Luann Dart

From workforce development to community walkability, North Dakota’s Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP) provides an all-encompassing blueprint to transform rural health across the state, N.D. Health and Human Services (NDHHS) Interim Commissioner Pat Traynor says.

The five-year statewide strategy hopes to strengthen rural health care and make North Dakota the healthiest state in the nation, funded with nearly $200 million in year one and supported by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, with NDHHS as the lead agency.

In her 46th year of teaching, Sharon Klein remembers the first computers incorporated into her curriculum and the introduction of the internet.

Now, artificial intelligence (AI) is streaming into her classroom.

When the English teacher first encountered ChatGPT in 2023, “cheating” was her first thought, but she has changed her mind.

As Christmas lights twinkle across the North Dakota landscape, the state’s electric cooperatives are radiating holiday cheer in their local communities.

Electric cooperatives adhere to seven cooperative principles, including concern for community, year-round. But as the holidays approach, cooperatives collaborate with their members to bring a brighter Christmas to those who may otherwise do without.

 
Wrapped in warmth

Visitors to the 45th Big Iron Farm and Construction Show will immerse themselves in three days of agricultural and construction industry innovations, with plenty of opportunities to sit in the seat and test the technology.

A free concert, exhibit booths, daily demonstrations and informational sessions are all part of the schedule for the 45th annual show.

Like a warm hug, laughter echos through the dining room as a group of ladies gathers for coffee, gleefully cajoling cookies from the kitchen staff inside the Mott Health Care Center (MHCC).

The scene is the culmination of a mighty community effort.

“Perseverance is never giving up and never losing hope” was once scripted onto a wall of the physical therapy room in the center. That seems appropriate.

As the musical notes drift over the Badlands backdrop and into the summer night sky, the Medora Musical will herald a milestone with its 2025 season. This year, it celebrates a 60-year tradition of gathering friends and families in the Burning Hills Amphitheatre for a magical evening of entertainment.

A handwritten note in the archives describes the vision for the early Medora Musical: Theodore Roosevelt, fireworks, horses and Western action.

While the performances and the venue have undergone transformations over the decades, that early vision remains.

More than 60 years after Capt. William Richardson’s F-106 aircraft crashed into the frozen prairie near Flasher in 1963, a memorial saluting his sacrifice now stands alongside Highway 31 in Grant County.

Richardson’s daughter, who was 2 years old when her father died, tearfully attended the memorial’s dedication, as a 21-gun salute sounded into the pristine sky and a P-51 Mustang roared overhead in a flyover.

The soldier’s ultimate sacrifice has been honored in a warm embrace by the state, even though he was not a native son.
 

When a severe storm sweeps through North Dakota, toppling power poles and triggering outages, electric cooperative members may ask: “Why doesn’t my local electric cooperative bury the lines underground to protect them from the elements?”

The answer isn’t simple.

For those craving peaceful waters under the North Dakota skies, the Harmon Lake Recreation Area offers an opportunity to build a sandcastle on the beach, dip a paddle in the pond or spin a tire on a trail.

The 136-acre reservoir located on Otter Creek has nearly 5 miles of shoreline, and getting to the water is easy, with a swimming area on an expansive sandy beach.

Or cast a line for northern pike, crappie, bluegill, largemouth bass or rainbow trout, launching from a public boat ramp with a dock. The lake also has a floating fishing pier.

Stretching along the shoreline of Lake Sakakawea, the Little Egypt Recreation Area’s miles of soft sand beaches beacon summertime visitors.

“It has some of the nicest beaches you’ll find in North Dakota,” says Jeremy Ludlum, director of the Williams County Parks Department.