Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
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In one of my earliest memories I was sharing a page of my writing with my mother. It was nothing more than a piece of newsprint with a smattering of l's and o's, but she told me to keep it up. Little did I know that 35 years later I'd be a small town journalist working amid a pandemic. The road to becoming a writer is strange. For me it began with an innate interest in hearing other people's stories paired with the desire to imbue those stories with life by placing them on the page. As a child I...
The daily Southwest border updates are generating nationwide concern, except in Washington, D.C., where indifference reigns. The latest Department of Homeland Security report showed that in February, more than 100,000 people were either apprehended by, or surrendered to, federal immigration officials on the U.S.-Mexico border. Those totals, a 14-year high, include about 9,460 unaccompanied minors, and more than 19,240 family units, which reflect 62% and 38% increases, respectively, when...
Is the world finally coming to grips with the wrongs I endured as a child growing up in the 1970s? I came of age before 24-hour cable news channels sensationalized childhood abductions and made every parent in America terrified that their kid was likely to become the next victim. We '70s kids were in constant physical danger– real danger. We built wood ramps that we jumped our Spyder bikes off of– without any thought of a helmet or elbow pads. We roamed freely anywhere we wanted all day lon...
Nearly halfway through the 67th legislative session, Democratic-NPL lawmakers continue to fight for policies that support North Dakotans and their families. We have had many successes and a few missed opportunities so far this session, and we remain committed to strengthening communities and families, ensuring strong public services and building a vibrant and diverse economy. The COVID-19 pandemic has been hard on our economy, with many losing their jobs and some businesses closing their doors. Stores and restaurants found new ways to serve...
Since 1987, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has celebrated Women’s History Month to recognize the role women entrepreneurs have in building and strengthening our local and national economies. Women have transformed the face of entrepreneurship across America in both urban and rural communities. This is especially true while our nation confronts the the COVID 19 pandemic. Women entrepreneurs continue to play a greater role in creating new jobs and economic activity across the country. According to the National Association of Women B...
On March 2 -- the late Theodor Seuss Geisel's 117th birthday -- Dr. Seuss Enterprises announced that, some time last year, it ceased publishing/licensing six of the popular author's children's books which "portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong." Cue woke approval, deplorable outrage, investor interest, and low-information reader fear, all of which are good for business. As I write this on March 9, Dr. Seuss titles constitute ten of Amazon's top 25 "Best Sellers in Children's Books." On eBay, sellers have copies of And to Think I...
Get this: A study by McGill University has found that more money does not necessarily make people in low-income countries happier. I like more money as much as the next guy, but that does not surprise me. People in developing countries like Bangladesh may not have high incomes and own lots of nice material things, but they do have an abundance of two key sources of happiness: More contact with family and nature. McGill’s study backs me up. Sara Minarro, the lead author, says in Futurity.org t...
I was once fired by an employer because they did not like the way that I tweeted. They had no problem with the way that other people at this same enterprise tweeted, they just didn't like my own flavor of rhetorical panache. They never actually came out and said it was the subject matter of my tweeting, or my style, that got me a date with the guillotine. They simply said we told you to stop tweeting, you wouldn't, and so we are letting you go. I'm always fascinated when somebody else gets into...
I’ve had a discussion with Aeronautics Commission Director Kyle Wanner regarding drag racing on airports. We have significant concerns about this type of activity and strongly recommend against it, especially given the current pavement condition at New Rockford’s Tomlinson Field. Jamestown Regional Airport hosted drag races for many years. Unfortunately, due to operational challenges and mounting concerns over safety and potential infrastructure damage, the Federal Aviation Administration is no longer permitting racing events at Jamestown. I s...
Yes, a lot of water has flowed under the bridge since February 20, 1971 – but it’s still hard to believe that Granny Tyree (my father’s mother) has been gone for 50 years. Oh, I shouldn’t have been caught off-guard. All the joys, sorrows, friendships, jobs, technological innovations and cultural upheavals of five decades leave this former 10-year-old with only hit-and-miss memories of Sarah Elizabeth Gipson Tyree (a.k.a. “Sallie Bet”). Perhaps I’ll consult my older cousins when I write my memo...
Coffee. I need coffee. And sleep. And food. I picked up my Lab puppy, Thurber, four days ago. I have spent every waking moment since happily tending to the little guy's considerable needs. Before I got him, I was cocksure I'd mastered the proper training techniques to bend my little guy's will to mine. "No dog of mine is going Number One in my house," I boasted to anyone who would listen. "No dog of mine is going to lack discipline," I protested. "No dog of mine will sit on my furniture!" I...
Death is the one human experience that connects everyone, regardless of color, creed, class or bank account. The inequity comes only in its manner and timing. For Ted Flowers, my father, it came on a beautiful May morning, the day before Mother’s Day in 1982. It came after a year of agony, in the form of a brutal tumor in his lungs that had exploded into the farthest reaches of his battered, beloved body. He was a 43-year-old man who looked as if he’d lived twice that span. It would never occ...
