Community

This fall, students returning to school will say goodbye to summer and their cellphones.

In April, Gov. Kelly Armstrong signed into law a bill banning student cellphone use in the state’s public schools.

The law requires cellphones to be secured during instructional time, from the start of the school day to dismissal, or “bell to bell.” It does not include school-owned devices such as laptops and tablets used for educational purposes, but covers a variety of personal devices, including smartwatches and tablets, that could distract students during the day.

Tracie Thompson hasn’t gotten a paycheck in more than a year and a half – and it isn’t because she’s not working.

She’s working – a lot. And she’s trying to make things work in the small town of Westhope, 2 miles from the Canadian border in north-central North Dakota.

A few years ago, the Westhope grocery store, which Thompson managed, was in financial trouble, and the owner was forced to close in December 2023.

A historic June 20 storm brought thunderstorms, extreme winds, large hail, tornados and even a derecho – a term reserved for the most intense, widespread and long-lasting severe thunderstorms. Wind gusts were recorded up to 101 mph 5 miles northwest of Linton, 99 mph in northern Kidder County and 94 mph near Elgin. Tornados touched down across the region, including a fatal one that killed three people in rural Enderlin. Another storm-related death occured in Stutsman County.

It was the most deadly tornado North Dakota has seen in nearly five decades.

“I’m a big believer that we need more talk about history, not less. This is how we do it,” says Robbie Lauf, executive director of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library.

For the last 10 years, Lauf has thought about Theodore Roosevelt, his favorite president, every single day. He’s seen North Dakota’s presidential library transform from an idea to a $400 million sustainable marvel at the doorstep of the Badlands, where America’s 26th president transformed his life.

Bill Butterfield is good at a lot of things.

The Lodgepole, S.D., native is in the Hettinger High School hall of fame. He got his PGA card two years after picking up a golf club. His Black Angus cows and calves eat out of the palm of his hand.

“I have to be competing in anything I do,” Butterfield says.

Four years ago, the self-taught pitmaster took home the People’s Choice award at his first competition barbecue event in Taylor.

Butterfield didn’t just bring the smoke that day: He brought his homemade seasonings.

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.

As communities across the nation prepared to celebrate America’s bicentennial in 1976, an idea surfaced in the small town of Braddock, about an hour’s drive southeast of Bismarck.

“It was at a parent-teachers meeting, and I said, ‘Well, why don’t we thresh?’ I said, ‘Nobody’s done that for years,’” recalls 91-year-old Del Svalen, who had moved to Braddock from Minnesota to teach and coach.

Ruth Iversen enjoys reading about others. She’s usually reading a historical book, with a good detective story thrown in on occasion, and recently read Jimmy Carter’s autobiography.

“I like biographies, but his was exceptional,” she says of the former president, who died at the end of 2024 at 100 years old.

Still, Iversen’s not convinced there’s something to write about when it comes to her own life.

“I can’t imagine there’s anything interesting,” she says.

Spanning across the U.S.-Canada border like a floral handshake, the International Peace Garden is a botanical haven rooted in friendship and bursting with natural beauty.

“The most unique thing about it is that it’s in two countries at the same time. It’s a garden dedicated to peace between those two countries,” says Johannes Olwage, International Peace Garden curator of living collections.

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.