News

​‘Much Ado About Nothing’

June 16th, 2017

By C.S. Hagen

cshagen@hpr1.com

DETROIT LAKES - The Detroit Lakes Shakespeare in the Park volunteer group was targeted this week with hateful criticism shortly after New York City began performing its contemporary version of “Julius Caesar.”

In a week filled with partisan violence, which left five injured and the shooter killed during a Republican baseball practice at Simpson Field, Alexandria, Virginia, the online targeting left organizers of the 2017 Shakespearean comedy, “Much Ado…

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The police blotter

June 14th, 2017

Police officer Jeremiah Ferris - photo provided by the Fargo Police Department

Fargo Police K9 officer arrested in Moorhead

Early Tuesday morning, Fargo Police K9 Officer Jeremiah Wayne Ferris was arrested on domestic assault charges, according to Fargo Police Chief David Todd.

“I cannot comment on any specifics of the case,” Todd said. “The community trusts its police department to hold itself to a high standard in protecting and serving our citizens. I apologize to our community for this incident and feel like we have let you down. Please trust me when I…

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​‘The Lucky Ones’

June 14th, 2017

Three young boys sitting under a Nippi tree - photo by Amal Dei

One woman’s journey from war-torn South Sudan and back again -- all to fulfill her dream of setting up a library

FARGO - Twenty-two years after Amal Dei escaped South Sudan’s civil wars, she returned loaded with donated backpacks, children’s books, T-shirts, and pencils. She knew what she wanted; as a child she never had the opportunity to learn to read.

She returned to the Gambela Region, across the Nile River in Ethiopia where hundreds of thousands of South Sudanese fled decades…

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​Breast milk donations

June 14th, 2017

A one-day old infant lies in her mother’s arms at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at St. Mary’s Children’s hospital in Duluth, Minn. The mother, still recovering from an emergency C-section, feeds the child a bottle.

However, the infant is not drinking her mother’s breast milk from the bottle. Nor is she drinking formula. The infant is drinking the breast milk of a stranger.

Jaclyn Haak, a lactation consultant at Sanford Health, said in her experience, donated breast milk…

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Former DAPL Security Speaks Out, Damning TigerSwan Tactics

June 8th, 2017

By C.S. Hagen
CANNON BALL
- Speaking from a nondescript hotel room, a former DAPL security employee revealed secret agendas, illegal activities, and widespread drug use among private security employees hired by Energy Transfer Partners to protect the company’s interests along to the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota.

Describing an agenda that included setting company vehicles on fire, stealing equipment, and intentionally riling up protesters, Kourtni Dockter, 22, of Bismarck,…

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​North Dakota will not join U.S. Climate Alliance

June 7th, 2017

BISMARCK - North Dakota will not be joining the U.S. Climate Alliance, even though the state’s neighbor, Minnesota, joined on Monday.

So far, the states of Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Minnesota, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, have joined the growing movement to stand by the United State’s commitment to the Paris Climate Accord signed under President Obama’s Administration.

"The governor does not plan to join the…

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TigerSwan and Government Twist Narrative Over Dakota Access Pipeline

June 6th, 2017

By C.S. Hagen
cshagen@hpr1.com

CANNON BALL - As at Wounded Knee in 1973, the Federal Bureau of Investigation used informants to infiltrate the anti-Dakota Access Pipeline camps, according to government emails leaked to media outlet The Intercept.

The claim was widely believed true by activists in the Standing Rock camps against the Dakota Access Pipeline, but was never proven until now. Law enforcement from five different states, the North Dakota National Guard, the National Sheriff’s…

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​Fall From Grace

June 5th, 2017

Pastor Grace Murray, formerly of Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ, after she was fired - photo by C.S. Hagen

Local pastor claims racism and church infighting behind her sudden dismissal
UPDATE: Protesters picket church Wednesday evening - at end of story

FARGO - For years, Pastor Grace Murray opened the doors of Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ to New Americans and the LGBT community, and then she was fired.

Despite a massive banner hanging outside the 90-year-old structure at 901 Broadway, declaring “We leave judging to God,” Murray and church members said the church council…

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​Standing Rock Leaders Acquitted

May 31st, 2017

By C.S. Hagen
MANDAN - Standing Rock Sioux Chairman Dave Archambault II and Councilman Dana Yellow Fat were found not guilty Wednesday in a jury trial on charges of disorderly conduct.

Dave Archambault at police line August 2016The charges stemmed from an August 12, 2016 incident near the Cannonball Ranch, where Archambault was filmed pushing his way through a police line, and Yellow Fat grabbed a police officer’s arm. The video was definitive proof of guilt to many critics, but not to Bismarck attorney Erica Shively, of…

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​TigerSwan Counterterrorism Tactics Used to Defeat Dakota Access Pipeline “Insurgencies”

May 30th, 2017

CANNONBALL - Documents leaked to media outlet The Intercept showed private security firm TigerSwan worked closely with law enforcement from five different states, and used military-style counterterrorism measures against the movement opposed to the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Eviction Day at the camps outside of Standing Rock - photo by C.S. HagenActivists were identified, then tracked by name through sightings, Tweets, and Facebook posts. Protest sites were allocated numbers, and detailed accounts of day-by-day actions were monitored and reported to Energy…

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