minnesotabrown @HibbDailyTrib @mntoday— Canada in Mpls (@CanCGMPLS) August 12, 2013 When the Canadian consul general’s office tweets you, you’d better pay attention. Canada’s top Midwestern official, Jamshed Merchant, will…
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Hibbing native jazz singer Evingson featured on NPR
Jazz singer Connie Evingson was featured on last week’s “Weekend Edition” on NPR, giving a charming interview about her music and upbringing on Minnesota’s Iron Range. Evingson was raised just down the street from Bob Dylan’s boyhood home in Hibbing, Minnesota. She’s played a number of shows on the Iron Range over the years. The…
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Hibbing Jubilee marks summer’s halftime on the Range
This weekend brings the Hibbing Jubilee, this central Mesabi Iron Range city’s summer celebration of mines and pines (but don’t call it Mines and Pines because that was the old name and there are proprietary concerns). Hibbing is “the town that moved” for the iron mines, five miles south where they got arguably the most…
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Dylan lets music do the talking in his native Duluth, MN
Bob Dylan performs July 9, 2013 at Bayfront in Duluth. Iris Kolodji Last night Bob Dylan played his birthplace of Duluth, Minnesota, with Wilco, My Morning Jacket and the Richard Thompson Trio. More than 7,000 people attended the show at Bayfront Festival Park, though there was capacity for up to 12,000. Despite my longtime Dylan…
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The myth of the universal iPad utopia
My wife and I, both tech-savvy, blog-writing, Apple product fans, have nevertheless had a spirited debate about this Hibbing Daily Tribune story. The Hibbing School Board recently voted on a set of policies related to 700 new iPads purchased for 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th graders in this central Iron Range district. Now, iPads in…
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Hibbing native’s homegrown indy film premieres at LA Film Fest
Publicity still from “Pollywogs“ Hibbing native Karl Jacob (he goes by that, though is Wiiliainen by birth) filmed his independent movie “Pollywogs” here on the Iron Range in 2011. Last week it premiered at the L.A. Film Festival to good reviews. Chris Hewitt of the St. Paul Pioneer Press recently wrote about the movie, which…
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Don’t mind the black smoke, it’s just the power plant
The Hibbing Daily Tribune issued a breaking news alert Wednesday reassuring the people of Hibbing that the black smoke visible over the city was not an uncontrolled fire, but actually the burning of biomass material in the city PUC plant. “There is smoke wafting through the city, but it’s not a from a fire,” [Fire…
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Dylan Days reach fever pitch today in Bob’s hometown
Dylan Days continues this morning with the famous Bobby Zimmerman bus tour, an interactive storytelling experience that takes visitors through “Bob’s” Hibbing. The tour departs from downtown Hibbing at 10:30 a.m. and lets out at 2:30 p.m. (refreshments available) at Howard Street Booksellers. Author M.L. Liebler will hold an event there at the end of…
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Dylan Days commence in Hibbing, Minnesota
Today Dylan Days starts in earnest in Bob Dylan’s hometown of Hibbing, Minnesota. Duluth poet laureate Sheila Packa will lead a poetry workshop from 1-3 p.m. at the Hibbing Memorial Building dining hall. At 3, M.L. Liebler and the Coyote Monk Band Great Northern Radio Show alumnus and Hibbing’s own Iris Kolodji will provide entertainment…
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Hibbing, Duluth team up to honor famous son Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan’s northern Minnesota heritage is in no doubt, but invariably there are squabbles over who really gets to claim Dylan. He was born in Duluth, where he lived until he was six. The family then moved to his mother’s Iron Range hometown of Hibbing where he was raised and graduated high school. So technically,…
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Dylan Days names 2013 B.J. Rolfzen writing contest winners
As many of you might recall, I am one of the co-organizers of Dylan Days in Hibbing, Minnesota. This arts and culture event celebrates Bob Dylan and the arts community of his Iron Range hometown. Dylan Days will be May 23-26, 2013. This year we’re celebrating Bob Dylan’s Presidential Medal of Freedom awarded last year…
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Iron Range media brushes aside Hillcrest neglect allegations
Last Thursday, the Star Tribune ran a Paul McEnroe story about allegations of neglect at the Hillcrest assisted living facility in Chisholm, Minnesota. It begins as follows: When the ambulance crew members arrived at the assisted-living facility in Chisholm, Minn., they entered a room so foul with the smell of urine that their eyes watered.…
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Group aims to re-engage Hibbing theater community
The cancellation of the award-winning theater program at Hibbing Community College amid the budget tumult of the past several years shook the Iron Range arts community. But there are green shoots here and there, notably with the foundation of a new community theater group called “Encore of Hibbing.” A group of actors and theater types…
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Owl the King’s Men
Crows (Photo: Mary Bailey) Highway 169 runs up the heart of Minnesota, congesting near the cities, pumping trucks up and down the center of the state. But once you get to Grand Rapids, Highway 169 becomes something entirely different. It stains red and becomes the Official Road of the Iron Range, connecting the Mesabi and…