My first conversation with Fred Claire took place in April 2019. Not long afterward, hours probably, I was struck by the irony … another great guy named Fred. I had met the other Fred, Fred Rogers, in the fall of 1995 when I interviewed the children’s television icon for a newspaper story. I was the beneficiary of his human greatness …
Grand Forks photographer Russ Hons captured these image of Comet NEOWISE (C/2020 F3), a retrograde comet with a near-parabolic orbit that was discovered March 27 by astronomers using the NEOWISE space telescope. Most of July, the comet will be bright enough to be visible to the naked eye. It is one of the brightest visible to observers in the Northern Hemisphere …
The American Museum of Natural History in New York City decided recently to take down the statue of Theodore Roosevelt that has been displayed in front of the museum on Central Park West since 1940. It’s actually a statue group of three men. Roosevelt is high on horseback dressed like a cowboy or Rough Rider. Flanking him, on foot, are …
A week or so ago, I wrote here about the Billings County Commission’s actions seeking federal funds to build their “Bridge to Nowhere” across the Little Missouri State Scenic River north of Medora, N.D., encouraging my readers to send letters in opposition to their scheme. My wife, Lillian, and I did so the very next day. Shortly, I was pleased …
If you agree that we should not throw up a bridge in the North Dakota Badlands within a few miles of Theodore Roosevelt’s Elkhorn Ranch Site, please write to Secretary Elaine Chou asap, and please share my letter to your network of friends. Talk about Last Best Places! The question we have to ask is — is absolutely everything for …
It was a feeble attempt at a rhetorical bank shot. Former majority leader and speaker of the North Dakota House of Representatives Wes Belter — a big deal — went on a Trumpist rager under a false premise to reiterate Donald Trump’s sermon on the mount for those who didn’t get the racist message. Belter’s entire op-ed was exceedingly consistent in dishonesty …
At noon Friday, July 10, 2020, on a somber hillside south of Mandan, N.D., a lone bugler will blow Taps, and a squad of American Veterans will fire a 21-gun salute to 1st Sgt. Hubert Garland Crook, U.S. Army (retired) as his cremated ashes are laid under a white marble headstone, joining thousands of his fellow Soldiers, Sailors, Marines and …
The past couple of years, our grape vine has been an excellent producer. It’s been loaded with grapes, which we usually juice, except when our jelly supply gets a little low. Fresh juice and jelly are just two of the perks of having a grapevine. Another is stuffed grape leaves. Just recently, I made stuffed grape leaves, which over the …
“(Commission chairman) Jim Arthaud and the Billings County commissioners have the fight of their lives ahead of them if they plan on using eminent domain to put a bridge across our land.” That was Sandy Short, wife of the late Con Short and daughter-in-law of former U.S. Congressman Don Short, in an interview with The Bismarck Tribune three years ago. …
A month to the day after George Floyd was murdered by a Minneapolis police officer, my husband and I went to pay our respects, view parts of Lake Street, the 38th and Chicago area, the graffiti art, the memorial in front of Cub Foods that has been seen around the world. Arnie picked up a trifold giving the background of …
It wasn’t widely known that Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence until a quarter century later when he stood for the presidency of the United States. At the time when the 33-year-old Virginian sat down to write America’s birth certificate at his portable writing desk in a boarding house on Seventh and Market streets in Philadelphia in the third …
On this USA Independence Day weekend, let’s wish the District of Columbia further political independence from its mama on Capitol Hill. Here’s a tip of the hat to D.C. leaders’ persistence in securing recent passage of a partisan House of Representatives bill granting the District status as a state with full voting representation in Congress. The reality is, however, D.C. …
Horsetooth Falls, located near Fort Collins, Colo., was recently the destination for photographer Jeff Olson. Horsetooth Falls is a 2.2-mile heavily trafficked out and back trail that features a waterfall amid national park-class landscape. The trail to the falls starts off with a slight uphill from the Horsetooth Mountain Park parking lot. From there, the trail climbs until a fork is met …
A family of loons caught the eye of Grand Forks photograph Michael Bogert during a recent sojourn into Minnesota lake country.
