Rukavina's flag law takes effect

Monday, December 31, 2007 By Aaron Brown

The legislative delegation of the Iron Range is known for great successes and monumental failures over the course of state history. They are also known for quirky stands on random issues. Rangers put their full pressure behind legalizing low-grade fireworks a few years ago. They made a Quixotic stand against the smoking ban last year, but failed to stop it from taking effect.

Last session, Rep. Tom Rukavina (DFL-Virginia) finally passed his law that would require all U.S. flags sold in Minnesota to be made in the United States. Sen. David Tomassoni was the Senate sponsor. The bill passed because no one dared vote against it, which is also why I suspect Gov. Tim Pawlenty signed it as well. The law takes effect tomorrow. It will make more of a statement than it will affect our daily lives, but it will be interesting to see the fallout.

The measure has attracted some high profile criticism from the Times of London and the Wall Street Journal, both of which ran editorials calling the measure overly protectionist. Rukavina, as any student of Range politics would expect, is holding his ground.

Here's one story from the Star Tribune.
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The shot heard 'round the Range

Monday, December 31, 2007 By Aaron Brown

That old DWI could keep you out of Canada
Thanks to post-9/11 border security, new crime databases and a tougher stance on DWIs, U.S. citizens get the cold shoulder.

By LARRY OAKES
Star Tribune, December 30, 2007

INTERNATIONAL FALLS, MINN. - Yanks with youthful indiscretions, beware: That faded citation for driving drunk or smoking pot might not keep you from becoming president of the United States, but with post-9/11 border security, it might keep you from visiting Canada.

Americans have traditionally crossed into Canada with just a few friendly questions and a wave. But stricter anti-terrorism measures and Canada's already tougher stance on crimes such as drunken driving have resulted in many average Americans getting the cold shoulder at the border.

Just ask Bob Hohman, 54, a computer network security analyst from Roseville.
Hohman said he quit drinking after two drunken-driving offenses in the 1970s. By 2004, the convictions were such ancient history that he didn't think twice about disclosing them on a questionnaire at the Canadian border station in Walhalla, N.D., where he and his brother tried to cross on the way to an annual goose hunt.

"When the border agent saw these entries, he informed me that I would not be allowed to enter Canada," Hohman said. The agent said it didn't matter that he had crossed annually for at least 10 years or that he hadn't had a drink since 1979.

"I was kind of astonished," Hohman said. "I was like, 'C'mon, all of a sudden I'm not worthy to be in your country?'" Hohman said he and his brother drove to a different border crossing, steeled their nerves, didn't mention his record and crossed "without further incident."
Read the rest here.

I don't know what's worse, the belief that this kind of red tape is somehow making us safe and/or improving the world, or the fact that the subtle message here is that it's better to deceive the border police. Score another big win for Homeland Security. Now we're going to have to build a wall along our northern border to keep half the people from my high school crossing in the dead of night with a case of beer in one hand and a fishing pole in the other.
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Holy Highway

Monday, December 31, 2007 By Aaron Brown

The Star Tribune has an interesting story today about some Christians' interpretation of scripture that I-35 is a "holy way" indicated in the Bible.

The relevant verse is Isaiah 35:8, which reads: "And a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Holy Way; the unclean shall not pass over it, and fools shall not err therein."

Get it? Isaiah 35 ... I-35. Yeah, well, these folks ran the government from 2002-2006, so don't give me that look. Naturally, it helps that I-35 runs down the center of America (the most Awesome nation Ever) and passes a whoooole lot of churches.


Like most Minnesotans I've spent some time on I-35. I can't say as I felt any unusually spiritual connection during these drives. I've had better luck channeling the Divine on Highway 52 into Iowa or even Highway 63 here on the Range. I-35 is the state's most used highway. I've seen plenty of unclean people, vehicles and deer carcasses on the pavement. And fools erring? Every damn day. But keep chasing that rainbow, Holy Highwaymen.
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Behold 2008's great bounty

Sunday, December 30, 2007 By Aaron Brown

Stop! What’s that sound? That gentle ringing … or it buzzing? Why, it can only be one thing. The future!

The rest will have to wait; it’s time to answer the call. Behold, my 2008 predictions for the Iron Range and to a lesser extent … THE WORLD!

POLITICS
The political world is shocked to its core when a pig named Hoss wins the Iowa caucuses in both parties. Apparently, the pig appeared in newspapers pictured with more than a dozen different candidates, enough that confused voters thought the swine was running for office. Hoss goes on to take New Hampshire but lacks funding to compete on Super Tuesday. As a third party candidate, the pig plays spoiler by earning 25 percent of the popular vote and sweeping the Plains states.

~An excerpt from my weekly column in the Hibbing Daily Tribune for Sunday, Dec. 30, 2007. Read the full version, including many more predictions, at http://www.minnesotabrown.com/, in the Sunday paper or archived here.

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Brown on the Air: Time

Friday, December 28, 2007 By Aaron Brown

I had the high honor of appearing as the guest on this morning's "What's for Breakfast" segment on the 91.7 KAXE Morning Show. Tomorrow, my weekly essay will appear on "Between You and Me" between 10 a.m. and noon. The topic this week is appropriate for today: time. See, today is my birthday, the big 2-8. Nothing like a date that symbolizes aging, the passage of time and mortality to get you thinking about time.

Tune in Saturday morning between 10 a.m. and noon for "Between You and Me" on 91.7 FM in northern Minnesota or streaming online at http://www.kaxe.org/.

My annual quasi-satirical predictions for the new year are coming this Sunday in my weekly Hibbing Daily Tribune column.
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Minnesota could lose Congressional seat in 2012

Friday, December 28, 2007 By Aaron Brown

For Minnesota political junkies, this is an old assumption. Our slow population growth in Minnesota could cause us to lose a Congressional seat after the 2010 census. This would mean a contentious redistricting battle that puts increased importance on who controls the legislature and governor's office in coming years, especially after the 2010 election.

For the hyper attuned, means this year's presidential race will have a domino effect on whether it's Republicans or Democrats who lose a Congressional seat in 2012. New presidents generally cause their party to lose seats in Congress during their first midterm, which has a similar effect on state legislatures. Thus, if we have a Democrat in office after 2008, DFLers might face the loss of the State House and/or Senate in 2010. Or, if a Republican is elected president, the opposite might occur. Perhaps that's too much spice in the gumbo, as conventional trends have been changing lately. Naturally, Democrats will have a chance of keeping the works if they do fairly in the 2008 election and manage to win something, anything, under the Pawlenty administration.

OK, blah blah, back to the prospect of losing a seat. The question is whether the northern Minnesota seats are combined creating a massive northern district that runs about 50/50 DFL/Republican. That would be the GOP preference. The Republicans would also like to see St. Paul's 4th and Minneapolis's 5th districts combined, consolidating DFL strongholds and creating more conservative suburban districts. The DFL would like to see the suburbs mixed with solid DFL zones to give them more leverage in the fastest growing parts of the state. In truth, there are fewer and fewer good ways to divide the state as well over half our population lives in a crazy donut shaped area around St. Paul and Minneapolis.

State could lose House seat after 2010, estimates show

Minnesota's population is growing, but not as much as many other states.
The result may be seven congressional districts in 2012.


By NINA PETERSEN-PERLMAN
Star Tribune, December 28, 2007

WASHINGTON - The latest estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau confirm that Minnesota could lose a congressional seat in 2010.

Minnesota is still gaining population, but barely. Meanwhile, Sun Belt states such as Florida continue to grow rapidly, staking a claim on increased representation in Congress.

Although the current estimates show Minnesota on the cusp of losing a seat, its fate won't be decided until the Census Bureau releases hard numbers from its 2010 survey late that year. State demographer Tom Gillaspy said Washington and Minnesota have virtually identical populations.

"If you extrapolate last year's growth rate out to 2010 it's basically a dead heat between Minnesota and Washington," Gillaspy said. "It still looks like we're just below the cutoff point, but it looks pretty close. It's certainly within the margin of error of estimates."

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MinnesotaBrown endorsements are coming

Thursday, December 27, 2007 By Aaron Brown

On Jan. 2, the eve of the Iowa Caucuses, MinnesotaBrown (OK, me) will be endorsing a Democrat and a Republican for their respective party's nomination. I am doing so for two reasons: 1) to attempt to have some influence on a process that will leave me nothing but the decision to rubber stamp the front-runner in Minnesota's Feb. 5 primary, and 2) to test the theory that my endorsement is a kiss of death. I've yet to vote for a winner in any presidential primary or general election. If I am wrong about these endorsements, I will shut the hell up about who I like for the rest of time.

