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Governors throughout North Dakota history have given speeches to the Legislature to outline their priorities and proposals and to describe the state's outlook: a “state of the state,” it's been called. Those speeches are often given around this date, including in times of war, prosperity, gloom and uncertainty. Here’s a sampling:

People come from all over the state to eat the pies, kuchen, award-winning caramel rolls, knoephla soup, and fleischkuechle at the Little Cottage Café in Bismarck, North Dakota. On this episode of Dakota Diners, Tom Brosseau speaks with co-owner Robert Serr.

Thursday, December 22, 2022 - We’re looking back on one of our favorite conversations from 2022. From October, we reair a conversation with Christopher Vondracek, author of “Dancing with Welk: Music, Memory and Prairie Troubadours.” It’s a cheeky retelling of Lawrence Welk’s story, blending memoir, travelogue, and cultural history. ~~~ Sue Balcom joins us for Main Street Eats to talk Christmas. ~~~ Matt Olien reviews Avatar: The Way of Water.” ~~~ We share a reading from the late Doug Hamilton of “The Night Before Christmas.”

On this date in 1907, the Great Northern Railroad laid off 150 workers in Devils Lake and Minot citing poor business. In a similar move, and under the same circumstances, a rival company, the Northern Pacific Railroad, let 45 workers go two days before.

In this episode of Dakota Datebook, we'll hear Debbie Poitra, elder, educator, enrolled member of Turtle Mountain Band of the Chippewa, discuss the important role that humor plays among the indigenous people of this area.

Books make a great Christmas gift, so today we’re presenting an encore episode of Main Street with Gary Goodman, the author of The Last Bookseller: A Life in the Rare Book Trade. It’s a story punctuated with book obsessives, questionable decisions, and even death-defying treks in search of books.

Wednesday, December 21, 2022 - Whether it’s family time you’re after, or family time you’re looking to avoid this holiday season, movies fit the bill. We have a lively discussion about Christmas movies from the classics to the offbeat. We hear from Matt Olien, Greg Carlson, and Brittney Goodman, all members of the North Dakota Film Society.

In September of 1931, a community acting group organized in the city of Bismarck. Sixty people became members at the first meeting, where the group adopted a constitution and elected officers. It cost 50 cents per year to be a member. Their goal was to “provide drama as a means of recreation both for participants and audience.” Members determined that admission fees would be kept low, only enough to cover costs.

Teaching has never been an easy profession. Throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, school boards imposed severe rules on women who chose teaching as a profession. While it varied from school to school, many of the rules were common, including daily tasks like making sure the classroom had a bucket of water and a full scuttle of coal. They had to fill the lamps and clean the chimneys. Modern teachers can be glad they don’t have to clean the outhouses!

North Dakota Native American Essential Understanding Number Five is about tribal policies, treaties, and sovereignty. In this episode of Dakota Datebook, we'll hear Demus McDonald, elder and enrolled member of the Spirit Lake Dakota nation, tell the traumatic story of his own experience with assimilation policies practiced by America's Indian boarding school system.