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.
Latest from Aaron Brown
Brown: How giant trolls are helping rouse greater Minnesota’s economy
This whimsical idea made a tangible economic impact in Detroit Lakes and the surrounding area.
August 12, 2025
Brown: In a changing world, ‘sauna diplomacy’ would benefit U.S.
Finnish envoy says when you’re naked and sweating, you must tell the truth.
August 2, 2025
Brown: In Ely, a bustling arts scene salves conflict, unites community
Ely is a town most Minnesotans know for its conflicts. But its arts scene brings the community together.
July 29, 2025
Brown: For me, finding mental well-being meant addressing God
As this mental health series closes, mind and spirit unite in unexpected ways.
July 27, 2025
Brown: It’s 10:30 p.m. Do you know where your shared TV experience is?
Pending cancellation of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” shrinks our communal media space.
July 22, 2025
Brown: Halting, slow, beautiful: Recovery from mental illness takes many forms
Music helped this jazz artist find focus for his mind.
July 21, 2025
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Brown: Is the Minnesota Power sale in the public interest? A judge is skeptical.
When utilities must generate ever-growing profits, consumers suffer.
July 19, 2025
Brown: At 5,000 feet, the legacy of Iron Range mining in Minnesota is clear, but its future is hazy
I rode in a little plane from 1967 over the entire iron formation. I’d seen a lot of mining country, but never quite like this.
July 13, 2025
Brown: Rural health care providers go from the emergency room to the picket line
As a physician shortage pressures rural health care, advanced practice providers assert new power.
July 12, 2025
Brown: Stop and smell the corpse flower
As our lives get busier, let’s not hustle art and nature.
July 7, 2025
Brown: Trump’s Medicaid cuts will close rural hospitals, accelerate health care crisis in Minnesota
Why would the people who represent rural places consciously make their already fragile health care systems worse?
June 30, 2025
Brown: For rural patients, the mental health system can’t keep up with the crisis
The longer people must wait for care, the greater the danger.
June 29, 2025
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