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North Dakota entered the United States as a dry state in 1889, several decades before the 18th Amendment was fully ratified in 1919, making prohibition country-wide. Tales of bootleggers, rum runners, and blind pigs populate the history of the country during these years, including in North Dakota. Yet on this date in 1931, a survey out of Washington D.C. stated that the prohibition situation in North Dakota was "encouraging." The Bismarck Tribune reported that the survey described North Dakota rather blandly as making "wonderful progress under the state and federal prohibition."

Friday, Feb 18 – Scholar and author Dr. David Treuer is speaking at the Gamechanger event from Humanities ND on Sunday. We share a conversation with Treuer from 2019 about his book, “The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present.” ~~~ Harvest Public Media reports on vertical farming. ~~~ News Director Dave Thompson is here for his weekly news debrief. ~~~ Matt Olien reviews Don’t Look Up.

Two astronomers go on a media tour to warn humankind of a planet-killing comet hurtling toward Earth.

Tuesday, February 22, 2022 - Just in time for another week of bone-chilling temps, it’s National Sauna Week. We visit with Ellen Liddle, president of Red River Finns about the staple cold-weather activity. There’s a SaunaFest coming up this weekend in Fargo. ~~~ We have a Natural North Dakota essay from biologist Chuck Lura and the emerald ash borer. ~~~ Starkweather Phy Ed and Business teacher Jodi Erickstad got a ND Teacher Innovation Grant. She’s using the money to buy snowshoe kits to get kids outdoors during the winter.

On this date in 1921, readers of the Hope Pioneer learned that North Dakota teachers were being encouraged to use new, cutting edge technology – phonographs and records.

Thursday, February 17, 2022 - We think of plastic as petroleum based. We hear from Dr. Graeme Wyllie on creating bioplastics using lobster shells and seaweed. ~~~ We share a Natural North Dakota essay on the winter bird count. ~~~ Tom Isern has a Plains Folk essay, “The Devil’s Lane.” ~~~ Sue Balcom helps us prep for the upcoming gardening season in this week’s Main Street Eats.

Tosten Boe and his wife Mildred, of Minot, had a bit of luck after a lot of bad luck in 1947. The two lived in a house in Minot, and unfortunately for them, some coal gas started filtering into their house. It would not take long for this to affect them. Tosten fell onto the ground, and Mildred passed out on their bed. That was nearly the end of the Boes, and they would have died on this date except for a little luck.

How many times have you seen the Northern Lights in the nighttime sky? It has been reported that it was more common to see the them in North Dakota back in the 1880s. For example, on this date in 1887, the Griggs County [Cooperstown] Courier reported: “The aurora borealis or northern lights were beautifully visible in the northern skies on Monday night.”

For Sue Balcom, it's never too soon to start planning for the growing season.

Around this time in February 1925 at the University of North Dakota, student editors of the 1926 Dacotah yearbook were putting their final touches on their work. The University's student newspaper reported that the book would include an epic poem that, in the editor's words, "approaches anything ever written by Longfellow or any of the rest of the immortals.” The writers of the poem were members of the yearbook staff, but they were characterized by the paper as the "noted campus poet laureate," Diplodocus.