Aaron Brown
Editorial Columnist
Iron RangeAaron Brown is a columnist for the Minnesota Star Tribune Editorial Board. He’s based on the Iron Range but focuses on the affairs of the entire state. He was raised in a trailer house on a local junkyard and is the first in five generations of his family to never work in an iron mine. He lives down a dirt road on the western Mesabi. His past writing can be found at MinnesotaBrown.com.
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Latest from Aaron Brown
Brown: Green shoots of hope
Despite harsh political winds, renewable energy can help communities weather the storm.
April 7, 2025
Brown: Iron Range layoffs show human cost, long-term implications of arbitrary tariffs
‘Crony chaos’ destroys jobs to enrich the few.
March 29, 2025
Brown: Elder millennials, brace for your colonoscopies
With March being National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, now is a good time for a public reminder.
March 26, 2025
Brown: Entrepreneur aims to help Iron Range add value at home
Breaking tradition to grow manufacturing in rural Minnesota.
March 22, 2025
Brown: Iron Rangers drop gloves over U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame, but region needs a win, not just a fight
Places like Eveleth need to win, not just skate for the status quo.
March 18, 2025
Brown: An Iron Range writer, new to the Editorial Board, reflects on how Minnesota connects
As dissimilar as country and city might seem, I see their paths as joined.
March 13, 2025
Brown: Child care is expensive, but no one is getting rich from it
There are no easy answers for how to ease the financial burden on families. But government and employers can be part of the solution.
March 1, 2025
Brown: The wheeling and dealing of American steel
For better or worse, Trump’s tariffs will impact Minnesota workers and the state’s Iron Range.
February 11, 2025
Brown: I grew up in a Minnesota bog the size of New York City; I didn’t know it was special.
The Sax-Zim Bog in northern Minnesota is considered to be one of the world’s most interesting natural places where you can easily see the inner workings of a boreal forest. It also becomes a mecca for bird watchers in the winter.
January 24, 2025
Brown: Blocked Nippon deal leaves fate of U.S. Steel in question
The company still needs investment badly, and it isn’t clear what game of opportunity and survival is being played at the top.
January 5, 2025
Brown: In Hibbing, Dylan biopic taps the unknowable
Creative genius can come from anywhere and everywhere. This version came from the Range.
December 24, 2024
Brown: Reforming broken rural economies in greater Minnesota
Here are three projects in northeastern Minnesota that could pave the way to a brighter future. And they don’t have anything to do with copper-nickel mining.
December 15, 2024
