Main Street
Anything But Typical; News Review; Critique of 'The Bike Riders'
(upbeat music) - This is Main Street on Prairie Public, I'm Ashley Thornberg. Coming up in the second half of today's show, our weekly news discussion with Dave Thompson and Madeline reviews the new film The Bike Riders. But we are going to start today with an event that helps people be connected and educated and informed about neurodivergence and what is called the neurotypical brain. Joining me now is John David Burdle. He is the organizer of this event. It is happening this Saturday, June 29th at the Plains Art Museum in Fargo. It is free and open to the public 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. to meet, discuss and learn about neurodivergent brains and neurotypical brains. And what pros and cons they both have and how we can all learn to understand each other a little bit better. John, thank you so much for joining us today. - You're very, very welcome. And that's so key. That's what I've been telling people. You just said understand each other. That is so important. That's what all of this is about. - What are the hallmarks of a neurodivergent brain? - Okay, yeah. And so that covers like neurodivergent or neuroatypical isn't just autism. A lot of people have been thinking because I'm autistic. They think it's an autism event. It's so much more. I mean, that covers what? Yeah, autism, ADHD, OCD, Tourette's dyslexia, dyscalculia, schizophrenia is a neuroatypical condition or it's a type of neurodivergence, you know? And then every human being, we're all under that umbrella of neurodiversity. Everyone has a different type of brain. That's just brain difference, you know? Is neurodiver, neurodiver. - Right, it almost raises the question, is neurotypical a thing? That like, that sounds like a misnomer. - Oh, I suppose so. Yeah, like atypical, typical, normal, whatever. It's, you know, yeah, we're getting to the point now where a lot of people just, I suppose, naturally, or what instinctively or something like that, just realize, you know what? I ought not to be thinking this way. You know, their mindsets are definitely changing because we're talking about it more. Of course, I'm being more vocal. I'm being more visible, you know? Or a parent or obvious, you know? And just talking about these issues or these matters or these subjects, you know? And normalizing them and humanizing them is what I talk about. It's just, this has been going on for a long time. - Yeah, so walk us through this event when you have this many things to talk about. Like you said, if this is not just autism and not autism, this goes way beyond that. And who is going to be sort of presenting and teaching at this event? - Sure, yeah, so I'm gonna provide an art activity called Rainbow City, okay? And so that's gonna be just about inclusion. You know, it's like, I've been saying rainbow city where there's no such thing as a wrong color. So everyone can walk in. Hornbockers has donated, like milk cartons 'cause they're in the shape of houses, you know, so we can make a type of city and something like that. And so if kids walk in, or families walk in, individuals walk in, be like, let's make this, gosh, let's, what? Let's make something that ought not to be red, red, the sky, let's make the sky just bright red, okay? You know, let's make the road yellow, okay? Let's make the grass purple, okay? There's no such thing, there's no wrong answer, there's no wrong choice. Okay, there's no wrong person, so to speak. Everyone's included, everyone's welcome. You know, does Superman live here? Yes, you know, does the Spiderman live here? Yes, do I live here? Yes, you know, we're all a part of this, you know? And that's, you know, I'm not gonna speak too much about that subject, we're just gonna be painting more, but that's what's being modeled, you know, this involvement, you know? And this, letting people know that they're essential, that they're important. Why is that so important, especially for the younger minds to hear? Oh, goodness, because, well, so often, and I was speaking about this when I was being chatted with by Valley News Live, which is really great, outside of Plains Art Museum, just the other day, just the other morning, it was really great. I saw that. I did, okay, yeah, yeah, that went super, super well. I had to actually bike to, I didn't say this, like on that show, but I had to bike to a friend's place at 3 a.m. to get his car to drive there to be, that's how committed I am to, you know, making certain all of this happens, you know? So what is like the importance of inclusion, right? Yeah. What's the importance of that? 