Editorial

Our Opinion/Changes coming for the 2015 Cocktail Showdown

October 7th, 2015

Annual battle for best local bartender & craft cocktail begins this week

It’s that time of the year again, the 2015 High Plains Reader Cocktail Showdown is upon us where local bartenders and mixologists get to showcase their talents and present a craft cocktail for the staff of HPR to judge. This week, your humble judges will begin their efforts to taste and decide who is the best local bartender and what is the best drink.

The art of mixology has blown up in recent years with…

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Our Opinion/New benches miss the mark

October 1st, 2015

Downtown Fargo should be open to everyone

Why have benches downtown if they are uncomfortable to sit on? Doesn’t that defeat the purpose? Recently the city of Fargo at the request of the Downtown Community Partnership installed new benches downtown without backs in order to deter transients from loitering on them. Apparently businesses are concerned about the number of homeless people downtown. The problem in downtown Fargo is not homeless people but rather intoxicated individuals. …

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Our Opinion/ Columbus’ arrival in 1492 resulted in the genocide of Indigenous Peoples

September 24th, 2015

The Fargo Native American Commission is asking that Fargo change the name of Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day.

The resolution voted upon unanimously by the Native American Commission Monday night goes before the Fargo City Commission Monday, Oct. 12 -- Columbus Day. We strongly encourage the adoption of this resolution.

And, for the sake of disclosure, this writer is one of nine on the Native American Commission and helped author the resolution.

The remainder of HPR’s editorial…

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#feelthebern is real

September 16th, 2015

Excitement over Sanders nothing to blow off

The excitement and energy emanating from the Bernie Sanders presidential run is spreading to the Fargo-Moorhead area. It’s easy to see why, he is an unconventional candidate speaking the truth in a time of tremendous skepticism about politicians who have said one thing to get elected and done something else after. Young people, college students and other citizens not normally drawn to campaigns or politics are constantly talking about Bernie…

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Happy 21st Birthday, HPR

September 9th, 2015

The little newspaper that could turns 21 with this edition of HPR. We are proud as all get out and hope you bear with us as we reminisce and acknowledge.

The High Plains Reader no doubt has had a storied past. Good and bad. It’s never been easy, but whoever said building a business from scratch is easy? We’ve had our moments where we hit the ball out of the park and others where we fell flat on our face. Mostly, though, we went through the motions, the ups and the downs, and we grew…

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​Our Opinion / Family values candidate bets family on political future

September 3rd, 2015


Two weeks in a row we’re reading about the unfolding race for governor in North Dakota. Little did we know when we mentioned Drew Wrigley as perceived heir apparent to the post, that in a matter of days his political world would be rocked big time.

Among most political pundits and even rank-and-file Republicans, it was a foregone conclusion that Lt. Gov. Wrigley would seek and likely get the party nod to replace Gov. Jack Dalrymple. That assumption can now safely be considered a…

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On your mark

August 26th, 2015

Our Opinion / What kind of North Dakota we envision will bear out in who we choose to be governor

HPR leans left. That’s no secret. We like many aspects of what people call progressive movements. Yet, we also advocate for fiscal prudence.

That said, it will not come as a surprise that we are eagerly anticipating the forthcoming race for governor in North Dakota. No doubt, Gov. Jack Dalrymple’s announcement this week that he will not seek reelection in 2016 has fueled immense…

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​The education of a wandering girl

August 19th, 2015

Dig into Pockets of culture

By Sabrina Hornung

At the beginning of the year I relocated to my hometown. I’m not gonna lie -- I felt pretty down and out, betrayed, heartbroken and downright disgusted. Everything I owned was hastily stored in my mom’s garage in no particular order. I found myself in Jamestown contemplating my life choices. Living out of a few boxes in my grandparents’ house and sharing my childhood bedroom with my two cats, “Lion King” sheets and twin-size canopy…

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​Refugees coming to Fargo results in media misinformation

August 13th, 2015

More responsible reporting, less racist social media comments please

The recent uproar over 100 refugees coming to Fargo in a resettlement program administered by Lutheran Social Services was indicative of how the media can twist things and stir people into a frenzy using misinformation and race baiting. When a legal immigration program is fused with images of illegal immigrants crossing the border and the origin of where those are coming from are constantly mentioned, you have to wonder…

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Love always makes a difference

August 6th, 2015

Diane Miller speaking at TEDxFargo / Photo by Dan Francis

A million times thank you to the Fargo-Moorhead community

Throughout my three and a half years of being a leader in local media, I’ve gone from thinking “I’m HPR’s best editor ever” to thinking “How on all crevices of the earth would anyone have ever considered me to be an editor?” I didn’t even know how to spell the word spelled. I thought it was spelt.

I could go on. Growing up, I was a fabulous gym-class student but just an OK English student. I had no journalism…

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