In an attempt to share with you what’s going on in my phone’s text messages, without offending your sensibilities, I’m going to keep this short. As I mentioned in an earlier column, I continue to get text messages from the Trump campaign after North Dakota’s failed Presidential candidate Doug Burgum shared my personal contact information … Continue reading Headed For Mar-A-Lago?

I’ve been moping around the house most of this cold, wet, windy, dreary, week, feeling sorry for myself because I can’t get out in the garden. I managed one garden day early in the week, and planted about half of what I hope will be this year’s potato crop, but I’ve got a big bag … Continue reading Just How Rich Is Billings County?

When residents of Billings County in western North Dakota, home to the Bad Lands and Theodore Roosevelt National Park and Medora, head to their mailboxes sometime this week or next, they’re going to find a letter from their County Commissioners. That’s unusual. About the only time county government sends you a letter is with your … Continue reading Does the Governor’s Office Have A “Slush Fund?” Well, Not Really . . .

Humorist Will Rogers once said “I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat." North Dakota Republicans left Fargo mumbling something like that Sunday morning, changing the last word, after the fiasco that was their purported state convention. Democrats, meanwhile, trickled out of town knowing they had at least three … Continue reading And Then The Conventions Were Over . . .

Saturday morning. The first Saturday of April. Time for Spring. I’ve played a lot of golf on the first Saturday of April over the years.  Not last year, of course, when there was two feet of snow on the ground outside my bedroom window. But this year the grass is getting a green tint out … Continue reading Convention Notes . . . So Far

Okay, Doug Burgum, this time you’re on thin ice with me. It’s that time of year. The ice is getting thinner and thinner. But YOUR ice is really thin right now. Last summer you used your thick billfold to try to become president, by offering to send $20 gift cards to anyone sending you a … Continue reading Thin Ice

“The crux of this case is the preservation of the untouched and dramatic beauty of the Shorts’ property in the North Dakota Bad Lands while the underlying legal issues are resolved. Theodore Roosevelt once described this area in compelling terms: ”From the edges of the valley the land rises abruptly in steep high buttes, whose … Continue reading Little Missouri Bridge Work Halted. Judge: “Taking Property By Eminent Domain Is An Odious . . . Process.”

I said the other day I was going to stick to writing about King Crab Legs. So here goes. Okay, Facebook, okay! I like King Crab Legs! You know that, just like you know a hundred other things about me. But did you have to tell every fish house in America? Okay, so now I … Continue reading Crabs and Algorithms. Here’s A Shopping List.

The North Dakota Secretary of State’s office says it is okay for Billings County residents to vote in June on whether they want their County Commission to use its power of Eminent Domain to take land for a road and bridge across the Little Missouri State Scenic River. The vote would not be binding on … Continue reading Billings County Voters Might Get To Vote On The Bridge