'Cause, well, individuals, I don't know about what, it just so happens that often people feel different or they feel like they're outside or outsiders or not welcome, okay? And I find that things just slow down, gosh, this is so, is this like a truth that it's bordering on stupidity, me talking about it? You know, it's like that it's so true that people feel like they don't belong sometimes. And a lot of things don't get handled or what people don't get helped out or things don't get taken care of because they believe they're not welcome or included or supposed to be somewhere at a certain time. So to make certain that's promoted, to make certain people understand that it's like different doesn't mean bad. Yeah. Okay? It's just because in a lot of individuals, perhaps with one condition or another, what? And through no fault of their own, a lot of businesses, a lot of clinics, a lot of professionals will say, oh, you're not bad, you're just different or you're not wrong, you're just different. You know, you're not ugly, you're just different. You know, but they internalize that, they're different, different. They just keep hearing that you're different, you're different, you know. And so they, a lot of, I'm also a DSP, a direct support professional and that comes up. I get asked sometimes by clients, I get asked by people, when do I stop being different? Oh. You know, when do I start being a part of just the whole? The part of the culture, part of the community, you know? When do I stop being, you know, an outlier? Right. And so that's talking to people about that, hearing, you know, their stories, I realized, you know what? I'm just going to set up an event. So last year I just put it on myself at the main library in Fargo. And that went really, really well as like 150 people, just on the last Saturday in April, you know, the first time something like that had happened where it was, yeah, activities and just discussions, you know, and resources. You know, and people were just together in the same room, you know, just to realize, hopefully to realize, wait, we're just people, we're not problems. We're people. Yeah, you know? Yeah, let's talk about that because this being told, you're not bad, you're just different. Like it's, the people mean well when they say something like that. But like you said, this sort of cumulative effect ends up being not particularly helpful. So John, how do you want to talk to the people who are saying that over and over again? Like the education here, the onus needs to be moved onto those people saying, you're not bad, you're just different. What are some better things that we can be saying and better ways to interact? Absolutely. So what I've been saying about this event and I guess the work I've been doing too is know better, do better, be better, okay? And I do believe knowing is a part of what, working together and collaborating and accomplishing or achieving so much, especially in this day and age. And yeah, so what would I say to these individuals? Well first, I wouldn't just call them wrong, I wouldn't tell them to shut up, I wouldn't tell them to go away, 'cause that just swings the pendulum in the other, or to call them different, 'cause it's just this pendulum going back and forth sometimes. If we may say, or if we must say like extremes or something like that, Carl Jung talked about that in Anteodromeia, just one way to the other way. And so not just settling in a balanced sort of place. And so what I would say to some individuals is I would have a gentle and thoughtful conversation about, it's kind of like, when you keep calling someone something, any type of label, if you just keep saying it again and again and again, instead of who that person believes that person's supposed to be, the individual who has, and I talk about when I teach autism classes, specifically for autism classes for like autism in the workplace, autism in the household, how we can better what, I suppose love each other and accept each other and learn more about each other in a very healthy and helpful sort of way. But I'll talk about, we need to presume competence and provide agency to individuals, okay? Presume competence and provide agency. And sometimes people are like, huh, what do you mean? And some experts or maybe specialists who are listening to this know what I'm talking about. You just walk in and it's kind of like, you're human being. So I'm going to treat you with fairness and equality or whatever. But some people still don't like, what? What do you mean agency? Is it like a law firm or what? Is it a real estate or (laughs) some people are, and so I'll talk about-- - Agency as in the ability to be independent. - Absolutely, and make your own choices and follow your own path. And so I'll talk about grace and offering people that. So how would I talk to people about the subject? I will presume they already know what it is that I'm talking about this kind of competence. I'm not saying they're as smart as I am. I'm just saying that they're educated and they're informed and they're aware of certain things. Perhaps they're aware of a lot of things that I'm not aware of, me being autistic myself. Sometimes I don't see the bigger picture, so to speak. I work too, though. I've done a really good job of that. Seeing the bigger, broader picture, 'cause some people say I'm so wise, and it's like, whoa, jeez, I've just paid enough attention. So I talk with people. I have discussions with them. I don't order them around. I don't dictate things. I'm not an authoritarian to people if they need to change. I