Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
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Throughout her 25 years as a school social worker, Michelle Vollan can't recall a period when the number of acute youth mental health situations requiring hospitalization was as high as it was post-Covid. Vollan has seen anxiety issues increasing, and along with that, attendance concerns and drops in grades for those affected. On the most severe end of the spectrum, thoughts of suicide and self harm have increased leading to cases of psychiatric hospitalization. And while a spike two years ago...
North Dakota voters appear split and largely undecided about four of the five ballot measures up for a vote on Nov. 5, a new poll commissioned by the North Dakota News Cooperative found. The four ballot measures – Measures 2, 3, 4 and 5 – are expected to have major ramifications if approved. Trevor Smith, chief research officer of WPA Intelligence, which conducted the North Dakota Poll between Sept. 28-30, said the large number of undecided voters shows a "lack of understanding." "The ini...
With over two decades as a counselor in Langdon area schools in rural Cavalier County and as a clinical counselor with Catholic Charities, Barbara Boesl has seen shifts in youth mental health. Anxiety has supplanted depression as a primary diagnosis for those struggling, both on the youth and adult side, she believes. "My belief is that (increase in anxiety) is connected to the lack of real connections," Boesl said. "In the smartphones, that is a connectedness that's not really connected. It's s...
Some Christian denominations are publicly or discreetly raising concerns about a rise in an ideology known as "Christian nationalism" that desires a brand of conservative Christian dominion over all aspects of American society and politics. This includes concerns from the Western North Dakota Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), which met in early June in Watford City and passed a resolution encouraging congregations to study and discuss Christian nationalism. The ELCA...
All three candidates for North Dakota governor see a need for greater transparency and clarity around the more than $10.5 billion of investments being made under the state's sovereign wealth fund, the Legacy Fund. Whether that translates into increased levels of transparency, or simply more education on existing Legacy Fund investment decisions, will ultimately be for the next governor and the state Legislature to determine. Since North Dakota voters approved the creation of the Legacy Fund in...
Griggs County is without a sheriff or a deputy sheriff and will be served by a county coroner until a law professional can be found. The situation raises questions not only for Griggs County, but other smaller communities across the state about what the proper amount of policing should be, particularly during events where alcohol is consumed, and how communication between county officials and the public should be handled. Both the sheriff and deputy sheriff of Griggs County resigned and left...
Raw milk from North Dakota dairy cows carries a low risk of avian flu contamination, say local producers, but they are still increasing precautions. The so-called bird flu has been detected in dairy cows in nine other states, including South Dakota, and the Food and Drug Administration has advised against drinking raw milk. This issue comes less than a year since the lifting of a rule against selling raw milk in North Dakota, though sales can only be at the direct consumer level, not to wholesal...
Celeste Thingvold, superintendent of Bowbells K-12 school system in the northwest corner of the state, faces potential blowback once the main child care facility in town closes in a few weeks. The only other day care provider in Bowbells is expecting a baby later this summer, potentially leaving the community without many options in the fall. The uncertainty is impacting her ability to manage staff and finalize contracts with at least three of her teachers. "That puts all of my teachers in a...
For 27-year-old Joanna Larson, the desire to return home to take part in the operation of her family farm in Sheyenne has as much to do with building community as it does with farming. A strong independent streak also doesn't hurt. She'd like to see things done differently and wants to put her stamp on the farm and further afield. That includes eventually transitioning to more sustainable agricultural practices at the family farm. "I'm about food, not fuel," Larson said about the widespread...
Legacy Fund leaders and decision makers say a recent poll fails to capture the work already being done to steer investments back to the state. Others, however, say the overall mission of the Legacy Fund has not been adequately defined or has shifted from its original purpose. A total of 60 percent of eligible voters want Legacy Fund investments to be directed to development projects in North Dakota, compared to 18 percent who think the fund should continue to focus mainly on growth, according to the North Dakota poll released on Feb. 13 and...
Eligible voters across North Dakota favor major overhauls in how the state’s Legacy Fund is managed and how its accumulating funds are used, a new North Dakota Poll conducted by the North Dakota News Cooperative (NDNC) found. This includes changing where Legacy Fund investments are directed and increasing transparency over what’s sometimes called “the people’s fund.” According to the poll, 60 percent of eligible voters want Legacy Fund investments to be directed to development projects in North Dakota versus 18 percent who want the fund to c...
These equine influencers go by names like Grizz, Arrowhead, Flax, Little Bear. They're neither pets, nor livestock, and they roam wild in North Dakota's only national park. That may change pending an anticipated 2024 management decision by Theodore Roosevelt National Park staff to remove the nearly 200 horses, or cull to a greatly reduced number. The decision is being closely watched by many who've followed and named the horses on social media posts over the years and by owners of businesses in...
Communities statewide are struggling to fill vacant law enforcement positions. Recent legislative measures for grants to attract officers with one-off bonuses and more advertising haven't filled the many openings, community leaders say. The situation is particularly problematic in smaller communities, they say, with housing and other service shortfalls. The recent deaths of officers in Fargo and Beulah this year also bring into stark focus the dangers of police work. Currently, at least 57...
