Iron Range Today

10/21/2025

Some scenes from the first night of the 2025 Pan Continental Curling Championships in Virginia. 📸: Jerry Burnes

Men’s and women’s matches continue in Virginia and Eveleth throughout the week.

10/06/2025

NEW: Minnesota is poised to enforce a long-dormant regulation at Keetac. Local communities are on edge. How policies, economics, the environment and a place’s identity are confronting one another.

Minnesota is poised to enforce a long-dormant regulation at Keetac. Local communities are on edge. Here’s how policies, economics, the environment and a place’s identity are confronting one another…

08/15/2025

Congrats to one of our own! Co-founder Leah Ryan was recently named Board Chair of the Virginia Community Foundation!

📣 Leadership Update at Virginia Community Foundation!
We’re excited to announce Leah Ryan as our new Board Chair and Brenda Skorich as our new Vice Chair!

Leah, a journalist with Iron Range Today and board member since 2016, says:

“The Virginia Community Foundation is here to serve the greater Virginia community. I’m excited to build relationships and make a positive impact for our region.”

Brenda, a Minnesota North College faculty member and board member since 2023, shares:

“It’s an exciting time for the Virginia Foundation! I look forward to helping position VCF to grow and meet community needs for years to come.”

💙 Please join us in congratulating Leah and Brenda!

07/07/2025

BIG NEWS to kick off our Monday morning! Iron Range Today has officially become a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization! More to come on how you can contribute.

Exciting times over here!

06/19/2025

NEW: What does the U.S. Steel sale mean for Minnesota’s Iron Range? For starters, $800M in investments. But the detsils revealed Wednesday exclude explicit jobs/workforce protections.

Part of the Nippon Steel’s national security agreement with Trump administration includes $800M in local investments, few job protections.

06/11/2025

The restless mind knows no bounds. A night of tossing and turning became a night of logo design for the Range Makers series, which I'm also excited to say will launch as a standalone webpage from Iron Range Today.

We're incredibly excited about the potential of this project, and can't wait for it to go live. There's so much thoughtful work being put into the stories, the layouts and everything.

Again, if you're not familiar with Range Makers, read about it below. As we posted yesterday, we are looking for sponsors and connect with Jerry if you're interested!

Range Makers: https://ironrangetoday.com/2025/06/04/introducing-range-makers-an-ongoing-series/

06/10/2025

Iron Range Today is looking for sponsors for its Range Makers story series. If you're interested, get a hold of me!

What is Range Makers, you ask? Read about it below. Things are coming together amazingly so far!

https://ironrangetoday.com/2025/06/04/introducing-range-makers-an-ongoing-series/

05/12/2025

Introducing: Range Makers, an ongoing series. A call for story ideas. Meet the people forging the Iron Range's future, today.

MORE INFO: https://open.substack.com/pub/ironrangetoday/p/introducing-range-makers-an-ongoing?r=d7ezu&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false

05/05/2025

ICYMI: Mining layoffs and school budget cuts are again testing the Iron Range, with few indicators that Minorca Mine will be going through a short idle period.

As one long-time Ranger told me: "It does feel different" this time.

As mines idle and classrooms empty, the ripple effects have communities bracing for an uncertain future amid economic volatility.

04/14/2025

JUST IN: Rock Ridge School Board has approved a resolution tonight that will start the process to discipline and dismiss Chris Chad, the HS dean of students currently imprisoned in Georgia on child exploitation charges.

Chris Chad was extradited from St. Louis County to Georgia ,and booked in Fulton County Jail on a dozen child exploitation charges.

04/08/2025

SCOOP: Chris Chad, the Rock Ridge school administrator jailed on child exploitation charges was extradited to Georgia on Monday. A criminal warrant in Fulton County alleges he told a 12-year-old male victim they could "have fun" in a "blind spot" of the Rock Ridge security cameras.

More:

Chris Chad was extradited from St. Louis County to Georgia ,and booked in Fulton County Jail on a dozen child exploitation charges.

04/02/2025

NEW: Extending unemployment benefits for 630 laid off Iron Range miners has a clear path through the Minnesota Legislature. But first it had to hit some political potholes.

Republican-led bill tabled in Workforce, Labor, and Economic Development Finance and Policy Committee after benefits were paired with environmental policies.