News

‘Turn around, don’t drown’

April 6th, 2019

Ice jam against 12th Avenue Bridge crossing into Moorhead, MN - photograph by C.S. Hagen

FARGO – Ice jams along the Red River are slowing snow runoff, keeping Fargo and other areas in North Dakota on the list for possible flooding. At 8:15 Saturday morning, the Red River rose another three feet since Friday cresting at 33.1 feet.

Major flood stage is 30 feet, the National Weather Service reported.

“Still expecting Red River at Fargo to crest at 35 feet around early Monday,” the National Weather Service reported. “The presence of ice in area river channels is slowing…

A look over time at the affordability squeeze of downtown’s development

April 3rd, 2019

Design by Raul Gomez

By Meg Luther Lindholm
meglutherlindholm@gmail.com

It’s no secret to anyone who has lived or worked in downtown Fargo for a long time that the area has changed dramatically – and not always for the better.

There’s no question that downtown badly needed a facelift which it has now with new shops, restaurants, bars, and businesses aligned on and around Broadway. Many recent graduates of the area’s colleges now choose to stay rather than leave, working at startup companies and taking…

‘We are under pressure’

March 26th, 2019

Student lifting 30-pound sandbags to help fight Fargo's Spring Flood 2019 - photograph by C.S. Hagen

FARGO – Round one of Fargo’s Spring Flood 2019 fight went to the volunteers, many of whom were middle school students. Helped by two large sand-dispensing “spiders” – a tactic used during the 2009 flood to speed up production – mostly eighth graders produced more than 15,000 sandbags Tuesday morning.

Rock music mixed with dust, the heavy droning roar of conveyor belts, forklifts, and backhoes added a sense of excitement to Fargo Sandbag Central on the first day of the…

‘Fridguary’ and spring rains major concerns as Fargo readies for Spring Flood 2019

March 25th, 2019

Fargo Mayor Tim Mahoney and Cass County Commissioner Mary Scherling at flood press conference - City of Fargo stream screenshot

FARGO – Weeks after a mayoral proclamation announcing February as “Fridguary,” Mayor Tim Mahoney traveled 50 miles south over the weekend, and was amazed at the amount of snow waiting to melt.

“The people no longer say North Dakota is flat, thanks to the Fargo snow mountains,” Mahoney said in the comedic proclamation declaring February as Fridguary.

Although Mahoney's proclamation was comedic, the possible flood situation in the Red River Valley and beyond is not, officials…

City wants you to help prevent flood

March 21st, 2019

Sandbag production shifts - City of Fargo

FARGO – The city is requesting help from the public to produce one million sandbags in preparation for the 2019 Spring Flood. There remains a 10 percent chance waters will rise up to 40.3 feet, higher than the flood of 2009.

Two hundred volunteers are need at all times to work in shifts every weekday next week starting on Tuesday, March 26 at 7 a.m. at Fargo Sandbag Central, 2301 Eighth Avenue North.

The City of Fargo does not anticipate volunteers will be needed on the weekends at…

Expecting suicides

March 20th, 2019

BISMARCK – Jessie Quinn and J.S. may soon have two choices: relocate, buy black-market opioids, or commit suicide, and Quinn’s options are even more limited.

At 65 years old and after 25 years battling degenerate spinal issues, Quinn can’t walk that far.

Both Quinn and J.S. – who requested using his initials as he is afraid of retaliation from the medical community – go to Sanford Health for pain relief. They’ve both exhausted all avenues for help and say opioids are the…

Better watch your ax!

March 20th, 2019

Triple Ax Lanes - photograph by Ryan Janke

Marcel Baumgartner and her boyfriend, Erik Kalberg, took an anniversary trip to Minneapolis in November and came back with a crazy idea – to open Fargo’s first ax-throwing range. Four months later, they opened Triple Ax in south Fargo.

“We kind of did [ax-throwing] as an anniversary thing and we fell in love,” Baumgartner said.

She said that after they finished throwing, they suggested to the owners of the range that they should open a range in Fargo. That approach didn’t seem…

City preparing for historic ‘unmerciful’ flood

March 16th, 2019

Flooding in the Fargo-Moorhead area - photograph provided by F-M Area Diversion

FARGO – The National Weather Service has predicted widespread flooding from the Great Lakes to Devils Lake to the Red River of the North River Basin, saying the risk is elevated because of packed snow, deep frost, and above-normal ice thickness.

“March has been and will likely stay unmerciful,” the National Weather Service reported.

“There is an elevated risk of spring flooding along the Red River mainstem, current soil moisture is near normal with winter precipitation well…

Un-masked

March 13th, 2019

Design by Raul Gomez

FARGO – The “Alt-right” may be attempting to reform its public image after the deadly 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, but leaked chat logs from white power group servers on Discord reveal they’re just as fanatic, and some elected North Dakota politicians sympathize or are secret supporters of neo-Nazi and white supremacist ideology.

Media outlet Unicorn Riot released more than 770,000 messages from chat servers associated with Identity Evropa last week,…

Momo: ‘There is a syndrome under my bed’

March 13th, 2019

A teenager scrolling through Momo Challenge apps on WhatsApp - photograph by C.S. Hagen

FARGO – Early morning, March 5, A.H. awoke complaining she hadn’t slept well. Usually, she slept soundly, only bright lights and loud, terrible singing worked to wake her up for middle school.

“Why didn’t you sleep well?” A.H.’s father said.

“Because I was thinking of Momo,” A.H. said. “I’m not scared of her during the day, but at night I imagine she’s under my bed.”

“That’s the first sign Momo has got you in her targets,” A.H.’s father said. He liked to…