Federal crop insurance subsidies grew to record highs last year and a growing chorus of farmers and other groups say the system needs reform. They say a lack of transparency about where the money goes and a system that favors a small segment of farmers on large commodity crop farms unfairly puts smaller, beginner and more diversified farmers at a disadvantage. Todd Leake, who farms 2,000 acres near Emerado just west of Grand Forks, said the crop insurance program, as currently constructed, is unfair to smaller and more diversified farms like...
Taryn Sveet, principal at Beach Public High School, is tired of an algorithm deciding when students are discharged from her classrooms only to see them ricochet back months later. “It is really hard to watch them come back the second and third time because every time a little bit more is gone,” Sveet said. “A little bit more of their hope for the future is gone.” Those students are residents at Home on the Range, a therapeutic ranch and qualified residential treatment program nestled on the rolling prairie just a few miles east of town. It is a...
North Dakota News Cooperative As a 4th generation beekeeper and honey producer, Zac Browning knows his bees. "Look here, this is a different type of native bee, this little hairy guy here," Browning said, his voice a pitch higher than normal as he moves toward a burst of flowers. Browning also knows what these pollinators eat. He points out remnants of alfalfa, giant red clover, native sow thistle, pods of common milkweed, white fanning fleabane and stalks of Maximillian sunflower stretching abo...
A motorcycle crash on a deserted road. A cardiac arrest at a far-flung farm in a rural county. A farming equipment accident. A pregnant woman goes into unexpected labor at a small hamlet away from population centers. When these emergency medical scenarios happen in rural communities across North Dakota, local volunteer first responders are often the first on the scene, the first to provide medical attention and the first to get patients to a hospital. Many of these services are in trouble, however. A lack of volunteers and younger staff...
Rural electric cooperatives in North Dakota may soon apply for grants available in a federal program under the Inflation Reduction Act, which could set the tone for investments in renewables here over the next decade. A total of $9.7 billion has been earmarked for cooperatives across the country under the Empowering Rural America (New ERA) program, administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The program is touted as the largest investment in rural electrification since New Deal-era investments in the mid-1930s. Some analysts say...
For farmers like Dunn County’s Lenci Sickler, recent U.S. Department of Labor rule changes that alter the pay rates for temporary seasonal foreign workers could cause his labor costs to skyrocket, he said, unless they are rescinded. Sickler supplements his staff with three workers from South Africa who travel to North Dakota on H-2A visas for seasonal spring through autumn work then return home in the winter. Most of the time the visa workers are involved in normal farm labor, from baling hay to tending to cattle. Occasionally they drive a t...
North Dakota residents Shayla and Nikki lost the prime of their youth to pimps who sold them as sexual commodities across the country. To this day they struggle with the trauma inflicted upon them by being trafficked, but through programs here in the state they are dealing with the aftermath and raising awareness of the plight of others caught in similar situations. For both, some of the biggest hurdles came after their ordeals. Held against their will, fear of harm to their children kept them from snitching on their captors. Even when arrested...
The parent company of six Dollar General stores in North Dakota facing total penalties of $2.5 million related to work safety violations is contesting those findings, according to U.S. Department of Labor representatives. Dollar General stores in Casselton, Garrison, Hillsboro, Killdeer, Minot and Tioga were inspected by Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) investigators in the final three months of 2022 after state fire marshals found hazards at four stores and complaints were received about two others. The hazards were related...
Add another factor into the challenge of attracting workers and families to North Dakota: the lack of affordable, modern, quality homes. With home prices at historic highs and interest rates double what they were a year before, first-time home buyers searching for a place to call their own are in the grip of a squeeze that shows no signs of loosening any time soon. With those high costs, and the additional increases in overall inflation, the number of homes on the market affordable for lower-...
About half of all foster parents in the nation quit after a year, and only about a quarter make it past a second. "I would say that's a huge problem," said Annika Hapip, who felt her church needed to act. "You have a lot of kiddos who are in the foster care system, and they're waiting to be placed in a home, and foster families are stretched." Hapip's solution, the Lily Initiative, working within Evangel Assembly of God in Bismarck, aims to address burnout by supporting foster families and...
Patti Larson has many visions for Sheyenne. None of them include the town dying a slow death. That is likely its fate unless the town's demographics were to magically change. With two-thirds of its 185 residents over the age of 50, Sheyenne is indeed in its golden years. Community leaders in Sheyenne and other towns are hopeful that they've found a way to slow or reverse that aging process, but they believe it will take an influx of new Americans to do so. At the moment Sheyenne shows its age...
Signs of trouble should have been obvious long before Robert Bracken shot his son Justin, his older brother Richard, his employer Doug Dulmage, and finally, himself, with a .357 revolver on Aug. 29, 2022. With an unthinkable scene of four dead bodies in a blue-skied North Dakota grain field, it appeared an act fueled by towering instability had taken place. A formal investigation into the incident continues, leaving the ultimate motive and circumstances unclear. It was one of two tragedies late...
