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Iron innovation most vital mining challenge for Mesabi Range
I know, there’s plenty we could talk about regarding controversial copper-nickel mining projects in Northern Minnesota. PolyMet has a draft permit to mine. Ely’s Twin Metals got a symbolic boost from the Trump Administration. Persistent and largely meaningless slap fights between mining advocates and skeptics color the pages of the local press. But the truth…
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Oracle says future is mean in 2018
I dream of an old schoolhouse, a maze of stained oak trim and hardwood floors. Cavernous hallways and stairwells double back on themselves. I run the labyrinth. Not all footsteps are my own. I’m lost. Hissing bursts of steam punctuate a mechanized droning sound. I awaken in a small dark space. The dream ends, but…
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Minnesotans to world: Ope! Sneak right by ya’
If there’s one thing that’s definitively Minnesotan it’s our dialect. Studied by linguists and fodder for pop culture, the way we talk developed uniquely among our immigrant farmers and laborer ancestors on the cold prairies and forests of our lake-festooned northern land. Howard Mohr wrote the definitive text, “How To Talk Minnesotan,” which he also…
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Thoughts on improved Minn. population trends
For the first time in 15 years, more people moved to Minnesota from other parts of the U.S. than moved away. Added to immigration and a positive birth rate, Minnesota’s population is growing. Trends here are better than among our Midwestern neighbors. That’s the good news. The bad news is that all of this is…
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Duluth Lakers play zone outside harbor
Basketball fans sometimes wonder, what the heck is a Los Angeles Laker? The well informed might know that this once venerated (now down-on-its-luck) franchise used to be the Minneapolis Lakers, though that still doesn’t tell most what a Laker is. A laker is a ship or vessel confined to a freshwater lake or lake system.…
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Rural Broadband: An Oral History
If you get a chance, read “‘If it were easy it would have been done by now’: Why high-speed internet remains elusive for many in rural Minnesota” by Tim Gihring of MinnPost. It’s a good story about a topic we cover here at MinnesotaBrown, but it also includes an almost embarrassing amount of press for…
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Is our robot society ready to be human?
A 19-year-old Swedish miner sees new automation coming to the underground mine where he works. “In less than 10 years, he says, “this will then all be automated, but I’m not worried — there will always be other work tasks.” Another miner guides a haul truck through a winter-cold mine shaft. He’s sitting in a…
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A new year of Truth in 2018
A new year. A new truth. Every year I share the list of top words from the Global Language Monitor of Austin, Texas. This firm tracks worldwide use of the English language on the internet, looking for trends, useful cultural insight and changes in the language itself. Though I found this organization in the flood…
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Happy New Year from Central Standard Time
Happy New Year’s Eve from the Central Standard Time Zone! New Year’s Eve is a great time to party, even if the shiny ball already dropped in Manhattan an hour before the *real* New Year. Hey, big networks. Chicago. Houston. Kansas City. Minneapolis. These cities aren’t chopped liver. Why don’t they get a New Year’s…
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MinnesotaBrown’s Top Posts of 2017
Farewell, 2017! Another future year over and yet still no flying car in my garage. Nevertheless, the Minnesota Vikings are contenders and Donald Trump is President of the United States, so the past would still be baffled by our present. Let’s take a look back at the year that was on MinnesotaBrown.com. We cover news,…
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Christmas Eve at ELF Power Unit 3
Name’s Earl. I’m an elf. Millwright up at ELF Power Unit 3. That’s the big one. If there’s one thing Santa needs to do his job, it’s a steady base load of about 250 megawatts. It swells some when they’re charging the new phones and tablets, but 250 will get you through the night. Listen,…
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IRRRB boost for school project raises important issue
The Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board is winding up its business for the year. As usual, the commissioner brings a number of projects to the docket. One provokes an important discussion about regional strategy regarding school consolidation. The IRRRB oversees a unique state agency, which is actually run by a commissioner appointed by the…
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Should I stay or should I go: mobility and rural politics
When I was 18 I wanted to leave the Iron Range as badly as any of my classmates. Everything I wanted to do, the entirety of the life I wanted to live, could only be found elsewhere. In many parallel universes I surely did just that, now typing away at some suburban office or pouring…
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Meanwhile in Minnesota, Ms. Smith Goes to Washington
Today, Gov. Mark Dayton appointed Lieutenant Governor Tina Flint Smith to fill the seat vacated by Sen. Al Franken until a special election next fall. Smith then announced she will run for the opportunity to complete Franken’s term, which expires two years later in 2020. Call it a cliche if you want, and one political…
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Go North for a Bold New Future
In “Why Millennials Should All Move to North Dakota,” Sean Braswell of Ozy.com dives into a recent analysis of economic opportunity around the U.S. He finds that seven of the top 20 states in the opportunity index may be found in the Great Plains. They include Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska and…