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Blazing trails to sustainable Iron Range economy
To quote a line from William Blake, “Expect poison from the standing water.” True of water. True of spirit. True of Minnesota’s Mesabi Iron Range. The kind of poison I’m talking about comes from hopelessness. Our Iron Range economy has suffered in recent months, years and decades. We have watched young people leave, and worse…
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Big mix of candidates, intrigue in House 3A special election
Filing has closed for the Sept. 29 primary and Dec. 8 general election in the House District 3A special election to replace the late State Rep. David Dill (DFL-Crane Lake). Six candidates spanning the wide geographic and ideological spectrum that characterizes this enormous rural Northeastern Minnesota district will vie for one ticket to St. Paul. Early…
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Great Northern Radio Show: Adding value to Northern MN
Like many local mines, Iron Range-based MinnesotaBrown.com will be entering a partial slowdown, or “hot idle” while we work out a little problem with the media commodities market. See, the price of a MinnesotaBrown blog post is down to a historically low $1.45 per long ton, due in part to limited demand and illegal imports…
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NPR features MN musician Charlie Parr
It was fun to see this video of Northern Minnesota roots musician Charlie Parr — an inspiration to many in the Minnesota music scene — featured by National Public Radio. Here he performs “Over the Red Cedar,” a wonderful song from his widely acclaimed new album “Stumpjumper.” This song just beautifully captures the unease of…
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History’s human forge
Throngs of civilians gather inside the ramparts of Fort Snelling in St. Paul. The heat, nearly 100 degrees, oppresses all movement. Ladies fan themselves while the men soak stiff collars with sweat. Cooks fry and boil a feast over open flames; the smell hangs heavy in the air. At once a light breeze blows in…
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Biking the red dirt trails of Cuyuna for The Daily Yonder
Today is the day my big story about the Cuyuna Range is live on The Daily Yonder, a fantastic national publication dedicated to rural people and rural issues. The story is entitled “Pedaling New Hope for an Old Mining Town” and features a wide array of pictures, interviews and perspectives about a set of small…
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House 3A special election coming
UPDATE: Sources now tell me that the House 3A Special Election Primary will be Sept. 22, with the general election on Dec. 8. See my updated post. This Saturday, mourners will remember State Rep. David Dill (DFL-Crane Lake) who died after a short battle with cancer last weekend. In coming days, state officials are likely…
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Steelworkers warn of possible strike at Range mines
The United Steelworkers represents miners in most Minnesota iron mines. The union is currently negotiating new contracts with the mining companies. Though several companies own the mines of the Iron Range, the contracts are generally timed to expire at the same time, in this case Sept. 1. When there’s a labor problem on the Range it usually encompasses…
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Iron Range-area lawmaker dies of cancer
State Rep. David Dill (DFL-Crane Lake) died Saturday after battling a rare cancer. He was 60. He had been ill most of the year, but took a turn for the worse this summer. As we reported last week, Dill lived in Crane Lake near Orr but spent a good deal of his time operating a fly-in…
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The human story in every place
Most every Iron Ranger knows an old timer’s story about living off the land, harvesting timber to build the home where the children would be raised, the names of traditional foods and songs. Sure, some of us are Italian, some Slovenian, others Norwegian, Finn, Swede or Ojibwa, but the cold fact is that these stories…
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The politics of the ‘walleye session’
Today Gov. Mark Dayton holds a public forum on the hardships facing business owners on Mille Lacs after the DNR warned that it may have to suspend walleye fishing on the big lake in August. Earlier this week, the governor’s spokesman Linden Zakula made this statement: “Governor Dayton spoke today with both Senate Majority Leader…
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Range-area lawmaker Dill faces serious cancer
Rep. David Dill (DFL-Crane Lake) is gravely ill and receiving cancer treatment at the Mayo Clinic. The Tower Timberjay reported the news first, followed by the Duluth News Tribune and other media outlets. Dill and his family have not yet released a public statement explaining the situation, but several area officials have confirmed the serious…
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Another restrictive deer hunt in Minnesota
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources announced the regulations for the 2015 deer hunting season. Like last year, it’s a more restrictive approach. For the rifle season, most of the state will have a lottery for antlerless permits. However, several zones in the Northeast (including my family’s shack) will be bucks only. The primary rifle season…
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Broadband push just first part of new economy
Universal access to affordable broadband isn’t just about getting more people on the internet, it’s about giving more people in more places the opportunity to generate a sustainable balance of labor and wealth in their communities. Over the past 10 years I’ve written many pieces about the importance of high speed internet infrastructure throughout Minnesota and the potential…
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What’s ahead for the Great Northern Radio Show
Since October 2011 I’ve produced, written and hosted a radio variety program called the Great Northern Radio Show on Northern Community Radio based in Grand Rapids and Bemidji, Minnesota. We’ve been fortunate enough to air on independent public stations around the state and even on the cable access channel in the Northeast suburbs of the Twin…