News

​Citing First Amendment violation, United Way is sued by its former president

May 9th, 2019

Patricia Berger, CEO and president of United Way of Grand Forks - photograph provided by Patricia Berger

GRAND FORKS – The United Way of Grand Forks and the organization’s leadership are facing a lawsuit five months after firing long time president and CEO, Patricia Berger.

Filed in the Northeast Central Judicial District by attorney David Thompson on Thursday morning, Berger is suing for wrongful termination and being unlawfully deprived of her salary. Although in February she was willing to settle, she is now seeking a financial amount greater than $50,000, according to court…

Read more...


More preemptive ALEC strikes

May 8th, 2019

Activists leaving the No-DAPL camps on the final day before law enforcement entered - photograph by C.S. Hagen

BISMARCK – Two more preemptive strikes from the North Dakota Legislative body target free speech against corporate oil interests. Although some of the bill’s wording is misleading and vague, focused on terrorism, the meaning could be open to interpretation, representatives said, and is a solution looking for a problem.

Four other preemptive strikes were passed this legislative session and include laws restricting banning plastic bags and reusable straws, gun buyback programs,…

Read more...


Preemptive strikes: bags, guns, zoning, and a living wage

May 1st, 2019

A 38 mm handgun - photograph by C.S. Hagen

BISMARCK – ALEC’s fingerprints are smeared across more than a handful of preemptive state strikes – now laws – from the 2019 Sixty-sixth Legislative Session of North Dakota.

Each bill was designed to eradicate smaller governments’ power, and more than one copied sample proposals from the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, the powerful bill mill backed by the Koch brothers.

ALEC reports that it is the largest membership driven organization of legislators in the…

Read more...


How a few bad apples almost spoiled the bushel

April 24th, 2019

Picking apples - photograph provided by Wild TERRA

FARGO – When apple supplies were low last year, Ethan Hennings called out for help. Hundreds, from Moorhead to Bismarck, answered.

Sweet Honeycrisps and tart Northern Lights came in by the bushel. SnowSweets, Prairie Magics, and deep red Hazens followed Dakota Gold, an early ripening apple great for sauces and pies. Plucked primarily from trees planted in backyards, some tree owners exchanged the fruit for drinking vouchers at Wild TERRA, the city’s only “urban cidery.” Others…

Read more...


It’s about high time

April 17th, 2019

Design by Raul Gomez

After nearly two and a half years since the people of North Dakota voted to pass the Compassionate Care Act into law in the state, medical marijuana is finally available to patients. Only one dispensary is open right now, but seven other cities have been named as future sites of medical marijuana dispensaries, including four which were named last week.

The most recent cities to be added to the list of dispensary sites are Minot, Devils Lake, Jamestown, and Dickinson. They join Grand…

Read more...


​‘Agents of the devil’

April 17th, 2019

Screenshot of Michael Anthony Peroutka speaking at a church in early March - Facebook

On the masthead of the New Song Church’s Facebook page is a picture of the word IDENTITY along with a fingerprint.

A quick search of the word’s meaning leads to the proper definition, also to extremist right wing groups such as one from Portland called Identity, and also to a religious movement to redefine what Christianity means. Religious links pertaining to identity also lead to St. Charles, Missouri and the Staley family, specifically to Jim Staley, who was sentenced to seven…

Read more...


​‘Government is like a steamroller’

April 17th, 2019

Chief Darrell Graf teaching firefighting techniques 2012 - Facebook

Former Medina Police Chief Darrell Graf was 23 years old when Gordon Wendell Kahl and his posse-men killed two and wounded three lawmen along rural Highway 30 outside of Medina. Kahl’s son Yorie was also severely wounded during the shootout, and is currently in prison.

Graf attended Dr. Clarence Martin’s Constitution Party meetings at the Medina clinic before the shootout in 1983, and listened to Kahl’s speeches, finding some truth, including Kahl’s belief that income taxes only…

Read more...


​North Dakota Rep. linked to extremist political group

April 17th, 2019

Congressman Kelly Armstrong during the ND GOP Convention 2018 - photograph by C.S. Hagen

MANDAN, ND – The state’s lone Congressman is an online member of a grassroots group promoting Constitutional interpretations shadowing anti-government movements.

