I got a great laugh (and some valuable perspective) from this Conan O'Brien interview of comedian Louis CK about the state of our economy and the times in which we live. Enjoy!

h/t Andrew Sullivan

This week my essay for KAXE's Saturday morning call-in and music program "Between You and Me" will explore my thoughts on a book I read recently. The show's topic is "winter reading list" and callers will be sharing their favorite reads as cabin fever drives us all mad. I'll be sharing a shorter, snappier, retooled version of a column about the Iron Range entitled 'We are Stardust' that was inspired by a passage from Neil Tyson DeGrasse's "Death by Black Hole."

The show airs from 10 a.m. to noon on 91.7 FM KAXE in northern Minnesota or streaming online all over the world at www.kaxe.org (my essays are also usually featured on the web page during the week). Tune in and take part!

Also, remember that KAXE is a unique, independent media source in northern Minnesota and needs your support during their "Stay Warm" winter fundraiser. Their fundraisers are way, way more fun than the ones you hear on MPR or elsewhere. Join today!

Next Tuesday, March 3, I'll be giving a reading for my new book "Overburden: Modern Life on the Iron Range" at the Lyric Center for the Arts "First Stage" in Virginia, Minn. The program begins at 6 p.m. and will include a discussion and book signing afterward. Organizers are suggesting a $5 donation to get in and I intend to make it worth at least $5. In any event, it's a good organization trying to expand the arts on the Iron Range and preserve the historic State Theater in downtown Virginia. My appearance is part of a larger arts event called "Range of Arts" sponsored by the Lyric Center for the Arts through an Iron Range Resources arts and culture grant. Today the Mesabi Daily News ran a story about the whole event. Check it out and support as many of these activities as you can!

And I'll be ready to go Tuesday night with my Virginia debut. I hope to see you there because this will be my LAST Iron Range event until summer. Maybe ever. You never know. Seriously, I'm taking the show on the road for Twin Cities stops in March and June. I may pick up a signing at Bemidji and I have a gig in Superior, Wis., in March but that's it so far. If you have been putting off seeing the "Overburden" lecture, don't miss your chance!

Tuesday, March 3, at 6 p.m. at the Lyric Center for the Arts (514 Chestnut Street) in downtown Virginia!

Here are a couple items from Lee Bloomquist's Range Views blog at Iron Range Resources:

The water tower at the new Mesabi Nugget plant near Hoyt Lakes is now up.

This week, Magnetation, Inc., shipped its first load of iron concentrate repurposed from old timey mining waste near Keewatin.

Beth Bily filed this story for Business North that details the current state of the mining industry on the Iron Range. This gives a good snapshot of all the mines and companies involved. There are a few other interesting tidbits that haven't been reported in Minnesota media much. For instance, production and layoffs are running about the same at Michigan's Empire and Tilden taconite operation. Also, one industry analyst says that taconite production could return to normal by the fourth quarter of 2009. The story is a good read if you're looking to get a sense of the bigger picture.

A while back I offered readers of this blog the opportunity to write guest posts. A few have written me saying they're thinking about it, but I finally got one for real this week. Bob Tammen is a retired miner from Soudan who has been a vocal critic of nonferrous mining projects on the East Range.

Pat and I are home again after a few days in the Cities. We went down last week to set through the [Iron Range Resources Board] meeting which was held at the capitol last Wednesday.

Commissioner Layman suggested hiring a community development specialist and was reminded that the IRRRB couldn't afford it.

The Board then proceeded to rebate $4 million to the mining industry. This is on top of the $8 million already rebated in the last year or so.

Their actions were rewarded by the taconite industry the very next day with the announcement of the layoff of 590 miners. That $12 million meant nothing to an industry that ships billions of dollars worth of ore every year.

That $12 million would have meant a lot to the school in Cherry or the main street of Tower or the nursing home in Ely.

I'm not a great believer in privatizing public services but maybe it's time to transfer the IRRRB & the DNR Lands & Minerals to the Chamber of Commerce where they belong. They could do their public relations services for the mining industry without burning up our tax dollars.

On the subject of Polymet, we should recall that it's a Canadian penny stock. It has a marketing agreement with Glencore, a Swiss company with a history you don't care to discuss in front of the children.

It's a perfect scenario to maximize extraction and destruction of our natural resources and minimize job creation.

Mining company lapdogs have been quite successful the last few years. They've mechanized us out of our jobs. They've politicized us our of our tax revenues. They've ostracized the critics trying to create a sustainable economy.

It's time for a change.

If you would like to respond in agreement or disagreement, consider sending along a guest post by clicking on "Contact Me" in the above menu bar. You may also use the comments section, but if it's a longer piece send it the other way and I'll run it on the main page. I'll keep doing this until it gets boring or runs amok. Be civil, everyone.

Anna Kurth and Jeff Warner at the Hibbing Daily Tribune did a nice perspective piece about what recently laid off miners on the Iron Range are thinking about and going through. The miners face challenges and worries, but it's the other people down the employment food chain who face the prospect of genuine poverty should the recession continue. Nevertheless, this is not a happy time for many on the Iron Range. I occasionally encounter opinions to the effect of "They should have known better; it's the mines." But it can't be stressed enough how fast and unexpected the magnitude of this recession hit people here. Usually recessions give up to a year of indicators before the steel prices translate into layoffs. In this case it was just months from boom to total bust.

My friend State Rep. Tom Anzelc (DFL-Balsam Township) is leading a fight to stop the start of the school year before Labor Day. (Story from Mesabi Daily News via legislative correspondent Jon Collins). The move to a pre-Labor Day school start would reduce tourism traffic in economically depressed areas that depend on those extra days of income in the summers. It'd also kneecap the State Fair.

Writers are a jealous lot, myself included. For some time the Duluth News Tribune has been running the columns of Gilbert writer Joseph Legueri under the banner "The Iron Range View." And my reaction, petty and shallow though it may be, was always "What? Excuse me? I'm sorry, don't they know that I do the Iron Range shtick around here." And when Mr. Legueri would file some "slice of life" column instead of earnest Iron Range analysis I would throw my hands up in righteous indignation, until I realized that I had filed a column about babies and puppies that week and shamefully returned to the paper.