I have an idea who I will endorse, but please use the comments section to get me to change my mind.
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Christmas decompression

Wednesday, December 26, 2007 By Aaron Brown

We survived a rather extensive family Christmas marathon involving lots of meat, cheese and potatos and very few green vegetables. Also, lots of baby holding and toddler chasing, but that's a given these days. Santa brought Cranky the Crane, so all is well.

We seem to have a news hole right now. Nothing significant, other than heavy campaigning activity, is coming out of the Iowa caucus story. The voting there is the night of Jan. 3 and some polls are showing Hillary Clinton back in the lead. I really hope Democrats go a different direction. McCain or even Huckabee can and probably will beat her and a Clinton/Romney or Clinton/Giuliani race will make the nation physically ill. And you all know I'm a raging partisan Democrat, so I'm not running a party line on this. Obama or Edwards would be tough to beat nationally and either of them help the ticket. My heart remains with Obama and my head with Edwards. If Clinton wins, I fear both will be road meat and we'll be faced with one full calendar year of "The Hillary I Know."

Locally, it looks like taconite production on the Iron Range was good but down a tick in 2007 and is expected to move up a tick in 2008. Consecutive good years in mining towns create a lot of apathy in our northern Minnesota communities which worries me. I'd like to see significant improvements to our towns and schools over the next few years while things are good. Towns with ego-heavy and/or incompetent mayors and councils, however, will waste time and money on useless endeavors. I don't mean to use a broad brush on our local officials -- many are excellent -- but it is a mistake to assume that voters only select smart people for public office.

Speaking of useless endeavors, a lot of underground chatter about all the appeals filed by Excelsior Energy regarding the PUC denial of their Power Purchase Agreement. You'll recall that this startup company fronted by lobbyists and lawyers is looking for a guaranteed customer for their overpriced, unneeded, publicly funded boondoggle. (Though they understandably disagree with my wording). The PUC has declared Excelsior's "clean coal" Mesaba project not in the public interest. They appealed, but now Minnesota Power -- one of the project's opponents on account of their financial interest in lower-priced power -- is appealing the project's claim that Mesaba is "innovative," because MP is pursuing different technology they claim is just as clean. I don't know who will win the court fight, but I know the children of Twin Cities lawyers will continue to attend fine schools.
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Merry Christmas from MinnesotaBrown

Monday, December 24, 2007 By Aaron Brown

I'm laying off the blog 'til Boxing Day. Enjoy some time with your friends and family. That's my plan.
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T-Paw saves disfigured bear from lethal injection

Sunday, December 23, 2007 By Aaron Brown

In northern Minneosta, bear stories are on the news all the time. If I blogged every one this thing would be called MinnesotaBear. But I feel bad I've waited so long to talk about Solo, the one-eared bear from the Vermilion Range. Solo and her two cubs are hibernating underneath someone's porch. They called the DNR and the DNR, not known for their PR prowess, said they're going to kill it. I imagine before the media covered such things, this was often a first choice for the DNR.

Caller: Ya, there's a bear in my ...

DNR: We'll shoot it.

Caller: Well, you don't have to shoot it, it seems ...

DNR: (gun cocking) I'll be there in two minutes.

Caller: Seriously, you don't have to ...

DNR: BLAM BLAM BLAM!

Anyway, just like with cows it becomes politically difficult to kill things with names. After a week of debate in the media, the governor has intervened. See below:

Governor grants Solo reprieve
Don Davis, Forum State Capitol Bureau - 12/21/2007

“We are going to give the black bear a reprieve, a pardon,” Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty announced on his weekly Friday radio show. “It is a good pre-Christmas, pre-holiday announcement.

State Department of Natural Resources officials had considered putting Solo down because she had become too friendly with people, which could be dangerous. But now state officials say she will live out her life in a wildlife sanctuary, but no decision about where to send the bear family will be made until next week.

Solo is a 4-year-old, one-eared bear that has become well known to residents Eagles Nest Township near Tower. That is where she and her cubs are hibernating under a private cabin. Pawlenty, saying all he knew about the case was what he read in newspapers, came down on the bear’s side Friday.

“My feeling is this bear should not be euthanized,” Pawlenty declared.

Paul, a caller to Pawlenty’s show, said killing her would be “a waste of natural resources.”

The governor agreed, but said the state must keep children safe. “We obviously have to put those concerns first.”

DNR officials said Friday afternoon that the bear family will be sent to a captive facility where the three can live without “uncontrolled interactions with people.”

“This solution satisfies our original and primary concern about public safety,” said Michael Don Carlos, DNR wildlife research and policy manager. “The typical behavior of a black bear, like any wild animal, is to avoid humans. This bear is habituated to humans and has lost its fear of people, which makes it impossible to predict its behavior.”

DNR officials said they are looking into several locations for the bears.

If Pawlenty remains involved, look for Solo to receive some sort of judgeship, maybe on the appellate court. Unless it shows activist tendencies. After that, look for T-Paw to drop it off at Tom Rukavina's house.

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Our dog is still alive and other Christmas news

Sunday, December 23, 2007 By Aaron Brown

So we sent out our Christmas cards which were actually just letters, and photocopied letters at that. I’ve read the etiquette columns and I know such documents should be augmented with personal notes, ribbons and probably glitter, but we just sent out the black and white photo letter. We have three boys under the age of three, including a toddler and twin babies. I think people understand the unspoken truth that any complaints about the letters might lead to a stabbing involving the tree angel.

See, people set the bar low when you have small children. It really doesn’t matter if your Christmas letters lack whimsy, if the font is clunky and unreadable and there are no verbs. All they want are pictures of “the babies.” Oh, and if those babies are doing something cute – smiling or pursing their lips or reflecting colors from the visible spectrum – they might not care if you’ve written anything in the English language.

~ An excerpt from my Sunday, Dec. 23 column for the Hibbing Daily Tribune. Read it on the Sunday opinion page, on www.minnesotabrown.com or archived here.
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Brown on the Air: Winter Wonderland

Friday, December 21, 2007 By Aaron Brown

The long Christmas weekend begins Saturday with the topic of KAXE's "Between You and Me" on 91.7 KAXE: Winter Wonderland. We northern Minnesotans live in just such a wonderland. My essay is about how recent unusual winters have been a drag for our local snow enthusiasts. Only it's supposed to be funnier than how I just described it. Trust me.

Tune in Saturday between 10 a.m. and noon on 91.7 FM in northern Minnesota, or streaming online at http://www.kaxe.org/.

Also, tune in to KAXE Monday morning for my wife Christina's second segment of "The Northern Cheapskate" on KAXE at 6:50 and 8:50 a.m. She's developing quite a following for her nuggets of rural frugality and personal finance knowledge. She's great at this stuff and is the entire reason we live on a lake instead of instead of inside a culvert.
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City folk find us quaint

Thursday, December 20, 2007 By Aaron Brown

My first couple of weeks posting for www.mnblue.com have been interesting. Check out and join the discussion on my latest post, which I published here a couple days ago. MNBlue is a bit Twin Cities-centered, so I feel like a stranger in a strange land sometimes.
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Compare and contrast

Thursday, December 20, 2007 By Aaron Brown

Check out this story on a potential new "clean coal" plant in central Illinois. A few interesting facts: The U.S. Energy Dept. is questioning the costs for the $1.8 billion price tag, expecting overruns. All the project supporters cite the geology of central Illinois and the close proximity of coal supplies as major reasons to locate the plant there. Interesting, then, that our friends at Excelsior Energy are looking to build an even more expensive plant on the Iron Range where the geology does NOT favor similar technology and that lies more than a thousand miles away from any coal. Why doesn't the DOE question THAT boondoggle? More evidence: there is no way that Excelsior can build here. Do not give these people any more money.
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Big Brother is NOT watching Buhl

Thursday, December 20, 2007 By Aaron Brown

An update: The people of Buhl have spoken. The city is now backing off plans to install surveillance cameras on the streets of this small Iron Range town. Now the midnight riots may continue unabated. The feds are still listening to our phone calls, but at least public urination laws remain difficult to enforce.
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Project Firefly

Thursday, December 20, 2007 By Aaron Brown

Check out this press release about "Project Firefly." I've heard about this before and it seems like an interesting way to enhance homegrown economic development near Ely. It would be a pilot project that could be duplicated across the entire Iron Range or any area like ours. Essentially, inventors are given funding to take their novel ideas to the marketplace. Kind of cool, if it works.
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Hey you, Dow Jones guy

Thursday, December 20, 2007 By Aaron Brown

I just watched President Bush's year-end press conference. I noticed that, with the exception of reporters who have specifically pissed him off in the past (David Gregory), he refers to the reporters by their organization's assigned seat. "OK, first up, Associated Press guy." My favorite was this exchange.

