Tag: Minnesota

  • Nippon-US Steel deal will be transformative for Range, though risk remains

    Nippon-US Steel deal will be transformative for Range, though risk remains

    Last Friday, as Memorial Day weekend was just about to hit, President Donald Trump announced in his haphazard way that he supported a relabeled version of Nippon Steel’s proposal to buy U.S. Steel. U.S. Steel owns and operates the country’s largest iron ore mine at Minntac in Mountain Iron. It also runs Keewatin Taconite, where…

  • Sewing it all together

    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…

  • The ‘shrooms and smelt shall set us free

    The ‘shrooms and smelt shall set us free

    It’s hard to find peace in a culture war. It’s designed not only to divide us, but to perpetually push us apart like two north magnets. Today, I write that it takes something common to bring us together. In Minnesota we have the woods, the water, and each other. Last weekend, I picked mushrooms in…

  • A.I. already dominates the classroom, so now what?

    A.I. already dominates the classroom, so now what?

    It’s hard to say that artificial intelligence snuck up on us. People have been yammering about it for years. Most people I know have either generated A.I. content or mindlessly shared it on social media. It doesn’t matter if you don’t know what it is, it’s already in your house. And it’s the topic of…

  • Northern Minnesota fires highlights growing threat

    Northern Minnesota fires highlights growing threat

    I’ve written about wildfire before, but only in the context of fires somewhere else or fires in history. Now the fires are at our door. And that’s what I was worried about all along. Now I’m writing about wildfires in northern Minnesota. The Brimson fire complex, which includes the Jenkins Creek and Camp House fires,…

  • Stress, isolation erode mental health in rural areas; human connection seeds new growth

    Stress, isolation erode mental health in rural areas; human connection seeds new growth

    Today, the second in my series of columns about mental health issues appears in the Minnesota Star Tribune. I began this series after contemplating the loss of a family member to suicide many years ago. My goals: build hope for recovery from mental illness while sharing valuable resources and elevating worthy public policy ideas. This…

  • Economy, company commitments to determine real fate of NorthMet project

    Economy, company commitments to determine real fate of NorthMet project

    Today, I’ve got a new column on some of the latest twists in Minnesota’s copper-nickel mining debate. I’m well aware that my position on copper-nickel mining in northern Minnesota is like some rare single-cell organism that only survives within a narrow temperature band found near active volcanos at the bottom of the ocean. I know…

  • Part hockey, part pro wrestling, part culture war

    Part hockey, part pro wrestling, part culture war

    Yelling feels good. But yelling isn’t the solution. I fear we have reached this point in the debate (is it a debate?) over the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame in Eveleth. You can read more in my latest column in the Minnesota Star Tribune. Naturally, Iron Rangers don’t want the Hall of Fame Museum to…

  • A new podcast worth your time

    A new podcast worth your time

    Starting Friday, May 2, you can listen to “Worth It,” a new podcast from the Minnesota Star Tribune and Lemonada Media. Night editor Nicole Norfleet and I will co-host this lifestyle talk show highlighting all the cool and important stuff happening around Minnesota. You can listen at Apple Podcasts, Spotify or anywhere you download podcasts.…

  • If a duck can be brave, we can be brave

    If a duck can be brave, we can be brave

    Nature functions because it is certain despite its uncertainty. I’ve seen proof. Like most people of my time and place, I’ve had to live with a fair amount of uncertainty. In school, I agonized. Would she ever love me back? Was dad going to keep his job? Would I be able to afford the elite…

  • A strategy of pragmatic hope to improve mental health

    A strategy of pragmatic hope to improve mental health

    Mental health is often in the news these days. It’s an epidemic putting enormous pressure on our health care system. It’s a burden weighing down our kids as they navigate a more complex and cruel world. We hear about ending the stigma of mental illness through open dialogue. I’ll start. Mental illness in my immediate…

  • How much capital is the public good worth?

    How much capital is the public good worth?

    My latest column for the Minnesota Star Tribune is out now. It pertains to one of the most important companies in the Northland: Minnesota Power. I never claimed to be an economist or an MBA. But I’ve listened to a lot of people of that description over the years and have come to the conclusion…

  • Bringing back the shanty craze, for safety

    Bringing back the shanty craze, for safety

    Today begins with a question. Will the Minnesota Star Tribune let their newest columnist write a goofball satire in the form of old time workers’ shanties? The answer, to my own surprise, is yes. Please enjoy, “Why have regulations when you can have safety shanties?“ About nine years ago I became more serious about historical…

  • Logging off from myths in forest products

    Logging off from myths in forest products

    Even today, logging shapes life in the North Woods. Sure, most people here aren’t loggers. Even in rural areas, most people don’t even own their own chain saws, though many do. But logging is all around us. It’s even the subject of my latest column. As I drive from Balsam to Grand Rapids these days,…

  • Building energy resilience in rural Minnesota

    Building energy resilience in rural Minnesota

    My latest column for the Minnesota Star Tribune is out today, entitled, “Green shoots of hope: Despite harsh political winds, renewable energy can help communities weather the storm.” If we boil all things down to ideology and opposition, there are some people who will never accept renewable energy as anything worth their time or consideration. Meanwhile,…