Today I declare there to be room for two at the table of Iron Range mercenary columnists. Legueri knocks one out of the park with his assessment of the seemingly benign issue of dental care for low income Minnesotans. He takes a small item from a budget and shows the real ramifications for people and our society as a whole. Here's the second-to-the-last paragraph:

In his defense, Pawlenty is not totally to blame for this self-serving, cruel and heartless proposal. We are, too. Ordinary people allow such things.

As long as ordinary people don’t express anger at the people who think it’s OK to deny dental care to low-income people, to kill babies, to underfund schools, to bilk young homebuyers and to rob old people of pensions, we’re going to see more proposals aimed at the disposable members of our society: the weak, the mute and the vulnerable.

Check out the full column. As a child and young adult I was dependent on MinnesotaCare for dental care. This issue has flown under the radar for too long.

WDIO and the Mesabi Daily News are reporting that two Cleveland Cliffs Iron Range mining operations, Hibbing Taconite and Northshore Mining, will see additional layoffs and shutdowns in 2009. Northshore will be shutdown in April. HibTac will idle a line in March and then see a 15-week summer shutdown from May to September. Cliffs also operates United Taconite in Eveleth which has also seen production cutbacks this year. These are temporary shutdowns, not uncommon on the Iron Range, but will have a major dampening effect on the local economy as the national recession wears on though the second and third quarters.

The statistic not included with these layoffs is how other trade unions and contractors will be affected this summer. No one builds or remodels around here when the mines are down. Well, almost no one. Cityfolk with summer properties might, but the housing crisis gobbled up a lot of them.

Best case, this is all temporary. Ben Bernanke's prediction of a 2010 recovery proves correct and steel demand and prices return to high levels. Worst case, we might see the first Iron Range-wide mine shutdown in the taconite age (the time after iron mining converted from pure ore to taconite production in the '60s and '70s).

Cross your fingers and buy a U.S.-made refrigerator! (Use it to keep the "worst case scenario" beer supply nice and cold).

UPDATE: Here is the full story from this morning's Mesabi Daily News. The Hibbing Daily Tribune also had a brief report.

My former colleague and editor Paul Wahl, now the Eden Prairie editor in the Sun family of Twin Cities suburban newspapers, has written a kind review of my new book "Overburden: Modern Life on the Iron Range" for his "Wahl Street Journal" blog.

Thanks, Paul! For those scoring at home, Paul was the one whose departure from the Hibbing Daily Tribune brought about my Lord of the Flies ascension into the Iron Range media elite. I still write a column for the HDT and Paul has since found his way back into the newspaper biz.

Iron Range State Sens. Tom Bakk and David Tomassoni have authored legislation that would extend state senate terms from four years to six and state house terms from two years to four. The amendment, if passed into law, would go to Minnesota voters for approval. The move would save public money and reduce the amount of special interest influence, according to Bakk in this story by Jon Collins, the legislative correspondent for several Range newspapers.

Because I'm sure that the $5,000 annual PAC limit would never be accumulated by incumbent senators in the down years so that they go into their re-election campaigns with $30,000 banked plus an even greater sum raised from individuals with relative ease. I am absolutely certain that this move would eliminate political power plays and electioneering at the legislature. I'm also sure this bill in no way reinforces damaging stereotypes about Iron Range cronyism. I'm equally sure I'm about to overdose on sarcasm, requiring an insulin shot directly to my heart.

Gack. Good luck with this one.

I'll say this, if it it weren't for fear and anger about immigrants the local papers would have hardly anything to run as guest commentaries and letters to the editor. Hooray, xenophobia! Your angry ranting might save newspapers!

"Celebrate our melting pot, but don't make it a jackpot" (Duluth News Tribune)

I agree. The world needs less compassion, not more. There's no train a' comin,' close your doors and borders. Every new citizen should be poked with a stick, to prove their loyalty. Then the world will be a better place. But it's OK to admit that you couldn't pass the same citizenship test that a legal immigrant must pass. My favorite part is where the writer turns in the desperate one-legged South Vietnamese soldier for offering him money to adopt him rather than just declining. That guy probably died in a communist prison for fighting alongside the Americans! Ha-ha! Who would be stupid enough to do that?

At least in Hibbing the angry ranting focuses on power rate increases. I feel less dirty after reading those rants.

This is my weekly column for the Hibbing Daily Tribune published Sunday, Feb. 22, 2009.

On the brink of the new, or the end
By Aaron J. Brown

Today, amid the droning headlines of the flagging national economy, I’m here to write the words you long to hear. Everything on the Iron Range is going to be OK. Probably. If we modernize our economy very soon. Otherwise we are doomed. Oh dear, I bet that made you anxious. Well, you should be.

It’s true. On one hand, things aren’t as bad as they seem. Despite current or potential temporary layoffs at all Range taconite plants, there are still glimmers of long term hope in the steel industry. Nashwauk’s Essar Steel Minnesota and Hoyt Lakes’ Mesabi Nugget, both value added iron mining and production projects, are forging ahead. This means that when steel prices recover the traditional Iron Range economy will return to its previous state.

The greater issue, however, is that the previous state of the Iron Range economy just wasn’t good enough, nor has it been for the three decades I’ve been alive. A hundred years of Range history has taught us that dependence on one industry leads to an inevitable conclusion: boom and bust; hit the road, youngsters, there’s nothing to see here.

In previous columns I’ve applied ideas from Richard Florida’s “The Rise of the Creative Class” to the Iron Range. In short, a place like the Range will struggle so long as it remains unattractive to creative types, like inventors, artists, entrepreneurs and the like. Sure, we’ve got some of those folks, but northern Minnesota is known first for natural resources, recreation and tourism, not creativity. Many of our most creative people have done their creating elsewhere while those creatives here routinely face parochial, political or cultural barriers that aren’t as prevalent elsewhere.

Florida wrote a story for the March 2009 edition of “The Atlantic” called “How the Crash Will Reshape America” that details how the economic downturn in the U.S. will trigger geographic and social change that could challenge the conventional wisdom of the last three decades (again, the entire lifetime of today’s young parents and new workers). That includes the resurgence of major American cities like New York and Chicago, the slowing of growth in suburbs and Sun Belt cities and the continued decline of Rust Belt and Midwestern towns. That last part should be of concern to you and me. See, there’s no reason to expect economies dependent on one industry, especially volatile industries like steel, to grow naturally into mighty oaks. Indeed, Florida describes how areas like ours will essentially be entering a lottery to determine which survives the long, slow decline of these times.

