Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883

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  • Ag Week musings

    Amy Wobbema|Mar 18, 2024

    During National Ag Week, all eyes are on the farmers and ranchers who are responsible for keeping the world fed. According to the American Farm Bureau, one U.S. farmer feeds 166 people annually in America and abroad. In the 1800s when North Dakota was first established, a farmer fed 3-5 people, most likely his family members or neighbors. In 1960, one farmer could feed about 26 people. Even though we have the world's third largest population to feed, the United States is still the world's...

  • Defending the old constitutional regime: the Four Horsemen reject government as a relief society

    David Adler|Mar 18, 2024

    The adage that the Supreme Court follows the election returns certainly did not apply to the Four Horsemen – Willis Van Devanter, George Sutherland, James McReynolds and Pierce Butler. President Franklin D. Roosevelt had earned landslide victories in the 1932 and 1936 presidential elections, but that was not discernible in the behavior of the four conservative justices who were in control of the Supreme Court. As he faced the most dire economic circumstances in United States history and the grim challenge of dispensing hope to a nation...

  • Soft skill development in the age of a digitized society

    Jerry Rostad|Mar 18, 2024

    The first iPhone was released by Steve Jobs and Apple in 2007 and the world has not looked back. Business and industry, education, healthcare and all the rest have been leveraging new discoveries made by digital hardware, coded software, blinking lights and data lakes. The current hot topic of artificial intelligence – or more specifically generative AI – promises to digitize our society even more. The United Nations says digital technologies have advanced more rapidly than any innovation in history, just 17 short years removed from that...

  • Sunshine Week

    Amy Wobbema|Mar 11, 2024

    It's Sunshine Week, a national observance of the importance of public records and open government. Sunshine Week occurs each year in mid-March, coinciding with James Madison's birthday, March 16 (1751). Madison, one of our country's founding fathers and an advocate of open government, presented the first version of the Bill of Rights to Congress. He was later elected the fourth president of the United States. Sunshine Week, observed this year from March 10-16, highlights the importance of open g...

  • Big pharma's song and dance

    Peter Funt|Mar 11, 2024

    The earworm “1-8-7-7 Kars 4 Kids” always struck me as a stellar example of how insufferable advertising can be when its creators really put their minds to it. The organization behind the long-running ad boasts that the jingle “has quickly become one of the most memorable and catchy radio ads of all time.” Though I’m not keen on encouraging youngsters to misspell words like “cars,” and while I’ve never understood who among us has enough extra autos sitting around that they’d...

  • Letter to the Editor: March 11, 2024

    Bill Ziegler|Mar 11, 2024

    We've just finished the football season and I'm looking at a painful correlation. In football there's a penalty for piling. A player's down and other players crush him. But in society, law enforcement, and sadly family, it's okay. It's stated in the Bible our debts are paid and put away as far as the east, forgotten. The court declares you've done your time and paid your fine, you're free. But in our little town we have court house officials, neighbors and even family that believe they are higher than our creator and the courts. In Psalm 56:8,...

  • When rocks say "Hello!"

    Rachel Brazil|Mar 4, 2024

    When my husband and I moved to New Rockford almost fourteen years ago, it was because I had taken a position on the Spirit Lake Reservation to develop and teach a culturally-relevant college curriculum on natural resources. The first class I taught was on native plants and their uses, and half of the class consisted of elders who still remembered the plant names that their grandparents once used. It was a fascinating and collaborative effort as we navigated the space between indigenous knowledge and scientific methods. What I learned while...

  • Dance like nobody's watchin'

    Amy Wobbema|Mar 4, 2024

    I photographed the Forever Dance Spring Show at Carrington School last Sunday. It wasn’t the first spring show I’ve attended (or photographed), but for some reason this performance had me enthralled. It was an absolute joy to see dozens of young girls leave it all on the floor. The energy level was off the charts, and the costumes and props were spectacular. Even coaches Brianne Partlow and Jane Sauby got in on the jazz, wearing outfits adorned with sequins and sparkles. I thought the action...

