December 19th, 2023
Our opinion: Make your mark and consider volunteering.
By Sabrina Hornung
Last September, the Fargo Forum reported that the Kilbourne Group, along with Fargo’s finest elected officials, met with the Salvation Army behind closed doors to propose they leave their downtown home on Roberts Street. They have called that space home since 1904.
According to that article, Mayor Mahoney says there are no solid plans to move the facility but they have shopped around for a potential…
November 13th, 2023
By Sabrina Hornung
sabrina@hpr1.com
Remember the legacy of the NPL.
Last Saturday I had the opportunity to attend the annual meeting and dinner hosted by the Dakota Resource Council in Bismarck. I came in feeling a little defeated, jaded with not only regional politics, but national politics and pretty much anything in between.
Michael Lansing, historian, academic and author of “Insurgent Democracy: The Nonpartisan League in North American Politics,” gave us a really effective lecture…
October 16th, 2023
By Birgit Pruess
birgit.pruess@gmail.com
Guest editorial: If you are a taxpayer, these are your horses.
If you are one of many fans of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park (TRNP) horses, here is an update on the current situation. TRNP has released 94 pages of environmental assessment on September 25, which is now followed by a month of comment collection. You can see both the assessment document and the…
September 19th, 2023
By John Strand
Our Opinion: Thank you, Reader readers, for 29 fulfilling years
Chugging along, The Little Newspaper That Could commences its 30th volume and year with this issue. Simply getting here speaks volumes. Just imagine the words, the bylines, the opinion pieces, the heart that has been part of the High Plains Reader’s nearly three-decade storied journey.
At the risk of sounding like a relic – spanning a couple generations can do that – HPR has always tried to be…
August 14th, 2023
By Sabrina Hornung
sabrina@hpr1.com
Our opinion: Governor Burgum, you’re embarrassing us.
As Jason Aldean’s song “Try That in a Small Town” soars to number one on the billboard charts here in the Divided States of America, has it managed to become a right-wing anthem in this ever abysmal culture war?
The lyrics themselves aren’t the most controversial part of this pop cultural talking point. The song came out months ago but didn’t get people talking until the music video…
July 16th, 2023
By Janessa Jaye Champagne (Chris M. Stoner)
Photo by Studio 208
Guest editorial: The homophobes and transphobes forget that queer folk have been through this before.
I’m not going to lie. Celebrating Pride this year felt…different.
Obviously, last year was difficult, what with the death threats and the doxing and constant online harassment from a small group of religious fundamentalists organizing through a Facebook group.
There was less of that this year as the…
June 11th, 2023
By John Strand & Thomas Bixby
jas@hpr1.com
Our Opinion: No way to delay, trouble comin’ every day.
Whatever happened to dignity, empathy, and so much that goes into our hard-won civilization. How did we get here and where are we going?
These United States are on the brink of collapse, each in its own way. The divisiveness is so prevalent that about the only consensus is a sense of noncohesion.
The polarization of otherwise ordinary people is palpable, borderline dangerous. Except now more…
May 16th, 2023
By Sabrina Hornung
Our opinion: Keep your chins up, class of 2023
As the school year draws to a close, this seems to be the time of year when most editors offer up their best advice to the most recent graduating classes, so here are a few words of wisdom from one of the last people who should be doling out advice.
I’d like to direct these words of wisdom and encouragement to those who are having a tough time. To those who lacked encouragement, who didn’t get endless…
April 17th, 2023
By Faye Seidler
The Theme of the 2023 ND Legislative Session
In the North Dakota 2021 Special Session, Representative Bill Tviet introduced House Bill 1514, otherwise known as the Ivermectin Bill.In testimony he describes the helplessness he felt in a hospital while his wife was struggling with Covid and painted a picture of the need for medical autonomy to try what he personally felt was effective. He demanded the government overrule medical bodies and allow…
April 5th, 2023
By Faye Seidler
Guest editorial: If I can help you, I will do it. Even if you’re a legislator hurting people I care about.
Being a Republican has never been more unappealing to me than watching this 2023 legislative session unfold. We’re censoring books, taking medical autonomy away from parents, banning vaccinations, and otherwise legislating morality at a cost to small and large businesses.
A smaller state government has never seemed like a better idea and…