In less than two weeks we’ll know the results of the midterm elections here in Minnesota and across the U.S. Perhaps something will feel better, or happen, or not. Meantime, we live in the liminal world of political polling, wondering if the handful of people who pick up their phones when pollsters call are representative of reality.

That’s the topic of today’s column. (gift link)

It is human nature, aided greatly by the psychological experiment of the internet, that allows each of us to believe our own story about the world around us. We struggle mightily when we inevitably learn that other people see it differently.

That’s why every poll is met with a chorus of criticism, led mostly by the people who don’t like the results.

But there’s more to polling, and a lot more to policy that we should be concerned with. Even the pollster I talked to said that our own values and experiences are more important than poll numbers.

Read “What’s wrong with political polling? The question itself” in the Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026 edition of the Minnesota Star Tribune. 

Aaron J. Brown is a columnist and member of the editorial board for the Minnesota Star Tribune. His new book about Hibbing Mayor Victor Power and his momentous fight against the world’s largest corporation will be out soon.

The post Trusting our gut when reading the polls appeared first on Minnesota Brown.

Today’s column explores rural populism in the context of a long-shot northeastern Minnesota DFL campaign in the state’s largest House district. (gift link)

In my first book “Overburden: Modern Life on the Iron Range,” now 18 years old, I analyzed the Iron Range as it was in the last days of DFL control. I correctly predicted that Republicans were ascending, but I underestimated the speed of the transition. I said it would take decades, when it was really more like eight years.

In that book I labeled three wings of Range politics, saying that you need two to win. The first group I identified as labor. At the time I was referring to unions like the United Steelworkers and construction trades. The second was town bosses. I don’t think I used the word “establishment” but that’s what I would call it today. There are all sorts of mayors and city councilors, business owners and coffee klatch blowhards who form a loose confederation of opinion leaders. The final group was progressives. I identified them as the least powerful of the three, but a key tiebreaker when the first two groups were at odds.

The DFL won on the Range from 1946 to 2008, I suggested, because it had two of the three, sometimes all three.

Today, the GOP has the establishment and most of labor. Labor, as it turns out, isn’t just the labor movement. Rather, it’s a larger mass of workers now less concerned with “the movement” or even “community,” and more concerned with individual needs like family and financial status.

The generational turnover from Greatest to Boomers, and then Boomers to Gen X shed all direct memory of company oppression and class consciousness. The populism turned like old venison. The reflexive distrust once reserved for Republican big shots easily moved to Democratic activists when environmental and cultural issues came to fore. Social democracy lost its spot to Rust Belt stew: nostalgia, fear and blame.

In retrospect, it was naive of me to think that this wouldn’t finish happening here once it started. But that’s how it is for people in the present. We have to watch.

No past can be restored, and yet no change is permanent. I explain more in today’s piece.

Read “In state’s largest House district, rural populism is tested by fire,” in the Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026 edition of the Minnesota Star Tribune.

One more note. “Overburden” is currently out of print. I hope to revive it when my new book comes out next year (!!!). Nevertheless, my charming little blend of humor, memoir and history remains available at your finer libraries and Hibbing Historical Society. I also have a small collection tucked within boxes in my garage, only one of which is covered in oil.

Aaron J. Brown is a columnist and member of the editorial board for the Minnesota Star Tribune. His new book about Hibbing Mayor Victor Power and his momentous fight against the world’s largest corporation will be out soon.

The post Rural populism meets DFL brand problems in northern district appeared first on Minnesota Brown.

Here’s a trade secret. For as much as we all hear about artificial intelligence, for as much as investors dump billions into AI, your average reader doesn’t want to read about AI. I know that because we monitor digital readership closely at my employer, and AI columns never do as well as other topics.

So, of course, I’ve written another one (gift link). But it’s not really about AI, it’s about us.

As little as you might want to read about AI, you might have noticed how easy it is to be swept up in AI content. Vertical video on social media platforms is rife with AI, and so are the bulletin boards at local gas stations. In every corner of the state, people go online or use software to generate material that looks like something people made, but isn’t.

AI users do it for convenience, to save money, to justify spending, to get attention. Sometimes the intent is purely innocent, and sometimes the technology is a means to perform evil deeds. After all, if you manipulate reality, it’s a short walk to manipulating people. Is there even a difference?

We are each a human existence (a soul, if you prefer) in a human mind, each of us riding around in a human body. The rest is superfluous. Cultures, nations and technologies change, always. Death comes, always. One way or another, we live our lives.

What kind of lives will they be?

Heavy thoughts for a column that started because of an AI-generated sign I saw in the middle of nowhere.

Read “Facing down AI slop, human designers draw a line on the canvas” in the Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026 edition of the Minnesota Star Tribune.

Aaron J. Brown is a columnist and member of the editorial board for the Minnesota Star Tribune. His new book about Hibbing Mayor Victor Power and his momentous fight against the world’s largest corporation will be out soon.