From early on in this pandemic, it was clear this was going to be more of a marathon than a sprint. Now, thanks to the selfless and tireless efforts of so many North Dakotans across our great state, we are well-positioned to finish strongly even as we continue to watch out for potential hurdles in our path. Since the beginning, we've taken a data-driven approach to this pandemic, with the dual goal of saving lives and livelihoods by protecting the most vulnerable, ensuring adequate hospital...
It's February. It's cold. To fend off the winter blahs, I dream of one day retiring to a warm beach, where I'll stand in the surf, sipping beverages from glasses with little umbrellas in them. I spend hours using the Social Security Benefits Calculator to determine how much Social Security will pay me, after I've paid in many thousands of dollars throughout my working life. And I wonder if my full Social Security benefits will be there when I retire, so I can afford to escape cold, gloomy winter...
Events on Capitol Hill and the Southwest border are unfolding at a dizzying pace. The outcome of those developments will have long-lasting and irreversible effects. At the center of the chaos is immigration, the tumultuous topic that has embroiled Congress since the Immigration Reform and Control Act that President Ronald Reagan signed into law in 1986, 35 years ago. During the budget resolution debate that will pave the way for a mid-March final vote on President Biden's $1.9 trillion...
As coronavirus vaccines continue to roll out in North Dakota, people without Internet access are asking where they can get vaccination information and how they get signed up for the vaccine. Getting information to people without online access is critical so they can also get in line until such time when supply of the vaccine meets demand. Those who don’t have access to a computer should first contact their health care provider. If you don’t have a provider, call the N.D. Department of Health’s toll-free vaccine hotline at 866-207-2880. They...
I love winter. I love snow. I love making a roaring fire in my fireplace on a chilly day. But I hate one thing about this time of year: taxes. February is rough for the self-employed. It's rough because my 1099 forms – official records of how much my clients paid me last year – arrive in the mail. As the 1099s roll in, I hope and pray I made less than I know I did – because my tax "contributions" are always way more than I thought they would be. I'd like to meet the genius who used "cont...
President Biden is going full speed ahead with his plan to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. The Democrats’ latest approach to convert Biden’s campaign promise to more than double the existing minimum wage from $7.25, where it’s been since 2009, is to include the increase in the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package. Republicans are balking. They insist that extraneous issues thrown into the COVID legislation decrease the credibility Democrats have in demonstrating their sincerity a...
Whether you read these words before or after Presidents’ Day 2021, be advised that I’m already thinking ahead to Presidents’ Day 2071. If you get your jollies reading about the only bachelor president or the first bathtub in the White House, just think how many more milestones and tidbits of trivia will have built up over the next 50 years! In the next five decades, we may very well see the first female president, the first Hispanic president, the first Asian-American president, the first openl...
Seat belts save lives. It’s a fact that we have all heard at one time or another. Vision Zero has one goal— to end traffic fatalities and serious injuries on North Dakota roads. Every 11 days, one unbelted vehicle occupant died in a motor vehicle crash in North Dakota in 2019. While zero may be a lofty goal, it is one we are determined to meet because crashes are preventable. I am one of the three new Vision Zero Regional Coordinators located in Bismarck, Grand Forks and Minot. We are here to be your connection, provide you with inf...
Over the years, I've written many columns concerning the war on Internet freedom. My usual targets are the politicians and government agencies who serve as shock troops for the Dark Side across fronts ranging from encryption to sex worker advertisements to darknet marketplaces. On the "private sector" side of things, I've generally just noted that anti-freedom business practices are bad business practices, that bad business practices tend to be self-punishing, and that none of the Big Actors in Big Tech are, strictly speaking, monopolies. Now t...
There’s no middle ground with middle names. You either love them or hate them. Or, if you’re a politician, you treat them however the latest opinion poll indicates. (“It’s way past time this nation took the bold bipartisan move of giving Harry S. Truman an actual posthumous middle name – not for our own benefit, but FOR THE CHILDREN.”) Middle names come from various sources. My son and I both carry on my late father’s middle name of Lewis. My brother was named for the surgeon who delivered him...
As some people age, they begin to lose a certain degree of excitement about simple life experiences like snow days, finding a penny in a parking lot or putting on a pair of fresh underwear still warm from the dryer. Not me! I revel in these moments, probably because I still feel like a kid at heart- at least until my hair stylist breaks out her lawn equipment to trim my eyebrows. In these trying times when the American political system resembles a disturbing bonus episode of "Tiger King," it's...
AARP North Dakota strongly opposes a bill in the North Dakota Legislature that grants nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and other long-term care (LTC) facilities immunity related to COVID-19. House Bill 1175 strips away the rights of residents and their families to seek legal redress and hold facilities accountable when residents are harmed, neglected or abused. In North Dakota, about 10,000 people live in these facilities. More than 840 COVID-related deaths (approximately 60%) have occurred in them. While there may be some...
It has been a bittersweet experience seeing the mailbox flooded with college recruiting brochures addressed to my son Gideon. Bittersweet because, speaking as a science fiction fan, each “road not taken” represents an alternate timeline involving different friends, different instructors, a different spouse, a different career path, a different city, a different strategy for administrators to hound grads for alumni donations. (“Remember that colorful gluten-free parking sticker we gener...
