November 18th, 2025
By Vern Thompson
Personal background and historical perspective
My deep concern about tariffs stems from my background as a fourth generation North Dakota farmer. Having lived through the 1980s farm crisis as a young farmer, I witnessed firsthand the challenges that devastated rural America. During that period, we endured a grain embargo against the Soviet Union, interest rates of 19.25% on operating loans and the worst drought since the 1930s. The combination…
September 23rd, 2025
By Vern Thompson
Moral accountability and the crisis of leadership
As a recovering person living one day at a time for the last 35 years, I have learned not to judge others because I have not walked in their shoes. I believe in a higher power and hold myself to a set of morals, yet I fail at something every day. Despite those failures, I strive for progress, not perfection. It is this journey of humility and honesty that shapes my view of leadership today.…
June 19th, 2025
By Vern Thompson
Working in the Bakken oil fields of the Williston Basin is so different from my home in Fargo. I'm not judging, because the people working and living in western North Dakota are very hard workers. Work in the oil fields isn't for everyone. It involves long hours away from home and family for long periods, affecting thousands of people.
The mindset and philosophy are much different in the Bakken than those of my friends back home. Don't get…
June 19th, 2025
By Jim Fuglie
I’ll never get used to spending the night in a motel room in Hettinger, North Dakota. After all, it’s my hometown. For more than 40 years there was a “Fuglie House” in Hettinger, including one with a barn.
That was the “Johns House,” named for a pioneer doctor who had built it and later, after he had retired and moved away, rented it to my father. It’s still there.
The doctor had bought a big chunk of a block across from the court house…
April 27th, 2025
By Vern Thompson
Our trucking business has me driving almost daily from gas plants in western North Dakota's oil patch to Canada. I haul natural gas liquids (NGLs) products we used to see flared off at oil well sites. You remember seeing the satellite images that looked like candles on a birthday cake? Images lit up brighter than a city.
In my travels, I talk with and listen to workers from different areas of the United States and Canada. In both western…
April 17th, 2025
By Faye Seidler
In 2023, the Superintendent of Fargo Public Schools, Rupak Ghandi, gave a passionate plea to the Fargo School Board to follow federal law, because a recently passed state law would increase trans youth suicide. He spoke about being a survivor of the suicide loss of a trans child. And said that when there is a conflict between state and federal law, they would have to do what is best for kids.
In 2025, House Bill 1144 was created in response to that…
February 28th, 2025
By Gilbert Kuipers
I live in North Dakota District 24 and have been challenging the district Republicans about their understanding of climate science for years. There has been no serious response to my letters to the editor in the Valley City Times Record, Bismarck Tribune, and Fargo Forum. In 2022, I spent about $1,000 on Valley City ads, trying unsuccessfully to get a serious response. It would be nice to have a meaningful discussion to understand what they…
February 21st, 2025
By Winona LaDuke
Some days I just sit out by Bad Medicine Lake in the no internet zone. (Well at least last time I checked, there were no bars on those roads towards Rice Lake in the back country.) That’s remarkable; no bars, a free zone. In this day and age, we sit at our keyboards, day in and day out…and yet some places have no internet and they survive.
A long time ago, we Anishinaabe came from the Sky world. That’s to say that the first woman came down…
January 17th, 2025
By Jim Fuglie
A friend of mine, a well-known Bismarck liberal (I have a few of those), came up to me after church the other day and asked, “So, are you moving out of the country?”
I knew he was referring to the future of America, in light of November’s presidential election. It’s kind of been a half-joking theme among those of us who aren’t happy with the outcome of that election.
I said that I was taking deep breaths and staying put, but that my wife had…
December 2nd, 2024
By Curtis W. Stofferahn, Ph.D.
Curtis.stofferahn@email.und.edu
In June, two events markedly contrasted the difference between two different visions of agriculture: precision agriculture and regenerative agriculture. The dedication of the Grand Farm Innovation Shop and Midwest Ag Summit Panel presented the precision agriculture side of the contrast, while the Barnes County Historical Society's and Dakota Resource Council’s sponsorship of John Ikerd’s presentation “50 Years That…
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By Bryce Vincent HaugenFor the first nine months, the dysfunction of the Trump administration and Congress was a four-time-zone-away abstraction for a Moorhead native living in Alaska’s interior. But it became all too real when…
By Michael M. Millermichael.miller@ndsu.edu I would like to recognize some of the scholarly Germans from Russia from Canada and USA shared on the GRHC website. There are additional names not included here. If you have suggestions…
December 17-21, 7:30 p.m. and 2 p.m. matinees on Saturday and SundayThe Fargo Theatre, 314 N. Broadway, FargoCould this be the end of an era? After 26 years of doing the Holiday Soul Tour and 35 years together as a band, The…
By Sabrina Hornungsabina@hpr1.com I scroll through comment threads on the news stories in my social media feed and come across the retort, “You voted for this.” Sure the vote’s in…but when someone’s livelihood is at stake,…
By Ed Raymondfargogadfly@gmail.comDemocrats have MAGA, MAHA, MAWF, and Trumplicans to fight My favorite analyst of things religious and political is Finton O’Toole who uses plain English, curses, temper, and knowledge to make a…
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 Mandy Dolneymandy@ksbsyndicate.com This cake will be on the menu at Nova Eatery through Thanksgiving served with maple crème anglaise Ice cream. It uses pumpkin pie pumpkins grown locally at Ladybug Acres and local apples grown…
By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.com Dakotah Faye is a hip-hop artist from Minot, North Dakota, and he’s had a busy year. He’s released two albums. This summer he opened for Tech N9ne in Sturgis and will be opening for Bone…
By Greg Carlsongregcarlson1@gmail.com Japanese director Hikari, born in Osaka and originally named Mitsuyo Miyazaki, is poised for a significant stateside breakthrough with “Rental Family,” the new film she co-wrote with…
By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.com Gallery 4 downtown recently celebrated its 50 year anniversary, making it one of the longest consecutively running galleries in the country. With different membership tiers, there are 17 primary…
Press release“Shakespeare with a sharpened edge.” To launch its 2025 – 2026 season, Theatre NDSU is thrilled to team up with Moorhead-based organization Theatre B to perform a co-production of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and…
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…
sBy Ellie Liveranieli.liverani.ra@gmail.com The holidays are supposed to be magical: party, presents, fancy food, lights and sparks. You are looking forward to it. You work very hard, you put in long hours at work as well as at…
By Alicia Underlee NelsonProtests against President Trump’s policies and the cuts made by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are planned across North Dakota and western Minnesota Friday, April 4 and…
By Vern Thompsonvern.thompson.nd7@gmail.comPersonal background and historical perspective My deep concern about tariffs stems from my background as a fourth generation North Dakota farmer. Having lived through the 1980s farm crisis…
