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Jack Dura.

FILE - In this March 14, 2012 file photo, Marilyn Hagerty samples a Lays potato chip during an interview with The Associated Press in New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

North Dakota newspaper columnist whose Olive Garden review went viral dies at 99

September 16, 2025

Marilyn Hagerty, the North Dakota newspaper columnist whose earnest review of her local Olive Garden became a social media sensation, has died. She was 99. Hagerty died Tuesday in Grand Forks. The journalist of more than 70 years wrote a review in 2012 of the newly opened Olive Garden. Her critique drew national media fascination and even attention from celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain, who defended Hagerty from online critics. Hagerty told an oral historian that the response to her review was unbelievable, from emails and phone calls to TV interviews and a tour of New York.

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A Richardson's ground squirrel pokes up from its burrow on Monday, July 14, 2025, in a vacant lot in Minot, N.D. (AP Photo/Jack Dura)

Ground squirrels are taking over a North Dakota city and officials are not amused

July 16, 2025

Ground squirrels have proliferated in Minot, North Dakota’s fourth-largest city. They’ve burrowed everywhere from vacant lots to school grounds, residential areas and the downtown area. They’re particularly plentiful on an Air Force base north of the city. A pest control operator who is leading the fight against them likens it to one man taking on a massive storm. He traps thousands of the rodents per year. A combination of the area’s plains habitat and few predators in town make Minot a nice home for the tunneling rodents, which can harbor disease from fleas and create hazards with their holes.

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Unhealthy smoke from Canadian wildfires blankets the Upper Midwest when people want to be outside

July 12, 2025

Wildfire smoke from Canada has made for bad air quality over parts of the Upper Midwest. Most of Minnesota had “unhealthy” air quality Saturday. That is according to a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency map, and parts of Montana, North Dakota and Wisconsin were also dealing with the same. The smoke strikes at a time when people want to be outdoors enjoying summer pastimes. A Minnesota resort owner said he had few guests and no boats at his docks. And in Arizona and Colorado, wildfires continue to burn in and near Grand Canyon and Black Canyon of the Gunnison national parks.

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FILE - Lawrence Welk's boyhood home is seen Strasburg, N.D. , Oct. 10, 2002. (AP Photo/Will Kincaid, File)

North Dakota’s historic sites will finally have toilets that flush

June 2, 2025

Visitors to historic sites in North Dakota will soon have flush toilets available. The State Historical Society is upgrading major sites with staffs, such as bandleader Lawrence Welk’s childhood home. The move comes as a way to improve the visitor experience and to replace portable and vault toilets at staffed sites. Other sites set for the upgrades include Whitestone Hill and Fort Buford. North Dakota has 60 historic sites, from museums to historic buildings to remote locations. Not every site will receive the restroom upgrades. Nearly 400,000 people last year visited places where the Historical Society tracks visitation.

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Finance.

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