×

Opinion

Dogs really are our best friends

National Columnists

My sister-in-law's dog, Molly, died recently. She was a sweet, graying Portuguese water dog, one of the gentlest pups I've ever met. She displayed a propensity for stealing food off the counter, refused to walk in heat, rain or cold and had an unhealthy obsession with eating dirt, but ...

What is purpose of NATO in 2026?

National Columnists

One month into Operation Epic Fury against the Islamic Republic of Iran, a long-overdue conversation has finally broken into the open: What, exactly, is the enduring rationale for NATO? For decades, this question has been treated in Washington foreign policy circles as heretical. But it isn't. ...

Iran’s other enemies

National Columnists

It's not just Israel. One of the least convincing arguments of opponents of the Iran war is that it is a conflict initiated by the Jewish state for its own benefit — the U.S. is just along for the ride. This view not only discounts the U.S. interest in defanging Iran, but neglects that ...

Bombeck’s legacy is humor, belonging

National Columnists

Last week's Erma Bombeck Writer's Workshop in Dayton, Ohio, celebrated 25 years of the conference. The University of Dayton held the first workshop in 2000 as a one-time event to commemorate the Bombeck family's gift of Erma's papers to her alma mater. It turns out once just wasn't enough, and ...

The day that changed ND forever

Local Columnists

On April 4, 1951, a quiet stretch of land near Tioga became the birthplace of a transformation no one could fully imagine. When Amerada Petroleum struck oil at the Clarence Iverson #1 well, it didn’t just uncover energy — it launched an economic era that continues to shape North Dakota’s ...