As you prepare to celebrate the holiday, here's my story of grumpy old men brought back to life by kindness from long ago. Happy Thanksgiving, friends.

Minnesota's first new taconite mine in 50 years is a modern marvel that reveals the challenges and opportunities coming to the Iron Range, where change is afoot. www.startribune.com/mn-iron-rang...

What if addressing the climate crisis also solved economic problems we've battled for generations? One Florida climate strategist brings ideas to his Duluth hometown. www.startribune.com/mn-climate-p...

The federal government might be open, but it's not necessarily in business yet. Delays and uncertainty for those most in need, including those whose homes have no heat, highlight our mixed-up priorities.

"Minnesota’s official state tree might be the red pine, but you should really meet its older sibling, the white pine. The white pine is much taller with cool wavy hair." It's also the cornerstone of a healthier Minnesota forest, something we can all help restore.

The Monday after Minnesota's deer hunting opener can be grim. Social media feeds became macabre, while rigor mortis bucks bounce in the back of someone's truck. But that's not the deeper story. Here's why you should rethink deer hunting, and maybe even give it a try.

What if technological demand for critical minerals becomes inescapable? We don't have to wonder, it's happened before, right here in Minnesota. Wisdom and warning from the past: www.startribune.com/minnesota-ir...

Canada and a Minnesota-led Team USA battled for curling gold at the Pan-Continental Championships on the Iron Range this weekend. That's typical for these friendly rivals. A trade war, however, has no winners.

True nostalgia is the pain of knowing what's gone for good. When a small town loses its school, it's the only word that applies. And yet the lasting value of rural places are not in bricks, but in the people who are still here, doing what must be done.

Despite an economic slowdown, home prices remain high and inventory remains low across Minnesota. Generally, people with money are able to buy, but everyone else is waiting, and demographics aren't helping. My latest column:

“We often assume, without really thinking, that the money people make is the measure of their contribution to the economy,” Sandel said. “This is a mistake.” #sandel #philosophy #BergguenPrize #change #politics

World-renowned political philosopher Michael Sandel just won the $1 million Berggruen Prize for Philosophy and Culture. I talked to him about how his Minnesota roots shaped his thinking, and what we can do to restore hope in our civic lives. www.startribune.com/prof-michael...

Hi. That’s me. I bet you’re wondering how this kid got to be a newspaper columnist. Or maybe that’s not surprising. In any event, he used a set of encyclopedias to make his own government, complete with an intact system of checks and balances. 1/3

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...