One hope for the future of northern Minnesota’s Iron Range is that our natural resources base – the very thing that caused this region to grow the way it did and yet holds the place in a the static state we now know – isn’t going anywhere. People will need our ore, our timber, our fresh water and our recreational opportunities (if only because camping will be the only vacation many can afford next summer). So we can count on something, perhaps not much, but something to sustain a population into the future. I don’t need to tell you, especially if you are concerned about the future of the next generation of Iron Rangers, that this just isn’t good enough. We need more.

On this front there is something encouraging to take from Florida’s findings about the future of America’s cities, towns and rural landscape. Florida writes: “… the economy is different now. It no longer revolves around simply making and moving things. Instead, it depends on generating and transporting ideas.” This is why Florida says the suburban sprawl of the 1990s and early 2000s is waning. People can no longer justify living in huge houses they can’t afford, driving huge vehicles they don’t need to arrive at far-away jobs. Florida says that urban cores will enjoy a resurgence. I point out that the Iron Range enjoys housing prices that never reached the bloated inflation of metro centers, could expand its high speed internet to attract new industries and e-commuters and still enjoys quality schools and communities, despite the continuing and real specter of budget cuts. We are not yet, but could become, a place where ideas are created and sold as readily as taconite pellets. That’s the good news.

The bad news is that, failing this development, the Iron Range is entering an inevitable decline that shames our history. Sorry. I guess the only good news out there involves hard work. Let’s get to it.

Aaron J. Brown is a columnist for the Hibbing Daily Tribune. Read more at his blog MinnesotaBrown.com. His book, “Overburden: Modern Life on the Iron Range” is out now.

The Mesabi Daily News ran a Sunday piece by Jon Collins about the ongoing debate about a new bill that would limit nonferrous mining (copper, nickel and other minerals) in Minnesota to a very precise set of circumstances. Mining proponents say the bill amounts to a ban on nonferrous mining. Supporters of the bill say that environmental risks if the nonferrous mines close are great and must be addressed before these mines open. The story shows the battle lines and potential efforts to find common ground. Here are some important questions

• Does the bill do more than current environmental regulations?
• Is that necessary?
• Is there a way to plan ahead for environmental mitigation that won't make the projects economically unfeasible?

If the answers are Yes, Yes, No, expect a showdown. And there will always be arguing about the first two. Perhaps there is some solution, however, involving a mitigation fund set up at the front end of the development.

A side note, Bob Tammen, the retired miner who spoke in favor of the environmental bill at the legislative hearing is a loyal reader of this blog as are many in the nonferrous mining industry. In fact, this blog is a something of a crossroads for this debate as I am neither anti-mining nor blindly pro-development. Any suggestions for how we can elevate this debate here? I'd entertain a point/counterpoint guest posting from the respective perspectives. Any volunteers?

Here are some remainders from the bad news files over the weekend:

Hibbing to close Family Investment Center, reopen with narrower focus (Hibbing Daily Tribune, link to be updated)

Hundreds pack room to offer DFL legislators opinions on state budget fix (Mesabi Daily News)

Community to rally for Cherry school amid closure rumors (Mesabi Daily News)

This last one is of personal note to me, a Cherry High School alumnus. I don't think closing Cherry will solve the financial problems in the St. Louis County School District. This is something I'll write about later in the week.

Sophisticated readers of this blog (all 12 of you) know that Northern Minnesota has a surprisingly deep arts community. From visual artists to photographers to writers and poets, we are much more than beer and hypothermia. Thus, you should know that a new online arts, literature and culture publication called Oeuvre Magazine based in Duluth has begun operations. I am honored to be among the writers featured in its debut February 2009 edition with an essay called "Unnatural Splendor" abridged from my new book "Overburden: Modern Life on the Iron Range."

This magazine will surprise you with its navigation, impressive visuals and diverse artistic offerings. It will not be easy to sustain something like this in a down economy so I encourage lovers of arts community to support it and for creators to pepper it with submissions.

Ever wanted a shirt depicting a woodland battle between Paul Bunyan and Bigfoot?

Well, you will after you see this awesome shirt.

Perfect for Father's Day! Or Easter! Or Day That Aaron's Wife Sees This In Her Feed Reader

Thanks to Paul for the tip.

My weekly essay for the 91.7 KAXE call-in and music program "Between You and Me" will feature a 90-second spoof advertisement for a product I call "Jammer Pops." The satirical piece is among the craziest things I have ever attempted, so by all means tune in. (I swear to all things holy, it includes me using "Chipmunks" technology on my voice and an FDR impersonation).

"Between You and Me" displays Northern Minnesota culture by exploring new topics each week and letting listeners dictate the pace and direction of the show. This week, guest host DJ the DJ fills in for producer and host Heidi Holtan, who is on assignment.

The show airs 10 a.m. to noon on 91.7 FM in northern Minnesota and streaming online all over the world at www.kaxe.org. Listen, call in and offer your thoughts and memories about breakfast cereal.

UPDATE: Friday morning information has been added. Also, correction to note that the layoffs begin in 2-3 weeks, and will likely last longer than 2-3 weeks.

The Mesabi Daily News reports that U.S. Steel's MinnTac plant will lay off 590 workers in 2-3 weeks because of the economy. MinnTac is the Iron Range's largest mine and, until now, the one that seemed to be weathering the storm best. This is a temporary layoff but like Keewatin Taconite, U.S. Steel's other Range mine, represents an indefinite idling until market conditions improve. Now every Iron Range taconite plant has taken or is planning cost saving measures involving layoffs. If the economy does not improve in 2009 expect a very lean Christmas up north. The steel industry seems to girding for better times after 2010 which is the only encouraging news I've heard so far.

UPDATE: The morning papers have more information. The Star Tribune talked to a U.S. Steel representative. Weakness in demand for steel pipe is part of the equation here. The Mesabi Daily News has a much deeper story quoting many of the local steelworker leaders and unemployment officials. The temporary nature of these layoffs is stressed, but it seems unlikely that the market factors that caused these layoffs will end soon.

