Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Sorted by date Results 26 - 50 of 1160
Measure 4 provides huge property tax relief to everyone, completely reforms how cities and counties will tax in the future, and is a tremendous opportunity for all North Dakotans. It does this while ensuring full local control, and not a single dollar of funding is lost. Dr. Arthur Laffer is a world-renowned economist who advised both President Ronald Reagan and President Trump on their famous tax cut programs. He has reviewed Measure 4, and believes it is a great opportunity for the people of North Dakota. In a letter to the committee dated...
I am personally opposed to Measure 4. I don't think that it is a good solution for our residents. First of all, it is an incomplete package. Widespread concern about real estate taxes is real, but this measure does not specify how this revenue would be replaced. I don't think our residents want to see drastic cuts to services, so another method would be needed to replace the lost revenue. This would still have to come from North Dakota residents, directly or indirectly. $1.575 billion would be needed annually for our state, counties, cities,...
We hear it every two years – "This is the most important election of our lifetime!" In a sense, it is true. Not because of who the candidates may be or the issues facing voters, but because the most important election of our lifetime is always the "next election." Voting is a privilege that every United States citizen has and a responsibility every eligible voter should take seriously. You are responsible for choosing your leaders, your policies, and your future, no matter if it is a P...
Advocates of term limits for Supreme Court justices, mindful of the overgrown, transformative power of the Court and the ethical lapses of some of its members, have recommended staggered, 18-year terms and regularized presidential appointments for justices as a means of reducing the heated and divisive partisanship that has raised the confirmation process to a fever pitch and undercut public confidence in the judiciary, what Alexander Hamilton called, “the least dangerous branch.” Integral to these proposals is the guarantee that each pre...
During the month of September, approximately 1.3 million people in the U.S. will have suicidal thoughts, 142,000 will attempt suicide, and 4,000 will die by suicide, according to the Suicide Prevention Resource Center. In 2023, 142 North Dakota residents died by suicide, according to N.D. Vital Records. "Compassion and human connection are powerful tools in suicide prevention. Reaching out, listening without judgment, and showing genuine care can provide the hope and support that someone in...
“He was on our radar.” How many times have we heard that after a mass shooting at a high school or a shopping mall? We heard it for the umpteenth time again this week after a disturbed 14-year-old kid in Georgia took a rifle to school and killed two students, two teachers, and injured nine others. “He was on our watch list,” the local police said to no one’s surprise. A year ago, after the FBI’s radar picked up Colt Gray reportedly making threats online that he was going to “shoot up a middle sc...
Plummeting public approval of the U.S. Supreme Court, now at record lows, reflects in part deep-seated concerns about recent rulings that have overturned precedents that protected fundamental rights, as well as an unprecedented ruling – the creation of presidential immunity from criminal prosecution – without foundation in our constitutional architecture. It is also true that the diminished confidence of the citizenry in the nation’s highest bench is a function of the ethical lapses of some current justices. These factors, among others, have ac...
As I watched the Kennedy siblings close ranks against Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. because of his support for Donald Trump, it reminded me of the fragility of human bonds. Over the past eight years, since Trump burst onto the political scene, I've witnessed the crumbling of so many relationships, including marriages and childhood friendships, based upon an absolute inability to deal with difference and dissent. I know very few conservatives who have disowned liberal friends. The opposite is far more c...
In the world of public notices, this summer has been a doozy. Recent events, some involving celebrities, have shed light on just how well read public notices are. Public notices are reports of upcoming meetings held by government entities, notices to creditors when a person passes away, foreclosure notices issued by banks, and financial reports of the cities and school districts, to name a few. Each state has laws that govern what is considered a public notice and how often each needs to be...
The doctrine of checks and balances, central to the success of American Constitutionalism, is designed to curb abuse of power and promote governmental accountability. But the Constitution is not a machine that will run without good men and women at the helm. When those in positions of authority and responsibility are reluctant to turn the wheels of checks and balances to constrain the judiciary, for example, there is little to deter misbehavior. Justice James Iredell, a member of the first Supreme Court and one of the most penetrating thinkers...
The United States Postal Service is a vital partner to newspapers. We pay them to provide a service, that is to deliver our print editions to every address in America. That partnership, however, is facing new challenges. I was among a select few representing North Dakota newspapers at a roundtable discussion hosted by U.S. Sen. John Hoeven on Monday. An article about that meeting first appeared in the Grand Forks Herald on Tuesday, and is republished in this edition of both the Transcript and th...
All anybody needs to know about a free economy is alive and well thanks to social media flea markets, such as Facebook Marketplace. While procrastinating every morning, I review this site looking at cars, lakefront homes and a wide variety of highly entertaining items people are trying to hock. Facebook Marketplace offers a hands-on lesson in how free-market economics really works. You see, commerce and trading are what humans do. They are the basis of wealth creation and a thriving...
