Always Improving – Page 2 – TheMinotVoice.com

Bills aimed at speeding up construction in Montana see little opposition in Senate committee

by: Josh Wolsky | January 20, 2023

The Montana legislature may be budging in on the local development and building approval process. The state is facing a housing shortage, and lawmakers are looking to get bureaucracy out of the way of construction. Two bills, one to allow local jurisdictions to combine forces in the planning and approval phase, and another to force

Read & Share sourced from: Great Falls Tribune

Meet The Property Entrepreneurs Solving The Dilemma Of Derelict Homes

by: Josh Wolsky | January 16, 2023

In Minot, it took nearly a decade following the 2011 flood to deal with the abandoned and derelict homes that resulted. It was a problem on many levels from community morale to safety. But it’s not just disasters we have to worry about, many circumstances lead to a lack of care and maintenance that can

Read & Share sourced from: Forbes

Petition Reform Bill Hopes to Put a Damper on Fraudulent Signors and Petitioners

by: Josh Wolsky | January 15, 2023

Over North Dakota’s recent political past, we’ve had no shortage of stories related to petition fraud. It’s the price we’ve paid with a state law that has historically relied more on honor than teeth. This legislative session may change that. Rob Port has the news and commentary on the bipartisan-sponsored House Bill 1230 that’s intended

Read & Share sourced from: InForum

Build Montana program receives national recognition as it continues to grow

by: Josh Wolsky | January 15, 2023

What do you do if you’ve got a demand for a particular skill but not enough people to do it? If you’re the Montana Equipment Dealer’s Association, you partner with private companies and a public school district and start training kids. In this case, the pilot project was for heavy equipment operators, and the success

Read & Share sourced from: Billings Gazette

Hydrogen Projects Making Gains in North Dakota and South Texas

by: Josh Wolsky | January 14, 2023

North Dakota’s role as an energy hub continues to evolve, and three big players are betting a big part of the energy future will be hydrogen. The MHA Nation has partnered with Bakken Energy and now BNSF to deliver produce and deliver more than 380,000 metric tons of hydrogen annually. Get the full story on

Read & Share sourced from: NGI

No More Horses in Teddy Roosevelt National Park?

by: Josh Wolsky | January 14, 2023

Removal of at least some of the horses and other non-natural livestock in Teddy Roosevelt National Park is a likely outcome of a pending action from the National Park Service. Jackie Jahfetson with the Bismarck Tribune has the full story linked below, but it boils down to this: The Park Service sees its mission as

Read & Share sourced from: Bismarck Tribune

Federal tax credit for multi-generational home renovations now available to Canadians

by: Josh Wolsky | January 12, 2023

What happens when the cost of housing is so expensive that young and old alike can’t get started or can’t afford to continue living alone? In Canada, the solution the federal government is incentivizing is renovating single-family homes to accommodate more people and better allow for multi-generational living. Why does it matter in Minot? We’ve

Read & Share sourced from: CBC

Grand Forks Schools Investing in New Language Arts Curriculum & Data Monitoring With Community Partners

by: Josh Wolsky | January 10, 2023

A new language arts curriculum for Grand Forks sixth graders has proven itself; the school board is approving a 10-year $320,000 investment that was previously piloted and found to be an improvement. Additionally, the school district is partnering in a data exchange with the Community Violence Intervention Center; the goal is to identify and monitor

Read & Share sourced from: Grand Forks Herald

Montana to explore free school meals

by: Josh Wolsky | January 10, 2023

For two years during COVID, the federal government supported school lunch programs. And for one Montana legislator, Melissa Romano, what she saw were benefits that outweigh the costs. So much so that she’s introduced a bill to maintain the program statewide. Get the full story from The Missoulian.

Read & Share sourced from: The Missoulian

Danish Restaurant ‘Noma’, Three Times Named Best in the World, Will Close To Reinvent Itself

by: Josh Wolsky | January 9, 2023

What do you do, as a restaurant, if you’ve been named the best in the world three times in the last 20 years? The answer is close, so you can reinvent yourself. The restaurant is called ‘Noma’ and it’s located in Copenhagen. And why is this story on TheMinotVoice? First, as the home of the

Read & Share sourced from: Associated Press

How much would it cost for a municipality to shovel all the sidewalks?

by: Josh Wolsky | January 7, 2023

We’ve been covering sidewalk accessibility this week on TheMinotVoice. Two stories, the City of Minot’s initial failure to timely clean sidewalks in their portfolio, and the follow-up comments from elected officials opened the thread. There’s more coverage to come; we’ve filed a FOIA request with the City with hopes that shining a light inside exposes

Read & Share sourced from: Star Tribune

Williston Chamber celebrates young entrepreneurs with ‘Lemonade Day’

by: Josh Wolsky | June 21, 2019

How do get kids excited about business and introduce them to the entrepreneurial spirit? Host ‘Lemonade Day’ and offer rewards. The event organized by the Williston Chamber of Commerce delivered 58 lemonade stands across the city and saw participation from nearly 200 kids. Get the full story from the Williston Herald.

Read & Share sourced from: Williston Herald

If City Hall doesn’t succeed, neither do we

by: Jim Maxson | June 17, 2019

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this was incorrectly attributed to Josh Wolsky. This has been updated to reflect the correct author, Jim Maxson. If there are more thankless jobs than being on the Minot City Council or being Minot’s Mayor, I have no idea what they may be. The present administration inherited some pre-existing

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Blight is eating American cities. Mobile, Alabama, stopped it

by: Josh Wolsky | June 13, 2019

In Minot, we’re not immune to blight. Through the help of HUD resources, we’re making progress on flood-impacted zombie homes, but that’s far from a solution to the larger systemic challenges and root causes. And the scary thing about blight — it breeds more blight. It’s like a cancer or a weed that spreads. In

Read & Share sourced from: Fast Company

Little steps in the habitat restoration playbook

by: Josh Wolsky | June 13, 2019

“We’re capable of destroying in minutes what it took mother nature eons to create.” In Minot, our loss of habitat is most acutely observed in the loss of our natural river channel and the stench of the — though natural — not flowing dead loops. What can be done about it? Nothing will come fast,

Read & Share sourced from: Scientific American

Rural students often go unnoticed by colleges. Can virtual counseling put them on the map?

by: Josh Wolsky | June 12, 2019

One perceived disadvantage we have in a rural place like North Dakota is that access to the best information, guidance, and practices is limited. In rural schools, this is often more than a perceived disadvantage, it’s an actual one. But what if schools provided these services in a virtual environment? Check out this story from

Read & Share sourced from: The Hechinger Report