BUSH: Dow Jones guy. How's the market?

DOW JONES GUY: I don't know. I can check.

BUSH: OK.
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The truth about presidential politics

Thursday, December 20, 2007 By Aaron Brown

I am going to tell the truth. There is nothing I can offer here that will bring an sort of understanding to the 2008 presidential nomination races in either party. It's all up to 80,000 people in Iowa and another 100,000 in New Hampshire. Who's a flyover state now, Big City?

In honor of the Christmas holiday, I will not link to any inane analysis from the New Republic, Atlantic Monthly, Roll Call, Time, Newsweek or the New Yorker. The winner will be ... probably someone.
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Vote on Santa question

Thursday, December 20, 2007 By Aaron Brown

Don't forget to vote on the Quick Poll. Santa Claus is:

A) Real
B) Not Real
C) Real in our hearts
D) State Sen. Tom Bakk (DFL-Cook)

Right now, "real in our hearts" is leading Bakk by a nose. A bright red Rudolph nose.
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How to win the Iron Range

Wednesday, December 19, 2007 By Aaron Brown

This is the second long post in a series about the political climate on Northern Minnesota’s Iron Range. I cross post these kinds of things with www.mnblue.com and my own www.minnesotabrown.blogspot.com.

Last week I talked about how Range politics centers on personal relationships. The region blends social conservatism with economic liberalism to create a unique environment that plays a big role in state politics and a bigger role in state DFL politics. Though the only Iron Ranger to hold statewide office was Gov. Rudy Perpich, the region has influenced the path of every Democrat and/or Farmer-Laborite elected to statewide office in Minnesota since Floyd B. Olson. But like the statewide DFL, any path to victory must include coalition building.

There are three big factions that make up the DFL’s majority coalition on the Iron Range. This configuration might also apply to many other parts of Minnesota (and the nation, for that matter) but I am focusing on the Range because I’ve run campaigns here.

Labor
Most people associate the Range with labor for good reason. The labor movement has its roots here. I don’t just mean Minnesota’s labor movement. I mean THE LABOR MOVEMENT. There were Wobblies and red flags in the streets here in 1907.

Today’s labor faction on the Range includes old powers like the Steelworkers, Teamsters and all the building trades, but increasingly the word “labor” on the Range refers equally to professional and service workers like AFSCME and Education Minnesota. They usually endorse and work for the same candidate in a primary (notable exception: the Steelworkers and AFSCME on the Iron Range are currently split between Al Franken and Mike Ciresi, respectively, for U.S. Senate).

Labor also represents a steady, though not enormous, source of political financing for local candidates and parties.

Progressives
The current progressive voters on the Iron Range are strongly motivated by the Iraq war issue, but they’ve been around a lot longer than that. In fact, this faction has existed since the beginning of the Range and was in the 1910s and ‘20s an offshoot of the Republican Party. They are moralistic, pro-environment and generally refuse to compromise with those in power on issues important to them. Today they vote DFL (and sometimes Independence or Green). For example, Becky Lourey’s gubernatorial campaign in 2006 drew much of its strength from 8th CD progressives. This group fights with the Iron Range legislative delegation all the time, usually behind closed doors but sometimes out front. (Conservative DFL State Rep. David Dill’s 2002 and 2004 primary challenger Bill Hansen was DFL endorsed, due in large part to progressive activists … but Hansen lost both times … more on that later).

Like labor, the progressives are good at making things happen during a campaign but unlike labor they won’t work for candidates they don’t love. Similarly, progressives can raise lots of money if they really like a candidate but raise nothing for those they don’t like.

Opinion Leaders
Past and present state legislators, party leaders, mayors, city councilors and county commissioners, and – increasingly – lobbyists, consultants and developers. Add to that newspaper editors/publishers, prominent citizens and anyone else who holds more sway on the street than Joe or Jane Ranger. I’d include bloggers if I weren’t the only political blogger I know of on the Iron Range and if my blog got more than 200 hits a week. In the old days, this collection of people would get together and form what we used to call a political machine. There are vestigial remainders of “machine” politics on the Range, but by and large this group is neither unified nor organized. When they DO get together on a candidate or issue, they can sometimes overrule the will of the labor and progressive factions within the DFL (That’s how David Dill beat Bill Hansen twice). However, when they are divided, a unified labor and progressive coalition can beat the conventional wisdom. That’s how State Rep. Tom Anzelc beat Bob Anderson in the 2006 DFL primary for District 3A even though Anderson had the same last name and is related to outgoing State Rep. Irv Anderson. (I ran Tom’s campaign).

Opinion Leaders hold a bit more sway than any other faction because opinion leaders often control the greatest amount of public influence and campaign funding, the latter disproportionately influenced by the aforementioned lobbyists, consultants and developers.

Oh, and Opinion Leaders are not necessarily Democrats. They only trend that way because of the power structure on the Range.

The Republicans have their factions as well.

Social/Religious Conservatives
This is the core of the Republican Party on the Iron Range (and the entire 8th Congressional District, for that matter). Deeply pro-life and anti-gay marriage, this group also rivals labor unions in their ability to organize. Unlike labor, their numbers grow each year – even on the Iron Range. I think there’s a ceiling on that, but it’s worth noting.

Business Leaders
Business owners, bank managers, stock brokers and others like them have trended Republican since the beginning of the Iron Range. When all the immigrant laborers couldn’t vote – in the 1900s and ‘10s, the Iron Range was a Republican bastion. The last Republican elected in the core of the Iron Range was the late former State Rep. Carl D’Aquila, a Hibbing businessman, who served in the 1950s. Unlike social conservatives, business leaders will cross over to the DFL if the Democrat is more moderate (especially in local races).

Libertarian/Gun Rights
Democrat or Republican, a NRA endorsement will move 10 and sometimes 20 points in your favor in the general election. Gun rights are a major issue here. The rural edges of the Iron Range – the places where I grew up and currently live – hold a disproportionate number of “libertarian” style voters who distrust government, oppose gun control and vote accordingly. They will vote for gun rights DFLers, but seldom vote for the Democrat in a presidential election.

As I said last time, by the numbers the Iron Range is a solid but improbable DFL stronghold. However, like another Democratic stronghold – the South of the early- to mid-20th Century –the Iron Range elects conservatives and liberals same as anywhere else. We just do all our campaigning in the primary. Business Leaders and libertarians will cross over under the right circumstances, which is why guys like House Majority Leader Tony Sertich will sometimes outperform the DFL’s statewide ticket by 10 or 15 points.

I’ll continue this series in a few days with a piece about the challenges of keeping the positive aspects of Range political tradition while modernizing the parts that no longer work (or never worked). No easy task. One commenter posted that my analysis glosses over the Iron Range’s “cult of personality” that overshadows issues and genuine progress. There’s something to that. I’ll explain.
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Miners' health study carries hefty price tag

Tuesday, December 18, 2007 By Aaron Brown

Yesterday, lawmakers learned that it will cost $5.5 million to do a study about the effects of the taconite mining process on miners' health. For years, anecdotal evidence and incomplete reports have suggested a link between working in the mining industry and a rare form of cancer. The question now becomes, do people in power actually have the fortitude to fund this expensive but comprehensive study? Rep. Tom Rukavina is quoted as saying the state should follow through when the governor balks. Here's the roundup from today's Duluth News-Tribune with more after the jump.


Miners lung study to cost $5.5 million
Lee Bloomquist, Duluth News Tribune - 12/18/2007

EVELETH — A study of the causes of lung disease among Northeastern Minnesota iron ore miners will cost $5.5 million. And some people are wondering where money to answer the longstanding health question will come from.

“We’re going to find the money,” state Rep. Tom Rukavina, DFL-Virginia, assured about 50 people Monday at a meeting of the Minnesota Taconite Workers Lung Health Partnership at Iron Range Resources headquarters in Eveleth. “I would like to find all of it up-front and secure it away.”