The post Protecting creativity from AI slop appeared first on Minnesota Brown.

The English-language etymology of the words for our seasons reveals their true nature. Winter is Old English, drawn from ancient words for “wet,” “wind” and “snow.” Spring is another Old English word, a verb, “to leap forth.” Summer is another ancient Old English term. More complex, it unites words for “together” and the halfway point for the year.

My column today (gift link) is about fall. Officially, it’s called autumn, from Latin, but it’s had many names over the year, often associated with harvest. But “fall,” as a name for the season, is American English from the 17th century. It’s another verb, with obvious meaning: “The falling of the leaves.”

In art and culture the fall is a time of leaves. First we enjoy them, or “peep” them in the parlance. Then we rake, pile and remove them.

Naturally, the latter part is a chore, and we humans enjoy shirking chores if we can get away with it. That’s how my research for today’s column began, but it turns out that my suspicions were correct. It’s better to leave a layer of leaves on your yard if you can. It’s not lazy, it’s just good stewardship.

Read “If you love wildlife, leave raking off your autumn to-do list,” in the Monday, Oct. 12, 2026 edition of the Minnesota Star Tribune.

Aaron J. Brown is a columnist and member of the editorial board for the Minnesota Star Tribune. His new book about Hibbing Mayor Victor Power and his momentous fight against the world’s largest corporation will be out soon.

The post When it comes to fall yard maintenance, leaf it alone appeared first on Minnesota Brown.

Last week, I attended a Minnesota Pollution Control Agency public meeting in Virginia to hear about a new plan for the tailings basin at Minntac in Mountain Iron. That’s the subject of today’s column (gift link).

Tailings might be the Iron Range’s biggest secret. And I do mean “biggest” in the literal sense.

The word “tailings” might seem familiar. Tailings are the small particles of waste rock left over after the iron has been removed at a taconite mine. That part isn’t a secret.

And yet, I would venture that a majority of the Range’s population spends close to zero seconds per day thinking about tailings storage systems. And I’m talking about people who live here year-round and perhaps know something about the region’s mining economy.

Miners, engineers, pilots and backwoods denizens like me (who drive past these hulking beasts daily) are the only ones intimately familiar with the difference between a mine and a mine’s waste storage system. That’s wild, because tailings basins and their surrounding structures are mega huge. When you look at a satellite image of the Iron Range they’re the first things you see, even more striking than the mines themselves.

These structures are now getting to be many decades old. What works and doesn’t work in their design is becoming apparent. That’s the subject of recent debate over wastewater permit renewals on the Mesabi Range.

The bad news is that pro-mining and environmental interests continue to disagree. The good news, from my point of view, is that we are seeing progress on mitigating sulfates, one of the most vexing aspects of Minnesota water regulations. This progress is nothing to fear for the Iron Range, whether you mine iron ore or not.

Read “A historic first for Minnesota mines and the environment,” in the Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026 edition of the Minnesota Star Tribune.

Aaron J. Brown is a columnist and member of the editorial board for the Minnesota Star Tribune. His new book about Hibbing Mayor Victor Power and his momentous fight against the world’s largest corporation will be out soon.

The post Slow progress beats no progress on sulfates appeared first on Minnesota Brown.

My latest column (gift link) is designed to light a fire.

Minnesota’s public college systems — Minnesota State and the University of Minnesota — both face enormous reorganization in the face of budget crises. This goes beyond traditional budget politics. Generations of administrative bloat, rising costs, shrinking youth demographics and shifting attitudes about college itself arrive here, now, and must be addressed.

Read “Massive budget cuts a gut-check moment for Minnesota colleges” in the Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026 edition of the Minnesota Star Tribune.

Aaron J. Brown is a columnist and member of the editorial board for the Minnesota Star Tribune. His new book about Hibbing Mayor Victor Power and his momentous fight against the world’s largest corporation will be out soon.

The post The test is now appeared first on Minnesota Brown.

Readers of my Monday column might have noticed that it was about 12 hours out of date. Vast amounts of research and reporting appeared to be blunted by a hasty announcement from the Oval Office. Such is the nature of these times, but I will remind that my original point still stands.

Minnesota’s public interest in the Mesabi Metallics project is significant. We must hold the company accountable for our investment and tremendous patience it its success.

Today’s column (gift link) reveals some high-stakes gambling happening just outside Nashwauk, Minn. No, I’m not buying that it’s somehow Minnesota’s fault that Mesabi Metallics proposes building a $15 billion steel mill in southeastern Iowa. Rather, Monday’s news had political overtones from the start, and my long history of reporting on this project give ample reason for caution.

Iowa is considering $1.5 billion in tax credits, while the U.S. Export-Import Bank is offering an even more unprecedented direct loan to the company. Anyone with a memory knows we’re in for a bumpy ride.

