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Grandma Mary, a pseudonym, got AIDS from a blood transfusion in 1984. Her friend, a nurse, wanted to lift Grandma Mary’s spirits, so the Bismarck Tribune ran a story about her, and gave a post office box address for people to write her. On this date in 1990 the Bismarck Tribune reported that Grandma Mary had received 300 letters. Mary said, “I was amazed. It was overwhelming. It was a surprising, amazing thing to happen to me.”

When I say that Dr. Kelley and I are flying to Norway, people around here make assumptions. So let me clarify that although I am a card-carrying member of Kringen Lodge of the Sons of Norway, I have no Norwegian ancestry; I’m in it for the pie.

When we think if parasites, we usually do not think of plants. It might surprise you, but North Dakota is home to several parasitic plants.

Tuesday, August 9, 2022 - The North Dakota Department of Commerce is inviting communities to apply for the “Artists on Main Street” program, which offers technical assistance and funding for local art projects. Each year a different community is selected. The first of the 5 planned grants went to Bowman last year. Special contributor Brandi Malarkey went to Bowman to gather interviews about the project for a feature we first aired earlier this summer. ~~~ Tom Isern shares a Plains Folk essay titled “Big History.” ~~~ Prairie Public music host Scott Prebys joins us to preview this year’s “Night of Great Jazz” ~~~ Speaking of music, we have a TellTale story from Germans-From-Russia folk singers Joe Gross of Bismarck and John Gross of Napoleon.

Monday, August 8, 2022 - We begin with comments from the public about former Main Street host Doug Hamilton, who passed away last Friday. Then Carrie Wintersteen, the executive director of Theatre B shares a heart-felt essay about Doug, an exceptional actor and an exceptional person. ~~~ We also talk about Doug with Bill Thomas, Prairie Public director of radio. ~~~ Minnesota author Brian Freeman took over the Bourne franchise, but that’s just one of his many writing projects. A new thriller released tomorrow is “I Remember You,” a gripping psychological thriller about a woman haunted by terrifying memories – of someone else's life. ~~~ Chuck Lura shares a Natural North Dakota essay about pocket gophers.

Few county officials in North Dakota have been removed from office, but one of the most dramatic cases reached the state Supreme Court. Sioux County State’s Attorney George H. Purchase was serving his second term when on this date in 1927 five voters filed charges against him for misconduct in office, malfeasance and habitual drunkenness. The accusations prompted Gov. Arthur Sorlie to suspend Purchase.

Thursday, August 11, 2022 - With the recent death of our colleague Doug Hamilton, we’re thinking a lot about grief. Here to talk about the stages of grief and how to work through them is Janna Kontz, a grief specialist and Chaplain with Hospice of the Red River Valley. ~~~ Farmers and ranchers try to protect their soil and land, sometimes getting paid by the federal government to do so. For decades, it’s been a pretty routine corner of agriculture. That may be changing, with President Joe Biden announcing a goal to conserve 30 percent of the country’s lands by 2030. Harvest Public Media’s Elizabeth Rembert reports from Nebraska, where a wary governor has a lot of questions. ~~~ Sue Balcom joins us to discuss problems with pickles.

Friday, August 12, 2022 - James Arnett is the author of Bean Fate, a novel based on a true crime, centered in the village of Bienfait in Saskatchewan, but involving towns in North Dakota as well. It’s the story of a prohibition-era murder investigated by a rookie cop. ~~~ Dave Thompson joins us for this week’s news chat. ~~~ Pride events are underway in Fargo. It comes at a time where a number of topics related to that community have been making headlines. We visit with Mari Hall, one of the organizers.

In the early history of the State Historical Society of North Dakota, the offices were in the basement of the original Capitol. It wasn’t a lot of space, which soon became a problem. In 1913, Secretary Orin G. Libby of the State Historical Society, reported, “the crowded condition of the museum rooms… made it impossible for the Society to enter into any considerable collecting …”

In 1913, Orin G. Libby, secretary at the State Historical Society, reported that the curator of the society was anxious to secure representative collections illustrating the early life of the state’s various nationalities. Only one had proper representation, according to Libby; and while you might think that it was the German, Norwegian or indigenous populations, you would be incorrect. The only group reported as having good representation was the Icelandic population.