The partnership is aimed at determining once and for all what has caused a sharp increase in mesothelioma deaths among Iron Range miners.

Mesothelioma is a rare, usually fatal lung disease related to asbestos exposure.

A statewide cancer surveillance system determined that 58 of 72,000 miners who worked in the iron ore industry between the 1950s and 1983 died from the disease.

The disease rate among the miners is much higher than the expected rate in Northeastern Minnesota. But it never has been determined what causes the disease.

Researchers determined in 2003 that 17 of the miners probably developed the disease from commercial asbestos dust. Some critics said the Health Department didn’t look hard enough at mine dust.

The new study will examine whether working in the mines is a risk factor for lung disease, whether other diseases occur as a result of working in a mine, and whether spouses are at risk, said Dr. Jeffrey Mandel, University of Minnesota School of Public Health associate professor. The exhaustive five-year Health Department study would include health examinations of current and former workers and spouses, air sampling in Iron Range communities and near mines, lake-bottom sampling, mineral analysis and historical data, Mandel said.

“This is the time to figure out what is going on,” Mandel said. “The rate here is clearly elevated. There’s no point in waiting longer.”
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Big Brother is Watching Buhl

Monday, December 17, 2007 By Aaron Brown

Ah, Buhl. When will we ever learn to understand your ways?
This is an AP synopsis of a story from the Mesabi Daily News:

Iron Range town mulls surveillance cameras placed around town
The Associated Press - Sunday, December 16, 2007

BUHL, Minn. -- Law enforcement officials in the Iron Range town of Buhl want to put six surveillance cameras around the town of less than a thousand people.

Sergeant Pat McKenzie of the St. Louis County Sheriff's office say it's a cost-efficient way to deter crime. But some locals think it's a silly idea in a small town where not much crime happens in the first place.

The city council is considering the proposal, which would have cameras placed at the three main ways into town, and one each at the city park, near the city beach and near an industrial park.

Not all council members are on board. One calls the proposal, quote, "creepy" and says it raises concerns about invasion of privacy.

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My moustache mistake

Monday, December 17, 2007 By Aaron Brown

I made a dumb mistake in my column yesterday. In a (mostly) satirical column I suggested that Minnesota trade its high-profile Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty to North Dakota for its Republican Gov. John Hoeven, a bunch of steaks and two nuclear weapons. In the column I say that Minnesota hasn't had a governor with a moustache in a long time and "we're due."

Well, diligent readers will surely point out soon that Gov. Jesse Ventura had a moustache and he left office just five years ago. This was a stupid mistake for a "journalist" like myself, but here's the thing ... in the moment I wrote that column, I actually forgot that Ventura was our governor. This is significant. He was the most famous person to ever hold the office of Minnesota governor and probably the only pro wrestler ever to be elected to a statewide office anywhere. His term was mostly a bust, but he certainly made a splash.

And I forgot it happened.

I wonder if this is like a selective memory lapse, like what you use to wipe bad romantic experiences from your memory later in life. "No, I never dated a carnival worker," one might say, if one had and wished they hadn't.

So anyway, sorry for the mistake. I still think unloading Pawlenty for steaks would be a good move and WDIO news anchor Dennis Anderson won't retain his high value much longer. I could see Anderson being successful in Milwaukee. Maybe we make this a three way trade and figure out a way to get some beer with those steaks.

The column is here.
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Trade talk could be applied elsewhere

Sunday, December 16, 2007 By Aaron Brown

The whole debate got me thinking: What if we could trade away people in politics or the media for prospects? It could solve some problems. Therefore I have decided to propose several non-sports trades for our state and region.

The first big trade I suggest is to send Minnesota’s Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty to North Dakota for their Republican Gov. John Hoeven, two of his state’s many nuclear weapons and one 16-ounce steak for every Minnesotan. Hoeven doesn’t have the national profile of Pawlenty, so he’s got to be cheaper (and his name could be pronounced “Ho-Even” to make him mad). I figure if our state is going to subtly shift the cost of government services from a fair statewide income tax system to regressive property taxation that punishes the working class and retirees, you might as well get some cool nukes out of the deal. North Dakota is one of the largest depositories of America’s nuclear weapons, so just two little ICBMs won’t set them back too much. Maybe we can point the missiles at Wisconsin to make the cheese heads plow our roads for free. Efficiency! As an added bonus, Hoeven has a moustache. Minnesota hasn’t had a mustachioed governor in a long time and we’re due.

~An excerpt from my Sunday, Dec. 16, 2007 Hibbing Daily Tribune column. It's available at www.minnesotabrown.com, or in the Sunday paper or archived here.
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As sure as B.S. trails a boondoggle

Saturday, December 15, 2007 By Aaron Brown

Come on down, Iron Range! It's time for another fun episode of "Logical Fallacy."

Yesterday, Xcel Energy -- the largest and most influential energy company in the state -- said they aren't going to invest in any new coal plants until the government decides on firm carbon limits or until the cost of cleaner coal plants become commercially viable. Minnesota Power and other utilities have released similar declarations this year, and indeed this is the prevailing viewpoint across the country according to media reports I've read.

So here's your challenge. Spot the logical fallacy from this story about Excelsior Energy's appeal of the state PUC's decision to deny their efforts to force Xcel to buy their power.

A) "The Public Utilities Commission has placed a continual and constant burden on us to demonstrate that this plant is needed when the Legislature has already determined that issue,” [Excelsior CEO Tom Micheletti] said.

B) “The bottom line is: This project is still going to be built. It will happen, as sure as night follows day,” Micheletti said.

C) “It’s going to happen because we need the power, and someone needs to demonstrate that coal can still be used to produce power in this country,” Micheletti said.

ANSWER: Well, shucks. You get the premise. All of the above. Micheletti's logic implies that our energy future is solely dependent on coal, that this project is the only way to accomplish energy on the Iron Range and that the Legislature should simply eliminate the PUC because those decisions should best be left to state senators who take money from and make buddies with those who want to start power plants.

A little natural gas peaking plant in Hibbing or Chisholm or Buhl would take care of our problems without driving up energy prices and would give us time to develop cleaner baseload power. A $2 and a half billion boondoggle run by lawyers is not necessary or smart.

Whenever you hear a lawyer/lobbyist say "As sure as night follows day" and "the bottom line" in the same sentence, you can bet you're dealing with unfiltered B.S. Don't fall for it, folks.
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The Range: Where "poli sci" is some kind of ethnic dish and potica is political

Saturday, December 15, 2007 By Aaron Brown

This is the first part of a series of cross-posts about Iron Range political culture for MNBlue.com and the MinnesotaBrown blog.

The first thing you have to know about the Iron Range is that you need to cast aside the conventional wisdom on "rural vs. urban" political trends. The Range is often considered to be a rural area by those who haven't spent much time here. But in truth the Iron Range is an industrial area, larger than Duluth but spread out over a long string of small- to medium-sized mining towns. A local college history instructor, Pam Brunfelt, first explained this analysis to me and it's the best I've encountered. These towns operate much the way neighborhoods function in a large city but the geographic isolation has preserved the kind of rivalry that most cities escape after their first few decades.

At the same time, parts of the Iron Range -- such as the part where I now live in Itasca County and the part where I grew up near Cherry -- are classically rural. But in all cases you can't make the assumption that rural areas naturally break to conservative trends and urban areas naturally skew liberal. For instance, my home township -- Balsam -- tilted just slightly for George W. Bush in 2004 and is home to a strong evangelical Christian community like what you'd expect in a "red" precinct. But state DFLers, because of tradition and personal connections, still do very well here. And then my native Cherry -- which is one of the few legitimate farming communities on the Range -- is solidly liberal (and was home to many socialists at the beginning of the 20th Century, including famous communist Gus Hall).

The cities of the Iron Range are mostly 3-1 DFL towns. Places like Chisholm and Keewatin run about 80 percent DFL in local races. Some of the larger towns -- especially Hibbing, which is the mine managers used to live and control politics back in the pre-WWII era -- have larger communities of Republicans, but the vote totals still tilt 2-1 DFL. In all cases, local DFL candidates run about 10-20 percent better than statewide DFL candidates.

