Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
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U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) sent a letter to Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Ranking Member John Boozman (R-AR) on Monday urging them to convene a committee hearing to examine legislative proposals for improving transparency and competition in the meatpacking industry. The full letter is published here. Dear Chairwoman Stabenow and Ranking Member Boozman, I write to request that you convene a hearing of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and...
North Dakota State Treasurer Thomas Beadle announced Wednesday he has joined a coalition of 15 State Treasurers to speak out against apparent attempts by President Joe Biden's administration to pressure banks and other large financial institutions into divesting from coal, oil and natural gas companies. "Over the last decade we have made tremendous strides in developing our oil and natural gas resources and North Dakota has played a huge role in helping America become energy independent. This...
Everyone is at risk of being scammed now. The recent ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline was a wakeup call for everyone in America. Ransomware is malicious software that cyberscammers use to encrypt a company's or individual's data, and block access to it, until a hefty sum of money is paid. Google the words "ransomware attack" and you'll see a sizable list of big companies and entire cities that have been completely shut down by increasingly sophisticated scammers. But it isn't just...
Here is how I often do it: I’m scrolling on Facebook, and I see a tidbit of news. Sometimes it’s a link to a trusted news site, sometimes it’s not a trusted news site. Sometimes it’s a meme, or a photo of something that looks like a headline. Before I share anything, I need to know it’s true. So I google it. What I’m looking for in my google search is a news source that I trust. And that’s almost always a newspaper. Google and Facebook rely on newspapers and news media in general. They have become the great middle men in the way that we consu...
The disappointing April jobs report should surprise absolutely no one, given that we now have a government more interested in providing incentives for people not to work, rather than paving the way to gainful employment. What this approach fails to account for is the value of work itself. There is something to be said for, and gained by, getting up in the morning, showing up at a place of business, putting in an honest day’s work and collecting a paycheck. That doesn’t mean all work is fun or even fulfilling, but it all has value. Of cou...
Children love learning, and it's undeniable that great ideas and principles shared at a young age can impact the path of a child for a lifetime. A coloring book I had as a child about America's national parks instilled a desire to visit all of our country's parks – a goal still in process – and was the seed for a commitment to keeping wild things wild. There's my anecdotal story, and there's the science. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine states, "Early childhood is...
I've been hacked. Officially. Someone pretending to be me - go figure - has applied for unemployment benefits in my name. By the way, if you, whoever you are, really want to serve as my stuntman, there are a variety of situations in which you could actually be helpful to me. For example, the next student complaining about his or her grade would be a good start. Go for it, Pretend Me. You respond to the next email that begins, "Dear Professor: What can I do?!" My usual response of "How about...
Despite the challenges of the pandemic, skilled care centers and their staff have shown an incredible and steadfast commitment to caring for and ensuring the safety of their residents. We, at the New Rockford Transcript, recognize the heroic staff of the Lutheran Home of the Good Shepherd during National Skilled Nursing Care Week beginning on Mother’s Day, May 9, through Saturday, May 15. This year’s theme, “Together Through the Seasons,” honors the commitment of skilled nursing care facilit...
Over the years of writing I have learned a lot, but learning is never ending. When I started this “What it Takes” series, I was just eight years old. In the past two and a half years, I have learned a lot about writing. For example, when I started, it took me a long time to sort through notes and write a meaningful article. Now I can do it very easily (as long as I do not procrastinate too much). The hardest part about being a writer is managing the time and energy needed to bring a piece tog...
At the behest of Jamestown area legislators, a grand plan for a $60 million amusement park has been proposed to the legislature with a direct appropriation of $5 million and a $60 million loan from the oil-rich Legacy Fund, now brimming with $8 billion. Developing a huge recreation area in Jamestown should not bother us. In fact, it could be a big plus for the state. The $5 million appropriation is not big enough to be worrisome. The $60 million loan from the Legacy fund is a step out of the...
Tree huggers, are you contemplating a Zoom meeting with Mr. Elm instead? Yes, this is dedicated to the millions of you who share my susceptibility to seasonal allergies. (Seasonal allergies? Yes, "When is allergy season?" is a popular Google question. I don't mean to be ungrateful for fleeting symptom interruptions around Christmas; but that question is as pollyannaish as asking "When is double-chin season?" or "When is robocall season?") Hopefully, this column will also have a little something...
The cost of construction materials has gone through the roof – if you can still afford a roof, which isn’t very affordable right now. All I wanted to do was build a modest roof over my modest deck at my modest house. But a year of government pandemic policies, and the law of unintended consequences, have foiled my little dream by driving up the price of lumber. According to Fortune, the costs of items like plywood and 2x4s increased 193 percent since last spring 2020 and are not done spi...
Disregard the policy, the law school lecture language, the obfuscation, and don’t be misled by the bureaucratic psychobabble. President Joe Biden’s executive order, the creation of a commission to study the U.S. Supreme Court is about one thing – court packing, expanding the nine-member court by an as yet undetermined number, whose only qualification will be a pledge to carry out the Democratic Party’s left wing agenda. The order is another in the administration’s inch by excruciating inch leftward, attempt to mollify the party’s vocal progr...