In 1988, as general manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Fred Claire was the architect of the team’s last World Series championship. Nearly three decades later, in the winter of 2017, cancer that had begun as speck on Fred’s lip had returned with a vengeance. The prognosis had been poor from the time his melanoma had spread to his jaw …
Meridian Energy Group, the fly-by-night California startup company that proposes to put an oil refinery next to Theodore Roosevelt National Park in western North Dakota, came one step closer to being able to start construction this week when the North Dakota Supreme Court upheld the Permit to Construct the refinery, issued by the state’s Department of Environmental Quality, formerly the …
Thales Latimer Secrest. “Tom” Secrest was my friend for 30 years, yet somehow I never knew his given name. Good thing, too, because I would’ve called him Latimer. He’d have hated it, but he would have grinned because he appreciated cruel humor — even at his expense. Such was the nature of our friendship, and the best friendships, I think, …
I always wanted to be a pastor. For as long as I can remember, I knew what God had called me to be. When I was 3, I crafted stoles out of toilet paper and presided over Communion of Wonder Bread and grape juice. By 4, I had advanced to burying dead birds and other animals I found with a …
Disgruntled president to cut work hours and focus only on inanimate objects Donald Trump wrote early this morning on his Twitter account. “I’ve had it with you #people. Except Patriots @RiotsDoneRight. Bitch bitch bitch. It’s is all I hear. And where’s your mask? I don’t need this. I’m very Disgruntled @ohsopreciousdelicatepeople Have seen the nasty remarks they put on my …
And so we’re a week into Summer, emerging from what I think is the darkest Spring of my life (my personal style book says capitalize the seasons, but I am almost reluctant to do so this year — this Spring doesn’t really deserve any recognition). The only Springs darker that I can recall are 1968, the year I got drafted, …
A few days ago while sitting on a bench waiting for a friend, I couldn’t help but notice a beautiful, barefoot little girl skipping through the water feature in front of the Hughes Pavilion at Centennial Lakes Park in Edina, Minn. Her cute summer outfit, light turquoise bib overall shorts and a pale pink T-shirt was topped off with a …
July 7 is the official publication date of my new book, “Extra Innings.” I love the story of Fred’s Claire’s inspiring fight against cancer at City of Hope National Medical Center in California, one of the world’s finest medical institutions. But as general manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Fred was also the architect of the team’s last World Series championship …
Grand Forks photographer Dave Bruner’s recent road trip took him to Mystical Horizons, a unique and fascinating place in north-central North Dakota on the Scenic Byway of state Highway 43 near the town of Carbury. This “21st century Stonehenge” is an unusual yet fully functional solar calendar made of stone structures. It was built in 2005 from the vision of …
One year ago, at the time of Summer Solstice, I took some photos of our gardens. Here are two views of the irises in bloom. Last year, I divided hostas and other perennials to increase my plants without buying more, a frugal gardener. I give away plants and friends give me plants. We grub raspberries and give the plants …
I hate the phrase “Everything happens for a reason.” I despise it because it draws to mind a picture of God who is somehow responsible for the result of human sin, the brokenness of our imperfect world and everything that results from those things. It pictures a God who is a master puppeteer, controlling our actions as part of some …
Grand Forks photographer Dave Bruner took to the roads of rural North Dakota and the Turtle Mountains and came across Swedish Zion Lutheran Church in northern Bottineau County. The historic rural church, built in 1903, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in April 2013. The stone (granite) church, which had its origins starting in 1896, when a group …
If you rationalize the abject promotion of virus spread by jamming 20,000 adoring fans into a giant tuna can to “rally” by noting that some liberal bastards aren’t denouncing the transmission of the coronavirus by demonstrators as vigorously as the ego-driven “rallies,” you might be a Retrumplican. But there is no similarity, and it’s still not self-evident to the Retrumplicans …
On a warm evening in late May, my wife and I were in the midst of removing the remnants of our permanently damaged basketball hoop. After 25 years of wonderful service, that old bucket was crushed by a fallen tree last summer. Now, we were finally getting around to eliminating what was left of the pole. Because I never fancied …
Here’s a look at the past couple of weeks, as spring has given way to summer in the Twin Cities and surrounding area, through the lens of Bloomington, Minn., photographer Dave Vorland.