let them know why change could be a good idea. But it's up to them. It's really up to them if they ought to do it. - We're visiting today with John David Berdahl. He is organizing the "Anything But Typical" event happening this Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Plains Art Museum organized by the Red River Valley Asperger Autism Network. And this event is free and open to the public. John, talk a little bit more about the Red River Valley Asperger Autism Network. And the work that you are doing here, what is our R-van? - So yeah, yeah, they're an organization that works to support families and individuals with what autism spectrum disorder and Asperger syndrome. That's what I was diagnosed with, Asperger syndrome. That's been folded into kind of autism. It's not talked about that much anymore. It's not like it's being hidden, although some people are learning the history of like Dr. Asperger. And it's like, why would you even, I was asked by someone, why would you even mention that you were diagnosed with that? And I tell people it's part of the history. He was funded, he was funded by the Nazis. So yeah, and so some people are kind of like, whoa, whoa, and so, and that's not the only reason why it's been folded into autism spectrum disorder, that sort of thing. It's just become kind of redundant to say high functioning autism. - Yeah. - You may as well just say autism. - Yeah. - You know, the diagnosis is autism. - Yeah. - You know. Yeah, and so anyway, yeah, so they work to support individuals, support being, you know, making certain that they can come together, have meaningful and very impactful and very exciting and thrilling sorts of experiences with one another. Like, we had a game on. I'm a board member for this organization. I'm the only board member who is diagnosed with autism. Okay. And they have allowed me to really just take the reins, take the lead on this event. Yeah, I put it on last year by myself. - And this year, it's a bit more of a team effort. - Yeah, exactly. And that's what I've been working towards. It can't just, it ought not to just be me, you know, doing all of this because it's not about me. You know, yeah, it's like, I'm a part of it, but we're all a part of it. You know, you're a part of it too. You're doing this work right now, the work I'm doing, like us having this conversation. That's how change is happening. You know, all of us just sitting down, you know, and doing it. And so that's what our van attempts to promote and succeeds in doing that sort of thing. - Yeah, so we were having like, before I joined, there were, I think it was the league and there were Legos and they had something called the league. And we, when I joined or when I was recruited for the board, there to be a board member, we had movie Mondays going on at Marcus theaters where it was a sensory-friendly sort of experience. And we're chatting with the Fargo Theater about continuing that sort of thing. Yeah. - What is a sensory-friendly experience? What does that mean? - Oh yeah, so for us, for the experience, we were attempting or that we did provide. So yeah, it would be like, I would go around the theater and ask, you know, individuals are the lights set to where you need them just to make certain, you know, people were having a very pleasant, a very rewarding, you know, a very entertaining, you know, sort of time, comfortable, I guess too, comfortable, you know, and safe sort of time. So yeah, the lights weren't too bright. You know, the volume wasn't too loud. And so Marcus theaters would turn down the volume of the film in the theater. And it's like, yeah, how amazing is that? - Yeah, well, that was one of the more interesting things that to me anyway, came out of COVID is the amount of people who started to sort of realize how much the environment around them impacts the mood. That was the first time that I realized I didn't need to get a headache every single day, that it was the lights causing the headache. And when I was working from home, I just don't have fluorescent light bulbs at home. So, you know, I wasn't exposed to them every single day. And then now, when I'm here at work, I don't turn on the overhead lights in the studio. What a shocking thing. But it took until COVID for me to really realize that. Let's talk about John, some of the systemic issues that can come up just like you said, from this complete lack of knowledge, even on my own part. And that's just a sensitivity to light there. But I'm thinking of things like teachers who might have 30 and 40 students in their classroom and can't give sort of the same individualized attention to students who might otherwise be able to thrive with just a small change, like the temperature or the lights. - Certainly, yeah. And I suppose it kind of seems simple, you know, that's what I was thinking of. It seems like simple things to do, just to ask, are you comfortable, you know? Is this the type of environment that is conducive towards you learning or something like that? But I guess, yes, some kids would be like, huh? You know? - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - When you say conducive, maybe, you know. - What, you know, sort of thing. So yeah, yeah, talking about things, definitely what I present about, I've been presenting to like the Morehead Police Department and it's just a joy to be there, you know? - What are you doing with the police? - Oh, so I talked to them about what to do in kind of crisis situations or difficult situations if individuals on the spectrum, if officers, you know, need to, you know, handle something or protect and serve. You know, if there's been some sort of crime or if there's some sort of, you know, difficulty or complexity or, you know? And so I've been working with them. I've been presenting now for a couple of years in the fall and in the spring to their officers and talking about certain, you know, like how to talk to some autistic individuals, like being descriptive, utilizing concrete language, you know? Don't-- - Give us some examples if you could. - Oh, sure, absolutely. So yeah, the first thing I let them know is just do not show up and get right in their face, you know? 'Cause autistic individuals, they're incredibly sensitive to, of course, like close proximity and also making direct eye contact. That can make them very, very uncomfortable. It can make them very, very, I don't know about unstable, but, you know, really resistant. - Sure, but in this culture that's interpreted as sort of being not trustworthy. - Oh yeah, I suppose, so yeah, not looking at a person's eyes and, you know, or non-compliant, you know? So talking about non-compliant, to be really specific. I talked to them just recently and I've been working, it's not like I've been hiding some things when talking to them or talking to schools 'cause I talked to Minnesota State Community Technical College as well to law enforcement students and dental students and nursing students and they had so many questions, you know? But anyway, so the officers, the officers at the Moorhead Police Department, I was talking with them and I just, I work things in gradually instead of, here is everything all at once. 'Cause I realize they do not have a brain like I do, you know, 'cause that's how I, you know? - There's only so much information my brain can take in before it fatigues. - And that's what I've been learning that mine, I can assimilate vast amounts, you know? I can, you know, just, I can learn so much so quickly with the memory that I've got and not knowing how to like feel tired or feel nervous. So I just, I've just absorbed stuff and now I've learned living in, I suppose, a typical sort of world, a typical dominant world, you know? In no way do I mean to put, like to say I'm being dominated but it's like a right hand dominant world. I know a typical, a neurotypical dominant. - Right, it's just harder to be left handed in this society. - Yeah, I suppose so, yeah. Yeah, that's what I've been told. (laughing) I'm right handed. (laughing) Anyway, so I've been working in, you know, some kind of subject or some topics or terms, you know, slowly, you know, as to not overwhelm individuals. But one we just talked about was demand avoidance. Okay, and so human beings do that sort of thing, demand avoidance, but individuals with autism do it, or it's sometimes called pathological demand avoidance or pervasive demand avoidance, okay? - Yeah, I don't know what that means. - So yeah, and thank you so much. And they didn't know either. And for me, I live this, you know, I don't really exhibit it because again, I don't know how to feel the other symptom. I've got alexithymia, kind of cancels it out a little bit. So that's how I look typical, or I look normal because of just how, I don't know, it's like a magic sort of, I don't know, it's the right sort of a mix, the right mix of symptoms that I've got kind of made it. So it looks like I'm just your average sort of Joe or average sort of John. Anyway, so yeah, demand avoidance as anxiety rises, okay? Avoidance increases or as demand or pressure, as pressure increases, okay? As you confront someone, especially on the autism spectrum, if they start to feel really uncomfortable, they will begin to say, no, no, you know, they won't work with you, they won't agree with it, they won't, you know, and also if it's not part of the routine, if it's not part of, you know, the repetitive, I don't know about behavior or something like that. - Yeah. - Yeah, and so how that often looks sometimes is parents will say kind of, what? It's zero degrees outside, Jimmy, you gotta wear your jacket and Jimmy will go, no. And there's no way around, there's no way to convince them, you know? - Yeah. - And if you start to push even more, if you start to demand even more. - They're gonna shut down. - Yeah, more avoidance, more resist, more refusal, you know? And so I talk to the officers about this, the more you try and push someone on the spectrum, the more, because I don't know how to be intimidated. You know, I tell officers that, I don't know how to be scared. I don't know how to be, you know, like, I've had officers, you know, question me about just certain things, what did you see, you