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Letters to the Editor

Letter to the Editor

Congress needs to address economy Ron Chittum Minot “It’s the economy stupid!” This phrase was famously used during the Clinton campaign in the '90s. Nearly 30+ years later it’s still true. Yet Congress does nothing to address it. Whether the Republicans or Democrats gain control of either the House or Senate this fall, nothing will change. During the Biden administration when inflation and cost of living reached a decades record high, the Democrats did nothing. During the Trump administration, with cost of living soaring, the Republicans do nothing. I am not advocating for ...

Letters to the Editor

MSU’s innovation engineering will benefit ND Loren W. Anderson Minot Minot State University, Minot, Ward County, NW North Dakota, and indeed the entire state, stand to benefit from the Innovation Engineering Program currently under consideration at MSU. North Dakota, and specifically the university community, is fortunate to prosper from the excellent thinking and action of an outstanding president who understands the future as well as the current value of education and is responsive to the economic and professional needs of our state and nation. The Magic Fund exists to provide ...

Letter to the Editor: Don’t sit this one out

Thomas Jefferson said “We do not have government by the majority. We have government by the majority who participate.” On June 9th North Dakota will conduct its statewide Primary election. If the past is any indication, “the majority who participate” as Jefferson mentions, may only be 11% of eligible North Dakota voters. Since 2000 North Dakota has averaged a disappointingly sparse 22% turnout for the June Primary Election. Said a different way, nearly 80% of eligible North Dakotans have stayed home and remained silent when it comes to electing their mayors, their city councils ...

Minot shines through storm

I was in Minot for the funeral of MSU Professor and fellow Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch Board member Dr. Brent Askvig on Thursday, May 14th. We'd taken a break from Quarterly meetings in Bismarck to attend. If I heard correctly, for the first time ever the NWS issued a Blowing Dust Warning for that day. As we departed Minot, southbound Highway 83 was a nightmare, a topsoil blizzard. Visibility was near zero at times. Traffic in front of us came to a complete stop. The truck from the concrete company behind me pulling a heavy load could not stop or see much and slammed into us, ...

Letter to the Editor

City council should do right thing On March 17 and again on March 18, 2026, two separate water main breaks occurred on the 1900 block of Third Street NW, leaving my mother, senior resident Judy Nelson, with extensive damage to her home, a massive cleanup, and a significant financial burden after the city ultimately denied responsibility for failures in its own infrastructure. Despite the fact that the damage clearly resulted from municipal water escaping from city property, both insurance providers, her homeowner’s insurer, American Family Insurance, and the city’s insurer, the ...

National voter list creates unnecessary burden

North Dakota is the only state in the country without voter registration, which makes Trump's order on creating a national voter list very concerning. States don’t keep a list of voters ahead of time. They generally verify eligibility when people show up, and it’s worked for a long time without a lot of issues. That’s why Trump's voter list seems to have ulterior motives. It assumes every state should operate the same way, when in reality election systems are built around local needs and are left for each state to decide the process. In a rural state like ours, simplicity ...