UPDATE 2: Check out this quote from the Mesabi Daily News story (emphasis mine):

John Rebrovich, United Steelworkers District 11 subdistrict director on the Range, said that “we’ve got to hope and pray” that the economic stimulus package signed into law this week by President Barack Obama works its way through to help workers here, and that steel for stimulus infrastructure projects starts being used more.

Nationwide, steel mills were running at about 95 percent in October, and now about four months later, he has heard figures of about 40 percent steel production in the U.S. “This crazy economy,” he added.

In times past, workers on the Range usually could see a recession far enough ahead to prepare for a downturn. But with the current crisis, “this one blindsided us,” Rebrovich said.

This is going to be a rough ride.

UPDATE 3: The Duluth News Tribune offers their similar take, talking to a waitress whose husband works at MinnTac. Minnesota Public Radio also covered the news. I think everyone on the Range knows someone who works at MinnTac.

Master statistics/baseball/politics/entertainment/beverage blogger Nate Silver shows in another deep post how beer sold for home consumption is apparently no longer recession-proof as it has been in throughout the modern era. Beer sales are dropping with the rest of the economy, defying the grand old trend. Silver shows some great numbers on the topic and comes to this conclusion:

I can't escape the feeling that there's something rather Weberian about it all: a manifestation of Calvinist guilt over both the present failures of the economy and its prior excesses. A deliberate effort to deny oneself pleasure.

Indeed, perhaps. Or maybe everyone has just switched to the $9 jumbo jugs of discount vodka advertised in the Manney's Shopper. We must do more with less!

CLARIFICATION: This post has been updated to reflect the nature of the position being discussed at Iron Range Resources. Officials describe the job as being "community development" rather than business recruitment. Thus I have moved this post up from the morning to allow people to see the new information.

The Mesabi Daily News reports on yesterday's Iron Range Resources Board meeting in St. Paul. The official business included the granting of $4 million for capital mining projects by various Range taconite operations. The conflict, however, centered on Commissioner Sandy Layman's plans to hire a community development official for the agency despite the sagging economy and state hiring freeze. The board seemed strongly opposed to such a move, summed up by this exchange between State Rep. Tony Sertich and Layman:

Even legislators’ staffs are taking cuts, House Majority Leader Tony Sertich, DFL-Chisholm, said, with many lawmakers only having part-time and seasonal assistants. Sertich suggested that the IRR use current employees to fill the responsibilities.

“People in state government have had to adapt and move with the times to take on more responsibilities, just like that’s happened in the private sector,” Sertich said. “I just would not feel good going home to see people who are laid-off at the mines, laid-off at the mills, losing their job on Main Street, and saying, ‘our state agency is hiring one more person.’”

Layman said the new hire, who would serve as a community liaison, was needed due to an increase in the IRR’s relationship with community development, rather than just economic development.

“I feel the timing is bad, the timing is bad,” she said. “I’m certainly in tune with the times, but I also know the work of the agency and what’s required, and we are going to be doing more work with community development.”

Layman is taking the board's feedback under consideration. I think some skepticism is merited; we need to see how this position is different from past new positions created in the agency, many of which were costly with little results. It would be encouraging to have a point person to lead Range communities through shared development projects (sewers, schools and the like) but I'm not sure that's exactly what this would be. To be continued...

FURTHER UPDATE: A source at the agency describes the position to me this way: "The community developer would be charged with managing and directing community interests such as community-based renewable energy projects, telecommunication advancement, and community infrastructure development."

As you see in the comments, some have theorized that the real problem that the board has might have to do with the candidate or candidates that might be considered for this position. Not knowing the candidates at question I can't speculate on that, but I can now see the value in the job as described. The core question now becomes do we need a new full time person or can existing agency staff place renewed effort on those goals? Goals, I might add, that are certainly shared here and among most members of the board that I know. To be further continued again ...

This Mesabi Daily News story clearly demonstrates the coming battle over nonferrous mining on the Iron Range at the legislature. A bill that would severely limit nonferrous mining is now in the hopper. Storm clouds a' gathering.

The "Overburden: Modern Life on the Iron Range" road show entered the familiar environs of the Hibbing Public Library last night as I did a reading and lecture in the downstairs auditorium, feet from the famed "Bob Dylan" room. Nine hearty souls, more if you count the looky-loos by the door, banded together to hear my talk about the past, present and future of the Range. It was an excellent crowd and I met some great people.

Next up, my first reading in Virginia -- the "Queen City" -- Tuesday, March 2, at the Lyric Center for the Arts downtown on Chestnut Street. I'll be part of their arts series "Range of Arts," which is a cool collection of arts events across the spectrum.

And (drumroll) the dates for the Twin Cities trip are set for March 11-12. Very soon I will post a very cool lineup of readings, signings and appearances for my first metro book tour. City friends ... any ideas?

Reminder: Tonight at 6:30 p.m. I'll be giving a lecture based on my new book "Overburden: Modern Life on the Iron Range" at the Hibbing Public Library. I'll be offering selections from the book, a perspective on how Northern Minnesota's Iron Range remains defined by its people, traditions and potential. I'll also be answering questions, leading a public discussion and signing books afterward.

Come on down! I don't have many Range events left before I'm on the road again down yonder.

6:30 tonight at the Hibbing Public Library, downstairs in the auditorium.

Also: My friend AnnMarie wrote a very kind review of the book at the Rudstrom Family Blog. She is a friend from the old days and reminded me that she and I were on opposite sides when the infamous Forbes/Cherry elementary school merger took place in 1988. (Forbes 4 Eva!) Anyway, she made some interesting observations about the book if you're on the fence about buying it.

You should read the Rudstrom Family Blog because it's MUCH MORE than just some random family blog. AnnMarie and C.O. live in Brevig Mission, Alaska, an Inuit village near the Bering Strait WAY up in the northwest corner of the state. AnnMarie is a teacher and C.O. is an all purpose engineer/handyman. And they are Iron Rangers. In addition to updates on their cute kid (a family blog staple) they sometimes share tips on how to turn muskox into an entire wardrobe and build machines out of things you find out on the tundra. It is wild! Literally! Check it out.

Yesterday, St. Louis County Attorney Melanie Ford advised the county board not to pursue a policy restricting citizen recordings of board meetings. Commissioner Keith Nelson had suggested the new rule at a previous meeting, essentially saying that recordings can be taken out of context and that people are free to attend the midday meetings. The Duluth News Tribune has the story.

