Business

While Christmas may seem like a long way off, it seems to sneak up on us every year. One day, you’re enjoying the changing colors and reaching for a warmer jacket. The next, the morning dew on your commute turns to ice. Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas is You” is all over the radio. And you sound like Scrooge from “The Christmas Carol” as you realize, “Bah, humbug. The holiday season is already here.” Store aisles are full of shoppers looking for last-minute gifts and you’re forced to leave Christmas ham preparation to the wrong person.

This fall, Chase Dauenhauer will wake up each morning in his home off Bismarck’s River Road to the idyllic view of orange pumpkins streaming through his yard. His neighbor, Dave Pearce, knows the scene well. Every September through October for 43 years, it marked the start of a meaningful day’s work.

Anyone who grew up watching “Tom and Jerry” understands the basics of a cat-and-mouse game. The cat devises a new scheme. The mouse finds a way around it. Then the chase begins again.

Each spring, Thomas Hanna walked alongside his father and grandfather, surrounded by the sweet scent of clover and the hum of hundreds of hives. There, he learned the rhythms of beekeeping, watching, listening and gaining hands-on experience all through high school. By 2009, he became a full-time beekeeper. Today, Thomas and his family continue their grandfather’s legacy at Hanna Honey Farm.

Data centers, seeking land and electricity, are top of mind in rural America and for good reason.

Expected to lift new U.S. energy demand by 30% by 2030, data centers are setting their sights on electric co-op country, where power is affordable and reliable, and they have acreage to spread out.

A regional initiative aiming to transform the rural food system by helping small-town grocery stores stay open and expand markets for local foods is gaining momentum.

North Dakota now has less than 90 rural grocery stores, down from 137 in 2014.

Rural residents often drive 100 miles or more for basic groceries.

In Ashley, Towner, Turtle Lake, Velva and other small towns across the state, rural grocers are fighting to keep their stores operational. The margins are slim. The challenges mount. But their communities are relying on them.

So seniors don't have to drive long distances during the winter. So busy moms can stay close to home. So their small town survives.

Are these the last rural grocers?

Both tariffs and electricity have been in the news a lot this year.

The president’s “America First” trade policies have led to new and increased tariffs on specific imports and entire countries.

Meanwhile, U.S. electric demand has soared to the highest levels seen in two decades.

Tracie Thompson hasn’t gotten a paycheck in more than a year and a half – and it isn’t because she’s not working.

She’s working – a lot. And she’s trying to make things work in the small town of Westhope, 2 miles from the Canadian border in north-central North Dakota.

A few years ago, the Westhope grocery store, which Thompson managed, was in financial trouble, and the owner was forced to close in December 2023.