It was in May 1985 that young Roosevelt Montás emigrated from the Dominican Republic to Queens, N.Y. He arrived in America in time to celebrate his 12th birthday. The plane trip, the first of the boy’s life, took only 3½ hours, but the figurative distance he traveled was immeasurable. The boy landed in the United States poor and disoriented and …
“I’ve shot probably half-dozen, or maybe as many as 10, sage grouse in my life. I’m likely among a small group of North Dakotans alive today who can say that. And that group is not going to get any bigger. Ever. Because there’s an awfully good chance we’ll never have another sage grouse season in North Dakota. In fact, I’ve …
Journal entries 20 October 2021 3:15 p.m. Sunny calm autumn day. A very large and healthy coyote just ran up my street, ahead of my vehicle a full block, and then zipped behind the house next to Red Oak House, in broad daylight (no photo, I was driving). I grew up in Slope County and I know what I saw, …
The University of North Dakota women’s basketball team dropped its Summit League conference opener 67-61 to North Dakota State University on Wednesday night in Betty Engelstad Sioux Center, despite a game-high, 25-point performance by Kacie Borowicz, who also added seven rebounds and four assists. The Fighting Hawks (6-6 overall, 0-1 Summit) also received 13 points from Olivia Lane. The Bison …
At about 2 p.m. Saturday (Dec. 18, 2021), my friend, Rick Maixner, and I poured a couple ofshots from the bottle of cognac he keeps stashed at the Sunset Nursing Home in Mandan, N.D., and toasted the fact we are still here, 50 years after we walked off the gangplank of the USS Oriskany, CVA-34, at the Alameda (Calif.) Naval …
Going through some old paperwork just now, Ginny found a copy of an accident report of a little fender-bender I was involved in one evening in Grand Forks back in March 2018 not far from the Fire Hall Theatre. I remember how quickly a police officer arrived, how young he looked and how good he seemed to be at his …
It’s the tendency of Americans, suggests historian and best-selling author H. W. Brands, to simplify the past, when in truth our history is every bit as complicated and divisive as the present. Working to shine light on overlooked complexities, Brands probes the intersections of individual lives and narratives — what he calls “little history” — with the overarching accounts of …
When former Minnesota Twins Tony Oliva and Jim Kaat “got the call” from Major League Baseball’s Hall of Fame this month, it came from Jane Forbes Clark. Few ask, “Who is Jane Forbes Clark?” Well, she chairs the Hall of Fame’s board in Cooperstown, N.Y., where in 1839 Abner Doubleday was said to invent the game of baseball. He did …
Seriously, I didn’t think it would ever come to this, although in the past few months it seems like the writing has been on the proverbial wall. Over the past two years, I’ve gone back and forth, back and forth, looking at the irritations and aggravations that I have experienced in the dozens of times we have either had no …
I wrote here a few weeks ago that you can’t really understand COVID-19 until you’ve sat at the bedside of a good friend on a ventilator. I can say now that even then I did not understand it completely until I buried that good friend this past week. Until I watched that coffin being slowly lowered into the ground, as we all …
Party politics have always been controversial, but they have evolved into an unattractive piece of American democracy in recent decades. They have helped fuel fires of polarization and choked down legislative efforts at all levels of government. As a result, political parties themselves are under assault. Conservative journalist and historian Jay Cost, however, believes these efforts are misguided. He argues …
I’m thinking today of an old friend, Ardell Tharaldson, who left us 10 years ago, Dec. 6, 2011. Our friendship dated back to Democratic-NPL politics in 1972, when he ran George McGovern’s campaign for president in North Dakot MS, which confined him to a wheelchair, and cancer, which killed him. He wrote a good book, “Patronage: Histories and Biographies of …
In the past three weeks, North Dakota has been invaded by millions of tumbleweeds. I do not exaggerate. I live well within the capital city of Bismarck, in a peaceful and thoroughly manicured subdivision. We’ve had a prolonged drought and unusually high winds this fall, in a land that is semi-arid in a good year, and the wind routinely blows more …
Some random thoughts, most of which appeared in an article in the December issue of Dakota Country magazine. How do you go about summarizing a year like 2021? Try this: It’s December, the year is almost over, and we’re still here. I’m still writing. You’re still reading. Y’know, considering everything, not much else seems very important. Like me, I’m sure you’ve lost …
People seem to start thinking about decorating their homes for the holidays earlier and earlier every year. Some in October or sooner, and a few even like to have their Christmas decorations up all year. In a way, Ginny and I may fall into that latter category. That’s because one reminder of Christmas hangs on our wall year-round, too. It’s …
