Story and photos by Kennedy DeLap

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.

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.

At the senior center in Hebron, 12 aging community members sit around a television. Caramel rolls and coffee, puzzles and magazines set on the table behind them. They follow exercise commands from an online video – some in light-hearted protest – then play along with “Wheel of Fortune” (the real reason they are there).

Kyla Sanders, the program coordinator for NDSU Extension’s Aging in Community Project in the western Morton County area, knows all of them and their stories by heart.

From the oil pumped in western North Dakota to the light switch flicked on and off many times a day, technology is interwoven into society.

When the coordinator of the writing program at the University of North Dakota (UND), Anna Marie Kinney, goes to buy a hardcover book from the store – seemingly un-technological – she drives her car with her phone’s GPS. Once there, she pays with a credit card.

Beyond supporting North Dakota’s economy and feeding the world, farming and ranching is a lifestyle – and livelihood. It is a legacy built on generations of hard work, sacrifice and success.

To protect this legacy and family farms and ranches around the state, North Dakota State University (NDSU) Extension, in partnership with North Dakota Farmers Union (NDFU), has developed succession planning workshops to help families transition operations to the next generation.

This year, the United States has used tariffs in unprecedented ways.

In an effort to incentivize producers and consumers to manufacture and buy products in the United States – among other goals related to political negotiations and curbing the drug trade – the United States has implemented sweeping tariffs around the globe. Some target entire countries instead of specific commodities, from as low as 10% to as high as 50%.
What’s the point of tariffs? How are North Dakotans affected?

A crowd gathered at the Sky Dancer Casino and Resort 5 miles west of Belcourt on a chilly fall morning to watch the first event of its kind take place – a white buffalo gifting ceremony. The Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa had 11 white bison until Oct. 16, 2024, when they gifted five white bison calves to neighboring tribes in North Dakota and Minnesota.

White bison hold deep significance for the Indigenous tribes of the Great Plains. They are also rare, occurring once in every 10 million bison.

One of the most nailbiting, adrenaline-pumping and sheerly breathtaking sports returns to North Dakota this summer – the Indian Relay.

Often called “America’s first extreme sport” and one of the nation’s oldest sports, Indian Relay is having a modern revival.
 

“It’s kind of scary thinking about traveling an hour plus to get the care we need,” Marketing and Human Resource Specialist Lauren McClintock said at the Aug. 27 grand opening for the new Rugby hospital. “We want to think about the future when we think of health care, and we want to think about our communities and what can help us the most.”