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  • Guest: A stylish way to improve men's health

    Tom Purcell|Nov 6, 2023

    Hopefully, the rugged beard I’ve been sporting will motivate at least one of my fellow men to take better care of his health this November. Every November, you see, two charitable organizations, Movember and No-Shave November, raise funds by encouraging men to not cut or shave their facial hair. Both organizations have made November an enjoyable month for we men to share photos of our thickening mustaches, beards and other long hair. The idea is to get men thinking and talking about mental h...

  • Guest: National Veterans Small Business Week

    Oct 30, 2023

    WASHINGTON – Administrator Isabel Guzman, the head of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and voice in President Biden’s Cabinet for America’s more than 33 million small businesses, announced the SBA will celebrate the 10th annual National Veterans Small Business Week (NVSBW) from Oct. 30 to Nov. 3. Throughout the week, the SBA, its resource partners, and local organizations across the country will host a series of virtual and in-person events to highlight the entrepreneurial journeys of veteran- and military spouse-owned small busin...

  • Letters: N.D. must prioritize child care stabilization

    Erin Laverdure|Oct 30, 2023

    I am sincerely grateful to Representative Joshua Boschee for his focus on the working families of North Dakota during the special legislative session with HB 1193, child care stabilization. I am disappointed the Legislative Management Committee voted to not move this critical bill forward, and I urge legislators to continue to find ways to fund this fundamental issue. As a co-founder and board president of Energy Capital Cooperative Child Care in Hazen, I have a front-row seat to the challenges faced by child care providers. North Dakota...

  • Upside Down Under: Why all the hatred for Carson Wentz?

    Marvin Baker|Oct 30, 2023

    Somebody help me out here. I’ve been a football fan for a lot of years and honestly don’t know what is going on right now. Why is there so much hatred for Carson Wentz? My guess is it’s people who are hiding behind a computer screen and have never played football. I just don’t get it. Here is a guy who grew up and played football at Bismarck Century, went on to be successful at North Dakota State University, then got into the National Football League. He’s a professional football player and all...

  • Guest: Should society slam the brakes on this trend?

    Danny Tyree|Oct 30, 2023

    Kicking and screaming were not involved, but it did take our 19-year-old son Gideon an interminably long time to show an interest in soloing with the drivers license he obtained at age 16. Finally, the reality of walking 20 minutes from his off-campus apartment in inclement weather made him more agreeable to letting us buy him a sensible vehicle. (Also, my over-protective mother has relinquished her habit of squawking, “Don’t let that young’un get splattered all over the road!” every time th...

  • The value of volunteers

    Amy Wobbema|Oct 23, 2023

    I grew up understanding that being part of a community meant giving of your time and talents whenever possible to enrich others. My dad was a member of the Robinson Lions Club when I was a kid. My mom took us to many activities and events led by volunteers, including 4-H and Sunday School. Both my parents served on church boards and committees, and I remember watching my grandmother prepare and serve meals at funerals and other special events in her church. We volunteer. It’s what we do. T...

  • Upside Down Under: Dickinson State

    Marvin Baker|Oct 23, 2023

    Dickinson State University was recently in the news for all of the wrong reasons. Five majors have been eliminated and several faculty laid off because of it. Students who were interviewed on TV were obviously upset about this and they have every right to be. For those of us looking in the from the outside; we obviously don’t know all the details of what led up to this. However, this doesn’t make sense. DSU President Stephen Easton went on TV to say that math, communications and political sci...

  • Guest: Remember when

    Dave Jenkins|Oct 23, 2023

    For the last 4 months I have been traveling in North Dakota exploring the ways that ordinary folks in rural areas are revitalizing their communities through immigration. It has been a heartwarming journey. Our state is made up of good people with abundant common sense whose memories stir them to go extra measures time after time to help new neighbors. It is the North Dakota way. So many of our churches have an ethnic heritage and memory. As I started this journey and realized that a new wave of...