know, where are you going at certain times? And I'll just be like, what are you doing, you know? I'll just chat with them as if we're like best friends and they're like, what are you, they'll be like, what are you doing, you know? Like, don't you get how this works? And it's like, well, you're just a person, you know? It's like, I don't see officer, I don't see, you know, that sort of thing. And so, I do now, of course, you know. And of course, I present to them, I respect them so much. - Right, but that would be interpreted as sort of defiance and something that needs to be punished. - Or maybe that needs to be understood differently. - Yeah, absolutely. And that happens in classrooms, that happens in households, parents are like, oh my gosh, I had no idea that's going on inside. You know, that totally makes sense now. You know, why it seems like they're being my son or daughter or child is being so, I guess, difficult, you know? I just thought, you know, they just didn't care or something like that, but it's just know how a person, I guess, is wired or how the brain is firing and interpreting the input, you know? And when people know about that, how involuntary a lot of the behavior or a lot of the conduct is, you know? That leads to them kind of easing off a little bit or calming down, you know? So it's kind of like, oh, they're not doing it out of spite. You know, that's just how they, you know, experience it. That's just how their brains are experiencing it. You know, and I've put in the work. So now I can talk about it, you know? Hopefully in a very clear way, you know, to you and to others. - Yeah, we just have about a minute and a half left here, but I wanna learn about your role as an access coordinator also at the Plains Art Museum. What is that? - Yeah, so that's something, so I work with them, I don't work for them, you know, I made certain, now they're creating, like, oh, so I'm an access consultant. - Okay. - And so that's how I work with them. And they're putting together this access coordinator kind of position where individuals, I imagine it'll be a professional or some type of, I don't know about expert, maybe, but a person who has a wealth of knowledge and wealth of experience and knows how to apply that in certain situations, especially at that sort of, you know, I guess, organization or location or destination, where people can't, oh, yeah, I had to stop right there. I was gonna keep, I was gonna perseverate. That's, I was going to stay on track and keep saying words that ended in, you know, F-T-I-O-N. Anyway, so. (laughing) - Just as you can, doesn't mean you should. - Yeah, exactly, and I have to catch it. That's the kind of work I have to do to make certain that I'm relatable, you know? Anyway, so yeah, they'll find a person, if it's me, that'd be great, you know, I absolutely volunteer, but to make things fair and fun, you know, and really accommodating, you know, and accessible. For so many individuals who have, I suppose, disabilities or if we must say limitations or exceptionalities, you know, yeah. - Visiting today with John David Burdle about the event, anything but typical happening. This Saturday at the Plains Art Museum, it is free and open to the public. It is 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. This is a celebration of a neurodivergence in your opportunity to learn about how different brains work differently and how we can ideally learn to understand one another and come to just being a little bit more harmony. - Yes, absolutely, unity, harmony. I was just asked by John Strand. I was visiting with him and he had said, like, what does rich look like to you, you know, or what does wealth look like to you, John? You know, I'm sitting in his office, wow, what a question, what a great question. I said that to him, what a great question, you know, and I had said, first, opportunity and ability. That's like wealth to me, but then he said visibly or like visually, what does that look like to you? Everyone in the same room talking it out, you know, that to me is wealthy, that to me is rich, you know, that to me, and so that's what this event is totally all about. Yes, it's for families to learn more, you know, people who are curious, you know, about neurodivergence, neuroatypical conditions, you know, that brain being, I suppose, that different. But it's for all of us, to come together, there's gonna be board games, there's gonna be, yeah, activities, there's gonna be an art activity, meet and greet area, businesses, tabling on the third floor, so yeah, people can just talk to those businesses that attempt to help out as much as possible. - A wealth of opportunities and information, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Plains Art Museum. John, thank you so much for your time today. - Oh, yes, you're very, very welcome, thank you. - Still to comma on in Main Street, News Director Dave Thompson, that's after this. - Support for Prairie Public is provided by Starry and Bank, determined to provide smart banking solutions with innovative checking accounts and personal banking tools that match your