Main Street

Friday, February 21, 2020 – North Dakota Native Vote is a new organization dedicated to increasing civic engagement for Native communities, on reservations and off. Here to discuss the effort are board member Wes Davis and executive director Nicole Donaghy. ~~~ Continuing a series on lightning rod salesmen, Tom Isern shares a Plains Folk essay titled “The imminent Danger of Lightning.” ~~~ Our weekly news chat with Dave Thompson. ~~~ Matt Reviews “Uncut Gems.”

Thursday, February 20, 2020 – Dr. Jerry Hatfield is the former director of the National Laboratory for Agriculture and the Environment in Ames, Iowa. He’ll be speaking at the “Farming for the Bottom Line” conference next week at Bismarck State College on the subject of “Future Directions & Challenges for Agriculture.” He joins us to preview his remarks. ~~~ Over 13 million American households get their drinking water from private wells. Yesterday, we heard about contamination concerns

Wednesday, February 19, 2020 – Filmmaker Sam Sprynczynatyk joins us to discuss his feature length documentary, “Kindred Creatures.” It explores life as a farm animal, animal rescues, and the work of animal sanctuaries. ~~~ Federal regulations require public drinking water to be regularly tested, but private wells are exempt, and some experts say water, often tainted by fertilizer, can be a risk. Brian Grimmett reports for Harvest Public Media. ~~~ Naturopathic doctor Alli Svobodny visits with

Tuesday, February 18, 2020 – North Dakota attorney Lilie Schoenack has begun a “Campaign for a Non-Partisan President.” She joins us to describe her idea, which she hopes will ease the nation’s political tensions. ~~~ Mark Trahant shares a commentary on the ongoing process to select a challenger in the presidential election ~~~ The Prairie Public education department always has cool projects going on. Tim Wollenzien fills us in on the Ignite Learning Summit, the Molly of Denali Rural Education

Monday, February 17 th – On this Presidents’ Day, we share an encore episode of Main Street as presidential scholar Rick Collin of Bismarck visits with David Eisenhower, co-author of “ Going Home To Glory : A Memoir of Life with Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1961-1969.” David is the grandson of the famous general and President. Also contributing to the book was David’s wife, Julie Nixon Eisenhower, daughter of President Richard Nixon. ~~~ Nominations are being sought for the 2020 class of inductees to

Sunday, February 16 th – Our Sunday show will feature interviews with two men on a mission to capture the essence of North Dakota. Documentary filmmaker Dirk Wierenga and author Jim Puppe. Wierenga is traveling 1500 miles of US Highway 2 from his home state of Michigan to western Montana to chronicle what makes some towns flourish while others fade away—the working title of his film is Route 2 Elsewhere. Puppe spent eleven years and drove over 100,000 miles, stopping for interviews in every town

Friday, February 14, 2020 – David White Thunder Trottier is retiring as chair of the North Dakota Council on the Arts. We visit with him about his decades-long dedication to the arts in North Dakota. ~~~ News director Dave Thompson is here for our weekly discussion of items in the news. ~~~ Matt Olien reviews “Birds of Prey.” He also shares some thoughts in the wake of the Academy Award honors.

Thursday, February 13, 2020 – One man, one van, and countless peanut butter sandwiches. That's what fueled the book "Dakota Attitude." Cavalier native Jim Puppe put on more than 100,000 miles to interview someone from every town in North Dakota. ~~~ A ceremony and march to honor Indigenous people who have gone missing or been murdered will take place tomorrow in Fargo. It’s an annual event that began in 2015. Nationally, indigenous women are kidnapped or murdered at a rate ten times higher than

Wednesday, February 12, 2020 – The ever-rising costs of prescription drugs are one of the biggest concerns for the AARP. We visit with North Dakota state director Josh Askvig and special guest Megan O’Reilly from AARP’s national office in Washington, D-C. Megan is the vice president of the federal health and family group in AARP’s government affairs department. ~~~ A Plains Folk essay from Tom Isern “The Lightning Rod Man.” ~~~ Ava Hill of Kindred was crowned Miss International 2019 back in July

Tuesday, February 11, 2020 – Filmmaker Dirk Wierenga is documenting life along US Highway 2 from Michigan to Montana. He expects to complete the project over the next year, at which time he’ll be offering “Route 2 Elsewhere” to PBS. He joins us from our studio in Grand Forks. ~~~ Commentary from Mark Trahant, reflecting on the federal budget. President Trump released his proposed budget on Monday. ~~~ With Valentine’s Day coming up, horticulturist and wine enthusiast Ron Smith is here to talk