Why? The first rule of Iron Range politics is the importance of personal relationships and sincerity. Traditional modern politicking -- the kind you see from Hillary Clinton or Mitt Romney at the national level -- don't jive around here. The Range is (generally though not exclusively) socially conservative and economically liberal. I know several pro-lifers whose opinion on taxes and spending would be considered socialist in the suburbs.

People often wonder why Paul Wellstone did better on the Iron Range than anywhere else when his politics ran slightly to the left of most Rangers. The reason is because the Range will forgive political differences if people perceive the politician's motives as sincere and if the candidate visits often and listens well. So Wellstone thrived here while others have not.

You have to know people, the ara and the history. Political conversations don't begin with "Do you support the Whatsit Bill?" They begin with "I was talking to Eddie Skavich the other day ... ya, he's Bobby's brother ... no they never did find Bobby's thumb ... ya, they found the finger. That was in Buhl ... so ya, are you for the Whatsit?" Now, if you are good at the personal touch, it matters much less if you are for or against the Whatsit bill. Wellstone was a master at this. All the good local pols were born for this stuff.

In future posts I'll talk about the factions that make up the DFL and Republican political spectrum on the Range.
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Tiffany Johnson Memorial Fund

Friday, December 14, 2007 By Aaron Brown

Most folks have already heard the tragic story of the former Chisholm woman killed in Colorado, but I just got this notice in the mail today. Visit www.Tiffanyjohnsonmemorialfund.com for more information.

The Tiffany Johnson Memorial Fund has been established as a tribute to Tiffany A. Johnson, who lost her life as the result of a tragic shooting on December 9, 2007, in Arvada, Colorado.

A native of Chisholm, Minnesota, Tiffany “Tiff” was taken from this earth while graciously serving for “Youth with a Mission (YWAM).” Tiffany’s life was dedicated to caring for and helping her fellow man. She began her work with YWAM in 2006 as a student and acquired additional training to become a staff person with the organization. During her time with YWAM, Tiffany was carrying out what she believed to be the two most important duties in her life: serving God and sharing her faith with others.

Tiffany was known to many as a strong, beautiful young woman whose passion in life was working with people and sharing the goodness of life while continuing to spread the Word of God.

The Tiffany Johnson memorial fund will grant scholarship(s) for youth that are training to become missionaries as well as future missionary work.

Tiffany leaves behind a loving family and the many lives she changed. Tiffany’s mission has been accomplished.

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Brown on the Air: Home for the Holidays

Friday, December 14, 2007 By Aaron Brown

The topic for this week's "Between You and Me" on 91.7 KAXE is "Home for the Holidays." Host Heidi Holtan and anyone who cares to call in will be discussing what it's like coming home for Christmas, including traditions, stories and reflections.

My weekly essay contribution is about my drive home from a college in Iowa my first and only year as a non-Iron Range resident. Here is a random sampling of words included in the essay:
  • "marijuana"

  • "farting"

  • "haul truck"

  • "love"

Intrigued? I hope so. Tune in from 10 a.m. to noon on 91.7 FM in northern Minnesota or online at http://www.kaxe.org/.

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Hail, Hail, the Iron Range

Thursday, December 13, 2007 By Aaron Brown

The following is my first post at www.mnblue.com, a political blog for which I began contributing this week.

Have you heard the latest about CD03?

Just kidding. “Psych!” as the cool kids used to say.

CD03 is another planet to me. I’m aware of it, and thanks to my 1,239 metropolitan blogging friends I know more about it than most of my neighbors, but I really only go there when I accidentally exit off the interstate after becoming frightened by your three lane highways and shiny buildings. Sorry folks. I’m sure you’ll have a doozy of an election there next year but that’s not what brings me here.

I’m writing from northern Minnesota’s Iron Range. I work at a college just under the shadow of an iron ore dump and I live just north of the Mesabi iron formation in a township that didn’t have any paved roads until our troops were in Vietnam. The Range is a special, highly unique place – politically and otherwise – and I’ve lived here my whole life. My career as a writer, college instructor and political hack might be better served by moving to (651), (612) or any of their modern area code offspring, but that’s just not going to happen.

I’m a former daily newspaper editor and journalist – perhaps a “fallen” journalist to some – who left the field for steady work as a college instructor and the chance to become more involved in local DFL politics. I write a newspaper column and do radio commentaries and am almost done with a book of essays about modern life on the Iron Range that will be published next fall.

In 2006 I started MinnesotaBrown.com to post my newspaper columns and then this year founded a companion blog at http://www.minnesotabrown.blogspot.com/. Starting, well, RIGHT NOW I’ll be a contributor to MNBlue.com.

Over the next week I’ll offer posts about the statewide political significance of the Iron Range and how politicians, organizers and yes, bloggers can not only survive but thrive in our choppy northern political landscape.

I hope to spread word about the Iron Range, a place of mystique and misunderstanding to so many in our great state. I am a full blooded Iron Ranger, but I write for all of us as Minnesota Brown. ~AB


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Off we go into the MNBlue yonder

Thursday, December 13, 2007 By Aaron Brown

I've signed on as a contributor to MNBlue.com, a political blog based in Minneapolis. I'll republish my posts here on MinnesotaBrown, but just know that I'm sometimes writing in a way that translates common knowledge on the Range into terms understandable to political junkies in 612 country. The little blue state picture will indicate a cross-over post.

Check it out and bookmark http://www.mnblue.com/. My first project is to write a series of posts about the political landscape of the Iron Range.
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Union labor to build iron nugget plant

Wednesday, December 12, 2007 By Aaron Brown

One of the big questions I hear about the many new projects coming to fruition on the Iron Range is whether our history of labor/management conflicts would survive all the change. So far, so good.

Local unions to build iron nugget plant
Lee Bloomquist, Duluth News Tribune - 12/12/2007

A project labor agreement that guarantees the use of local union labor for construction of the world’s first commercial iron nugget plant has been reached between Steel Dynamics Inc. and Northeastern Minnesota labor unions.

The agreement ensures that all of the work to build the $235 million nugget plant near Aurora and Hoyt Lakes will be done with local union labor, said John Grahek, president of the Iron Range Building Trades.

Steel Dynamics of Fort Wayne, Ind., hopes to have a 500,000-metric-ton-per-year nugget plant operating at the site by mid-2009.

“It’s going to be an all-union job and it will put a lot of local people and contractors to work,” Grahek said. “It’s going to mean 1 million man-hours of work. And they have a seven-year plan, from what I understand, in which they could possibly add two other [nugget] modules.”

Construction on the plant’s initial module is already under way.

With the agreement, about 500 construction workers — including electricians, plumbers, carpenters, pipe fitters and laborers — are expected to be at work at the site this spring, Grahek said.

Read the whole story in today's DNT.
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Dylan Days preview

Tuesday, December 11, 2007 By Aaron Brown

I posted about Dylan Days earlier this morning so I figured I'd announce the preliminary plan for Dylan Days 2008. There's more coming, including the announcement of musical acts and the specific schedule. Work is in full swing.

Dylan Days is an annual event honoring Hibbing's famous son Bob Dylan and the arts community of the Iron Range. This year Dylan Days runs from Thursday, May 22 to Sunday, May 25. Regular features include the creative writing contest and literary reading, singer/songwriter contest, visual arts contests, youth talent shows, and live music throughout the long weekend. Special events for 2008 include the premiere of a locally-developed Bob Dylan exhibit at Ironworld Discovery Center in nearby Chisholm that documents Dylan's years in Hibbing and his relationship with the Iron Range. Also new for 2008 is the addition of a one-act playwright contest with the winning play presented on the stage of the Hibbing Community College Theatre. A detailed schedule will be available at http://www.dylandays.com/.
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Letter to the Editor: The Mesaba clean coal myth

Tuesday, December 11, 2007 By Aaron Brown

Also from today's DNT: A great letter to the editor from one of northern Minnesota's best known writers:

‘Clean coal’ project is too good to be true

As society begins its vital and inevitable transition from fossil fuels, the Mesaba Energy Project of Excelsior Energy is a litmus rest of collective intelligence and will. Politicians from Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Sen. Norm Coleman to Iron Range Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party legislators have been seduced by the phrase, “clean coal.” I don’t believe there is such a thing.

