Breaking News

Editorials

Jerome Powell continues to battle the wrong inflation culprit

Last Friday, at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Fed chair Jerome Powell said that the Fed must continue to raise interest rates, even though it will “bring some pain to households and businesses.” This is nuts. True, inflation is near a four-decade high. But the Fed’s aggressive effort to tame it through steep interest rate hikes — the fastest series of rate hikes since the early 1980s — is raising the risk of recession. The pain is already being felt across the land, particularly among lower-income Americans. Meanwhile, corporate profits continue to grow. Profit margins are at ...

Are we headed for a Civil War?

I wrote a column in 2011, as the presidential politics of the upcoming year were starting to unfold, with the headline “Why 2012 looks a lot like 1860.” The deep fracturing of the American electorate -- remember the Tea Party? -- leading up to the 2012 presidential election was starting to look like what happened in the presidential election in 1860, which occurred amid another massive splintering of the American electorate. The issue of slavery in the 1850s -- whether or the extent to which it should or could be tolerated in America -- tore apart the fabric of common values in ...

Oil, gas industry makes tax relief plan possible

North Dakota is a rich state thanks to its lucrative oil and gas industry bringing extensive oil and gas tax revenues into the state’s coffers. All this makes it possible for a significant plan released earlier this week. Gov. Doug Burgum and legislative leaders announced at a news conference a tax relief plan to replace the state’s individual income tax rates with a single, lower flat tax. They said this plan will save North Dakota taxpayers about $250 million annually and eliminate the individual income tax burden altogether for nearly 60% of the state’s taxpayers. ...

Drivers use caution around schools, buses

Summer vacation is over for students in Minot and area schools, and they’re heading back to their classrooms. Many students rely on school buses to bring them to school or bring them home. If you are a driver, the U.S. Department of Transportation offers a few simple rules: Yellow flashing lights on a school bus mean slow down – don’t speed up – because the bus is preparing to stop. Most likely there are students waiting to get on the bus or parents waiting nearby to pick up children. Red flashing lights mean stop – and wait at least 20 feet behind the bus – ...

Always be on the lookout for scammers

Scammers make the news quite often. But they should because they’re out there trying to catch people off guard and hoping they do so they can capture them for their fraudulent schemes. One of the most recent scams occurred earlier this week when a phone caller pretending to be from a well-known financial institution called a number of people saying “some fraudulent activity” had been found on their account in regard to a $4,000 transaction. The phone caller said if the person getting the call did not authorize the transaction to “press 1.” This was to take them to the ...

A former newspaperman remembered

Former newsman Leonard Lund traveled northwest and north central North Dakota to bring back to The Minot Daily News stories and photos about people in the rural area. Every week, rain, snow or whatever weather condition, he set out in his car to make a trip to a farm, ranch or wherever he had scheduled his interview or interviews for that day. A prolific writer, Lund wrote stories with extensive detail as he told about farmers and ranchers and whatever else he came upon he felt would be of interest to the newspaper’s readers. He was meticulous and strived to provide all the ...