Newly elected Kelly Armstrong, the Republican shoo-in who filled Senator Kevin Cramer’s seat after beating attorney Mac Schneider, a Democrat, in November 2018, is one of the 77 members of the North Dakota Constitutional Grassroots Movement, or CGM.

While the political organization – including another named North Dakota…

Read more...


​‘Does he not consider us real Americans?’

April 17th, 2019

Screenshot of state Senator Oley Larsen's comment on Facebook

BISMARCK – The day a U.S. Congressional House election subcommittee traveled to Standing Rock to hear Native leaders speak about being disenfranchised from voting in North Dakota, a state senator posted to social media saying they should abstain if they don’t like it.

“If they are denouncing our voting then they should obtain [abstain] from voting,” state Senator Oley Larsen, a Republican from Minot wrote on a story published online by KX News. “We do have rules.”

Larsen,…

Read more...


​Vinyl is Back with a Vengeance

April 10th, 2019

Once upon a time in 2007, a group of independent record store owners and employees had a discussion that would help shape the music scene for years to come. They recognized the resurgence of interest in vinyl records and wanted to celebrate the unique culture that was sprouting up right in front of them.

The hipster movements of the early 2000s, the growing obsoleteness of CDs, and the yearning for physical items in the transition to the digital age all contributed to the second coming…

Read more...


Tracker Pixel for Entry 7Clans Tracker Pixel for Entry Aarp Tracker Pixel for Entry Empire Tracker Pixel for Entry Hjemkomst1 Tracker Pixel for Entry Bismarck Tracker Pixel for Entry Seven

Recently in:

By Bryce HaugenNot everyone detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is an undocumented immigrant. After a Jan. 12 scuffle at a local Walmart, Tim Catlett, a resident of St. Cloud, Minn., was held at the Bishop…

By Kooper Shagena Just off of I-94 and Highway 83 on State Street in Bismarck, an abandoned Kmart sits behind an empty parking lot, watching the cars roll on and off the interstate exchange. It has been standing there quietly since…

Saturday, January 31, mingling at 6:15 p.m. and program at 7 p.m.Fine Arts Club, 601 4th St. S., FargoThe FM Symphony is getting intimate by launching a “Small Stages” chamber music series and it's bringing folks together via…

By John Strand If you are reading this editorial and you too are worried sick about the state of our country, keep reading. Maybe we can inspire each other. It was near closing time. We were discussing our values crisis. So this…

By Ed RaymondA mind that snapped, cracked, and popped at one hundredI wasn’t going to read a long column called “Centenarian: A Diary of a Hundredth Year” by Calvin Tomkins celebrating his birthday on December 17 of 2025…

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 GionSince the much-dreaded Covid years, there has been much ebb and flow in the Fargo-Moorhead restaurant scene. In 2025, that trend continued with some major additions and closings. Let’s start the New Year on a positive…

Saturday, January 17, doors at 7:30 p.m.The Aquarium above Dempsey’s, 226 N. Broadway, FargoThe Slow Death is a punk supergroup led by Jesse Thorson, with members and collaborators that include members of The Ergs!, Dillinger…

By Greg Carlson There is a great scene in the middle of Kelly Reichardt’s excellent movie “The Mastermind” when protagonist James Blaine Mooney (Josh O’Connor) is chastised by criminally-connected wheelman Jerry (the…

By Jacinta ZensThe Guerrilla Girls, an internationally renowned anonymous feminist art collective, have been bringing attention to the gender and racial imbalances in contemporary art institutions for the last 40 years. They have…

Saturday, January 31, 6:30-9 p.m.Transfiguration Fitness, 764 34th St. N., Unit P, FargoAn enchanting evening celebrating movement and creativity in a staff-student showcase. This is a family-friendly event showcasing pole, aerial…

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 Ellie Liveranieli.liverani.ra@gmail.com At the beginning of the movie “How the Grinch Stole Christmas," the Grinch is introduced as having a smaller than average heart, but as the movie progresses, his heart increases three…

January 31, 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.Viking Ship Park, 202 1st Ave. N., Moorhead2026 marks 10 years of frosty fun! Enjoy sauna sessions with Log the Sauna, try Snowga (yoga in the snow), take a guided snowshoe nature hike, listen to live…

By Vern Thompson Benjamin Franklin offered one of the most sobering warnings in American history. When asked what kind of government the framers had created in 1787, he replied, “A republic, if you can keep it.” Few words…