Main Street

Monday, August 22, 2022 - Community Options helps people with developmental disabilities establish goals, overcome barriers, and become self-sufficient. We visit with Shannon Rolandson, outreach officer in Minot. ~~~ Saturday was National Radio Day. We take the occasion to visit with Bill Thomas, our director of radio. ~~~ Parents across North Dakota have been struggling to find day-care slots for their children. Part of that is caused by staff turnover amid low wages. The state is trying to address the issue by providing incentives for workers. Comments from Kay Larson, director, North Dakota Department of Human Services Early Childhood Division. ~~~ In another episode of TellTale, Dakota Folklife and Stories, we hear from a Fargo resident who experienced the Florence, South Dakota, tornado of 1944.

Friday, August 19, 2022 - An encore visit with Winifred Gallagher, author of “New Women in the Old West: From Settlers to Suffragists, an Untold American Story.” It’s about pioneering women who used the challenges of migration and settlement as opportunities to advocate for their rights. ~~~ Dave Thompson is here for our weekly news chat. ~~~ Matt Olien review “Bullet Train,” starring Brad Pitt as Ladybug, an unlucky assassin, who finds himself on a collision course with lethal adversaries on the world's fastest train.

Thursday, August 18, 2022 - Lyndsay Ulrickson is a new grantmaking officer with the Bush Foundation, and her focus is North Dakota. Lyndsay is a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa. She grew up in north central North Dakota and lives in Minot. She joins us to discuss her new position, which allows her to further the foundation’s mission to provide “opportunities to people who think bigger and differently about problem solving in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and the 23 Native nations that share that geography.” ~~~ Sue Balcom joins us for a cover crop discussion on “Main Street Eats.”

Wednesday, August 17, 2022 - Youthworks North Dakota provides critical support for at-risk youth across the state – everything from anti-trafficking services to transitional housing. Here to explain this wide-ranging effort is Megan Lundborg, survivor, leader, and supervisor at YouthWorks in Fargo, which has an event coming up to help youth return to school with a back-to-school clothing giveaway. ~~~ Concordia College has joined the E-Sports ranks. We’ll find out why, and how it all works as we visit with the new e-sports coach, Lucas Campoverde. ~~~ Chuck Lura shares a Natural North Dakota essay about parasitic plants.

Tuesday, August 15, 2022 - Yesterday’s interview about Monarch butterflies reminded us about one of our favorite interviews from last year when we spoke with Dr. Jonathan Balcome, biologist and author of the book “Super Fly: The Unexpected Lives of the World’s Most Successful Insects.” So here is an encore of that conversation as he’s interviewed by Ashley Thornberg. ~~~ Admiral Rachel Levine is an assistant secretary for health at the US department of Health & Human Services. Her office recently reported that 7 to 23 million Americans have developed a long covid, which can last weeks, months and even leave some previously healthy individuals disabled. In an excerpt from Conversations on Health Care, Levine discusses long COVID, monkeypox, access to reproductive health, and LGBTQ issues.

Monday, August 14, 2022 - Bismarck's Shane Balkowitsch is a wet-plate photographer. His latest exhibit, “Northern Plains Native Americans: A Modern Wet Plate Perspective” is on display at the Spirit Room in Fargo. There's an artist reception and gallery talk on August 20. ~~~ The North American Monarch Butterfly can migrate as much as 3,000 miles from its natural habitat in Mexico to North Dakota and Canada. But we are seeing fewer and fewer monarchs in the area. Monarch butterflies are now on the endangered species list. What does the research say about what’s behind the decline in population and what does it mean for North Dakota? ~~~ Historian Tom Isern shares a Plains Folk essay titled “Drummer’s Prayer.”

Friday, August 12, 2022 - James Arnett is the author of Bean Fate, a novel based on a true crime, centered in the village of Bienfait in Saskatchewan, but involving towns in North Dakota as well. It’s the story of a prohibition-era murder investigated by a rookie cop. ~~~ Dave Thompson joins us for this week’s news chat. ~~~ Pride events are underway in Fargo. It comes at a time where a number of topics related to that community have been making headlines. We visit with Mari Hall, one of the organizers.

Thursday, August 11, 2022 - With the recent death of our colleague Doug Hamilton, we’re thinking a lot about grief. Here to talk about the stages of grief and how to work through them is Janna Kontz, a grief specialist and Chaplain with Hospice of the Red River Valley. ~~~ Farmers and ranchers try to protect their soil and land, sometimes getting paid by the federal government to do so. For decades, it’s been a pretty routine corner of agriculture. That may be changing, with President Joe Biden announcing a goal to conserve 30 percent of the country’s lands by 2030. Harvest Public Media’s Elizabeth Rembert reports from Nebraska, where a wary governor has a lot of questions. ~~~ Sue Balcom joins us to discuss problems with pickles.

Wednesday, August 10, 2022 - Joe Schneider is the author of “A Blind Pig in Sugar City.” It’s a gritty novel about a young man getting his start as a journalist in the 1960s in Fargo. It’s an experience the author knows well – he was a reporter for the Forum newspaper back then. ~~~ Nearly all abortions are now illegal in some states, with more expected to follow. It’s not the first time states have banned the procedure. In a story from Harvest Public Media and KCUR, Mackenzie Martin has the story of Doctor Annie Smith, a figure who looms large in Missouri's mythology for performing illegal abortions in the early 1900s. ~~~ COVID expert Dr. Eric Topol calls BA.5 the worst variant because of immune escape – the ability to have growth, fitness and advantages we haven’t seen before. He visits with Conversations on Health Care hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter.

Tuesday, August 9, 2022 - The North Dakota Department of Commerce is inviting communities to apply for the “Artists on Main Street” program, which offers technical assistance and funding for local art projects. Each year a different community is selected. The first of the 5 planned grants went to Bowman last year. Special contributor Brandi Malarkey went to Bowman to gather interviews about the project for a feature we first aired earlier this summer. Since other communities are now being invited to apply, we thought this would be a good time to rebroadcast that story. ~~~ Tom Isern shares a Plains Folk essay titled “Big History.” ~~~ Prairie Public music host Scott Prebys joins us to preview this year’s “Night of Great Jazz” coming up on Wednesday at the Sleepy Hollow Theatre and Arts Park in Bismarck. This year, it’s a guitar summit, with three of the region’s finest guitarists joining Scott’s jazz collective. ~~~ Speaking of music, we have a Tell Tale story from Germans-From-Russia folk singers Joe Gross of Bismarck and John Gross of Napoleon, who recount a family story bearing witness to the power of faith, song and Bravery.