“It is my legal advice to the County Board not to go there,’’ Ford told commissioners, adding that such a ban probably would generate a lawsuit against the county and possibly lead to a new state law clearly allowing the devices.

Here's an interesting tidbit from the end of the story:

Several commissioners, including Nelson, appeared agitated at Ford’s advice. They did not discuss the issue and immediately adjourned the meeting. Board Chairman Dennis Fink asked Ford not to release her opinion to the News Tribune for 24 hours, but Ford said she didn’t have any legal reason to withhold the information.

Some commissioners have been taking a lot of heat for some ill-advised comments at public meetings and the lingering anger over a series of alleged sexual harassment issues last year involving some commissioners. The group We Are Watching was formed to monitor board activities after some felt that these allegations were brushed under the table. The battles between this citizen group and members of the county board continue.

Who do you think won the news cycle today?

Yeah ... brutal.

Most aspects of the federal stimulus bill are designed to kick in immediately, but there's one provision that may prove to be the most prescient.

Stimulus bill directs FCC to create broadband policy (from CED Magazine)

The FCC report is to include:

• An analysis of the most efficient mechanisms for ensuring broadband access
• A strategy for achieving affordability and maximum utilization of broadband
• An evaluation of the status of broadband deployment
• A plan for use of broadband infrastructure and services “in advancing consumer welfare, civic participation, public safety and homeland security, community development, health care delivery, energy independence and efficiency, education, worker training, private sector investment, entrepreneurial activity, job creation and growth, and other national purposes

The future of northern Minnesota relies, in part, on the area marketing its quality of life to creatives who use the internet to do all manner of work around the world. This demands high speed internet options in every corner of the region. Thanks to Iron Range Resources and other public and private entities, we can do this when most rural regions can't. Get modern. Fast. We can do this. And the more that can be done to connect the whole country to high speed internet, the better.

I'll be doing a reading/lecture and signing for my new book "Overburden: Modern Life on the Iron Range" at the Hibbing Public Library at 6:30 p.m. this Wednesday, Feb. 18. (Click on "Book News" for more information about the book).

The presentation is free and open to the public. This is the first time I've done the full road show in Hibbing, a town that enjoys a fair amount of exploration in the book. It's the town of my birth and the town where I have worked since I graduated from college. A colleague keeps telling me that you can't be a hero in your hometown, but I do hope that I can provide an entertaining evening and a thought-provoking discussion about the past, present and future of Northern Minnesota's Iron Range.

Among the interesting Hibbing tidbits in the book:

• Hibbing is the site of Minnesota's only known duel (pistols).
• Hibbing officials paraded a dead fugitive down main street in the early 20th century.
• Hibbing is the hometown of Bob Dylan.
• Hibbing enjoys a complex relationship with the institution of war. War times are always economically flush while peace comes with an economic price.

All this and much more at 6:30 this Wednesday night at the Hibbing Public Library. Pick up a copy online or at most Range bookstores and Minnesota Barnes and Noble locations. Check out the Hibbing Public Library's blog for specifics about my lecture.

As promised, here is that Mesabi Daily News story about State Sen. David Tomassoni taking over the helm of the Iron Range Resources board. Only one specific reference to "jobs" and no repetition of "jobs, jobs, jobs." Maybe that cliche's day has finally come? Tomassoni stressed that the board focus on infrastructure improvements amid the bad economy, which puts he and I in agreement.

Here is the continuation of Jon Collins series on lobbying from today's Mesabi Daily News. I expect it will also run in the Hibbing Daily Tribune and Grand Rapids Herald-Review. This story focuses on the backroom battle lines being drawn over the issue of nonferrous mining on the Iron Range. Some of the most emotional Iron Range political fights, not counting the budget battle, will come as legislators weigh more stringent environmental regulations on the style of mining proposed by Polymet and other East Range companies that seek to mine copper, nickel and other minerals.

Headline: "Twins are confident in their young starters"

Yes, just as the dictators of South American nations are always "in excellent health."

Just for once I'd like them to come out and say "yeah, we're going to cobble something together on the cheap again and see what happens." The Twins are always a fun team to watch for this reason, but let's not kid ourselves.

The legislature's public forum tour will pass through the Iron Range this Friday. Topic #1: the crippling state budget and finding solutions that might be tenable. There's a stop in Virginia and another in Grand Rapids.

UPDATE: The Grand Rapids stop will be March 7.

The Mesabi Daily News published a Monday editorial supporting Rep. Tom Anzelc's bill that would allow Sunday liquor sales in Minnesota with revenue going to child social services. The MDN calls the bill "innovative." I wrote about this topic yesterday. Some highlights from today's MDN editorial:

To his credit, Anzelc has offered a proposal for more revenue that does not involve a new tax. It also leaves opening and operating on a Sunday up to liquor store owners. They can decide whether it is worth it for them or not.


Would it be a new revenue stream, or simply shift money from sales on Friday or Saturday to Sunday? There probably would be some of that, which would devalue the $10 million projection. But there would also be Sunday sales in border areas that are now flowing to other states. In addition, there would definitely be more sales in Northeastern Minnesota on Sundays from those who are in the area for tourism visits.

...

We give the representative credit for thinking in such realistic budget terms.

This is my weekly column published Sunday, Feb. 15, 2009 in the Hibbing Daily Tribune. I read a portion of this for a recent episode of "Between You and Me" on 91.7 KAXE.

‘These things are old; these things are true’
By Aaron J. Brown

We live in a time of great abstraction. Economists most folks have never heard of tell us that an inconceivable amount of money is needed to partially fill an even larger economic hole dug by other people we’ve never heard of. Some say we should do something grand but can’t predict how it will all turn out. Others say we should do nothing, and watch the ship fill with water. What word could describe this?

Most of us learned early in primary school that nouns describe people, places and things. Sometime later in school, usually when the kids stop eating paste, teachers pull a fast one and explain that nouns also describe ideas. People, places, things … and ideas.

Along these lines I was impressed most by an idea in President Obama’s inaugural address, one that was passed over by many newscasts for the sound bite that followed. In describing the fundamental values upon which America’s future rests – hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism – Obama said “These things are old. These things are true.” This line struck me first because it just doesn’t sound like the kind of sentiment that would come from a guy whose face adorns the t-shirts of a billion attractive college students around the world. But it later struck me as significant even beyond the context of the speech and the general state of the country.