  • Long reach of the pardon power: the Framers, Lincoln and Biden

    David Adler|Mar 4, 2024

    The intriguing President’s Day news that President Abraham Lincoln granted a pardon 160 years ago to President Joe Biden’s great-great-grandfather revived Americans’ fascination with the purpose, concerns, scope and history of this sweeping executive power. Thanks to the good work of historian David J. Gerleman, we now know that President Lincoln pardoned Moises J. Robinette, a civilian hired as a veterinary surgeon for the Union army, who was court martialed on charges resulting from a brawl on the evening of March 21, 1864. Robinette...

  • Poll clarifies opinion on Legacy Fund

    Lloyd Omdahl|Feb 26, 2024

    A new scientific poll underwritten by the North Dakota News Cooperative has finally cast some light on citizen opinions about this $10 billion Legacy Fund filled primarily by oil and gas money. The money did not come from the backs of those “hard-working citizens” often used in political rhetoric but it is money owned by everyone in North Dakota. Therefore, everyone has a stake in the use of the Fund. Having taught polling at the University of North Dakota, I offer some cautionary advice....

  • Reading more books is good for America

    Tom Purcell|Feb 26, 2024

    When I read about the “silent book club” trend, it filled me with instant calm and hope. As it goes, in 2012, two friends in San Francisco came up with the idea for a non-formal social event in which book lovers can gather at a coffee house or pub, then read together in silence for an hour or so, after which they may discuss any thoughts about what they are reading and socialize. There is something very special about being immersed in a great work of fiction or nonfiction that brings about...

  • The Supreme Court at the beginning: what to wear?

    David Adler|Feb 26, 2024

    The photos and images of U.S. Supreme Court justices portraying earnest men and women wrestling with momentous legal issues and controversies, the resolution of which will shape American society, politics and the constitutional landscape, fairly capture the serious side of those seated on the nation’s High Tribunal. But that’s not the justices’ only side. There is another. In the beginning, indeed, on the first day that the Supreme Court of the United States convened – February 2, 1790 – the most important issue confronting the...

  • We heart teachers

    Amy Wobbema|Feb 19, 2024

    Congratulations to Amanda Koepplin, third grade teacher at NR-S, on her selection as the Eddy County Teacher of the Year for 2023-24. I have the utmost respect and admiration for those who pursue teaching as a career, and even more so for those who dedicate their lives to teaching young minds. It’s a noble profession. When I was in elementary school, I often said that I wanted to be a teacher when I grew up. I had three younger siblings and four younger cousins to look after, and teaching seem...

  • Amplifying educator voice

    Nick Archuleta|Feb 19, 2024

    It comes as a surprise to no one that North Dakota, like every other state in the nation, is in the throes of an unprecedented teacher shortage. Long-time administrators will tell you that where once there were dozens of applications for each open position, they are now fortunate to receive one or two worthy applicants, if any. Many educators will tell you that K-12 education remains an honorable and vital profession with an ever-increasing level of stress. What both agree on is that the...

  • The world's greatest inventions

    Jase Graves|Feb 19, 2024

    A couple of days ago, I retrieved one (of about a hundred) of our family doglets' chew bones from the seemingly unreachable chasm under my youngest and quietest daughter's bed using an ingenious invention of my own making – namely a straightened-out wire clothes hanger. This same apparatus also comes in handy for retrieving various undergarments (along with a metric ton of lint) that somehow fall behind – and then underneath – our washer and dryer. The clothes hanger/wonder hook prompted m...

  • Freedom of the press: the essential foundation of democracy

    David Adler|Feb 19, 2024

    When the U.S. Supreme Court, in Richmond Newspapers v. Virginia (1980), in the words of Justice John Paul Stevens, “squarely held that the acquisition of newsworthy matter is entitled to constitutional protection,” it was protecting under the First Amendment’s free press clause the essential foundation of our democracy. The conception of the press as a pillar of strength for a free people who mean to govern themselves is as old as the republic itself. In 1765, in his acclaimed treatise, “A Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law,” a...

  • Yes, I'll miss this

    Amy Wobbema|Feb 12, 2024

    It’s another year of “lasts” at the Wobbema house. Yes, I realize we are smack dab in the middle of our daughter’s senior year, but reality didn’t set in until just a few days ago. It all started when a fellow mom of a senior posted a picture of her son on social media last week. That night was the last time he’d play high school basketball on his home court, and she was wrestling with all the emotions that come with it. I replied that I was fortunate that NR-S was hosting the distri...