Read “Trump’s $15 billion Iowa surprise roils Minn. politics, but merits skepticism” in the Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026 edition of the Minnesota Star Tribune.

Aaron J. Brown is a columnist and member of the editorial board for the Minnesota Star Tribune. His new book about Hibbing Mayor Victor Power and his momentous fight against the world’s largest corporation will be out soon.

The post Iowa steel mill hype reveals a riverboat gamble appeared first on Minnesota Brown.

Today’s column (gift link) took a lot of time, including three site visits, and quite some research as well. But on the other hand, it is a continuation of a general theme I’ve never stopped repeating. We must add value to the Iron Range — in mining, yes, but also in our overall economy and resilience to change.

I’m happy to report that we’ve seen significant progress in value-added iron ore. Most notably, the $2.5 billion iron ore project Mesabi Metallics remains under construction. That facility aims to put Minnesota ore into the modern electric arc furnace supply chain. Local mines owned by legacy companies like U.S. Steel and Cleveland-Cliffs are only beginning to explore this space.

“You’re helping deliver the American dream 2.0, said John Javonovic, chair of the Export-Import Bank of the United States on Sept. 17.

Javonivic was at Mesabi Metallics to announce a $770 million EXIM Bank loan to the company, allowing it to finish its current iron ore plant. However, significant work remains ahead, both in Nashwauk and in the next phase of Mesabi’s plans. The company is exploring a new direct-reduced-iron plant in Kentucky.

Likewise, two other new companies, MagIron and North American Iron, plant to turn legacy ore stockpiles into pig iron. MagIron wants to ship concentrate to the former Magnetation processing plant in Indiana. North American Iron wants to build a facility in North Dakota.

All three companies will hire Iron Range workers, but you can see that the “value” component of the processes are all located in other states for various reasons. We should be planning for ways to capture the knowledge we’re gaining here to spin off related and even unrelated industry. A trip to a research laboratory here on the Iron Range showed me how we can start.

Read “Minnesota iron industry forges new future while chasing billions in financing” in the Monday, Sept. 28, 2026 edition of the Minnesota Star Tribune.

Aaron J. Brown is a columnist and member of the editorial board for the Minnesota Star Tribune. His new book about Hibbing Mayor Victor Power and his momentous fight against the world’s largest corporation will be out soon.

The post Adding value to Iron Range economy will take persistence appeared first on Minnesota Brown.

It’s hard to understate how politically volatile the high gas and diesel prices are right now. People might uneasily tolerate gasoline at $4, but $6 diesel is a bottom line whack at several key industries.

Case in point, the subject of today’s column (gift link): timber.

A private logger uses hundreds of thousands of gallons of diesel fuel every season, running machines nonstop every day. There’s no way around it, which means that a price spike like this equates a punch you cannot dodge.

This comes at the same time the industry is trying to increase wood markets so that vast tracts of wildfire fuel can be managed effectively, before future wildfires threaten people and property. Technological innovation provides opportunity for novel uses of wood fiber, but it takes investment and time: two things everyone seems to need and no one seems to have.

Read “Facing $6 diesel, Minnesota timber industry needs new markets” in the Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026 edition of the Minnesota Star Tribune. 

Aaron J. Brown is a columnist and member of the editorial board for the Minnesota Star Tribune. His new book about Hibbing Mayor Victor Power and his momentous fight against the world’s largest corporation will be out soon.

The post Timber industry seeks new markets while under duress appeared first on Minnesota Brown.

We need another monthly subscription like we need a hole in the head. But today’s column (gift link) is about the intriguing possibility that a new subscription might save money for certain people.

Direct primary care is when you pay a monthly fee to a doctor for medical visits whenever you need them. It’s not insurance. And it doesn’t cover things beyond basic doctor visits or minor treatments. But for those without insurance, or who are underinsured in plans with huge deductibles, it’s an intriguing option. It also fosters a more personal relationship with a doctor who can spend time with you and answer multiple medical questions in one visit.

Dr. Nyasha Spears of Duluth made the leap from practicing in a health care system to providing direct care. It wasn’t easy, and she’s paying a price. Her former employer is fighting to uphold a non-compete clause in her previous contract, even though they closed her clinic on short notice. She’s spent $300,000 in legal fees to launch a practice that has just over 200 patients. (Friends and colleagues have started a fundraiser). But she’s loving the change, and my conversation with her was eye-opening.

Read “Could a subscription model for health care cure our broken system?” in the Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026 edition of the Minnesota Star Tribune.

Aaron J. Brown is a columnist and member of the editorial board for the Minnesota Star Tribune. His new book about Hibbing Mayor Victor Power and his momentous fight against the world’s largest corporation will be out soon.

The post Duluth doctor shows direct primary care an intriguing, if limited, health care fix appeared first on Minnesota Brown.