About this reporting
I’m Don Dey. I hold two bachelor’s degrees from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, including one in journalism, and a Master of Library and Information Science from UW–Milwaukee. I taught high school science for twenty-five years and worked as a school library media specialist. I’m retired, I live in Gogebic County, and I have no financial interest in the Copperwood project or in any organization opposing it.
I use AI — Claude, specifically — as a research and drafting tool. It helps me locate documents, work through regulatory and accounting language, and turn my reporting into finished prose. I say that plainly because you’d find out anyway if you scanned this page, and I’d rather you hear it from me.
What that means in practice: I decide what to investigate. I read the primary documents myself — the permit, the rules, the financial statements — and every figure in this piece is checked against one. Thirty years of research training is mostly training in not believing things, and I apply it to what the AI gives me the same way I’d apply it to anything else. If I can’t source a claim, it doesn’t run.
If I’ve gotten something wrong, write to me at editor@lakesuperiorregister.com. I’ll correct it in public and credit you.