Old ideas are often cursed, attacked and then replaced by new ideas that are really just repackaged versions of even older ideas. Humans only generate new ideas every thousand years or so. Fire, the wheel, written language, democracy, engines and circuitry. I don’t think we’re due for another legitimate new idea until my distant descendant Brownbot Xiang Ping 9000 graduates from the 27th grade.

Great ideas span time and generations because of their inherent worth, a value not altered by whims, and this is also true for people, places and things. Owners of things often keep those items far beyond the time they could have traded them in. Once the depreciation finishes feeding on the artificial sticker price the only question left is “does it work?” That’s true value. I have in my garage a boat owned by four generations of my family, painstakingly overhauled by my father and dimwittedly maintained by yours truly. I know a lot of other boats would be easier to operate but I’m content to let this one ride.

Meantime, place. We track places with maps but the lines on maps can bend and melt over just a few years. I have a map hanging on my office wall that I found in the basement of our old house in Hibbing. It was published in 1939 during a period a history teacher friend of mine says only lasted a few months. The Nazis were expanding German influence in Europe, colonial powers spread across Africa and Southeast Asia. This entire map is a testament to the kinetic energy of the time preceding World War II. The topography and geology of the land, however, change much more slowly. Even on my native Iron Range, where a 100 years of mining shaped manmade canyons and mountains, I drive past the same mine dumps my dad did when he was going to school in the ‘70s. My boys’ school bus will drive past them too.

And people? I’ve learned that people are best judged not by their age, but their reliability. The most reliable people are those who figure out that everything is old. But only certain things have value. In hard times that’s something worth thinking about.

Aaron J. Brown is a columnist for the Hibbing Daily Tribune. Contact him or read more at his blog, MinnesotaBrown.com. His new book “Overburden: Modern Life on the Iron Range” is out now.

The Sunday Hibbing Daily Tribune ran a Melissa Cox story about the Dylan Days Creative Writing Contest. I am one of the organizers of Dylan Days, an annual arts event in Hibbing, Minnesota, that celebrates Bob Dylan, literature, music and visual art. This year the event runs from May 21-24, 2009. The writing contest and literary showcase is just one part of what's become a successful grassroots showcase of the Iron Range arts community and Bob Dylan's unique background in his hometown of Hibbing. The contest deadline is March 15. There are cash prizes and publication honors for poems, short stories and one-act plays.

Here's some of my quote from the today's Tribune story:

... we hope to demonstrate to the world that Hibbing and the Iron Range have an artistic core that you don’t always see on first glance,” he said. “The Range is a great place to be a writer, providing all the elements of great fiction, poetry and drama.”

When asked why it’s important to provide this opportunity, Brown responded, “it’s not easy for writers.”

“No one pays them for much and 90 percent of what they do involves being rejected," he said. “As a midsized contest with a unique focus, we give a huge number of first-time publication credits for young writers and writers who may have worked a long time to improve their craft.”

Brown noted that entrants do not have to duplicate the style of Bob Dylan or write about him.

“That's not what this is about,” he said. “Dylan became a legend because of his uniqueness and creative turns of an old craft. That’s the spirit we hope to instill in the next generation of writers, poets, playwrights and songwriters.”

Additionally, the group that runs the Dylan Days Benefit Concert announced its lineup for the 2009 show. It's a reprise of the Rolling Thunder Revue, featuring violinist Scarlet Rivera and Gene LeFond and the Wild Unknown. You can get tickets to that May 23 show at the Hibbing High School auditorium here. Most other Dylan Days events are accessible for free with the wearing of a Dylan Days commemorative pin. Other annual traditions include a singer/songwriter contest, art contest, the Bobby Zimmerman bus tour and lots and lots of live music. Find out more.

Some fodder from Sunday's Mesabi Daily News:

The Iron Range Resources Board convenes Wednesday in St. Paul for its first official meeting of the new term this week. On the docket, some financing for mining projects that might have some short term job creation benefits but that mostly involve capital improvements to local mines.

Because of term limits, State Rep. David Dill (DFL-Crane Lake) is out as IRR chairman and all indications are that State Sen. David Tomassoni (DFL-Chisholm) is in. The MDN is running a story Tuesday about Tomassoni's vision for his two years in the chair. The question isn't whether this story will include the word "jobs," but rather whether the word "jobs" will be used more than 50 times and/or as a verb.

Jon Collins has a story in today's Hibbing Daily Tribune and Mesabi Daily News about a bill by my friend Rep. Tom Anzelc (DFL-Balsam Township)* that would allow Sunday liquor in Minnesota with tax proceeds to be directed toward budget gaps in children's social services.

In tough times, funding for at risk kids must be acquired more creatively. Interestingly, a county social services official and a represntative of Mothers Against Drunk Driving both passed on an opportunity to attack the bill in this story.

“This isn’t about the supply and demand of alcohol or the consumption of alcohol,” Anzelc said, “it’s about finding a way to get more money into social service programs for children.”

Anzelc is looking for a Senate sponsor. We'll see if this goes anywhere.

* I must again disclose that I am Tom's campaign chair and that this blog presents my perspective, not his or anyone else's.

SIDE NOTE: This is for media types, but take a look at this story from a journalistic standpoint. Collins reported on the bill by talking to the sponsoring legislator. Then he talked to a county official from Anzelc's district and a representative of an organization that monitors alcohol legislation, neither of whom likely sent him press releases. A balanced story that weighs multiple viewpoints! In a small, local daily! More of this, not less.

KBJR and Range 11 (Northland's NewsCenter) is reporting on a group called Water Legacy and its efforts to stop the Polymet nonferrous mining project on the eastern Iron Range. The group cites human health risks from the type of mining proposed by PolyMet. I hear from St. Paul that this matter of nonferrous mining is going to be raised in the legislature and that there will be a strong divide in the DFL majority caucuses in the House and Senate over the issue. I know that many environmentalists are pushing the question harder these days, going so far as to send information to lowly bloggers like yours truly.

This week's topic for "Between You and Me," the Saturday morning call-in and music program on 91.7 KAXE, is "the perfect date." Saturday is Valentine's Day and I'll be offering my weekly radio essay for the show. I cover the theme from a few different angles in a (cross your fingers) humorous way.

