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Proposition 54, where are you?
Last Saturday, the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor party central committee voted down Proposition 54, a controversial resolution that would have placed the party in opposition to sulfide ore mining. Now, an aside. I earnestly considered whether or not to headline this post about a failed DFL resolution with pun that relates to a black-and-white TV comedy that aired before I was…
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Trusting the wolves, hastening our fate
May 25, 2000: The morning after LTV Steel announced it would close its Hoyt Lakes taconite plant, miners lined up outside the Workforce Center in Virginia, Minnesota. Each wanted to be first to submit a job application to another mine on the Mesabi Iron Range, none of which were hiring. Though employed to monitor youth…
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Saturday is ‘Bob Dylan Day’ in Minnesota
The sign honoring Hibbing High School alumnus Bob Zimmerman for his Nobel Prize. (PHOTO: Hibbing High School) This Saturday, Dec. 10, 2016, the Swedish Academy in Stockholm will award Bob Dylan with the Nobel Prize for Literature, in absentia. Patti Smith will sing “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall.” Someone will read an acceptance speech written by…
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U.S. Steel vows (nonspecifically) to restore 10,000 jobs
In recent days, we’ve been talking about the general improvement of stock and commodity prices as they relate to Mesabi Range iron mines. One of my key observations was that despite the surge, U.S. Steel’s Keewatin Taconite remained closed after 18 months. Well, stop the presses. Maybe. On Wednesday, U.S. Steel CEO Mario Longhi said on…
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Duluth TV reporter lutefisk hazing continues
Used to be, no one had refrigerators. From this simple truth emerged many methods of preparing and storing food across the cultures of the world. In the Scandinavian countries of Norway and Sweden, that included soaking white fish in lye until it formed a gel. Then, months later, you could “reconstitute” the floppy former fish…
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The nation’s rural reckoning of 2016
When the founders crafted our Constitution more than two centuries ago, they enshrined the rural agrarian roots of the United States. Country gentlemen trusted city folk about as much then as they do now, and for largely the same reason: power. For who would rule this nation? The farmers and loggers of the country, or…
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Mills opts to back off recount in MN-8
Stewart Mills announced today he would not seek a recount in Minnesota’s Eighth Congressional district. Mills lost to Rep. Rick Nolan (D-MN8) by about 2,000 votes in the Nov. 8 general election. Outside the margin for an automatic recount, Mills had nonetheless sought to pay for one himself. Today, Mills said the expense of doing so…
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Iron Range uncertainty endures even as iron ore surges
Last night, history professor Jeff Manuel and I spoke to a patient, nice-sized crowd at the Grand Rapids Public Library about the past, present and future of the taconite industry on the Mesabi Iron Range. Our conclusion was as follows: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ OK, perhaps that’s a little glib. Point is, you look at the short term you…
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Mills to pay for recount in MN-8 race
Republican Stewart Mills will pay for a recount in Minnesota’s Eighth Congressional race. U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan (D-MN8) won the election by 2,009 votes, or 0.56 percent, according to the Secretary of State. That lies outside the 0.25 percent range that would trigger an automatic recount, so Mills is invoking his right to pay for his…
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Flawed Obamacare bridge to better system
When President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act in 2010, supporters celebrated the first major victory in a century of fruitless struggle to create a universal health care system in the United States of America. For liberals, the ACA was a triumph over what had seemed an impossible political barrier. To conservatives, “Obamacare” represented a…
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Great Northern Radio Show hits Zenith City
That second week in November was a doozy. It started with a wild election result that left the nation speechless (for a few minutes, anyway). Then the Great Northern Radio Show made its Duluth debut on Saturday, Nov. 12. You now have a chance to hear this broadcast again. Northern Community Radio will rebroadcast both…
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Minnesota gobbles top turkey status
On Monday, Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton presided over our state’s annual celebration of the many turkeys who lay down their lives for the betterment of Thanksgiving dinner. More than 450 Minnesota turkey farmers produce 46 million turkeys a year for a hungry America. Unlike the federal government, Minnesota’s leaders do not pardon the turkey in attendance. Minnesota is…
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How to be right for the holidays
Across America divided politics rule our lives like no time in recent memory. We comb social media and cable news for evidence supporting our cause. Strong opinions stake out the limits of friendships and family ties. With Thanksgiving and Christmas approaching, gathering loved ones may share views you find abhorrent. But don’t worry. You’re right…
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They say snow; it ain’t gonna snow hard
[One half of a composite of several recent conversations] They say it’s gonna snow hard. It ain’t gonna snow hard. You know how I know? The deer ain’t movin.’ Them deer know when a blizzard is comin.’ You see ‘em movin’ all over hell an’ back. It ain’t gonna snow hard. You remember that guy…
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Rawr: ‘Cougar’ catfight stirs controversy
Last week, a young hunter perched in his deer stand near Nashwauk got the story of a lifetime without even firing a shot. Here’s the description from an article by Dave Orrick of the St. Paul Pioneer Press: I wasn’t there, but I know this: Jordan Bowen saw a big wildcat try to attack a deer. The…