Dakota Beacon

In almost every state, budgets are a grim matter -- projects are delayed, employees layed off, benefits and salaries reduced.  Cut to ND, it’s a different picture -- the proposed $9.3 billion budget for the 2011-2013 period is a record and gives state employees annual raises, maintains infrastructure, and funds large new projects, all while increasing state reserves.

Good news continues in ND.  The Associated Press October Economic Stress Index indicates the state is the economically healthiest, followed by South Dakota and Nebraska.  California, Michigan and Arizona lead the other end of that index.  Ward County (Minot) and Burleigh County (Bismarck) are the healthiest counties in the nation; the unhealthiest counties can be found in California, Nevada and Arizona.

From the 1930s, ND farm country was dotted with Farmers Union gas stations, stores and grain elevators, a system supported by the Farmers Union Central Exchange in Minnesota.  That system morphed into Cenex, Cenex Harvest States and eventually was named CHS, which today is a $26 billion integrated ag company owned by cooperatives and farmers.  CHS is a Fortune 100 company with publicly held preferred stock listed on NASDAQ.  John Johnson (61) is the outgoing CEO, a NDSU ag economics grad and a native of Rhame, ND.  Johnson recently spoke to the Prairie Grains Conference in Grand Forks.  His message, “The sun is shining on U.S. farmers.”  Almost every U.S. crop is experiencing high yields and high prices.  Johnson expects this trend to continue, but cautioned about volatility: “Enjoy the wonderful place you are at in agriculture.  Just be prepared for kind of a wild ride.”

The Dream Act is a controversial bill before Congress to create a path to legalize foreign-born children who were brought to the U.S. illegally.  Proponents see it as equity for the young people involved.  The Minot Daily News does not -- in an editorial, “Dream Act would be a nightmare,” the paper says the bill is just one more incentive for illegal immigration.  The MDN accused lame duck Rep. Earl Pomeroy of supporting the legislation after indicating he wouldn’t.  A reader calls him Earl Pomelosi.

How about this -- a duet featuring a woman yodeler accompanied by a man singing an auctioneer song?  The act may not make Carnegie Hall, but is quite popular in Minnesota and ND.  Janet Sorenson first became enthralled with yodeling while listening to her father on a farm tractor.  He encouraged her to practice in an empty grain bin with good acoustics.  It worked and she is now a national champion yodeler who routinely appears on “A Prairie Home Companion” with Garrison Keillor and performs at venues such as the Norsk Hostfest in Minot.  Janet is a grandparent who lives on a farm in the Greater Grand Forks Area and appears on a new program called “Dakota Air” on Prairie Public radio.

Fail, and you go to Fargo.  The Just Born candy company told its sales staff, if they met goals, their 2010 annual convention would be in Hawaii.  Rejoicing all around.  But they didn’t make the goals, and in mid-December 24 sales personnel were picking their way through Fargo’s icy streets and learning about subzero wind chills.  It’s not all bad, one of their treats will be a sleigh ride on a snowy golf course.

GF Herald Editor Mike Jacobs says the Nonpartisan League, founded in 1915, did not last to its 100th birthday.  He said the League’s disappearance roughly coincides with the departure from the U.S. Senate of Byron Dorgan, the last true proponent of the League’s themes.  The League was founded in socialism, then moderated, but was always left-leaning.  The League had an aggressive information program that according to Jacobs “sanctified farmers, condemned bankers and excoriated the rich.”  Dorgan and Heidi Heitkamp, a 2000 candidate for governor, were the last to use that rhetoric -- their audience largely “aged and died.”

DAKTOIDS:  It’s causing head scratching -- in the past decade ND’s population has increased about 1%, but the number of housing units has increased 9%.  The best explanation the State Data Center can muster is smaller households . . . Demand for housing assistance in Minot is exploding -- the director of the housing authority said in 2008 “there were basically 14 people on the waiting list.  Today, we’re pushing 700.”