You can tune into the show from 10 a.m. to noon on 91.7 FM in northern Minnesota or streaming online anywhere in the world at www.kaxe.org. My essay usually runs in the first half hour or so. "Between You and Me" is a unique kind of show on a unique kind of radio station. Each week callers have a chance to chime in on a particular topic and a special lineup of theme-related music is programmed. The result is a moment frozen in time that captures the culture and stories of the people of northern Minnesota.

Lately the radio station has been linking to an audio version of my essay on the bottom of their main webpage. Sometime this year I hope to figure out a way to podcast my radio essays, but this is a chance for those of you who can't normally hear the Saturday essays.

The Mesabi Daily News is reporting about a project that would add more wind turbines to the Iron Range landscape in Northern Minnesota. The Mountain Iron Economic Development Authority is behind the concept, which would build a series of turbines between Aurora and Giant's Ridge and sell the power wholesale to local power companies. The profits, should there be any, would generate revenue for economic development projects in Mountain Iron.

While I doubt that a project like this would be an enormous profit generator, I think it's smart to pursue additional wind generation on the Iron Range where unused mine dumps and high elevation provide above-average potential for wind turbines. The project will require some legislation to clear up land use issues and some financing from Iron Range Resources. The $25 million price tag is steep for a town like Mountain Iron. Stay tuned.

Happy 200th birthday, Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln! It is likely that no two people born on the exact same day in history will ever shape history as much as these two men, born Feb. 12, 1809. I hold dim hope that German pop star Senna Guemmour and I might hold similar influence from our Dec. 28, 1979 starting point, but it's not looking good. Her last single was #68 ... in Germany.

I think this means if I can hit #67 in Germany I own my birthday on Wikipedia. You know, I wrote a book, a real book, called "Overburden: Modern Life on the Iron Range." It's way, way longer than the Gettysburg Address. And I bet more than 39 percent of Americans, upon being shown evidence of my book, would agree that it exists ... unlike evolution. Yes, you'll find it on your local regional bookshelf -- if you live in Minnesota. That's a state, you see. Or buy it online! From Anywhere! Even Germany!

Anyway, Chuck and Abe: Way to revolutionize science and save America, respectively. Sorry that we stopped exercising and screwed up the Reconstruction.

CORRECTION: When I wrote this I meant to say Bukoski's Ironworld lecture was Saturday, Feb. 21, the week after his radio interview.

A great working class writer, Anthony Bukoski, is going to be venturing north from his Superior, Wis., base to appear on the Iron Range next week. Bukoski writes short stories about the people of his native East End Polish neighborhood in Superior, focusing especially on the travails of hard working people in hard times. I mention this partially because Bukoski is a compelling writer and lecturer, worth an Iron Rangers time, but also because he was my creative writing professor at the University of Wisconsin-Superior. I continue to cite him as a major influence on my writing (more aptly, my attitude about writing about place). One of the things I loved about going to college in Superior was the similarity to my native Iron Range: a flawed blue collar place with deep humanity.

Bukoski will be on tonight's RealGoodWords with Heidi Holtan on 91.7 KAXE (6 p.m. tonight, 9 a.m. Sunday morning, or archived here afterward). He'll be talking about his new or newly expanded books "Twelve Below Zero" and "North of Port." Heidi tells me it's a good interview. KAXE has an online stream for those who aren't in the area.

Bukoski will also be part of the Ironworld Lecture Series next weekend with a 2 p.m. Saturday lecture at Ironworld. I read there last weekend for my book "Overburden: Modern Life on the Iron Range," a work that might not have been possible without Anthony Bukoski. (Figuratively because of his teaching, literally because I met my publisher in his graduate creative writing workshop in 2004).

UPDATE: I failed to mention "North of Port" in an earlier version of this post. That's his newest book, while "Twelve Below Zero" is an older book that has been expanded and re-released.

Jon Collins, legislative correspondent for the Mesabi Daily News, Hibbing Daily Tribune, Grand Rapids Herald-Review and other northern newspapers, has a story today about the ongoing, never-dying, omnipresent, will-outlive-us-all problem of the retired Canisteo Mine Pit by Bovey. The pit has too much water, is considered a major flood risk and is currently causing all manner of water problems in Bovey basements.

Last year, Rep. Tom Anzelc (DFL-Balsam Township)* was successful in winning $3.5 million in state bonding funds to mitigate the pit problem. The DNR was tagged as the authority in the matter and since then local officials, the Western Mesabi Mine Planning Board and the DNR have been unable to agree on a solution. This would be a cute example of bureaucratic shenanigans if not for two things: 1) This is a real problem and property, highways and possibly (though unlikely) lives are at stake; and, 2) if the DNR can't settle on a solution that meets local needs soon the money will be lost and, in case you haven't noticed, getting new money is going to be much, much harder.

Fix the pit, folks.

* (NOTE: I am Tom Anzelc's campaign chair, but speak for myself here).

It could be argued that half the problem with the economy right now is mental. People (and businesses) are scared and letting their fear control their actions. That's not to dismiss the very real recession and shaky financial system, but it seems fitting that the federal stimulus package is addressing the not-so-insignificant matter of hope here on the Iron Range.

Bob Kelleher of Minnesota Public Radio turned in a story Monday about the attitudes of Iron Range miners as several Range mines are entering and enduring long term shutdowns. As I've written before (and told KARE 11 in a recent interview) the Iron Range has a long tradition of surviving the busts that inevitably follow booms. At first, the mindset of Iron Rangers encountering temporary layoffs is almost cavalier ("Good, I've got to do my roof anyway"). But then, once the unemployment sets in for a few weeks, Rangers enter a second phase -- somewhat more resigned, but ultimately survivalist in nature.

Kelleher's story is worth a read. It shows how Rangers do have one thing going for us. Stimulus that involves building things stands to improve the price of steel and the state of the economy on the Iron Range. That's the prevailing belief around here.

I wrote Sunday about the heavy influence of lobbying in St. Paul after a Mesabi Daily News story detailed how lobbyists outnumber lawmakers 4-1 at the Capitol. I was about to write that one way to improve the state of affairs would be to encourage more citizen lobbying like what you see with "St. Louis County/Duluth Days" going on right now. But if you read the latest Duluth News Tribune story about Duluth Days, you can almost feel yourself getting blown off by members of both political parties. Maybe I'm over-analyzing the text and, naturally, there's a recession and state budget deficit going on. But I read this story and was sure glad I wasn't in St. Paul asking for something.

