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Letters to the Editor

Stop diverting tax dollars to private schools

Kaye Carlson Grand Forks Our public tax dollars should fund public education — not private and religious schools. Yet, some North Dakota legislators continue pushing unconstitutional voucher schemes and Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) under the misleading banner of “School Choice.” These efforts threaten to strip funding from our already underfunded public schools, which currently educate 90% of our children. Charter schools have a high failure rate, and private schools lack the accountability and oversight required of public institutions. Diverting taxpayer money to elite ...

Congress must safeguard democracy

Board of the Red River Valley League of Women Voters Randilyn Dombek, president, Board of the Red River Valley League of Women Voters, West F; Denise A. Dykeman, president, Board of Plum Valley LWV, Minot; Kim Lee, president, Board of Bismarck-Mandan LWV, Bismarck; Barb Headrick, president, Board of League of Women Voters of North Dakota, Fargo. On the 105th anniversary of its founding, February 14, the League of Women Voters sent a letter to Congressional leadership regarding the state of our democracy, signed by every state chapter and the national board. The League of Women Voters ...

Let’s opt out of Daylight Saving Time

Shirley Starke, Valley City How wonderful that North Dakota might get rid of Daylight Saving Time! The unseasonably warm weather we’ve had since February might be pleasant, but it forebodes a miserable and even deadly hot summer. Arizona got rid of its extra hour of heat in 1968, and its people are very, very happy with their choice. Because we are so far north, our afternoons are much longer than Arizona’s, so we have even more reason not to add another hour. We don’t see cool evenings until nearly ten at night. Daylight Saving Time was created to save energy, but now that ...

It’s time for vote of no confidence

Deven Mantz Minot This is a heartbreaking moment for the constituents of Minot. First and foremost, every single one of our representatives has turned their backs on our children by voting against providing meals for those in schools throughout the state. They have framed this as a choice between property tax relief and feeding our children, but we refuse to accept that false contrast. The budget has billions of dollars to give out, yet they chose to deny our children the meals they deserve. Secondly, our representatives have shamefully supported a resolution urging the federal ...

Giving Hearts shows power of a dream

Pat Traynor Fargo Somebody might have to pinch me. When I woke up on February 14, the final Giving Hearts Day ticker read $31,584,082, and I was sure I was still dreaming. Surely this can’t be the same giving day that, less than 20 years ago, raised just half a million dollars. Surely it can’t be the same giving day that, in 2008, had only a few dozen participating charities. Surely it’s not the same giving day dreamed up by one of our teammates, Jeana Peinovich, two decades ago. And yet it is. Not even two decades later, here we are, celebrating numbers that truly ...

We are better than this

Lillian Crook Bismarck I read a news story about some of the February 2025 firings of North Dakotans working for the federal government. Last summer I attended the 50th anniversary celebration at Knife River Indian Villages, one of the most important National Park Service sites in North Dakota, where visitors learn myriad lessons of the indigenous people of that area of the northern plains. Many NPS employees as well as local volunteers and others attended, including retired NPS Superintendent Gerard Baker. People of all age ranges were there and some were members of the traveling ...