Captain Mark Senden scored a career-best two goals and an assist to lead the University of North Dakota men’s hockey team to a 3-2 win over the University of Minnesota on Saturday night in Ralph Engelstad Arena. The No. 6-ranked Fighting Hawks (10-5) gained a weekend split with the No. 11 Gophers (9-7) after losing 5-1 Friday night. Gavin Hain …
It would be one thing to be on a cruise ship in some sunny locale during the holidays if you wanted to be, but quite another thing to be working on a cruise ship if you’d rather be celebrating the holidays at home in the Midwest with your family and friends. If it’s Dec. 24 and you’re longing to be …
The University of North Dakota men’s hockey team came from behind to defeat the University of Minnesota-Duluth 2-1 in a National Collegiate Hockey Conference game Saturday night in Ralph Engelstad Arena. The victory gave the Fighting Hawks (9-4-0 overall, 5-1-0 NCHC) a split in the series with the Bulldogs (8-3-1 overall, 3-2-1 NCHC), the No.-ranked team in the country. UMD …
In today’s polarized political climate, Americans nervously anticipate U.S. Supreme Court rulings with the same fervor with that they enjoy sports, and with the same goal in mind: namely, to win. But American government is not a game, cautions U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Jeffrey S. Sutton. By forcing the Supreme Court to make notably divisive, winner-take-all decisions, he argues, …
The University of North Dakota women’s volleyball team was swept 3-0 by South Dakota State University in Summit League play on Saturday afternoon in Betty Engelstad Sioux Center. The Jackrabbits (18-11 overall, 10-8 Summit ) spoiled Senior Day for the Fighting Hawks (1-29 overall, 0-18 Summit). SDSU took the opening set 25-23 and the subsequent sets 25-21 and 25-16. Ashlyn …
I have a friend who is an investment banker. I don’t know much about his business because I don’t have much to invest. But he’s been keeping track of the articles I’ve written about Meridian Energy Group, the company that wants to build a refinery next to Theodore Roosevelt National Park. From time to time, he sends me a letter …
About 3½ years ago, a few residents of the Highland Acres neighborhood in west Bismarck sat down with some staff at the State Historical Society of North Dakota and began discussing the possibility of creating the Highland Acres Historic District and to nominate it for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places. Today (Nov. 17), the Bismarck Historic Preservation …
What do you do when you have an overabundance of tomatoes and have already made juice, canned whole ones as well as freezing 20 to 30 pounds of the juicy orbs? That’s been the dilemma I’ve been facing the past three weeks or so. Before frost put the damper on my gardens, I picked almost all of my tomatoes that …
If you happen to be in Texas, in the Houston area, the first week of January, and you’ve got a little time to kill, you could probably stop by the 215th Judicial District Courthouse for a little entertainment. There’s going to be a trial going on that might interest you. Lawyers for this company called Meridian Energy Group that I’ve been writing about …
Backup quarterback Quincy Vaughn threw a 3-yard pass to Gavin Ziebarth with 4:26 left in the ball game to lift the University of North Dakota football team to a 14-7 Missouri Valley Conference win over Illiinois State University on Saturday afternoon in the Alerus Center. The Fighting Hawks (5-5 overall, 3-4 MVFC) were led by starting quarterback Tommy Schuster who …
Since I woke up a little after the killing of George Floyd on May 20, 2020, I have done a good deal of what I regard as required reading about race in America. I started with Robin DiAngelo’s “White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism.” Then I read Carol Anderson’s “White Rage: The Unspoken …
I’ve been intrigued by the movie “Fargo” ever since the cast and crew came to town years ago to shoot some of the scenes here. More accurately, north of here. I hung around the edges of the production for a couple of days, shooting television news stories, not knowing a classic American movie was being made. A new book called …
You can read all the newspaper stories with lists of vaccination and testing sites, and death counts, and you can watch the incessant pokes-in-the-arm on the 6 o’clock news, but you can’t really understand COVID-19 until you’ve sat at the bedside of a good friend in the intensive care unit of a hospital and watched a machine pump oxygen in …
The University of North Dakota football team overcame an 11-point deficit in the fourth quarter for a 24-21 come-from-behind Missouri Valley Conference victory over visiting Youngstown State University on Saturday afternoon in the Alerus Center. Quarterback Tommy Schuster led the Fighting Hawks (4-5 overall, 2-4 MCV) to the win over the Penguins (2-6 overall, 1-5 MVC), throwing for 191 yards …
