Great take from @minnesotabrown.bsky.social on Kupchella's screed www.startribune.com/minneapolis-...

I shoulda known @minnesotabrown.bsky.social would have a magnificent take on A Precarious State. He does. I'm providing a gift link so that you have no excuse to not read it. www.startribune.com/minneapolis-...

With private equity firms cleared to purchase Minnesota Power, I suggest that it's not just future electricity rates we should worry about, it's loss of control over the most important commodity in future technology.

When our little dog ninja maneuvered her way into some chocolate, we learned a lot about the lack of available emergency vet care for rural Minnesotans. The reasons match the shortcomings in people care, too. www.startribune.com/brown-rural-...

If I had a "golden share" in US Steel, I’d demand that U.S. Steel build a direct-reduced-iron plant on the Iron Range and specialty steel mills along the Great Lakes. We must secure the steel industry for decades, not just a couple years. www.startribune.com/trump-golden...

Erratic US trade policy is hitting home at the Port of Duluth, where Minnesota could be shaping a more dynamic future if the power of the port were better harnessed. www.startribune.com/duluth-trade...

Modern side-by-side ATVs are often nicer than my first three cars. Their rising popularity raises questions about safety and road use across Minnesota. My latest column: www.startribune.com/four-wheeler...

The Iron Range is on edge over the state's wild rice sulfate issue. That's not new, but the economic uncertainty facing the taconite industry is adding fear to this already-emotional issue. There is a way forward.

One expensive element in the making of semi-conductors is helium, an important coolant used in the manufacturing process. A new helium deposit under development near Babbitt could open a direct supply of helium to a Minnesota-grown tech industry. www.startribune.com/mn-helium-in...

Birds build nests. Beavers build dams. Humans work, and it is both the same thing and completely different. Now, with AI, we wonder how to keep humanity in the workforce. We must do more than wonder. www.startribune.com/us-labor-day...

My cliched descent into middle aged bird watching opened my eyes to more than just birds. Small, strategic actions make a difference in the health of a forest, and a community, too. www.startribune.com/bird-loss-cl...

When I cruise any swap meet or estate sale, I wonder where all this stuff came from and where it might possibly go. Peak stuff is here, and it will not last forever. www.startribune.com/brown-are-mi...

Cellphone restrictions in Minnesota classrooms are working, which is why many schools are expanding limitations for the upcoming year. Kids (and adults) benefit from less mindless time online. www.startribune.com/mn-high-midd...

Minnesota's popular PSEO program turns 40. It saves students big bucks, but one official said it turned high schools and colleges into divorced parents sharing custody. PSEO is here to stay, but shows need to reform the pipeline from school to college/trades. www.startribune.com/mn-pseo-anni...

The Dambo trolls in Detroit Lakes aren't just a whimsical tourist attraction, they show what a small town can do to build community and social capital on its own. My latest for @startribune.com www.startribune.com/danish-sculp...

Forty years ago, Leena-Kaisa Mikkola came to northern Minnesota to visit relatives who immigrated to the United States from her native Finland. This weekend, she returned as Finland’s ambassador to the U.S. What the U.S. can learn from “sauna diplomacy.” www.startribune.com/finnish-envo...

Something cool is happening in Ely. No, the divided community still disagrees about mining, politics and a few other things, but it's coming together around a growing, joyful arts scene and local opportunity. www.startribune.com/small-town-g...

Like many, I've had a complicated relationship with both organized religion and mental health. Today I close my @startribune.com series on mental health issues by exploring how our quest for meaning and well-being are part of the same riddle. www.startribune.com/mental-healt...

With all these delicate flowers in my garden I have to use the fancy nozzle but for the hostas I just use hose. They can take it. They don’t care. I don’t even really have to water them but I know they’re stronger than me and don’t want to chance it.

This is really great. One of the hardest parts about mental illness is always knowing you just have to lose it once and everything goes away. Having a discipline outside yourself to focus on like music balances that feeling so it's not so heavy and omnipresent. There's all this other stuff to do!

Take a minute and read this beautiful piece about a person living and thriving with a major mental illness. It made me think of what my loved one with schizoaffective said to me once - "It's not that your symptoms go away or get smaller. It's that good management allows your life to get bigger." ❤️

As my series of columns on mental health issues in Minnesota continues, I consider hope. Elusive during a crisis, hope can be found in the hard work that follows. I talk to a jazz musician who survived the worst by focusing on what matters most. www.startribune.com/hope-greater...

How much do you trust gargantuan investment firms? A lot? Some? None? At least one judge is signaling alarm about the potential takeover of Allete, parent company of Minnesota Power. www.startribune.com/mn-power-all...

The landscape of the Iron Range is a monument to the Anthropocene as the Driftless Area is to the Late Pleistocene. The first time I went, I was mesmerized by the forests, lakes, canyons, and buttes, all blurring the line between natural and manmade.

10/10 recommend for both the writing and the photos. Honestly, I'm not sure I recall a better or more comprehensive column on this topic of so much interest in northeastern Minnesota.