  • When memory flails

    Jase Graves|Feb 12, 2024

    Now that my age has surpassed the mid-century mark and I'm more ancient than virtually all professional athletes, everyone in my department at work, and even my pastor at church, I've noticed that the old memory is not what it used to ... Wait. What was I writing about again? My cognitive decline became all too obvious the other day when I was at the Verizon store upgrading to one of those newfangled iPhone jumbo-large-print editions with a camera powerful enough to take photos of the porta pott...

  • We the People: Landmark ruling gives press and public access to criminal trials

    David Adler|Feb 12, 2024

    The First Amendment’s free press clause, which Thomas Jefferson declared indispensable to republicanism, has long been regarded as the “people’s right to know.” Without knowledge of governmental programs, policies and practices, the people would have little ability to hold government accountable. The press, as Jefferson and the founders recognized, could provide the crucial informing function that would make self-government possible. Historically speaking, protection of the informing function is precisely why the Supreme Court has...

  • The sad future of AM Radio

    Tom Purcell|Feb 5, 2024

    You had a great 100-year run, AM radio, and your demise is breaking my heart. According to the Wall Street Journal, carmakers such as Tesla, Volvo and BMW are no longer providing AM radios in their new vehicles. Why? In part, because of the emergence of electric vehicles. As the WSJ explains, quoting the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a car-industry trade group, the onboard electronics on EVs “create interference with AM radio signals – a phenomenon that ‘makes the already fuzzy...

  • Curiosity (almost) killed the cat

    Amy Wobbema|Feb 5, 2024

    “Things are not always as they appear to be … Curiosity creates possibilities and opportunities.” Roy T. Bennett I’m a curious person. It’s a trait that characterizes many journalists, and for good reason. The drive to know more or to ask just one more question to get to the heart of the issue is often the catalyst for good news articles. According to Dictionary.com, curiosity is “a strong desire to know or learn something.” I usually refer to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary for...

  • We the People: Justice Jackson is Nuremberg

    David Adler|Feb 5, 2024

    Justice Robert H. Jackson’s departure for Europe in September of 1945 to serve as chief prosecutor for the United States at the historic Nuremberg trials of Nazi war criminals annoyed some of his fellow justices and heightened the internal tensions that gripped the Supreme Court. Jackson’s acceptance of an appointment by President Harry Truman to lead the prosecution affected the workload and decision-making of the Court and renewed a lingering debate on the wisdom and propriety of tasking justices with non-judicial responsibilities. Chief...

  • Lamenting for North Dakota children

    Lloyd Omdahl|Jan 29, 2024

    The issue of homeless students in North Dakota has come to the fore in the last couple of weeks. Homeless in North Dakota? Even though a variety of public and private entities offer services, kids are still falling in the cracks. We shouldn’t be surprised because a global look at our neglect of children in this state reflects our “bootstraps” orientation to life is one of private sector capitalism and not compassion for the needy. Right now, the state is reaping millions of dollars more...

  • Do you suffer from the stillgottas?

    Danny Tyree|Jan 29, 2024

    Despite my best preventive measures, I have spent decades enduring the "stillgottas." If you are unfamiliar with the medical terminology, it's the why-can't-it-be-terminal-and-give-me-the-sweet-release-of-death condition characterized by perpetually gasping, "I've still gotta grab item A and finish project B and clean item C and research the efficacy of an Epi-Pen after absent-mindedly ingesting mystery food D and ..." Some guys have a fabulous career releasing their inner drag queen, but all I...

  • "Blood Feud" inside the Supreme Court on question of recusal

    David Adler|Jan 29, 2024

    Every now and again, the public displays an intense interest in the question of whether Supreme Court Justices ought to recuse themselves from a particular case because it appears that they have a conflict of interest that might prevent them from delivering an impartial ruling. In 1816, Chief Justice John Marshall recused himself from participating in the landmark case, Martin v. Hunter’s Lessee, because he had a conflict of interest. The public was aware of his conflicts. He had appeared as counsel in an earlier phase of the case and had a...

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