  • Letters: Grateful for FCPH gesture

    Oct 23, 2023

    I want to thank the public health for their support of breast cancer awareness. I am a breast cancer survivor. On December 9, 2009, I had my last chemotherapy treatment. The cancer was found on a mammogram, so all women need to get your mammograms. Anyone who is going through this, there is so much hope. There are many treatments. The survival rate is very high. Good luck and God bless. Bernice Sandvol Carrington, ND...

  • It pays to be a member

    Amy Wobbema|Oct 16, 2023

    This National Co-op Month, I recognize that many of the cooperatives operating today were established for the benefit of people. It didn’t take much effort to put together a list of cooperatives we do business with on a daily basis. After all, I’ve been a member of cooperatives since I was a young girl. My extended family have been members of Northern Plains Electric Cooperative (formerly Tri-County Electric) my entire life. The family farm and my parents’ home are served by this all-i...

  • Upside Down Under: One grows, one shrinks

    Marvin Baker|Oct 16, 2023

    During the second half of the 1990s, I operated the newspaper in Langdon and often made short, 38-mile trips to Morden, Manitoba, for various reasons. At the time, Langdon’s population was about 2,500 and Morden was just shy of 5,000. That has always been a snapshot in my mind, until a couple of weeks ago. I was looking through some information about the Corn and Apple Festival in Morden and saw that Morden’s population is now nearly 11,000. When I checked Langdon’s population, it was 1,884...

  • Guest: We need a rebirth of empathy

    Tom Purcell|Oct 16, 2023

    When I read a news piece about the passing of longtime California senator Dianne Feinstein a few weeks ago, some of the comments left at the bottom of the online article made me sad. Feinstein suffered a very public health decline before she passed. Anyone with the slightest sense of empathy would think “there but for the grace of God go I” — as every one of us could suffer a similar decline before our time finally comes. Empathy is in short supply these days, however. I don’t recall the exact w...

  • A painful precedent

    Amy Wobbema|Oct 9, 2023

    The federal government has entered a new level of dysfunction. It’s like being in the middle of your favorite soap opera when the power goes out. For the first time in U.S. history, the House of Representatives has ousted its duly-elected speaker, Kevin McCarthy of California. “They don’t get to say they’re conservative because they’re angry and they’re chaotic,” McCarthy said of the eight Republican colleagues who voted against him. “That’s not the party I belong to. The party of Reagan was if...

  • Upside Down Under: High speed chase in progress...

    Marvin Baker|Oct 9, 2023

    On Wednesday my young assistant and myself were on our delivery route going through Minot when we saw something we don’t normally experience in Minot. It was a high speed chase involving a late model sedan and three, four and finally seven Ward County Sheriff’s Department vehicles. This happened about 4 p.m., on Wednesday, Sept. 27, just about the time many people are getting off work and commuting through the major thoroughfares. We were going south on 16th Street and were somewhere between Min...

  • Guest: The president's dogs that bite people

    Tom Purcell|Oct 9, 2023

    President Biden is being dogged by a unique White House problem. About a week ago, Biden’s German Shepherd, Commander, bit a secret service officer — Commander’s 11th secret-service-officer biting since he moved to the White House in December of 2021. Commander must have been following the paw prints of Major, Biden’s previous German Shepherd, whose biting appetite included secret service agents, technicians and at least one National Park employee. At one point, Major bit an unlucky governm...

  • Newspapers your way

    Amy Wobbema|Oct 2, 2023

    This year marks the 83rd celebration of National Newspaper Week. From October 1-7, newspapers across the country are affirming their responsibilities to the communities they serve. I’ve written a lot about our industry in this space over the last year, yet I find myself compelled to do it again. So much has happened in the past several weeks. In August, we changed the distribution process for every newspaper we print, and that has affected when many of our readers receive their print edition, w...

  • Upside Down Under: Is AM radio going away?

    Marvin Baker|Oct 2, 2023

    There have been a lot of articles recently about AM radio and its impending doom. Apparently, some auto manufacturers are eliminating AM radio from their cars, but there continues to be a pushback from government and the private sector. Someone asked me the other day if I thought AM radio will be going away? My reply was not a chance because there are too many people and organizations dependent on AM radio. All you need to do is look across North Dakota to know and understand how important AM...

