It is common knowledge that the USA is the greatest country on earth. It is very hard for me to dispute that as a fact because to do so would be less than graceful. The USA has been very good to me. It has provided me with a wonderful public education system which was subsidized
Read & ShareThere’s been a lot of talk here in North Dakota about the need for higher education evolve. In this article from EdSurge, an interviewer sat down with three college-age students and asked them how they think higher education needs to change. The article is worth a read, the answers sound familiar — education needs less
Read & Share sourced from: EdSurge
There are few debates raging more loudly in North Dakota and nationally than the one over higher education, its value, and its future. But one college has maintained it’s role and is now emerging as a leader in producing capable students, and they’ve done so by through strict adhearance to an old-fashioned idea, the classical,
Read & Share sourced from: Quartz
No matter where in North Dakota you call home, finding a place to wet a line or relax on a boating excursion is not too far away. It’s kind of an interesting thought, as the state has more waters than ever to use for all recreation, and we also have more people registering watercraft than
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In today’s angry polarized political environment, I watch my good friend, Heidi Heitkamp being pilloried by the right as being too liberal and the left for being too conservative. To old school politicos such as myself, that tells me that she is probably doing a good job. The Democratic party, even in its hay day,
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The latest episode of The Good Talk Minot (@thegoodtalk), Jonah Lantto (@jonah_j_lantto) and I dive into the summer line-ups for Arts in the Parks and MSU Summer Theater’s 52nd season. And to close out, the conversation shifts to what is progress? It’s a wily question and not nearly as easy to answer as you might
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In episode #4 of The Good Talk Minot, Jonah Lantto of The Good Talk Network and I discuss the now-in-the-past water balloon debacle of 2017. If you’re unfamiliar with the incident, you can get a refresher from this Minot Daily article. The conversation helped me flesh out my thinking on the topic. Here’s where I landed:
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I hope you caught the Minot Daily’s editorial a couple days ago on retaining talent. If you didn’t, go back and read it. In my mind, this is one of the bigger must-solve challenges facing Minot. North Dakota ingenuity, common sense, and our remarkable work ethic are BY FAR the most valuable commodities we produce,
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On May 24th I attended a candidate forum for the candidates running for Minot City Council. It was sponsored by the Minot Daily News which I credit for its dedication to community awareness. Although the attendance was pretty good, I suspect the questions were not as detailed or as expansive as those asked by the
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Here in North Dakota, we occasionally dismiss outside ideas — particularly those from more liberal-leaning parts of the country — because those places don’t identify as closely with our values. Sometimes that’s good; sometimes that’s bad. The story below comes from the Washington state, and it’s absolutely an outside idea that we should be appropriating. Technology
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The discussion on how to fund the local share of flood protection — about $336 million — is finally happening. Personally, I’m frustrated by the fact that we’re six years removed from the high water and just now talking about how to pay for the plan. But frustration alone doesn’t typically deliver better outcomes. So,
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In the latest discussion on The Good Talk Minot, myself, Jonah Lantto of The Good Talk Network, and Alderman Shannon Straight dig in on the challenges that come with speaking out in a small town. Perhaps it’s part of our North Dakota culture and personality, perhaps it’s just human nature, but we don’t do ourselves
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We’ve all seen the graphic about various nonprofit organizations that tells us what percentage of donated dollars go towards the ’cause’ and how much goes toward ‘administration’. If you haven’t seen the chart, it’s likely you’ve had the conversation with someone. And if you’re like me — you were probably captured by that quick hit statistic.
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Economic growth, economic diversity, these are buzzwords in North Dakota and in Minot right now. The City’s NDR application talks about it; our consultant on the project, CDM Smith, even has a $300,000 budget to create an ‘Economic Development Strategic Plan for Minot & Ward County’. We also have the MAGIC fund, a sales-tax-funded pot
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A collaboration between creators of two of Minot’s newer media companies, The Minot Voice and The Good Talk Network, debuted recently. Good Talk Minot is a regularly recorded podcast focused on the local issues of the day. The first show was recorded last month, and touched on a couple local events (now in the past)
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This June’s City Council election is the culmination of a nearly two-year discussion on how we do things at the City level and ultimately, what we want our community to look like in the future. But here’s the thing about elections — the results we get are only as good as the information about the
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