Wang said the Niron magnets are good for about 80% of uses, but he is working at the U on improvements necessary for some high-end technologies like EV motors.

Castilloux said it’s not yet clear what Niron’s magnets are best suited for in an industry with highly specialized needs. Another question is whether they will perform under tough conditions, like high temperatures, for huge vehicle and wind turbine markets or are better for simpler electronics and speakers.

Still the company has powerful investors, including General Motors, Volvo, Samsung, Western Digital and Stellantis. That’s why Castilloux is “cautiously optimistic” about Niron despite the challenges of commercializing new magnet tech. He said those companies likely wouldn’t invest heavily in a company merely for magnets in car speakers.

Niron is also working with the U.S. Department of Defense, which needs magnets for weapons, warplanes, submarines and more.

Castilloux said Niron has a few local competitors planning similar sized-operations for rare earth magnets, and it’s difficult to “come up against China, which is decades ahead on all fronts.” But he said there is enough demand to sustain local production, especially with industry and government support boosting domestic efforts. The U.S. is placing a 25% import tariff of rare earth magnets starting in 2026.

The Niron plant in Minneapolis can produce about five tons of magnetic material per year, and Niron aims to make 1,500 tons at the planned Sartell facility. That’s a small fraction of the more than 200,000 tons of traditional rare earth magnets sold globally last year, according to Adamas data.

These are smart people. Well-intentioned people. We’ve just been overwhelmed by the medium. I’m not a hunter. I went to graduate school for literature. We are in need of rhetorical flotation devices to keep us afloat in the floods.

So here’s what actually happened last Saturday morning.

First-off, there’s not a Casey’s or Kwik Trip between the Twin Cities and New Ulm that carries a blaze orange stocking cap. That’s a missed opportunity. Because I searched nearly every single one on my pre-dawn ride down from Minneapolis Saturday morning to the appointed meeting-place on a gravel road to get wanded by Secret Service.

Second, hunting is the most Downton Abbey thing we do in American politics. It’s not the foxes and hounds and horses and bugle calls. But it is a little silly. How can you shoot a bird with 20 reporters, 15 staffers, and 5 social media influencers in tow?

Still, I get it. There is a romantic showmanship to the day. The prairie presents well. And you got to dress warmly, which my east coast colleagues — in hoodies and sneakers — didn’t. So we sat there seemingly an eternity before, right before 9 a.m., Walz’s motorcade arrived, and the governor got smiling to walk over and get his pheasant credentials checked by the DNR officer.

Then, yes, we did do a bit of “fake-news.” One of the photographers requested views of faces of the hunting party — consisting of Walz, the president of Pheasants Forever, a local landowner, and a Nobles County hunter. So, for a performative few minutes, without taking any shots, the group walked toward the mobile media row, holding guns.

Councilor Azrin Awal said she’s heard from several constituents asking for the investigation to be conducted by an independent source. It shows that councilors and the city are hearing their concerns, she said, and “holding ourselves accountable.”

Gurske, 33, is a business development and marketing manager for Superior, Wis.-based Amsoil. Emails show she offered a city staffer ideas and copy for social media topics to be covered by Reinert, coordinated a potential mayoral proclamation, reviewed a press release and asked his assistant the nature of a meeting Reinert was taking when it was requested to be added to his schedule.

Gurske was on a panel that interviewed a candidate for a senior adviser role for Reinert’s office, and also acted as his staff at a local elementary school where he read to students, emails show.

Of Gurske, he wrote last month that she is his “significant other” who is “a talented professional and someone I trust. She is also just as passionate about the future and success of our community as I am.”

He noted that he would never “intentionally — or ask anyone else — to do something that negatively impacts this office of the City of Duluth organization.”

Legal experts have said her actions are unethical and potentially illegal, and could raise conflict of interest and accountability accusations.