Brainerd's Potlatch plant may be closed but its influence will long be felt in the Brainerd area. Over many years, the big plant with the billowing smokestacks...

...received $50,000 in federal funds that will be used to assist the 616 workers who lost jobs by the closing of Brainerd's Potlatch plant. Rep. Jim Oberstar, D-Minn., announced the U.S. Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration...

Politicians are often taken to task for being short-sighted, deciding public policy by making knee-jerk reactions to the events of the day.

...and area civic leaders to find a paper-making company that would fill some of the void left by closing of Brainerd's Potlatch plant the previous year. Now with Missota in an extended shutdown here, lawmakers and economic development officials...

...paycheck. It was 1961 when Zelinske received his first union card as he started his job as a papermaker at Brainerd's Potlatch plant. As president of the Brainerd Trades and Labor Assembly for the past 24 years he's seen the government make...

...a move that will eliminate 365 jobs, or 62 percent of its 585 employees. Sappi is the firm that purchased Brainerd's Potlatch plant and closed it and moved papermaking operations to Cloquet. It said Thursday it is shutting down one of the...

...their shoulders and wonder what's next. The first and most devastating story, of course, is the closing of Brainerd's Potlatch plant. On Monday, the last paper-making machine was shut down at that northeast Brainerd landmark. Some maintenance...

...House in 1968. Rural economic development, an issue that's particularly important in light of the closing of Brainerd's Potlatch plant, will be emphasized during his campaign. "We have to revitalize the rural economy," he said. Education...