Excelsior’s proposed coal-gasification generating plant on the Iron Range would fail to achieve the primary purpose of such a facility. The draft Environmental Impact Statement reads: “Excelsior has not established a specific, detailed design for carbon capture, transport, or sequestration.” Why not? Because the geology of Northeastern Minnesota prevents it. So why build the plant here? The essential point of coal-gasification is to sequester the carbon, thereby reducing the production of greenhouse gases that contribute significantly to global warming. If you don’t do that, you’ve accomplished nothing but the destruction of another tract of Minnesota forest and wetlands — besides fouling the atmosphere.

There is no demand for the potential electricity. A few weeks ago the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission denied Excelsior’s petition to force other power companies to buy its electricity.

So will elected officials finally dismount this dead horse? No doubt government funding will play an important role in encouraging the development of alternative energy sources, and such will be worthy endeavor. But the Mesaba Energy Project is not worthy and not smart. It should be given up. Too much taxpayer money already has been wasted.

Peter Leschak
Side Lake
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Tangled up in puns

Tuesday, December 11, 2007 By Aaron Brown

I've been involved with Dylan Days in Hibbing since 2001. One of the interesting things about Bob Dylan's effect on the American psyche is how newspaper writers don't really need a good reason to write about the things he does or says. Hence today's DNT editorial. I am just about done hearing the phrase "Tangled up in ..." used with every noun on Earth.

Our view: Highway 61 revisited, this time in an Escalade
Duluth News Tribune - 12/11/2007

Bob Dylan shilling for Cadillac? Before we get into the predictable is-nothing-sacred discussion, know that the big bucks ad deal isn’t the first time the Duluth-born, Hibbing-raised icon of counterculture has memorialized the symbol of quality, if not excess, in song.

Take this from the 1963 dream-sequence ballad, cheerfully titled “Talkin’ World War III Blues”: “Well, I seen a Cadillac window uptown And there was nobody aroun’, I got into the driver’s seat And I drove 42nd Street In my Cadillac. Good car to drive after a war…”

Not much there to indicate the song’s protagonist actually purchased the car, though it really wouldn’t matter since it’s supposed to take place at the end of the world. Or something like that. Obligatory Dylanesque obscurity aside, the Highway 61 troubadour better known for counting how many roads a man must walk down is unambiguously endorsing a more refined, if expensive, form of transportation today.

“This week, we’re living large and climbin’ into a Cadillac,” he said in a two-minute excerpt from his XM satellite radio show, “Bob Dylan’s Theme Time Radio Hour,” doubling as a long-form Escalade commercial.

“Cadillacs. They roll (or did he say roam?). They cruise. They make you feel like a million bucks. Nothing goes better with a Cadillac than a long ride to nowhere full of (or fooling with?) the right music.”

That’s positively Dylan cruising up Fourth Street, and why shouldn’t it be? It’s a little late for anyone to lose sleep over rock ’n’ roll getting a second life hawking the institutions it once criticized. It’s been five years since Minnesota filmmaking brothers Joel and Ethan Coen used the Beatles’ “Taxman” to push H & R Block. And that was a decade after the very late Janis Joplin’s anti-materialistic anthem, “Lord, Won’t You Buy Me a Mercedes Benz” became the background track in a C-Class commercial.

Maybe Dylan has sold out, but if so, keep in mind he’s been riding in limos ever since his first concert sold out. As for Cadillac, General Motors had better be careful which songs it appropriates from the man who wrote “They’ll stone you when you’re driving in your car” and “We drove that car as far as we could, abandoned it out West ...”

Think they want to get tangled up in that?

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Buying local in a flat world

Monday, December 10, 2007 By Aaron Brown

This Minnesota 2020 think tank keeps coming up with interesting items. The Duluth News-Tribune has a story about the challenges and possible impact of the "Buy Local" movement. Read it here, or an excerpt below:


Economists say buying local is a complicated ideal
Jane Brissett
Duluth News Tribune - 12/10/2007


Christmas shopping at J. Skylark, a locally owned toy store in Canal Park, is a longtime tradition for Paige Salyards of Duluth.

“I try to always shop locally,” she explained. “I just see the value of supporting our
local economy.”

Donna and Lauren Sletten, also of Duluth, do likewise. “We just love those one-of-a-kind gifts,” she said.

Consumers locally and throughout the nation are becoming more aware of the “buy local” movement, believing it will boost individual businesses, the local economy and the quality of life where they live. A recent report by a new state think tank, Minnesota 2020, highlighted the value of buying local this holiday season.

Local buying advocates point out that mail order and Internet sales send money
elsewhere and that even big box stores and chains divert most of their money to corporations, although they do pay local salaries and rent or property taxes that put money into the economy.

But whether spending locally really makes a big difference is an open question, two local economists said recently. While no one is saying shoppers shouldn’t favor their favorite local merchants, the economic issue really hasn’t been well studied.

Buying service

Part of the reason it’s difficult to tell whether buying local benefits the local economy, said Jim Skurla, acting director of the University of Minnesota Duluth’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research, is “it’s so difficult to tell what’s local and what’s not.”

Even if an item is sold by local merchants, it’s probably made elsewhere, he pointed out. Sometimes — but not always — local prices are higher than large retailers.

What you’re buying locally really is service, Skurla said. “That’s what the local people are adding to it, is the knowledge and the time,” he said.

There’s also the question of what is local. Big box retailers Target and Best Buy, for example, are Minnesota-based corporations. They pay taxes in the state, contribute to community causes and employ people at their headquarters who wouldn’t be in Minnesota if the companies were based elsewhere.

And, taking the argument to the extreme, what would happen to the shipping ompanies if everyone bought local, asked Tony Barrett, economics professor at the College of St. Scholastica. If northern Minnesotans stopped shopping in Minneapolis,
workers might be laid off and then they’d be unable to afford to come to Duluth
as tourists, he added.

The world of commerce is too interconnected for the buy local argument to be simple, he said.
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The Kentucky / Iron Range comparison

Sunday, December 09, 2007 By Aaron Brown

As some of you know, I am one of several people who claim the title "Former Editor of the Hibbing Daily Tribune." (There are more of us than there are licensed pilots in many large western states). It's a tough job but an important one. The Tribune just hired a new editor after publisher Wanda Moeller served in a [dual] editor/publisher role during the paper's recent ownership transition.

Mike Jennings is the Tribune newsroom's new leader, the fourth since I left the editor post in 2003. Jennings, a North Carolina native, comes to the paper after two decades of newspaper work in Kentucky and additional years in Alabama and North Carolina. In his first Sunday column today, Jennings points out the differences between the coal mining areas of Kentucky and the iron mining area where we live in Northern Minnesota. He argues that the Iron Range Resources agency and its unique system of taxing the ore mined from the ground and holding the revenue for regional improvements is why we enjoy a much better quality of life than the folks in Kentucky's coal country. It's a must-read for those interested in Range politics and culture. I'd post a link, but it's not online yet. I will instead refer you to the actual printed paper, available at local gas stations for $1.25. Think of it as a 3D portable blog. I'll post the link if it becomes available Monday.

(Full disclosure: I am still a paid columnist for the Tribune and, as such, Jennings is technically "the boss of me." I am not kissing up, though. I swear.)

UPDATE: It was a typographical error, not a fruedian slip that I referred to Wanda's position as editor/publisher as a "duel" role. At least you can't prove otherwise. The error has been corrected.

UPDATE 2: Jennings' column is online now. Here is an excerpt:

There are vast cultural differences between Appalachia and the Iron Range, but both regions have historically been exploited by robber barons who converted resources to wealth and kept all but a pittance for themselves.

In his history of the first half-century of the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board (IRRRB), Dana H. Miller described the region’s landscape 70 years ago as “a waste land of pits, dumps and scraggly second-growth timber.”

That sounds a lot like Eastern Kentucky then and now. But to eyes conditioned by the sight of Kentucky mountaintops leveled by strip mining, there’s little about the Iron Range today that suggests a wasteland.

The same holds for the human environment. Schools on the Iron Range are strong. The economy is diversifying in promising ways, some related to mining, some not. People here have understandable anxiety about coming changes, but they also have hope.

What accounts for the difference? One factor that clearly separates the modern history of the two regions is the mandate and performance of IRRRB, which entered the picture in 1941, championed by then-Gov. Harold Stassen.

Thanks to its founding legislation, Iron Range Resources (IRR), as it is now known, uses a dedicated funding source—revenues collected from the mining industry in lieu of property taxes—to strengthen and diversify the region’s economy. That money is well shielded from raids for other uses.
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Range 'Boom' talk continues to intesify

Sunday, December 09, 2007 By Aaron Brown

The Duluth News-Tribune has another story of note today, one that asks the question "Is the Iron Range ready for all the change that will come if some of these major economic development projects come to fruition?" The full story is available here.