  • Guest: Love and honesty will get us through

    Tom Purcell|Oct 2, 2023

    It was a family event for the ages. Last weekend, my family traveled to Gettysburg to attend my nephew’s wedding. I drove my mother down Friday so she could participate in the rehearsal. We had a wonderful drive talking about a variety of things, mostly stories about my father, who we lost last year. After the rehearsal, we attended a welcome party, where we had great fun catching up with my cousins and other family members. The room was filled with intense joy. Every person there was e...

  • Letters: Teacher shortages...

    Charlotte Franks-Erickson|Sep 25, 2023

    School has started and there’s a teacher shortage across the nation. It’s a well-known fact that burnout is a common reason. I might have a solution or two that could be tried. We have dedicated teachers who are reluctantly leaving their teaching positions heartbroken, physically exhausted and emotionally drained, and returning to their families who have sacrificed the attention and energy of their mom or dad for years during each school year. Teachers are not trained in emotional disturbances, extreme academic needs and trauma-affected chi...

  • Upside Down Under: Spanning 3 degrees of latitude...

    Marvin Baker|Sep 25, 2023

    There’s a 1941 school map of North Dakota that hangs in my garage. Knowing of my interest in geography, one of my wife’s friends gave me that map when she moved away. I look at that map every day when I’m in the garage and after six years of hanging there, it still hasn’t gotten old (no pun intended). There’s always something to look at and the most obvious to me; something that will not change over time is that North Dakota spans 3 degrees of latitude, from 46 Degrees North to 49 Degrees N...

  • Perspective: Burgum second N.D. presidential candidate

    Lloyd Omdahl|Sep 25, 2023

    While skeptical North Dakotans scratch their heads over Governor Douglas Burgum’s race for president, we need to be reminded that he is not the first aspirant for the big chair in Washington. While a congressman, North Dakota’s William Lemke threw his hat in the ring as the presidential candidate for the Union Party in 1936. Of course, Doug is not burdened by the likes of Francis Townsend, Charles Coughlin and Gerald L. K. Smith, all of whom fragmented the Union message. Messages of Dis...

  • I 'bet' you gamble more than I do

    Amy Wobbema|Sep 18, 2023

    I hear that a lot from people who regularly buy PowerBall tickets, spend hours at the blackjack table and make frequent trips to the casino. My grandfather bet on horses at the racetrack in Fessenden when I was little. There hasn’t been horse racing, except for maybe an Indian Horse Relay, at the Wells County Fairgrounds in decades. My husband and I went to the casino for our anniversary several years ago. We each put $20 in the slot machines. We were both broke in a few minutes, so we headed o...

  • Upside Down Under: N.D. Highway Patrol professionalism...

    Marvin Baker|Sep 18, 2023

    Have you ever been stopped, ticketed or even arrested by the North Dakota Highway Patrol? If so, did you notice there is something different about this law enforcement agency compared to others? It’s simply professionalism. I’m not trying to ding other law enforcement. I have friends in law enforcement, including the Nelson County sheriff, a former Ward County sheriff and a couple of local police officers. They’re good people and they do their jobs well. But NDHP officers are a cut above. And,...

  • Guest: Local news is good for business

    Dean Ridings|Sep 18, 2023

    It's no secret that recent years have been tough on small businesses and on newspapers. A bipartisan bill, the Community News & Small Business Support Act, that has been introduced in Congress would offer relief to both newspapers and local businesses. For too many newspapers, help can't come soon enough. Economic challenges have resulted in too many communities seeing their local newspapers being forced to lay off staff, cut back on publication days or worse yet close. On average, two newspaper...

  • Wild world records

    Amy Wobbema|Sep 11, 2023

    Last week, the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers volleyball team set the world record for highest attendance at a women’s sporting event, EVER. The world was watching as they packed 92,003 people into their stadium. This is a college volleyball team, folks. Forget the WNBA! Yes, those players and coaches love their hometown crowds. New Rockford-Sheyenne and Carrington hosted their respective season home openers for volleyball this past week, and both put on a good show and defeated t...

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