Dakota Beacon

DID ANYBODY CARE?  Last week, Forum Communications announced its Dickinson Press would no longer be a daily paper and would be reduced to a weekly printed in Bismarck.  The announcement was front page news in the Bismarck Tribune, but it was downplayed in the Forum papers.  At the time, there were no related editorials and no letters to the editor, it was almost treated as a nonevent.  

NEWS DESERT  Dickinson came to life this week, a former Press editor labeled the changes “terrible for Dickinson.”  He implied Forum Communications didn’t care much about western ND.  From the 2010 census to 2018, Dickinson had a 28% increase in population becoming the state’s seventh largest city.  Regional leaders were surprised by the Press decision and expressed concern that southwest ND would become a news desert.

SHOULD IOWA GET ALL THE ATTENTION?  Are you weary of the outsized influence given to Iowa’s cumbersome presidential caucus system?  Mike Jacobs suggests an alternative — a simultaneous Great Plains primary in ND, SD, Nebraska, Wyoming and Montana.  He views it as “a more sensible way to choose candidates, by spreading the responsibility across more states and to more voters.”

EDUCATION IN THE UPPER GREAT PLAINS  Wallethub ranked states for overall level of education as determined by 18 metrics.  Minnesota (#10) was ND’s leading neighbor, Wyoming was #16, Montana and ND were close to each other (#19 & #20) and SD was somewhat out of the money at #35.  Montana and SD both would have ranked higher if they had not had particularly low rankings on quality of education — SD’s rankings are influenced by a high percentage of American Indians.  Montana and Wyoming have the nation’s highest percent of high school graduates; Minnesota has one of the nation’s highest percentages of residents with some level of college education.

THE GREAT QUESTION  “Is Minnesota actually more German than Scandinavian?” — A question investigated by the Star Tribune.  Scandinavians for this purpose were defined as Danish, Norwegian and Swedish.  The answer was Germans (55%) versus Scandinavians (45%).  The quick-witted among you may notice that equals 100% — how did that happen?   It may be due to the nature of the question “Do you have ancestors who are either German or Scandinavian?”  Noes appear to be screened out.  There was a further question “Why do Scandinavians get all the attention?”  A partial answer was the Scandinavians arrived first, came from three countries and brought many popular festivals.  Also, the German Minnesotans seem to have gone underground during two world wars — they are slowly emerging.  Disclosure: I have no dog in this fight — my mother was Norwegian and my father German.  In ND, 44% identify their ancestry as German and 35% Scandinavian (largely Norwegian).

GRAND FORKS AND SPACE  “Grand Forks has an Air Force base, a nearby space monitoring station, UND space studies, an incoming university president with Air Force credentials and a growing UAS industry. Now, the city and state need to be bold and push to be leaders as the U.S. Space Force takes off.” — A GF Herald editorial said great possibilities exist for UND, GFAFB and the city.

THE AERONAUTICS COMMISSION reports that ND airport boardings in 2019 were up 10%, led by a 20% increase at Williston’s new airport.  Seven of the eight airports had increases — Jamestown was down and Grand Forks had only a 2% increase.  GF is down significantly from some prior years because of a drop in Canadian passengers related to currency exchange rates.  Mighty Fargo (471,000 boardings) was up 12%.

GET A FAST CHARGE  ND has 187 electric vehicle registrations, but no “fast” charging stations which power up vehicles in about a half hour.  The state has an $8.1 millon settlement with Volkswagen as a result of the diesel scandal — part of the money will be used to help build 17 fast chargers in 10 ND cities located near freeways.  Half of those cities are on or near I-29.

NOTE OF DESPAIR  Lloyd Omdahl’s column about American Indians was not hopeful.  Some excerpts: “Instead of a helping hand, most of us wonder why Native Americans can’t share our ambition, goals and determination to be successful. Pull themselves up by their own bootstraps . . . we have done little or nothing to help Native Americans develop the skills that would liberate them from a life of poverty and drunkenness.”

“PORT LEAKER” is a term arising in Minot city government and referring to employees who provide tidbits to Forum columnist Rob Port.  This comes from Port, who says his sources indicate multiple Minot employees have been subject to interrogations and told they could be fired for speaking to him.  Port has been critical of Minot and its city manager Tom Barry.

DECISION DOES NOT REST COMFORTABLY  In June 2018, a couple from California were indicted after ND troopers said they found 32 pounds of meth and 35 pounds of marijuana in a car traveling on Interstate 94 near Fargo.  This month, U.S. District Judge Peter Welte dismissed the charges because a trooper “unlawfully prolonged the traffic stop without reasonable suspicion of other crimes.”  The trooper making the stop requested assistance from a police dog.  The dog detected drugs hidden in many parts of the car.

DAKTOIDS:  Hard times at DSU —  to close a budget shortfall, Dickinson State has scrapped six degree programs and eliminated 36 staff and faculty positions . . . November ND oil production held steady around 1.5 million barrels a day . . . Bruce Gjovig, former head of the UND Innovation Center, has partnered with Hiram Drache, a Concordia historian, to write “Innovative Entrepreneurs of North Dakota and Northwest Minnesota” . . . Christmas Bird counts near Minot found an overall low number of birds, but a particularly high number of bald eagles — 65 at Garrison Dam.

AG DAKTOIDS:  NDSU Extension projected 2020 crop returns — here are a few broad generalities: Soybeans and sunflowers will be profitable, corn and canola will have mixed results and wheat will have losses . . . Climate change is aiding yields for corn and soybeans in ND . . . The ND sugar beet harvest was the worst in decades . . . Despite poor projected wheat returns — overall results are improving and wheat exports are expected to rise with improved U.S.-China relations.