You can’t escape politics anywhere now – not even in America’s once great pastime, baseball. A “pastime,” according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, is “something that amuses and serves to make time pass agreeably.” Boy, did the Pittsburgh Pirates accomplish that for me most of my early life. Pirates radio broadcasts on KDKA were background music throughout Western Pennsylvania, when I grew up in the ‘70s, and baseball was weaved happily and deeply into the fabric our young lives. In the summe...
I read the Fact Sheet for the American Jobs Plan recently released by the White House and found it difficult not to feel depressed by the approach. As advertised, it is bold, but when it comes to spending on infrastructure that boldness lies in its size, not its vision. It reflects the Washington consensus that more roads with more lanes are good, that when we fix bridges we should also expand them, that transit investments should primarily serve auto-based development patterns, and that simply...
Every year in April, the nation celebrates the passage of the federal Fair Housing Act. The law was enacted only seven days after Martin Luther King was assassinated, and it remains one of his most important legacies. For 53 years, the nation has worked to reverse the harmful effects of purposeful segregation in our neighborhoods and strengthen our communities so all Americans can live free from illegal housing discrimination. That work continues in North Dakota today. Last year, when Fair Housing Month began we had just entered a worldwide...
I am so glad the whole white supremacy and gun nut narrative is over, so we can get back to the one about voter suppression. Those horrific shootings, late last month, diverted our attention away from what President Joe Biden has called "Jim Crow on steroids," namely the recent controversial voting reform legislation passed in Georgia and signed by Gov. Brian Kemp. Anyone who has actually read the almost 100 pages of the Georgia law would know that it is not an attempt to keep Black voters from...
After one week in first grade, my daughter came home with a conclusion about life: “Life is hard and then you die.” Fast forward that through job losses, divorces, chronic ailments and kids for 60 years and we are on the cusp of old age. She was right. We have survived the hard life; now the bitter facts of old age are upon us. It would be best to be hit by a truck, but that is not our good fortune. Leaving must be painful. Looking on the bright side of a 20-year decline on the way out, we sho...
Five years ago, I nearly lost my life to leukemia because I couldn’t afford my medication. Even though my doctors warned me the cancer would return if I didn’t take the medicine, I did not fill my prescription, because I couldn’t afford the $2,400 a month co-pay. Luckily, I found the same medicine at a more affordable cost of $680 a month through a Canadian pharmacy. My story is shockingly common. Surveys have found that one in three adults did not take a medication as prescribed, because of the price. There have been several high profi...
Tom Wolf, lame-duck governor of Pennsylvania, announced on Twitter that he wanted the commonwealth to legalize pot. His comment was hailed as timely, necessary and courageous by many of his lame-duck followers on social media. There is a huge constituency in Pennsylvania, and nationally, for ending what some call a prohibition, and others view as a common-sense limitation on recreational marijuana. It is important to note that, neither Wolf nor I, are referring to medical cannabis, which has...
In its current form, the U.S. Senate’s delaying tactic called the "filibuster" hangs on a rule requiring 60 votes for "cloture." Simply put, it takes 51 Senators to pass a bill, but before that, it takes the consent of 60 Senators to end debate and actually get to a final majority vote. Each time control of the U.S. Senate changes hands, the new majority party publicly mulls doing away with the filibuster in the name of democracy, while the new minority party staunchly defends the filibuster in the name of minority rights to force due d...
After 10 years of waiting for the courage to tackle spending the $8 billion Legacy Fund, the present legislature has blossomed with more ideas than dandelions in an unkempt cemetery. Legislators and committees have been dreaming about the day this fund could be touched to grow North Dakota. It seems that day has arrived. The dialogue went public in January, when Insurance Commissioner Jon Godfread started talking about using the fund for investing. Not to be outdone by a member of the executive...
Holidays are a big deal at my house. While raising our three daughters, my wife and I have thoroughly enjoyed Halloween costumes, visits from the Easter Bunny, and Valentine's Day parties - and we even let the kids join in most of the time. Seriously, though, now that our girls are teenagers, some of the holiday magic might be slightly diminished, but we still try our best to get them excited about celebrating, usually by involving cash. I think I inherited my enthusiasm for holidays from my...
I need someone to tell me what’s happening. Not a tinted version of events, but what’s really happening. I make the request because mainstream (if there is such a thing) news outlets seem to fundamentally disagree about what’s important. On Sunday morning, the top story on the Fox News website, complete with video, was rioting in west coast cities on the anniversary of Breonna Taylor’s death - a dozen or so arrests, vandalism, clashes with police. Sounded like a pretty big deal. In the interest of balance, (if there is such a thing), I went to...
I’m pretty open about my pro-life views. I want abortion criminalized, banned and recognized as an act of inhumanity. I agree with Mother Theresa that “abortion has become the greatest destroyer of peace, because it destroys two lives; the life of the child, and the conscience of the mother.” I am also a Catholic, and I am quite proud of the fact that my church is the most vocal, most unapologetically pro-life among the three, great, monotheistic traditions. I know that there are some Catho...