Exciting times, for sure. My only qualm is that it seems officials keep mentioning Excelsior Energy's "Mesaba Energy Project" in the same breath as Polymet, Mesabi Nugget and Essar's Minnesota Steel project. Excelsior's thing remains a pipe dream that would drain more public resources than the project would be worth, economically-speaking. Nevertheless, the original question about the Range's preparedness for change remains quite valid. Read the full story, or at least this excerpt:

Iron Range is preparing for a boom
Lee Bloomquist, Duluth News Tribune - 12/09/2007

As the Iron Range taconite industry expanded in the early 1970s, a temporary trailer park for hundreds of construction workers sprung up on the St. Louis County Fairgrounds in Hibbing. Workers had to move their trailers for a week to make way for the county fair before rolling them back onto the fairgrounds.

A similar scene is about to be played out again as the Iron Range braces for the biggest construction boom in more than 30 years.

Minnesota Steel’s steel mill, Mesabi Nugget’s iron nugget plant and PolyMet Mining Corp’s proposed copper, nickel and precious metals mine are alone projected to require 3,400 construction workers and about 1,300 permanent employees.

A $200 million Minnesota Power environmental control improvement project at
its Boswell Energy Center in Cohasset over the next three years will require up to 800 construction workers. Excelsior Energy’s proposed coal gasification power plant would need about 1,000 construction and 150 to 300 permanent workers.

“We are at a place in time where there’s potential for several large-scale projects to happen,” said Sandy Layman, Iron Range Resources commissioner. “I don’t think we’ve had this kind of investment since several of the taconite plants were built. It’s not only the dollar amount that’s unusual and historically important, but it’s also that these projects are higher value.”

The flood of construction, permanent and spin-off workers would alter economics, education, health, housing, civics, crime, transportation and ethnic diversity within a region that has a 100-year history of being a melting pot of people.

“After 27 years of economic depression, we will become the jewel of the steel industry in the Western Hemisphere,” said former state Sen. Ron Dicklich, now a consultant for Itasca County on the $1.6 billion Minnesota Steel project near Nashwauk. “We’ve always been a mining camp up here, and we have been treated like a mining camp. But now you’re going to have a large corporation located in our area. Just having a foreign owner [Essar Steel of India] here is going to be a big cultural change.”
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Duluth's mayor-elect readies for change

Sunday, December 09, 2007 By Aaron Brown

Duluth will have a new mayor and city council this January. This is important to us Iron Rangers, partly because Duluth is an important part of the local economic equation but mostly because we are subjects of the Duluth media market and must sit through stories about Duluth ribbon cuttings and task forces to hear Iron Range news. I need to be able to listen to the Duluth mayor without throwing empty alcohol bottles or crude 1918 iron mining tools at the screen. And fortunately for me, my TV and my pickax, I expect to be fine with Mayor-elect Don Ness.

The Duluth News-Tribune has a story on Don's plans for the transition and a profile on his wife Laura. The DNT also has a picture of the young Ness family here. What struck me about the photo is that the Ness routine of leaving the house is very similar to the Brown routine, except that we have an additional baby in a car seat and I'll be damned if you'll ever see me in a navy blazer. My coats are machine washable, just like my children.
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Perfect winter eludes us again

Sunday, December 09, 2007 By Aaron Brown

Well, here we are in early December. We just got a good foot of snow last weekend with more coming this weekend. That's plenty for snowmobiling. I could tell people were anxious last Saturday because when the first flakes began to fall we saw a guy in what appeared to be new jacket, helmet and machine trying to run his snowmobile out in a grassy field. It was like the dude who shows up at the night club at 4 p.m. Not cool. But apparently I was wrong in assuming the universal goodness of the snow.
~ Excerpt from my Dec. 9 column in the Hibbing Daily Tribune about how the early snow creates slushy conditions on area lakes, stoking the ire of local snowmobilers and ice fishermen who just can't catch a break from our climate. It's based on a blog post from earlier in the week. Read the column in the paper, at MinnesotaBrown.com or archived here.
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Miners' health issues not easy to figure out

Saturday, December 08, 2007 By Aaron Brown

The Duluth News-Tribune and others are reporting that the state health department has begun compiling data on the Iron Range miners who died from a rare form of cancer. The findings are inconclusive, other than few of the miners involved worked in a ceiling tile factory in Cloquet. That was the story many officials and mining company apologists were pushing a few months ago.

Many results, fewer answers
By Steve Kuchera, Duluth News Tribune - 12/08/2007

A new analysis of information on 58 Minnesota mine workers who died from mesothelioma reveals a large variation in where and for how long they worked in the industry.


The Minnesota Department of Health, which did the analysis, will use the findings in preparing multi-year studies aimed at determining what might have caused the rare, asbestos-related lung cancer. Those studies will be done in collaboration with the University of Minnesota School of Public Health.

Jeff Mandel, a professor at the school and one of the leaders on the planned research, said the analysis contains some interesting information, but points to the need for further study.

“The critical question here is whether exposures in the workplace are somehow related to these [58] cases,” he said. “The reason for this number of cases really has to be determined. It has caused a lot of questions in people’s minds and a lot of concern. The only way those issues are going to be addressed is to do a more formal investigation.”

Mesothelioma is a rare, fatal form of cancer seen almost exclusively in people who have been exposed to asbestos. The disease shows up at about twice the expected rate in Northeastern Minnesota, raising questions about a possible relationship between respiratory disease and mining work.

The 58 miners — all men — were among 72,000 people who worked in the state’s iron mining industry between the 1930s and 1982.

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Bill, the Big O and the Big Mo

Saturday, December 08, 2007 By Aaron Brown

This is the make or break weekend for the Iowa caucuses. We're going to find out how big a help or liability Barack Obama's "celebrity factor" is in winning over voters as Obama's high-profile supporter Oprah Winfrey stumps for him. On one hand, it's exciting and potentially groundbreaking political theatre ... on the other it could remind people that Obama rides his celebrity and charisma hard, maybe too hard. At the same time, voters will get a look at Bill Clinton as he stumps for his wife Hillary Clinton. The former president will remind people of the "good times" of his presidency, but also the "too good times" and the trouble that went with them. Also, people are going to have to get used to the idea that there will be two presidents in the White House under a Clinton presidency. That's uncharted territory.

For both Sens. Obama and Clinton -- essentially tied in Iowa polls -- there is a chance that their strategies this weekend will succeed and a chance they will backfire. If they BOTH backfire, say hello to Iowa caucus winner John Edwards and a whole new ballgame.

My head is with Edwards; my heart with Obama. Clinton would be OK, but brings an interesting and potentially dampening dynamic to the nationwide Democratic ticket.
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Brown on the Air: Sports Woes

Friday, December 07, 2007 By Aaron Brown

My radio essay for this week is about sports, specifically my inability to successfully play sports. The piece will air early in the "Between You and Me" program on 91.7 KAXE this Saturday, Dec. 8, 2007. Scott Hall and Fred Friedman, co-hosts of the "Sports Page" segment on KAXE will be guest hosting the Saturday program as the show discusses "Hot Stove League," the winter analysis of all things sporting.

It's funny, because I did a piece very similar to this in my junior year of high school for the speech team. So I guess it's "retro jersey" week on "Between You and Me." Tune in between 10 a.m. and noon on 91.7 FM in northern Minnesota and online at www.kaxe.org.
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Do not forsake me, oh my DVR ...

Thursday, December 06, 2007 By Aaron Brown

We got the DVR (not TiVo, but same as TiVo) last summer. People told us have the digital recorder would change how we watched TV and it's true. But there are hazards.

Since late August I've been holding onto a recording of the Gary Cooper classic "High Noon," waiting for the right time to enjoy it. That time, I had hoped, would be this morning before I left for work. "High Noon" is a western where a small town marshall is set to leave with his new, pacifist wife for a peaceful life running a store. But then everyone learns a bad guy who ran the town before the marshall arrived was coming back on the noon train. No one has the guts to stand up with the marshall to stop the bad guy and his goons, so Gary Cooper has to do it himself. Anyway, it's a great movie; full of real human emotion and significance. The final scene is the best in the whole movie, where Gary Cooper and his wife stand over the dead bad guy, he takes off his badge and throws it at the feet of the townsfolk who wouldn't help him.

