Around the State: April 25, 2022

The counties and cities within the state of North Dakota hold many interesting news stories.

Here are just a few of the feature stories that others are reading in communities around the state.

Former Stanley resident publishes novel

Barb Solberg, a former Stanley resident, has just published a historical fiction novel that tells the story of her grandparents who homesteaded in Mountrail County in 1913. She credits the Mountrail County Historical Society for its historical books as well as the courthouse that has kept so many records that she used in this novel.

The book, What we leave behind, tells the story of Martin and Asta Aadnes who came to America in 1913 to homestead. Nineteen years later during the Great Plains Dust Bowl, they intend to improve the lives of three of their nine children by sending their eighteen-year-old daughter Clara with her two younger sisters to Norway to live with relatives for two years. But things don’t go according to plan.

By 1940, when Germany invades Norway, they are living with a Quisling, a member of the Nasjonal Samling - the Norwegian Nazi Party, and they miss the last US evacuee ship out of Petsamo, Finland, One sister spends time in Grini, a German concentration camp north of Oslo; she and her older sister both marry men in the Norwegian Resistance Movement of WWII.

What we leave behind is a dramatic, moving story of a family with allegiance to two flags. This immigrant narrative intersects with the lesser-known history of Norway in World War II, told from the perspective of a Norwegian homesteader wife and three of her daughters.

(Story taken from the Mountrail County Promoter)

Southeast Judicial District

The Southeast Judicial District Judgeship No. 2 will be staying in Valley City. This according to an order by the North Dakota Supreme Court.

This is good news for several counties in southeast North Dakota.

In March, Judge Mark T. Blumer had announced he would not be seeking reelection when his term expires. He is chambered in Valley City and his term will expire December 31st, 2022.

There was talk that the judgeship might be moved to Fargo which could have effected court proceedings in the affected counties.

In their order, the State Supreme Court states, “The elimination or transfer of Judgeship No. 2 would present challenges to scheduling and require the remaining judges in the Southeast Judicial District to assume an increased caseload and increase travel time in the district.”

The Southeast Judicial District is comprised of fourteen counties including Barnes, Dickey, Eddy, Foster, Griggs, Kidder, LaMoure, Logan, McIntosh, Ransom, Richland, Sargent, Stutsman, and Wells.

The district has seven judges: one judge chambered in Ellendale, one in New Rockford, one in Wahpeton, two in Jamestown and two in Valley City.

(Story taken from the Ransom County Gazette)

Robinson to perform at Lisbon Opera House

Winner of “Australia’s Got Talent” Joe Robinson will perform at the Lisbon Opera House Thursday, April 21 at 5:30 p.m. Robinson is coming to town as part of the program put on by the Sheyenne Fine Arts Association.

Joe Robinson was born and raised in a musical family in the Australian bush. By the age of 13 he won the Australian National Songwriting Competition.

At 15 he had produced his own collection of original music and by 16 he was the winner of “Australia’s Got Talent.”

His live one-man show is an energetic display of virtuosity and witty finely crafted lyrics delivered with his personable Aussie charisma. He is now based in Nashville.

(Story taken from the Ransom County Gazette)

Hillsboro day care facing license revocation

The Learning Circle child care center in Hillsboro could be licensed under a new operator soon, but will remain open during the transition, according to the day care’s owner.

Bridget McGuire of West Fargo told clients in a Facebook message that she had been notified that the licenses for her child care centers in Fargo, Jamestown and Hillsboro were in the process of being revoked this month.

The revocation notice occurred after “an antagonizing and long battle” with the state’s Early Childhood Licensing Division, which had determined that the day care owner was “unable to provide care that is free of abuse and neglect,” McGuire wrote in her Facebook post.

Less than 48 hours later, parents dropping off their children at The Learning Circle in Hillsboro on Monday morning were given a letter announcing that the daycare chain’s five locations were in the process of being licensed under a new owner.

(Story by Cole Short, the Hillsboro Banner)

Meet Milo, the teaching robot at St. John School

A new kind of teacher joined the staff at St. John School, but he skips the morning coffee for fear of shorting out some circuits.

Milo is a facially-expressive humanoid robot who has already been on the job for a few weeks. St. John is the first school in the state with the technology.

St. John Elementary Principal Sherry Tandeski said 10 staff members did some extensive training before Milo’s debut. The robot came with his own curriculum.

“I think Milo is going to help with the overall emotional welfare of our kids because the way they are connecting with him is so different,” Tandeski said. She added the robot’s measured reactions to students and patience with them are consistent.

Milo was developed by RoboKind, a company that assists special educators in teaching students with developmental differences the social skills needed for emotional regulation, conversations and other scenarios. The program combines a facially-expressive robot with an evidence-based curriculum, take-home activities, and professional learning to improve mastery and generalization.

The company’s own research has shown that students engage with robots at a rate of 87.5 percent of the time verses just 2 percent to 3 percent with a human therapist alone.

(Story by Jason Nordmark, the Turtle Mountain Star)

Postage likely to increase July 10

The United States Postal Service filed notice with the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) of price changes to take effect July 10, 2022.

The new prices, if favorably reviewed, include a two-cent increase in the price of a First Class Mail Forever stamp from 58 cents to 60 cents.

The proposed prices, approved by the Governors of the U.S. Postal Service, would raise First Class Mail prices about 6.5 percent which is lower than the Bureau of Labor Statistics annual inflation rate of 7.9 percent as of the end of February.

(Story taken from the Traill County Tribune)