I often get accused of being too negative, of only writing about what’s wrong and not what’s right, so let me take a few moments of your time to applaud some people who are doing the right thing. Earlier this week there was a shooting in the City of Belfield involving a law enforcement officer.…
Dickinson Press Oil Impacts Survey Is Irresponsible Journalism
A while back I saw that the Dickinson Press newspaper was asking readers to vote in an online survey about the impacts of the oil boom on their community. I clicked to take the survey – hosted by online polling website Survey Monkey – because I was interested in the questions, but I didn’t make…
Hamid Shirvani Isn't The Only Higher Ed Administrator With A "Golden Parachute" Contract
There’s been much griping of late about the nearly million-dollar “golden parachute” buy out embattled Chancellor Hamid Shirvani received earlier this week. “I’m writing with what some consider the eighth deadly sin, anger, at the North Dakota Higher Board of Education who hired Shirvani and agreed to pay him more than $1 million for a…
North Dakota Concealed Carry Permits Up 479% Since 2005
“The number of permits issued in the state, especially in the Oil Patch, has increased over the last seven years,” reports the Dickinson Press. “In 2005, there were 2,179 new or renewed permits statewide; that number jumped to 12,614 in 2012.” That’s an enormous increase:
Taxpayer-Funded Environmentalist Group Attacking Fracking In North Dakota
The Dakota Resource Council is at it again. The group, in partnership with its parent organization the Western Organization of Resouce Councils, released a report claiming that fracking operations are sucking the water out of western North Dakota. “The regional network of organizations’ 37-page report, titled “Gone for Good,” warns of continued diminished water supplies…
North Dakota's Editorial Bullies
Have the rest of you noticed the tone of the state’s editorial boards, specifically those of the state’s two biggest newspapers in Grand Forks and Fargo, becoming increasingly shrill? As a conservative, you get used to hostility toward your ideas and philosophy from the state’s media. That’s nothing new. Nor are intemperate diatribes from the…
Heitkamp Punts On Abortion Question
From the way some in the North Dakota media are portraying the abortion debate in North Dakota you’d get the idea that the state was pretty evenly divided on the question. But that perception doesn’t seem to match reality. For one thing, every single one of the pro-life bills which passed in the legislature did…
Holiday News Dump: Dickinson State Releases Awful Campus Quality Survey Results
The North Dakota University System was, earlier this month, tried to get away with releasing a heavily redacted version of Dickinson State University’s latest campus quality survey. Even the results released to the public were pretty embarrassing for the university, but higher ed officials redacted specific comments put into the surveys by faculty and staff…