Editorial

A rock-solid Republican state, North Dakota still has two well-known vestiges from its short period of socialist rule: the Bank of North Dakota, and the State Mill and Elevator in Grand Forks. With the 100th anniversaries of the state mill and bank fast approaching, it’s safe to...

Williston is moving to spruce up what arguably has been, until recently, a rather shabby downtown. The western oil country city could learn from Fargo’s experience with a downtown renaissance zone. Williston established a renaissance zone, but its development success has been uneven,...

A number of pointed questions have been raised about the poll we conducted recently on behalf of Forum Communications Co. Some of these points address areas of genuine subjectivity in polling while others reflect a misunderstanding of basic opinion polling practices. Anyone who watches...

Measure 1, the so-called “personhood amendment” has the distinction of being the most purposefully ambiguous measure ever on a North Dakota ballot. Put there by a misguided and manipulated majority of the Legislature, Measure 1’s seemingly simple and straightforward language...

If you have driven in Dickinson in the past week — or at all this summer — you know two things: there’s more traffic than ever before and it’s increasingly frustrating to drive here. The city is doing as much as it can, as fast as it can, to fix streets, and improve sewer...

You can either pretend a boom isn’t happening, or you can accept it and try to grow with it. One has to wonder if the Belfield City Council is trying its best to adapt to development in western North Dakota or if it is simply flipping the page without giving it so much as a glance. Why...

We’re captivated by the futuristic potential of unmanned aircraft. Whether it’s bird-sized machines that capture heretofore unseen views of scenery and wildlife, or airplane-sized vehicles that do jobs manned crafts did in the past, we appreciate the impact drones will soon have...

North Dakota’s attorney general again warned that sex trafficking in oil country is, by state historical standards, approaching epidemic levels. Wayne Stenehjem was on the airwaves last week reporting how easy it’s been for law enforcement agents to set up stings and nab men who...

Police work is difficult, but more so in western North Dakota. Earlier this week, Southwest District Judge William Herauf accepted Stark County State’s Attorney Tom Henning’s motion to dismiss charges against Thomas Sander, the former Trinity High School principal who the state...

Flying is an extremely safe way to travel, and a huge reason is that the aviation industry learns from its mistakes. The National Transportation Safety Board gets the credit: The board rigorously investigates airplane accidents, and publishes its findings — which often describe...

North Dakotans should not cheer too loudly about the decline in youth binge drinking, as reported last week by the national Youth Risk Behavior Survey. The rate fell from 41.5 percent in 2001 to 21.9 percent last year. That’s a significant decline, but it still puts North Dakota...

To take the survey click here: http://surveymonkey.com/s/Press1 For the past two weeks, Dickinson has been flooded with visitors for Roughrider Days and the Fourth of July, and it seems like most people who come to our area ask the same question in many different ways? “Do...