The DVR cut off the recording at the precise moment he took off his badge. The times were set wrong, apparently. Arrggh! Confounded machine! I've been waiting four months to watch this movie.

You can't see this, but I am taking a DirecTV promotional leaflet and throwing it on the ground.

Trust me, it's really dramatic.
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Holly was here $$$

Wednesday, December 05, 2007 By Aaron Brown

Here's an image I saw on an Iron Range highway on my way into work this morning around 9 a.m.:

A rusty red pickup with two-by-fours nailed to the body to replace a missing tailgate. In the back, what would appear to be most, if not all, of the male driver's possessions. Written in white spray paint on the side: "Holly was here $$$"

Use the comments section to theorize as to what was going on here. Who is Holly? Who painted the truck? Where is the driver going? What happened between him and Holly? Keep it clean. I'll declare a winner later in the week. Bonus points if you know this person and give the real story.
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Copper and nickel to become pennies, nickels in local economy?

Tuesday, December 04, 2007 By Aaron Brown

Sorry for the headline. If you've ever had to write newspaper headlines you spend the rest of your life unable to lay off the puns. They're like crack. Anyway, check this out: more mining news from today's Duluth News-Tribune.

Mining company expands Range copper, nickel deposits estimate
Duluth News Tribune - 12/04/2007

The size of a copper-nickel deposit being explored near Babbitt has been expanded.

Officials of Franconia Minerals Corporation say a new estimate shows an inferred underground resource of 124.4 million tons of copper and nickel at what's called the Spruce Road resource.


The Spruce Road estimate is in addition to 100 million tons in a resource at Franconia's Birch Lake exploration site and an 83 million ton resource at Franconia's Maturi site near Babbitt. The Spruce Road deposit, part of the Birch Lake project, is about six miles south of the Birch Lake deposit.

A report on the Spruce Road deposit also considers the option of developing an open pit copper-nickel mining operation at Spruce Road with 377 million tons of indicated reserves, according to Franconia Minerals news release.

Franconia Minerals Corp. has for several years been exploring deposits of copper, nickel, platium, palladium and other precious metals near Babbitt.

By the end of the year, Franconia expects to complete an 18-hole, 23,000-foot drill program at Birch Lake, according to a Franconia Minerals news release.

The drilling will provide samples for bench scale and pilot scale metallurgical testing in 2008. A similar exploration pro-gram is in 2008 planned at the Maturi site.

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Another 'new' mine in Iron Country

Tuesday, December 04, 2007 By Aaron Brown

Steel Dynamics and Cleveland-Cliffs closed a land deal that will allow the Steel Dynamics iron nugget plant to begin construction on the East Range in the vicinity of the former LTV taconite plant. LTV's demise in 2001 kicked off a mini-panic on the Iron Range that included other taconite plant shutdowns or closures and paved the way for harebrained ideas like the Excelsior Energy Mesaba Energy Project. Now market forces and steel prices have expedited the iron nugget plant and Nashwauk's Minnesota Steel project, now owned by India's Essar Global. If we had spent our money differently in the early 2000s, Iron Range Resources and others would have funding for any number of the now crucial infrastructure projects we need to build for our soon-to-grow communities.

True blessings go to those who keep their heads during the bad times and keep their values during the good times. I suppose the same could be said for geographic regions. Here's hoping that we're learning something along the way.
Land deal clears way for new iron ore mine in Iron Range
Lee Bloomquist
Duluth News Tribune - 12/04/2007


Steel Dynamics and Cleveland-Cliffs announced a land deal Monday that would lead to the opening of a new mine to provide raw material for the world’s first commercial iron nugget plant. The mine and plant together would employ about 200 to 300 workers, compared with 50 for the nugget plant alone, said Steel Dynamics chairman and CEO Keith Busse.

The Mesabi Nugget plant is planned for the former LTV Steel Mining Co. site near Aurora and Hoyt Lakes.

“This is excellent news,” Hoyt Lakes Mayor Marlene Pospeck said. “Everything is moving ahead, very much so. I’m very impressed with the progress that’s being made in construction in the first phase of the project.”

Under the $18 million deal, Steel Dynamics Inc. will acquire about 6,000 acres at the former LTV Steel Mining Co. site and assume some environmental and reclamation liabilities that had been Cleveland-Cliffs’ responsibility.

It also will acquire mineral rights to about 133 million tons of iron ore reserves beneath the ground at the former taconite plant, according to Pete Clevenstine, state Department of Natural Resources Lands and Minerals manager of engineering and mineral development.

Steel Dynamics officials in September said there are enough iron ore reserves at the site to operate four iron nugget modules for 100 years.
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Iron Rangers: a fickle weather lot

Monday, December 03, 2007 By Aaron Brown

Like I said, we got our first big Iron Range snowfall this past weekend, about 8-12 inches. The previous week had been very cold so the first sheet of ice was forming on our lakes; however, most of the ice wasn't thick enough for vehicles yet. Then came the snow. I now learn from many sources that this creates a long period of slushy lakes -- poorly suited for snowmobiling, four-wheeling, or ice fishing -- as the snow melts and re-freezes atop the thin ice. I've been a part of or overheard four conversations about this topic in the last six hours. I expect there will be much more of this to come.

Apparently, you just can't win when it comes to weather around here. Some guys' snowmobiles haven't been started since the Spice Girls broke up because of low-snow winters. Now, well, we have a slush problem.
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First big snow

Sunday, December 02, 2007 By Aaron Brown

We white-knuckled it through the first big snow storm of the year last night. We averaged about 20 miles an hour from Hibbing out into the Itasca wilderness where we live. We made it, but it wasn't easy.
I was just informed, however, that we left our winter boots out in the car. Which means that I have to shovel in cold boots.

The toddler has a thing whenever he sees snow where he says, "A lot of snow!" (pause) "What a mess!" (pause) "Clean up!" We'll see if he puts his tiny cute shovel where his mouth is when I take him out to shovel snow with me today.
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Banana ethics

Sunday, December 02, 2007 By Aaron Brown

Bananas look funny, sound funny and they’re a three-dimensional euphemism for something naughty. (Have you ever noticed how a banana resembles a hot dog? Those have so many nitrates! OMG!). Meantime, old bananas are turned into a great source of alliteration (and carbs): banana bread. Banana bread is tasty and beloved, harkening Midwestern memories of hearth and home.


~ Excerpt from my Hibbing Daily Tribune column for the Sunday, Dec. 2, 2007 edition. The topic: Is it ethical to break up the banana bunches at the grocery store? Read it in the Hibbing Daily Tribune, http://www.minnesotabrown.com/ or archived here.
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Moody Out

Saturday, December 01, 2007 By Aaron Brown

For those who follow TV news out of the Duluth market (Northern Minnesota and Wisconsin), some news. Edward Moody, the accomplished and odd-looking morning anchor for the Northland NewsCenter (Channels 3 and 6) is leaving for Rochester, N.Y.

I don't know who will replace Moody, but I expect the person will look just as strange, if not more. In our house we have been observing the fact that "NewsCenter" personnel have something of a plasticine, robotic quality while their competitors at WDIO (Channel 10) veer to the opposite extreme, deeply realistic humanity -- sometims overly so -- displayed on the screen. We're pretty loyal to WDIO as viewers, but it makes for fun commentary when we flip around the dial. It's probably just the lighting.

(The Hibbing Daily Tribune has a news-sharing agreement with Range 11, an affiliate of the Northland NewsCenter and Channel 6. Thus, it's important to know that my comments are my own and that if any NewsCenter staff are reading this that I'm not talking about them but "you know who" in the other cubicle).
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Just the fax, ma'am

Saturday, December 01, 2007 By Aaron Brown

I cracked open my Franklin Covey planner pages for 2008 today. It's time to include January in my "advance planning" section. The contact sheet you're supposed to put in the front of your planner includes home and work numbers. But it also includes "Fax" instead of "Cell." Get with it Franklin Covey. Who's going to fax me my lost planner?

Fax machines are ridiculous. I've always thought so. Somehow, my career has managed to avoid most forms of faxing. I only fax when someone else is caught in the fax age and insists upon it. Fax machines are, to me, kind of like old timey cash registers or those adding machines that come with wrought iron stands.

Feel free to fax me your comments, faxaphones.
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