New Rockford Transcript - Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883

Just when I was planning to get one, the tombstone market turned to dust and everyone has to wait for memorial stones because the supply line died before we did. All we can say to bereaved friends,...

Having served on the State Investment Board on behalf of Governor George Sinner, I have had a continuing interest in the $8 billion pot of gold accumulated in the state treasury from oil revenue. The...

The defeat of incumbent Democratic Governor Terry McAuliffe in Virginia is a precursor of the 2022 election, when Democrats better expect that normal off-year shift against an incumbent president....

Citizenship is a public office in which electors are blessed with certain rights and charged with civic responsibilities. Unfortunately, more people demand their rights than their responsibilities so...

We just celebrated Labor Day. No, we didn't. Labor was forgotten while most of us only noticed that we had a holiday and spent it lounging, fishing, swimming, sunning, camping, playing – everything...

To avoid the partisan recrimination that now permeates discussions, perhaps we need to go to a paradigm that gives us neutrality while stripping away the unreasonable passions of the day. In our...

A committee of petitioners is proposing a constitutional amendment that would limit future North Dakota legislators to eight years of service. The proposal would “grandfather” in all legislators...

Most of the state legislatures have terminated their business for the year, leaving the abortion issue unsolved, most likely because it is an unsolvable issue that straddles the secular and spiritual...

According to the National Student Clearinghouse, enrollment in higher education institutions continues to decline, dropping 5% this spring. The 5% represents 725,000 fewer students. According to the...

While other armchair quarterbacks are surveying the work of the 2021 legislative session, the three most significant acts include $700 million in bonding for infrastructure, $70 million for “career...

Because newspapers have been at the forefront of community building, we cannot talk about the precarious condition of the published word without considering this primary function of nurturing the...

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...

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...

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 c...

When Professor Elwyn Robinson wrote his comprehensive history of North Dakota in the 1950s, he coined a phrase that stuck. He called it the “too much mistake” because Dakotans in the 1880s had...

At this stage of the political campaigns, the votes are all determined so we should be able to discuss the COVID-19 without all of its political rhetoric. We have nothing to lose if we are open and ci...

Chairperson Ork Dorken hadn't even rapped his Coke bottle on the table when Old Sievert burst into the community ZCBJ hall to join the town's 13 other electors for a meeting of the Community Homeland...

Proposing to double the size of the Board of Higher Education, Measure #2 threatens to burden the system more than help. This November 3 ballot measure has yet to be explained by its legislative...

Once again the North Dakota Legislature is trying to obstruct constitutional amendments proposed by petition of the people. At the present time, constitutional amendments initiated by citizens go stra...

A few weeks ago, Senator Cramer suggested it was time to have an adult conversation about the national debt, Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Once again, initial thoughts of the “haves” is...

With the closure of the state’s largest power plant and coal mine a certainty in 2022, North Dakota is forced to accept the realities facing a coal industry that has existed since settlement days....

“Church donations have plunged because of coronavirus. Some churches won’t survive.” That’s what the newspaper headlines blared a couple of weeks ago as the financial problems of churches...

The Founding Fathers, mostly Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, didn’t expect that a by-product of federalism would be state bankruptcies. But that is what could happen if we adopted U.S. Senate...

While most people have been badmouthing the coronavirus, I am trying to look on the positive side. This hope that we will bounce back the better for it is unfounded. We need to search for the good...

The country is now in the grips of a mysterious bout with polarization not seen for generations in American society. Hate and anger seem to have displaced civil discourse and honest disagreement. For...