The University of North Dakota men’s hockey team defeated the University of Denver 4-1 on Saturday night in Ralph Engelstad Arena to complete a weekend sweep of its opening 2021-22 National Collegiate Hockey Conference series. Riese Gaber, Austin Calder, Tyler Kleven and Matteo Constantini scored for the Fighting Hawks (6-3-0 overall, 2-0-0 NCHC). Sean Behrens scored the only goal for …
America’s racial reckoning — seen in protests in the streets and at school board meetings and even shaping this past Tuesday’s election results — comes as the nation continues to shift rapidly. The latest data — from the U.S. Census and the Pew Research Center, respectively — shows 40 percent of Americans now identify with a race other than white …
The University of North Dakota men’s hockey team opened its 2021-22 National Collegiate Hockey Conference season with a 3-1 win over the University of Denver on Friday night in Ralph Engelstad Arena. Louis Jamernik scored two goals to lead the Fighting Hawks (5-3-0 overall, 1-0-0 NCHC) to the victory. Matteo Costantini scored the other UND goal. Cameron Wright tallied the …
Well, my e-mails have sure been interesting since I wrote about the Paycheck Protection Program gifts earlier this week. The first was just after I wrote about Rick Becker’s plastic surgery clinic getting a couple of loans: “Hey, what about his bars and restaurants?!?!” Oops. I checked. Yes, he is the registered owner of a couple of places in downtown …
This might be the shortest story I ever post here. While doing some research for an earlier story I wrote, I came across the website that apparently tracks every single “loan” made under the pandemic-inspired Paycheck Protection Program. That’s the program that was passed by Congress in 2020 to help keep small businesses afloat during the pandemic. Businesses went to their …
Global climate talks among government leaders are underway in Scotland for the next two weeks under the auspices of the UN’s 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26). Here at home, there is a small group of climate scientists whose focus is more domestic. They call themselves Science Moms. They came together to help other “everyday moms” who may not be confident in …
The University of North Dakota men’s hockey team couldn’t overcome an early Penn State University lead and played behind all evening as the Nittany Lions defeated the Fighting Hawks 6-4 in the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Game on Saturday night in Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn. No. 6 North Dakota (4-3) fell behind 2-0 in the first period and …
Just when you’ve got a sore neck from shaking your head over the stuff you read and learn about Meridian Energy Group, the company that wants to put a refinery beside our national park … there’s this. In spite of the fact that there is no oil refinery, and the only business the company seems to be doing is selling …
I rarely write anything political in this space these days — these columns are published in three states as well as in the two newspapers I own. I much prefer writing stories about the people I’ve met and the experiences we share on the northern Plains. I think you’d be hard-pressed to find a political slant in our news coverage. …
I try to write an update on the Meridian Energy Group, the company that wants to put an oil refinery next to Theodore Roosevelt National Park, when there’s some news to report about them. Today’s news comes from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Meridian filed an amended report on its offering of securities with the SEC on Oct. 13. There …
A lexicographer once said, “a dictionary is the history of a people from a certain point of view.” Ken and Sarah Burns’ latest documentary film, “Muhammad Ali: Bigger than Boxing, Larger than Life,” is the history of the 1960s and ’70s in America through the life and career of one of the most colorful, entertaining, talented, provocative and compelling individuals. At the …
The University of North Dakota football team defeated Missouri Valley Conference foe Western Illinois University 34-10 on Saturday in the Alerus Center on Homecoming weekend. The Fighting Hawks (3-4 overall, 1-3 MVC) held the Leathernecks (2-6 overall, 1-4 MVC) scoreless in the second while holding them to just 99 yards of total offense. Otis Weah rushed for 125 yards on …
Twenty or so MORE questions because we’ve asked Doug Allen Nash to play along with this silly, little exercise once before. It was two years ago, just before he performed in front of a sold-out audience for the first time at the Empire Arts Center in Grand Forks. Lucky for us he’s on his way back. Doug will be bringing …
The reader feedback of the essay I wrote last week has been voluminous and gratifying. The reason for this, I think, is that we are all a little shell-shocked by the chaotic state of the world. So much anger and aggression, so many apocalyptic pronouncements and books. Most people look at the past 20 years, and particularly the past six, and ask, …
You know the world holds boundless possibilities when you live near the only golf course in the nation with the front nine in one state and the back nine in another. So when I was 6, I announced that everyone should reach age 12, then start over. There were a helluva lot of big thinkers through history. None of them …