Editorial

A Fargo problem, a Moorhead problem, a West Fargo problem, a North Dakota and a Minnesota problem

April 7th, 2016

The tragedy of heroin use and overdoses is landing at our feet and our community and state are unprepared. Lives are in the balance.

While most compassionate people are surprised by this happening here, they also are grasping for understanding and for ways to help.

Make no mistake, this is a Fargo problem, a Moorhead problem, a West Fargo problem, a North Dakota and a Minnesota problem.

A too-common sentiment is, “Well, shouldn’t people take responsibility for their own…

Fargo Moorhead lend us your lobes…

March 30th, 2016

It’s about that time when we ask our readers to call the shots. The Best of the Best is coming around the corner and we at the High Plains Readers want you to tell us the best bands, the top artists, the best eats, drinks, and everything in between.

On another note-- what are we missing? What would you the readers like to see in the Best of the Best? Are there music categories that we are missing? Are there sub genres of art, craft, and theater that are non-existent? Should we involve…

A little more conversation

March 30th, 2016

I’ve been spending a considerable amount of time in nursing homes lately. One for my grandmother’s two week rehab after a broken hip and also participating in the North Dakota Council on the Arts Art for life program, which we’ll elaborate on later. This experience has opened my eyes for the better.

Yes, there are negative connotations as far as nursing homes go, such as over medicating, theft, elder abuse etc, but not every nursing home or every experience in a nursing home is…

A Clarion Call to Action

March 16th, 2016

HPR’s cover this week depicts three flags flying half mast. The flagpoles are syringes, such as those used to inject heroin.

Our community has been rocked. Three men died in seven days due to heroin overdoses. There have been other near misses. Law enforcement officials notified the public Sunday that heroin arriving recently in Fargo-Moorhead and the region may be tainted and or laced with fentanyl.

This situation is not only urgent, but tragic beyond words.

We have family members,…

Our Opinion / How about 53 gubernatorial debates?

March 9th, 2016

The Boom That Went Bust

Many state residents watched the North Dakota Republican Gubernatorial debate last week with Wayne Stenehjem, Rick Becker and Doug Burgum at the podiums. It was insightful and intriguing.

The predominant focus on declining oil revenues tells us a lot. Listening to the questions posed, one after another, a listener might think that oil is the only industry in the state.

But it’s not. North Dakota first and foremost is an agricultural state and a breadbasket of the…

Bathroom issues across the nation

March 2nd, 2016

Gender and sexuality have always been a hot button issue.. wait, let’s rephrase that. Sexuality has always been a hot button issue and a hot topic in gossip and conversation, but gender has been generating a lot of buzz in mainstream conversation as of late, thanks to Caitlyn Jenner.

The two do tend go hand in hand. Sure, one can assume that we’ve all been assigned a biological gender. Nurseries have been color coded for generations, but what happens when society no longer fits in a…

Our Opinion/The land and the people hold memories..

February 25th, 2016

There are multiple photographers throughout the state who have taken it upon themselves to explore the roads less travelled in hopes of documenting and exploring not only the landscape but small towns on the brink of disappearing from both our sight and our memory.

It’s hard to imagine that less than 100 years ago a town could be booming, with multiple banks, opera houses, blacksmith shops, schools, etc., but now all that’s left of these communities are crumbling structures and…

Our Opinion / Unenlightened leadership, destructive practices, bankrupt morals

February 17th, 2016

Countering America’s Imminent Demise

Ordinary Americans cannot continue to be blind to the unsettling reality that our elected congressional leaders are too often self-serving, pitifully inept, condescending con-artists, and not in the slightest focused on any of us or the greater public good.

Granted, this sentiment is bubbling up at the present moment due to the idiocy in our nation’s capitol after the death of a U.S. Supreme Court justice.

The Constitution spells out…

Would North Dakota rather poison the well or sip from it?

February 10th, 2016

Something Fishy is Going on

By the time this is published a renovation will have taken place -- and we are not talking about the renovation occurring at the High Plains Reader office that has left your editor squatting at John Strand’s desk for the past week.

According to the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, a “chemical renovation” is taking place at the Raleigh Reservoir in Grant County, which is located in southwestern North Dakota. This “renovation” is intended to…

ND’s “Legendary” Black Eye

February 3rd, 2016

HPR joins the Andrew Sadek family in demanding elimination of laws allowing college students to be used as undercover informants

A hot topic in North Dakota in recent months has revolved around the desire to statutorily limit the use of college students as confidential undercover informants. This change is supported by the parents of Andrew Sadek, the college student at North Dakota State School of Science in Wahpeton who was strong-armed into becoming an informant after allegedly…