Is the threat of impeachment sufficient to deter Supreme Court justices from abusing power or engaging in other acts of misbehavior that would warrant their removal from the nation’s High Bench? The Framers of the Constitution thought so, as Alexander Hamilton explained, but many Americans across our nation doubt the premise. Consequently, they have become advocates for Supreme Court reform. Some lobby for an enforceable ethics code, some seek term limits for the justices, and some argue for an expansion of the size of the Court, primarily t...
In the Constitutional Convention of 1787, delegates debated the merits and virtues of vesting in federal courts the awesome power of judicial review – the authority to strike down laws of Congress that they find to be unconstitutional. In the end, the Framers agreed to grant the reviewing power to the courts, but not without some careful soul-searching, for it was at that juncture in world history unique in the realms of law and political science. Alexander Hamilton wrote in Federalist No. 78 that the courts were designed to keep the legislatur...
Since the article, "East Central hands NR-S $70K budget buster," was printed it has been shared amongst NR-S community and NR-S board members stating that the ‘business relationship is broken,’ so I appreciate the opportunity to respond to the article in hopes that it creates a discussion to clarify the concerns raised in the original article. NR-S is required to provide special education services by law. The increase in cost was due to legally required speech services which were assessed to NR-S as a bill from services from the 2023-24 sch...
Dear citizens of the New Rockford-Sheyenne School District, As many of you may know, I have recently resigned from my position on the New Rockford-Sheyenne School Board. With this change, I feel it is important to address a significant concern regarding the district's relationship with East Central (EC). My intention is to clarify the situation for our community. The core issue with East Central is not related to the quality or dedication of its staff, past or present. On the contrary, I believe that East Central has consistently provided our d...
We constantly hear that we will no longer need print. However, we believe print's value is increasing in a world of digital distraction, shallow learning and increasing polarization as people shift from focusing on local news to national television outlets and the internet. "As a professor of linguistics, I have been studying how electronic communication compares to traditional print when it comes to learning," Naomi S. Baron, a professor of Linguistics at American University, writes. "Is...
School is officially starting for New Rockford-Sheyenne, Carrington and many other area schools this week. With school starting, that usually means taking pictures for the newspaper at the local football and volleyball games. However, my schedule this year will be just a little different. My first-born, Peyton, will be starting pre-K at New Rockford-Sheyenne school this year. She is quite excited for this new adventure and so am I, but I can't say that I am not getting teary-eyed thinking that...
President Joe Biden’s proposed constitutional amendment – “The No One is Above the Law Amendment” – seeks to restore the cornerstone principle of American Constitutionalism by effectively overturning the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Trump v. United States, which held that the president possesses absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for acts involving the exercise of “core powers.” The decision, criticized by scholars and judges of various political stripes, including the conservative heavyweight and revered retired Fourth...
I had the wonderful opportunity for the past 10 weeks to be an intern at the Foster County Independent, and here I am to tell you about the wild summer I had. I never expected the skills that I would learn and develop through the experience. I graduated from Carrington High School in 2023 and just completed my first semester of college in the spring. I am attending the University of North Dakota and pursuing a degree in forensic science. At the end of the school year, I was not entirely sure what I wanted to do with my summer vacation, but I...
For the first six decades of my life, I was content to travel throughout the United States as opportunities arose. I was blessed with parents who both loved history, so any trek we made in the US was replete with stops at historical sites. However, traveling to Europe happened only through reading, movies and daydreaming. But in 2011, all that changed. An international student at Lake Region State College (LRSC), to whom Doug and I became quite close, shared my passion for Anne Frank. When her mom came to visit, they invited me to visit them in...
Biden’s calls for constitutional restraints on the presidency and Supreme Court steeped in irony President Joe Biden’s sweeping proposals to reform the U.S. Supreme Court and the American presidency are steeped in irony. It is not lost on the citizenry that the Court’s own acts have inspired Biden’s proposals to rein in presidential power and curb the excesses of the nation’s High Bench. The Court’s creation in Trump v. United States of absolute executive immunity from criminal prosecution for a president’s official acts stunned the nation, b...
This summer I got to work as an intern at the Transcript, and my favorite part of the job was being behind the camera. At the end of the school year our Black Sox boys made it to state baseball, which hadn't been done in 24 years. I covered the region championship and several of the state games. I remember being in the dugout on the last play of the region championship game. I was getting ready to take all of the celebration shots when one of our players turned to look at me and told me to move because they were all gonna jump over the fence...
Bowling didn't make the cut again. Neither will baseball and softball, ballroom dancing, pole dancing and a host of other sports be featured in the 2024 Summer Olympics games in Paris. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is picky about the sports it chooses. A sport must be widely practiced globally, draw a high level of interest among the media and public and also not pose too many cost and scheduling obstacles, such as the need to build large baseball stadiums. But in a perfect world,...
The possibilities of the Office of the Presidency, the Framers of the Constitution knew, would depend in large measure on the character of its occupant. The Presidency was constrained by the terms of the Constitution and the doctrine of checks and balances, designed to temper the vaulting ambition of future chief executives who might imitate those in European countries that aggrandized power for their own interests. But the presidency was also empowered to perform the responsibilities of the Office, which possessed the bandwidth to inspire the...
