Main Street

Monday, April 9 – George Bibel, UND professor of mechanical engineering, is out with a new book, “Plane Crash, the Forensics of Aviation Disasters.” He joins us to discuss what goes wrong with plane or pilot when a crash occurs. ~~~ From Weekend Edition Saturday, NPR’s Dan Charles explores the small, but growing trend in dairy farming, robotic milking. ~~~ The North Country National Scenic Trail is a footpath stretching approximately 4,600 miles from Crown Point in eastern New York to Lake Sakakawea State Park in North Dakota.

Friday, April 6 – UND philosophy professor Jack Weinstein joins us to preview Sunday’s episode of “WHY, Philosophical Discussions about Everyday Life,” a visit with Cathy O’Neil, a mathematician and author. She blogs at mathbabe.org and has written several books on data science, including Weapons of Math Destruction.

Thursday, April 5 – William “Bill” Caraher, UND History professor and Bret Weber, historian and professor of social work at UND, visit with host Matt Olien about their book, The Bakken: An Archaeology of an Industrial Landscape. See that entire conversation on Prairie Public's Youtube channel HERE. ~~~ As Harvest Public Media reported yesterday, families are increasingly drawn to the open land on the edge of big cities, with implications for previously rural areas.

Wednesday, April 4 – There’s been a lot of concern regarding the preservation of pensions for both public and private employees. Here to help explain is Dennis Kooren, who chairs two organizations seeking to protect pensions.  Kooren drove for UPS, one of the many companies moving away from defined benefit plans. ~~~ Farmland and grazing land has been disappearing across the U.S. over the last few decades, and is perhaps most evident on the edges of big cities. Harvest Public Media’s Erica Hunzinger reports on how communities are handling this transition.

Monday, April 2 – It’s time for our monthly Editors Roundtable show. In addition to news director Dave Thompson, we visit with Jim Olson, news director for KXMC in Minot; and Joe Radske of KVRR-TV in Fargo. ~~~ Tom Isern shares a Plains Folk essay, “Gregarious Geeese.” 

Wednesday, March 28 – Gaelynn Lea of Duluth, winner of the 2016 Tiny Desk Concert competition, performs tonight in Fargo. She stops by our studio to tell us how life has changed in the wake of all the national attention she’s received. ~~~ Wish Fast, a superhero walk/run in support of Make-A-Wish North Dakota, started out as a student project. It’s now in its fifth year, and takes place in 4 towns across the state. Here to tell us all about it is Nick Vculek.

Tuesday, March 27 – Heart disease and stroke can be major issues, especially if they’re not treated right away. We share an excerpt from this week’s Prairie Pulse television show as John Harris visits with Sanford doctors Michael Manchak and Thomas Haldis about signs of heart disease and stroke. ~~~ The Virginia State Home for Epileptics and Feebleminded is the name of a book by Molly McCully Brown.  She is a poet and she was at the UND Writer's Conference, which this year was themed Truth and Lies.