Aaron and Chuck continue the conversation on the closing of major retail stores like Herberger's by looking to the future. They differ on what should/could happen. What do you think? What would make your town better? Email us! Don't forget! Live DIG DEEP EVENT at the KAXE studios in Grand Rapids Tuesday June 12th at 6pm - Aaron and Chuck will talk MN politics! Free and open to the public - if you have q uestions to ask them send them our way!

Program 73 "A Close Call": Setbacks and the High Cost of Rebuilding the Dam, 1948 - 49 A radio series produced by historian Don Boese. Don is the author of eight books dealing with local history in Itasca County, including "John C. Greenway and the Opening of the Western Mesabi", and the main source for this series, "Papermakers: the Blandin Paper Company and Grand Rapids, Minnesota". The series begins with the arrival of the first Euro-Americans to the forested wilderness of Itasca County in

We continue our Strong Women series with an analysis of a focus group recently held at KAXE in Grand Rapids. Laura Connelly lead the conversation - she's a recipient of a Bush Fellowship and studies and leads conversations with a focus on human-centered design.

When the iron mines layoff workers or shut down, we hear about programs to assist them and training to move into other jobs. What about retail workers? On Dig Deep liberal Aaron Brown and conservative Chuck Marohn look at those jobs and what it means. Aaron wrote in his blog, Minnesota Brown : But let me ask you this. What if we weren’t talking about a mine? What if we weren’t talking about one business, but hundreds? And what if I told you that 700 jobs was just the beginning, and that those

Countless little ones dream of being dancers when they grow up, but few actually take the steps and put in the grueling hours required to turn that dream into reality. Arimee Gambill of Grand Rapids has enrolled in dance classes at the Reif Center since she was a little girl. Last week, she graduated high school, this weekend she'll perform in her last shows as a Reif Center dancer and later this summer she'll take the leap into a dance apprenticeship with the James Sewall Ballet Company . The

Tuesdays are special around Northern Community Radio. It's the time of the week when we dig thru our virtual mailbag and discover what listeners are noticing outside as they send in weekly Phenology observations. Are you someone who pays attention to the natural world around you? Send along your observations and questions about what you are noticing outside. We'd love to hear from you. Email or give us a jingle and leave a message at 218.999.9876. Join our KAXE-KBXE Season Watch Page on Facebook

We care deeply about the natural world around us here at KAXE-KBXE. Each week our resident phenologist John Latimer provides a complete Phenology Report giving listeners a comprehensive look at what's happening in nature here in northern Minnesota. And, a lot is happening out in nature in northern Minnesota right now! What are you noticing? Send us a note via email or leave a voicemail at 218.999.9876. We'd love to hear about it. If you love this stuff, you'll dig our KAXE-KBXE Season Watch Page

Our liberal commentator Aaron Brown from Minnesota Brown and our conservative commentator from Strong Towns Chuck Marohn wax nostalgic on department stores of their youth and then move into the impact of the closings of Herbergers Stores across the region. In our next segment we'll talk about the effects on workers. Sign up for the podcast here!

Program 72: Dam Break! September 3, 1948 A radio series produced by historian Don Boese. Don is the author of eight books dealing with local history in Itasca County, including "John C. Greenway and the Opening of the Western Mesabi", and the main source for this series, "Papermakers: the Blandin Paper Company and Grand Rapids, Minnesota". The series begins with the arrival of the first Euro-Americans to the forested wilderness of Itasca County in the 1870s. In those early days the site that

When John and Heidi pulled up a chair to Genevieve Radniecki's table for breakfast, they didn't know they'd be hiring out John for staining services this summer. After a quick breakfast of a Nature Valley breakfast bar (really, just an excuse for dunking something into good coffee), John quickly volunteered to help Genevieve stain her house this summer for the low, low price of one pie in the windowsill. This despite nearly coming to blows over the rights of people to dunk or not--and the