News

Through hell and back again

July 31st, 2019

Design by Raul Gomez

WALCOTT – When Gerda Jordheim was eight years old Adolf Hitler rode into town as the conquering hero in a military parade. She still remembers the Nazi salutes and hears the ‘Heil Hitlers’ her grandmother warned her against in her dreams. When she was 13, more than 69 Russian soldiers crazed by war raped her. Today, 80 years later, she is a survivor of brutal fascism, and fears for the country to which she immigrated.

“I just wonder why they want to do it now in this country?”…

Read more...


​Personal Essay: Why ‘Go back to where you came from’ is nothing new

July 24th, 2019

Design by Raul Gomez

By Amidu Jusu
amidujusu@live.com

I remember dreading walking to and from school in the hot summer sun back in Phoenix, AZ in 2005. Back then people threw their empty bottles and trash at us in the streets shouting: "Go back to your country."

And this was at the slightest hint that you were a new American. That’s all it took. It happened on multiple occasions.

Amidu JusuOne day during my walk an empty bottle hit me in the back, just a few inches from my head. Shocked, I turned around and saw a…

Read more...


​Man and the moon

July 17th, 2019

Photograph by C.S. Hagen, design by Raul Gomez

VALLEY CITY – Lowell Busching shuffled into The Vault, pointed to the staff-less counter featuring self-serve sandwiches, Kuchen, and coffee before launching into a history of the building, once a bank. Books and magazines are piled in shelves and along walls in an honor system: take one, but leave a buck.

At 83, his fingers are bent, his shoulders sloop, but his mind is as sharp as the day he helped land astronauts on the moon July 20, 1969, his birthday 50 years ago. Raised and…

Read more...


… And justice for some

July 10th, 2019

Design by Raul Gomez

WEST FARGO – March 2018 was an unusually cold and violent month for Fargo. Two standoffs – one of which ended in the death of Justin Dietrich – came days before police responded to Lance Belgarde’s former Horace home, a house he built with his own hands during his approximate 20-year marriage to Kimberly Belgarde.

February had fared little better across the valley. Across the frozen Red River a Minnesota State Patrol trooper shot Melody Gray after she attacked. A Clay County…

Read more...


​Blue Cross Blue Shield fined by state Insurance Department

July 9th, 2019

Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota building - photograph by C.S. Hagen

FARGO – A yearlong conduct investigation by the North Dakota Insurance Department into Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota resulted with a fine of $125,000 for the insurance company.

The North Dakota Insurance Department looked into Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota’s company operations, insurance fraud reporting, violations on policy form filing laws, failing to process coordination of benefits claims correctly, corporate governance, complaints, mental and behavioral health…

Read more...


‘No More Deaths’

July 2nd, 2019

 Protesting concentration camps along southern border - photograph by Melissa Gonzalez

By Melissa Gonzalez
gonzalezme.mmj@gmail.com 

FARGO - Tired of headlines broadcasting inhumane conditions in the “concentration camps” along the southern border, angry that state leaders have done little to voice opposition, nearly a dozen people gathered in front of Senator John Hoeven’s office to make their voices heard.

Two days before Independence Day, nine people - including Representative Ruth Buffalo - displayed protest signs and handed out flyers with photographs of children…

Read more...


​Native adoption scammer released to the Centre, Inc.

July 1st, 2019

The Centre Inc. - photograph by C.S. Hagen

FARGO – Six months after receiving a more than four-year sentence, Betty Jo Krenz was released to a minimum-security rehabilitation center.

Krenz, 48, of Woodworth, pleaded guilty in January under the Alford plea, which means she acknowledged there was enough evidence to be convicted, but refused to admit to felony theft of property involving faking adoptions of Native children.

Krenz was released to the Centre in Fargo, or Centre, Inc., according to the North Dakota Department of…

Read more...


‘Be Fierce’

June 26th, 2019

Wet plate photograph by Shane Balkowitsch, design by Raul Gomez

BISMARCK– In 2016, Debra Haaland cooked green chili and tortillas at the Standing Rock Sioux camps pitched against the Dakota Access Pipeline. Bringing food was her traditional way of contributing to the fight against the $3.8 billion pipeline.

She stayed in the camps for four days that September, but the environmental cause she came to support has resounded not only within her, but around the world.

“I first saw it on Facebook, but more and more people were coming out here from New…

Read more...


​Fargo Officials, Community Members Mull Over Safety of Downtown

June 26th, 2019

Fargo Police cordon area near downtown after shooting in 2018 - photograph by C.S. Hagen

By Melissa Gonzalez
melissam.gonzalez@outlook.com

In the early morning hours of Friday, June 7, Kareem Lee Byrd, 19, and Charles Edward Harris III, 30, allegedly fatally shot Jason “Hollywood” Halvorson at 601 4th St. N, close to his Texas BBQ food truck.