On July 1, I flew above every mine, pit, dump, tailings basin and town on the Iron Range. A lifelong Ranger, I’d seen it all before. But not like this. What I saw there inspired my favorite column in a long time, linked later in this thread. Here are some highlights. 1/10

As financial crisis and health care demand bear down on rural hospitals and clinics, providers and care givers will feel the pressure. It's happening now, and we're only beginning. www.startribune.com/greater-minn...

Ever wonder what the Iron Range of 100 years ago *sounded like*? I'll be giving a lecture for the Northern Lights Music Festival at B'nai Abraham in Virginia, Minn., on Monday at 7p about the history of Range music and its potential influence on a young Bob Dylan. minnesotabrown.com/2025/07/a-ra...

Do we have it in us to enjoy art and nature IRL anymore? We don't have to give up smartphones to soak in something more important. Like this flower that smells like something died in the air handler. www.startribune.com/brown-stop-a...

Mental illness treatments are effective, but the care isn't available to everyone, especially in rural Minnesota. Long ER waits and provider shortages are solvable problems, yet unsolved. My rural mental health column series continues: www.startribune.com/mental-healt...

My next column on mental health is coming soon. Until then, enjoy this recent podcast episode from Business Talk, Sister Gawk. We had a deep and engaging conversation about managing mental health in a busy world. minnesotabrown.com/2025/06/talk...

Smart analysis. Candidates win not because of their ideologies but because of their skill at connecting with potential voters, turning them into actual voters.

Even from my rural township in northern Minnesota, I see how Zohran Mamdani's upset win in the NYC primary holds meaning for upcoming Minnesota races, and not just in ways partisans might predict. www.startribune.com/mamdani-new-...

After one of the worst events in Minnesota history, we must fill the societal emptiness at the heart of the matter. www.startribune.com/melissa-hort...

So hear me out. What about airships? I know, blimps are big and, frankly, kinda funny-looking. But what if I told you that serious research and development could make them an economic boon for Minnesota? I float the idea in today's column. www.startribune.com/air-india-cr...

To save a tree, we must first save the forest. Fires and logging aren't nearly the threat as forest fragmentation. Fortunately, we have tools to keep forests together and open to public use. www.startribune.com/brown-the-fo...

How can a small town be on a win streak and still struggle to keep its library open? The problem is widespread. Rural communities face tough decisions, starting now. www.startribune.com/brown-rising...

Delightful little piece here from @minnesotabrown.bsky.social about the ongoing challenges of funding small town libraries. Pictured: my gem of a childhood library, which I loved, and which today is one of a very few remaining anchors of the old downtown. www.startribune.com/brown-rising...

My MN Star Tribune series on rural mental health looks at law enforcement and mental health. No one thinks cops should be first responders to mental health crises but, day after day, they are. There’s a better way, if we have the will. www.startribune.com/relying-on-l...

The power of wordplay appears to have revived the merger between Nippon Steel & US Steel. That's good ... and bad ... and a little ugly. My latest column explains more. www.startribune.com/the-good-bad...

My mom sewed my school clothes, so I've always had a complicated relationship with fabric stores. But as Joann Fabric closes nationwide, crafters will be short on supplies. As retail changes (again), we need a DIY solution to economic challenges ahead. www.startribune.com/brown-as-old...

President Trump OKs US Steel merger with Nippon of Japan. It's phrased as "investment" rather than "purchase" but not much different than what Nippon was asking for last year. Good: investment in US industry. Bad: foreign control. Ugly: How did they change his mind?

Most students use A.I. and many use it to do the bulk of their composition work in school. This is already true. A.I. is an irresistible tool with serious consequences for the future. My latest for the @StarTribune. www.startribune.com/brown-the-im...

If you missed my weekend column @startribune.com, I write that the disastrous wildfires we saw last week in northern Minnesota merely foreshadow the true danger ahead. www.startribune.com/brown-minnes...

The second in my series of @startribune.com columns about mental health issues in Minnesota explores unique challenges in rural areas. The same self-reliance that allows one to thrive as a farmer or logger can become a barrier when confronting mental illness. www.startribune.com/brown-mental...

The biggest barrier to Minnesota copper nickel mining under the Trump Administration is Trump’s economy. www.startribune.com/brown-trump-...

The fight over the US Hockey Hall of Fame museum presses on with unhelpful squabbling. We need an idea to make it work, and one Iron Ranger has a good one. www.startribune.com/brown-us-hoc...

Eagles are majestic and all, but the duck who laid eggs in the DNR Eagle Cam nest has something we need: courage. www.startribune.com/brown-mama-m...

I learned what suicide was when my uncle died 35 years ago. Today I begin a series of columns for @startribune.com about mental health. It's a big topic with many facets. We're facing a crisis, but one that can be met with hope and healing. www.startribune.com/brown-to-hea...

@minnesotabrown.bsky.social shows why columnists are so important: To help us focus on the big things. I have a different concern: Imagine the political power BlackRock could muster vs what Allete could muster. They could bigfoot all of us www.startribune.com/capital-for-...