Ice storm? I don't think so.

The temperature never fell below freezing these last couple days in Northern Minnesota, so the vaunted "Ice Storm" instead ended up being a little bit of rain and a lot of high talk. Nevertheless, Duluth schools canceled classes TWO DAYS IN A ROW. That's not good for our street cred around here.

Life in northern Minnesota is great. Our cost of living is low and our communities are increasingly becoming modernized.

The only problem is that there's a bag in my car right now containing a snowsuit and giant boots in the event today's ice storm drives my Ford Focus into the ditch where I would presumably spend the night feeding on stray snack crumbs found beneath my seats until being located by the State Patrol.

Except for that part, utopia.

The Duluth News Tribune has a story today showing that several new Iron Range mining projects remain on track despite the economy. The Mesabi Daily News had a similar story in their Sunday edition. Both quote experts saying that the steel industry seems to be preparing for a post-recession upswing in the not-so-distant future.

This was my column for the Sunday, Feb. 8, 2009 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. This piece was based on an early essay I wrote for KAXE's weekly program "Between You and Me."

From hugs to headlocks
By Aaron J. Brown

Hornets.

In summary, hornets buzz around the center of my sibling experience growing up on the Iron Range of northern Minnesota. One time when I was very young, maybe 4 or 5, my sister Amanda and I were playing on an old tractor when hornets swarmed out from underneath. Did I mention I was very young? Anyway, hornets are very, very scary and maybe, just maybe, I left my not-quite-2-year old sister on the seat of the tractor while the hornets angrily clouded around her. Maybe I bolted, as fast as I could, back to the house to tell my mom that those hornets almost got me. And maybe when she asked where my sister was, my answer was …. uhh?

She lived. Another time, when we lived at the salvage yard my family would later run, my sister Alyssa and I were running through the woods. I was out front and stepped on a hornets’ nest in the swampy terrain. I saw the hornets pour out of the bog but kept on running, leaving my sister to run through the cloud of insect torment. I wasn’t stung, but I guess she was. Or so I later learned.

I am the oldest of four, the only boy with three younger sisters. The older two of my sisters were very close in age while my youngest sister is a full 17 years my junior. I drove to the hospital the day she was born. But siblings of any age share a lasting bond. There’s something about having the same parents that makes every sibling like an interconnected science experiment. “Hey, which one of us is the control?”

This idea has come into clearer focus for me after I’ve had kids of my own. As the father of three boys, all born within two years of each other, I have seen how siblings function from a whole new perspective. Watching the action play out each day shows me the delicate nature of sibling life. All toddlers now, the boys seem to love each other in a way that also includes pummeling. Hugs turn to headlocks in a matter of seconds, often for reasons that we adults never understand.

And yet siblings have a code, a wordless language that parents can’t understand. One day I was shepherding the three boys upstairs. Henry, age 3, arrived at the top first, of course. Second, arrived George, age 1 ½. His twin brother Doug was taking his time navigating up the stairs. I was about to pick him up to hurry the process when Henry said “Dougie wants to do it himself.” OK, I thought. And Doug climbed slowly from step to step until I lost all patience and picked him up two steps before he reached the summit. Well, Doug didn’t like that. He screamed like a banshee for several minutes, even pounding his head on the floor for some time. “Dougie wanted to do it himself, daddy,” added Henry. Thanks. I should have listened the first time.

Folks without siblings, like my wife Christina, have their perspective, too. Only children are often unfairly painted as spoiled. The truth is they earn everything they’ve got after being forced to hang out with their lame parents for far more hours than the rest of us hung out with our lame parents. Until of course we learn that our parents aren’t lame, not really, but rather more like us, just older, with crazy children bouncing off one another before them, growing up in the same Petri dish of humanity.

Aaron J. Brown is a columnist for the Hibbing Daily Tribune and the author of the new book “Overburden: Modern Life on the Iron Range.”

Thanks to everyone who came out to Ironworld on Saturday to hear my lecture and book signing for "Overburden: Modern Life on the Iron Range." Ironworld is now one of several Iron Range locations where you can buy a signed copy of the book. The others include Howard Street Booksellers in Hibbing and the Village Bookstore in Grand Rapids. Woodward's in Virginia and Lisa's Upstairs Bookstore in Ely may also have a few signed copies left.

You can buy the book all over Minnesota now, though mostly at Barnes and Nobles locations. We are trying to get the book into more independent book stores as we schedule events across the state. You can get the book anywhere in the world online.

My next lecture will be 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 18 at the Hibbing Public Library. I also have a lecture the evening of Tuesday, March 3 at the Lyric Center for the Arts in downtown Virginia on Chestnut Street.

I got this tip from my Eugene, Ore.,-based Iron Range pal Andy who saw it in his local paper. The Eugene Register-Guard ran an obituary today for Virginia, Minn., native and popular longtime Oregon political science professor and political leader Jim Klonoski. I hadn't heard of him before, but Klonoski clearly lead a very impactful life in Oregon and seemed to proudly carry his Iron Range roots and values with him. Walter Mondale was quoted in the obituary.

Note: some corrections from original post. Klonoski's wife is a judge; he wasn't. I put up the post too hastily.

I'd argue that anything that might reinvigorate the steel industry stands to benefit the Range. And if the economy picks up demand for durable steel goods will probably improve too. I'll follow the adage that higher waters float all boats.

Check out the story.

Meantime, the Mesabi Daily News has a front page feature on the forward progress of Iron Range development projects like the Essar plant, PolyMet and Mesabi Nugget.

I've been writing about the St. Louis County Board more often these days. I had forgotten how entertaining this governmental body can be.

Commissioner Keith Nelson is seeking a legal opinion about whether the board can bar citizens from video recording county workshops (which are legally open meetings). The material filmed could be taken out of context, Nelson says, and besides, they beep. The cameras beep, that is. The county attorney is working on a response, according to the Duluth News Tribune story.

Yeah, I'm not a legal scholar but I'm going to put up a friendly fiver that this will come down on the side of the enthusiastic video camera operators.