The homicide shocked the downtown district of Fargo. Conversations across social media and news outlets demonstrated peoples’ fear of rising crime in the city that’s coinciding with the growth its experiencing.

According to the…

Read more...


​Fight or Flight: King House will remain open

June 21st, 2019

King House Buffet and Kilbourne Group's Block 9 construction in background - photograph by C.S. Hagen

FARGO – The first time Cindy Chen saw snowflakes she fell in love, not only with Fargo – the city – but soon afterwards with her husband, Bojin Chen.

Never in her wildest dreams did she think she’d one day be part owner of King House Buffet, a downtown icon that has changed little in more than 20 years. She’s kept the ambiance and the recipes alive and the same as when she ate there as a customer years ago while studying for her accounting degrees at North Dakota State…

Read more...


Tracker Pixel for Entry MidwestRoadTripAdventures Tracker Pixel for Entry Blackbird Tracker Pixel for Entry EmpireAUG2021 Tracker Pixel for Entry Bismarck1 Tracker Pixel for Entry NewSalem2C Tracker Pixel for Entry Gruff2

Recently in:

By Alicia Underlee NelsonCitizens will rally in support of democracy and civil libraries in Minot on April 19 from 3-5 p.m. The event will begin at Minot City Hall (10 3rd Ave. S.W.) and participants will walk toward Broadway.…

By Prairie Rose Seminolems.prairierose@gmail.com I was a child who walked behind my parents into classrooms and kitchens, spaces of song and prayer, where teachings lived in the air and settled on my shoulders. I didn’t yet have…

Tuesday, April 22, 4 p.m.Junkyard Brewing Company, 1416 1st Ave. N., MoorheadWho here wants to taste a new beer? Try Money Honey, a peanut butter, banana and honey lager. $1 of every pint sold will be donated to the Pollinator…

By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.com I feel like reading a newspaper is the equivalent of listening to music on vinyl. Not only is it analog, it’s an experience. I might be a little biased, but there's something about the rustling…

By Ed Raymondfargogadly@gmail.comThe wizards and kleagles in whites now wear blue suits and red tiesA hundred years ago, more than 30,000 members of the Ku Klux Klan from virtually every state in the Union wearing their white…

By Rick Gionrickgion@gmail.com Holiday wine shopping shouldn’t have to be complicated. But unfortunately it can cause unneeded anxiety due to an overabundance of choices. Don’t fret my friends, we once again have you covered…

By Rick Gionrickgion@gmail.com After a very inspiring conversation with Kayla Houchin of Sonder Bakehouse a few weeks ago, I decided that it’s an appropriate time to write a column about some of the sweet people who are involved…

Mooncats and Pert Near Sandstone play Empire TheatreBy Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.comThe MoonCats describe themselves as “Americonscious Campfire Folk.” They have a clear acoustic folk sound with a sense of whimsy — think…

By Greg Carlsongregcarlson1@gmail.com Given the volume of existing media material on the topic, longtime admirers of legendary documentarian Errol Morris might wonder why he would elect to become the umpteenth person to cover the…

By Raul Gomez Modern Man was a gentle soul. If you were down or just wanted a friend, he’d be there for you. I remember the first day I met Modern Man. It was Jeremiah Fuglseth and me. He wanted to write about this legendary…

By John Showalterjohn.d.showalter@gmail.comHigh Plains Reader had the opportunity to interview two mysterious new game show hosts named Milt and Bradley Barker about an upcoming event they will be putting on at Brewhalla. What…

By Annie Prafckeannieprafcke@gmail.com AUSTIN, Texas – As a Chinese-American, connecting to my culture through food is essential, and no dish brings me back to my mother’s kitchen quite like hotdish. Yes, you heard me right –…

By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.comNew Jamestown Brewery Serves up Local FlavorThere’s something delicious brewing out here on the prairie and it just so happens to be the newest brewery west of the Red River and east of the…

By Josette Ciceronunapologeticallyanxiousme@gmail.com What does it mean to truly live in a community —or should I say, among community? It’s a question I have been wrestling with since I moved to Fargo-Moorhead in February 2022.…

By Alicia Underlee NelsonProtests against President Trump’s policies and the cuts made by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are planned across North Dakota and western Minnesota Friday, April 4 and…

By Faye Seidlerfayeseidler@gmail.com In 2023, the Superintendent of Fargo Public Schools, Rupak Ghandi, gave a passionate plea to the Fargo School Board to follow federal law, because a recently passed state law would increase…