Steve Stark

3/1/2012: Human blood spilled in the US Capitol when shouting and gunfire interrupted the proceedings of the US House of Representatives on this date in 1954.

2/28/2012: North Dakota’s historically small population has nonetheless, been the home of many nationally known entertainers and performers. When 87-year-old Hollywood actress Jane Russell died on this date in 2011, many citizens were unaware of her North Dakota roots.

2/23/2012: North Dakota’s favorite home grown chanteuse, Peggy Lee, was the subject of an interesting article published in the New York Daily News on this date in 1969. Given the ever changing entertainment, societal and journalism standards, the story from the end of the turbulent 60s is especially interesting.

2/20/2012: He is one of Minnesota’s most famous and influential citizens, participating in some of its most turbulent history. Henry H. Sibley, Minnesota’s first governor, was born this date in Detroit, Michigan in 1811.

2/12/2012: North Dakota audiences were treated to the first production of “The Professor’s Predicament” on this date in 1907.

1/5/2012: On this date in 1875, Andrew McHench, a visionary pioneer in the Red River Valley, introduced a bill to incorporate the City of Fargo. In addition to being one of the first landowners in Cass County, he produced one of the valley’s first wheat crops, introduced a reaper to the area for harvesting, created the first Cass County Fair, and was named first superintendent of Cass County schools, creating Fargo School District Number One and establishing Fargo’s first public school.

1/4/2012: On this date in 1875, one of the most prolific of North Dakota pioneers was preparing to introduce a bill to incorporate the City of Fargo. On passage, the newest city in northern Dakota Territory, named for businessman and NP Railway director William Fargo, became the Gate City to the Northern Plains.

12/2/2011: Hollywood's westerns have mostly ignored North Dakota, but an exception was "Dakota," a John Wayne western that premiered on this date in 1945. Even then, all the action happened on the eastern edge of the territory – In the heart of the Red River Valley.

11/22/2011: Most Americans alive on today's date in 1963 likely remember where they were when John F. Kennedy was brutally murdered during his final, and tragic, presidential Dallas motorcade. North Dakota native Clint Hill has it etched in his life – he was in the fray.

11/20/2011: One of North Dakota's most colorful and outspoken public figures, Henry Martinson was a Socialist, a Democrat, organizer of the state's Nonpartisan League, and Commissioner of Agriculture and Labor among other contributions to the state's fiery political landscape in the early 1900s. He published three prose pieces about the North Dakota labor movement.