Value: Progress & Innovation

Are Relationships the Key to Solving America’s School Absenteeism Crisis?

by: Josh Wolsky  |  

The covid pandemic was tough on school participation; kids went missing. And in the recovery, we haven’t bounced back to our pre-pandemic school attendance levels. It’s a trend playing out in schools across the country, across grades, and across demographic differences. But one thing seems to consistently keep kids connected to their education — having

Read & Share   sourced from: EdSurge

U.S. Approves First Small Modular Nuclear Reactor, Beginning New Era for Atomic Energy

by: Josh Wolsky  |  

Nuclear energy is back. Well, it never really went away, but a new wave of small reactors is on the horizon, and the design that drives them was recently approved by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. It’s just the seventh reactor design approved for use in the U.S. and what makes it different is its

Read & Share   sourced from: Vice

Firm seeks to build solar panel plant in Manitoba

by: Josh Wolsky  |  

The first phase of a possible solar industry cluster is in the works in southeast Manitoba. Companies of the same industry often cluster together because they benefit from proximity to each other. Sio Silica makes the first ingredient — pure quartz silica — that goes into the production of a host of other end products

Read & Share   sourced from: Brandon Sun

Stark County’s Pretrial Recovery Program Aids Sobriety in North Dakota

by: Josh Wolsky  |  

A new criminal justice program in Stark County is proving useful at keeping people out of jail and off drugs and alcohol. It’s called a pretrial recovery program, and for non violent offenders, they can stay out of jail if they agree to drug and alcohol monitoring. The program started early in 2022, and the

Read & Share   sourced from: Dickinson Press

Do you know the difference between a street, a road, and a stroad? Hint: it’s the reason your taxes are high

by: Josh Wolsky  |  

Do you know the difference between a street and a road? A street is a part of an ecosystem for building community wealth and prosperity. A road connection between places. A stroad is a mash-up of the two ideas that fails in both areas. This idea — the differences between streets and roads, comes from

Read & Share   sourced from: Strong Towns

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North Dakota legislative budget writers adopt early revenue forecast

by: Josh Wolsky  |  

How our legislators build the state budget depends a whole bunch on how much money they think they’ll have. How do they that out? They forecast. It’s tricky business because it depends on predicting things like oil prices and sales tax revenues and other factors that tend toward volatility. Nonetheless, the revenue forecast that will

Read & Share   sourced from: Bismarck Tribune

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

by: Josh Wolsky  |  

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

Road salts washing into the river, damaging ecosystems and pipes

by: Josh Wolsky  |  

“There’s pretty good evidence that if we continue to use salt at the rate we do now, it’s going to be detrimental to the rivers and lakes eventually.” That’s the comment of Ryan Westphal, the Facilities Director for La Crosse County, Wisconsin, on the long-standing practice of dumping salt on almost any amount of snow.

Read & Share   sourced from: Wisconsin Watch

North Dakota bills take aim at gender issues; LGBTQ advocates voice opposition

by: Josh Wolsky  |  

The culture wars rage on in the early going of the ND legislative session. Several bills aimed at, as supporters say, protecting kids from left-wing ideology are working through the system. At stake are the pronouns people use to describe themselves, the right to perform conversion therapy, drag shows, sports participation, and penalties for doctors

Read & Share   sourced from: Bismarck Tribune

A poison pill was just dropped into debate over North Dakota’s public worker pensions

by: Josh Wolsky  |  

North Dakota’s pension for public workers is short $2 billion, and the task to solve that problem falls to the legislature. It’s an issue fraught with politics and special interests. And when we boil it down, it can metaphorically be explained with a question: do we put another band-aid on, or tear the one we’re

Read & Share   sourced from: InForum

Minot Park Board Agenda, January 17, 2023

by: Josh Wolsky  |  

The Minot Park Board will meet for its monthly meeting Tuesday, January 17th at 5:30 p.m. The Park Board meets in room 203 of the Minot Municipal Auditorium. Park Board meetings are live-streamed through the Park District Youtube page here.  The full agenda and board packet can be viewed below.

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Meet The Property Entrepreneurs Solving The Dilemma Of Derelict Homes

by: Josh Wolsky  |  

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  |  

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

Minnesota prisons confront national trend of ‘drug-soaked’ mail filtering behind bars

by: Josh Wolsky  |  

What’s the newest way to get drugs into prison? Put a stamp on them and send it. Of course, you’ll have to soak the paper and envelope in liquid narcotics, first. Stephen Montemayor with the Star Tribune has the full story on innovation in evasion that’s got Minnesota corrections officers on their toes. Why does

Read & Share   sourced from: Star Tribune

Build Montana program receives national recognition as it continues to grow

by: Josh Wolsky  |  

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

Western North Dakota area is officially Homesteader’s Gap

by: Josh Wolsky  |  

If you saw it on a map before Thursday, it would have been called Squaw Gap. Today, it’s called Homesteader’s Gap. It’s a small, unincorporated place South of Williston, and it’s at the forefront of reconsidered thinking when it comes to what we call our places. It’s a simple idea: words matter. While we don’t

Read & Share   sourced from: Williston Herald