The Mike McFeely Mess

Minnesota fishing expert Tony Mariotti joins podcast host Mike McFeely for an ice fishing update. With the pandemic, good ice conditions and little snow there is clearly an uptick in ice fishing. Lots of big fish houses and, at many places, lots of fish being caught.

Tony and Mike talk about that, as well as whether the DNR should start cutting back panfish limits. That's a road well-traveled by these two anglers, but it's worth visiting again.

Forum and InForum reporter Tracy Briggs joins podcast host Mike McFeely to talk about Tracy's recent articles about local history. They've proven to be very popular with readers. They chat about how the idea came about, where she gets topics and what the future might hold for the series.

Topics of recent articles include serious things like John Thompson, the North Dakota man who lost his arms in a farm accident; interesting things like a cop-killer from Moorhead's frontier days; and fun things like what happened to Shakey's pizza in Fargo and whether it might make a comeback.

Writer Michael Brodkorb, a former Minnesota Republican Party operative, recently wrote a column for the Minnesota Reformer website in which he said it is time for the party to expel "crackpots" responsible for heated rhetoric and the Capitol insurrection.

He joins podcast host Mike McFeely to talk about the column and discuss where the MNGOP should go from here.

Matt Brown of the Extra Points Newsletter joins podcast host Mike McFeely to discuss all the changes rocking the Football Championship Subdivision and mid-major landscape.

And there might be more to come.

- Matt says there is likely more conference realignment coming for FCS. Find out where.

- What the WAC/Southland changes mean in the big picture.

- Was Augustana College in South Dakota a candidate to join the WAC?

- A potential change in the Summit League.

- Let's put some brakes on the FBS talk for the WAC and Atlantic Sun leagues.

- What does Matt think about NDSU potentially getting looked at by the FBS Mountain West?

Vox.com journalist Aaron Ruper joins podcast host Mike McFeely to reflect on Rupar's job the last four years — to watch, comment and post on Twitter about every speech President Donald Trump made.

We first visited with Aaron a couple of years ago, but with Trump's presidency ending next week we thought it would be a good time to check in with him again and see how he survived — and what his next job will be.

Podcast host Mike McFeely is joined by Forum News Service's South Dakota news director and reporter Jeremy Fugleberg to discuss all the things happening in the world of Gov. Kristi Noem:

-COVID response

-National profile

-SD attorney general investigation

-Legal marijuana

-Challenging Sen. John Thune

Anything else?

Mike and Jeremy hash it all out.

Host Mike McFeely answers questions submitted for his podcast mailbag.

Included are questions about his column on farmer welfare, walleye limits in Minnesota and addressing social injustice in rural areas.

Kyle Potter of Thrifty Traveler (thriftytraveler.com) joins podcast host Mike McFeely to discuss when U.S. airline travel might bounce back from pandemic depths and how travelers can take advantage of bargains available. If you're willing to look ahead a few months, there is affordable and even cheap airfare available for vacations whenever there might be a higher comfort level over traveling.

Podcast host Mike McFeely of InForum.com welcomes guest Clay Jenkinson, a humanities scholar and author, to talk about Donald Trump and Republicans' efforts to overturn the election of Joe Biden. Clay sees GOP efforts a little differently than Mike.

Also, the pair discuss former North Dakota State quarterback Carson Wentz and his struggles in the NFL this season.

Podcast host Mike McFeely of InForum reads a column he wrote in mid-December and provides some insight and analysis into his thinking about why North Dakota State's football team should seriously explore a move to the higher Football Bowl Subdivision.