Joanne Harnit

“Mail call!”

A voice rings out in a banquet room where more than 100 veterans are passing around stories of their military service. Their feet are tired from the journey that started before dawn at the Bismarck airport. But their minds and memories are youthful again in this space of shared experience and unspoken understanding. Murmurs of delight follow the mail delivery from table to table, a tradition on the Western ND Honor Flight journey.

Christmas tree

With the holiday season upon us, gift shopping offers an opportunity to do more than check names off a list. By choosing products made close to home, gift giving can support local entrepreneurs, strengthen small businesses and help keep dollars circulating in the communities we care about most. And by investing in the people and places that make our state unique, every purchase makes an impact.

Joan McKinzey

Fear.

Joan McKinzey knows it well. She knows it can stop time. She knows it can take root in your memory, keeping you from ever moving forward. She knows because a violent attack while walking home from a party in the 1970s nearly killed her. But the fear from that attack might have done worse.

“I’m sure he thought I was already dead,” McKinzey remembers.

Although she was stabbed multiple times and suffered a collapsed lung, she managed to escape her attacker and run to a neighbor’s house. The neighbor called an ambulance.

Jacob and Kristine Ryun

A man stands in line at a Dairy Queen, wearing a Vietnam War veteran hat. Jacob Ryun doesn’t know him, but he steps forward, extending his hand for a handshake. In his palm is a medallion – a gift for this veteran and a symbol of their connection.

Angela Carlson

It’s Co-op Month!

Every October, National Cooperative Month recognizes the people and principles that make the cooperative business model unique. Electric cooperatives are part of that celebration.

For more than 90 years, North Dakota’s electric cooperatives, guided by people-first principles and a commitment to service over profit, have helped rural communities not only grow, but thrive. By meeting new challenges and seizing opportunities, electric cooperatives and their communities continue to prosper.

BSC IS CAREER FOCUSED
BSC logoBismarck State College (BSC) delivers career-focused education “Done Right.”

Explore more than 100 affordable career pathways, including more than 15 bachelor’s degrees designed to help students graduate with little to no debt.

kids with milk

As students across the state settle in for another school year, North Dakota voters will decide whether to fund the food that fuels them.

If passed in the November general election, a constitutional measure brought forth by a citizen-led coalition – Together for School Meals – would require state funding for daily school meals. Measure 2 would provide one free breakfast and one free lunch each school day to every student enrolled in public schools and public charter schools. Private and tribal schools may also opt-in for the program.

The ChokeCherry band

Children dance below the stage at the Washington Elementary School in Minot, skipping in circles and clapping wildly after every song while their parents watch from the sidelines.

On stage, four high schoolers in sequin hair stickers and star freckles, play songs new and old for their audience, from Chappell Roan’s viral hit “Pink Pony Club” to classic tunes from times before.