Grand Forks photographer Michael Bogert was in the perfect spot to capture this sequence of a mallard hen settling in for a landing.
It was just another “quiet” drive home from Thief River Falls on Sunday for photographer Russ Hons and his wife, Paulette. While stopping watch a couple of sandhill cranes in a field, two adult black bears came out of the woods. As soon as the cranes saw them, they got quite animated. The cranes squawked and ran toward the bears …
On Friday, June 12 — a date concocted to mark time — North Dakota Sen. Kevin Cramer came down hard on a critical issue, a current crisis, which will surely fracture his chummy relationship with President Donald Trump. Cramer linked to an opinion piece published by RealClearPolitics, entitled “Unnecessary Lockdowns Created Social Turmoil, Global Suffering,” on his Twitter Page. He added, …
“Milky Way Night In The Badlands,” that’s what Grand Forks photographer Dave Bruner calls these images, taken from 11 p.m. to 3:30 a.m. one recent day in the North Dakota Badlands. He was fortunate to have no clouds in the sky with no wind and a clear cool night with no heat waves to get a nice view and these images …
The Lamoureux twins, Jocelyne and Monique, who led the U.S. Women’s hockey team to a gold medal in the 2018 Winter Olympics, have been named recipients of the North Dakota Theodore Roosevelt Rough Rider Award, the state’s highest honor. Finally. They are the first and only North Dakotans ever to win Winter Olympic Gold. And they did it in a …
Grand Forks photographer Dave Bruner titles this gallery of images “A River Runs Through It,” all taken at sunrise along the Little Missouri River in the North Dakota Badlands.
Four years ago, on the morning after the 2016 North Dakota Primary Election, I wrote a column with the headline “What The Hell Just Happened?” Doug Burgum pulled off one of the biggest upsets in North Dakota political history, giving Wayne Stenehjem a sound beating in their race for the Republican nomination for governor. Burgum did it by spending a …
Ham and cheese is the perfect pairing. You might say the two are a match made in heaven. From a ham and cheese sandwich to a ham and cheese omelet to a ham and cheese pizza, this combination is a love affair that knows no bounds. But let me pitch another entree featuring this deliciuous duo: ham and cheese casserole. The …
Grand Forks photographer Russ Hons was on storm duty Monday night, tracking a line of thunderstorms that passed close to Grand Forks. He started west of Manvel, N.D., and tracked the storm south to the Kelly Slough area. Here are the some of the images he captured. (Check out more photos from Russ Hons here.)
Grand Forks photographer Michael Bogert captured these images before storms rambled across Minnesota lake country early Tuesday morning.
What does it mean to “listen”? The verb “listen” means to give one’s attention to a sound. As a noun, it is an “act of listening” to something. Especially for the past few decades and even the past few centuries, it occurs to me that there hasn’t been a lot of listening taking place. George Floyd’s murder at the knee …
Margaret Dickinson’s mother was often too ill to care for her youngest child, so from the time Margaret was old enough to walk, the little girl accompanied her father to job sites, or to meetings with Tulsa power brokers, or to any of the other myriad engagements befitting the owner of the young city’s most prominent construction firm. Wilfred Dickinson’s …
Grand Forks photographer Dave Bruner’s trip to the North Dakota Badlands this past week uncovered some landscapes, a train, snake and wild turkey.
This was written two years ago, on D-Day. It is reposted today in rememberance of my father-in-law, Garland Crook, who left us on Memorial Day this year. D-Day. June 6, 1944. Seventy-four years ago today, my father-in-law, Garland Crook, got his feet wet — literally and figuratively — entering combat in World War II by going ashore on Normandy Beach. …
Grand Forks photographer Dave Bruner was out in the North Dakota Badlands this past week for a few days hiking around taking photos and exploring different areas in Theodore Roosevelt National Park and other locations outside the park. Dave says these images looked best in the black-and-white format with all the structure and deep contrasts of the scene.