lifestyle. Starry and taking you farther, learn more at starryandbank.com. ♪ I'm strong, I'm strong ♪ ♪ Read all about ♪ ♪ Bank, Bank, Bank, Bank, Bank, Bank, Bank, Bank ♪ ♪ Gather round everybody ♪ - And with that, we know it's time to review the news with Prairie Public's News Director, Dave Thompson. - Hey, how are you doing, Craig? - Dave, Prairie Public tonight will broadcast the presidential debate. What's the schedule? - Well, it's going to be 8 a.m. central, 7 p.m. mountain time tonight. Getting it on the air on Prairie Public on NPR was kind of a challenge because for a while there it looks like we weren't going to be able to broadcast it, but now we are. And they're going to be following some different rules as we've heard about, you know, they'll shut off a microphone and they'll try to control answers and things like that. It couldn't, what it's going to be interesting is going to be how the pundits are going to look at it afterwards. I think that's going to be as interesting as what the debate brings out. Dave also let our listeners know that NPR.org will offer a live video feed from CNN via YouTube and they'll also be a live blog with reporting and analysis. They'll be in North Dakota in attendance tonight. Dave, of course that's Governor Doug Burgum. Apparently it's been teased a lot this week. He's one of the finalists and the VP sweepstakes if you will. Yes, he's down to one of three or one of five. He will be in the debate area, but he actually will not be on set. There will be an audience that will be off the set. They're keeping it closed. And no new news on whether he may be the chosen one. Not yet, but he said they will, you know, Donald Trump said he would make the announcement during this debate or at this debate or right after this debate. So we'll just have to kind of sit on the edge of our seat and see what happens. Onto the news of the week. Sad piece of reporting that we all tried to understand. Now a disgraced former North Dakota lawmaker, Ray Holmberg, has pled guilty to child sex tourism charges. Dave, what's the fallout? Well, that's an interesting question because they have not been sentenced yet. He's going to be sentenced a little bit later on, but this is the plea agreement that they did sign. And it is a sex tourism charge. It's basically one count. The charges that he intended, and it's an intent charge, he intended to travel to have sex with minors. The minors, however, have different age limitation depending on where you are. In the United States, it's 18. And the intent charge is to have sex with someone under the age of 18. Where his destination was, I found out that the age of consent is 15. But it is kind of sad. And as a lot of people have said, no matter what happens, where he sentenced, his reputation has been tarnished. What are other lawmakers talking to you about, Dave? A lot of lawmakers basically say they really can't believe it. They're having trouble believing this. There's still a lot of respect for his job as a legislator. He was an even-handed type guy as a legislator. The general consensus is, good guy, sorry this had to happen to him. And the fact is, is that he apparently now has pled guilty to these charges. All right, Dave, we'll follow when it comes to sentencing. Dave, the university's chancellor's contract has been extended by six months. Was that a surprise to you? Yes, it was. Let's just go back. There has been a bit of an undercurrent in higher education about the chancellor. There are some people on that board of higher education who wanted to get rid of him. So what they did was apparently came to a deal where he's going to stay on for an extra six months and then transitioned into the class when he's going to be talking about AI and cybersecurity. And he happens to be an expert. He's written books on AI and cybersecurity. And he's going to be through the North Dakota Digital Academy. Dave, the canvassing board meant, yesterday, you were there. They've certified, now, or finalized the results of the 2024 primary election. What was the common discussion in the room? Common discussion was that it was a clean election. There were a few problems. And the problem that the secretary of state, Michael Hall, had to put a spotlight on is that some of the ballots that were received didn't have a postmark stamp. And that would be a fault of the United States Postal Service. So he wants to meet with the Postal Service to again say, this is important, we need that stamp. Some counties have accepted those mail-in ballots without the stamp because of the intent of the voter. They didn't want to ruin the intent of the voter. The other thing that I thought was kind of interesting is this situation in Stutzman County where somebody, one of the election workers, apparently tried to mess with some of the ballots and had a campaign button on. And I guess that's going to be up for Stutzman County to see if they're going to do anything about that. - Yeah, that's unfortunate that that happened. But I'm glad it was recognized and potentially will be dealt with. - Yes, now 120,000 ballots were cast. 20.26% of voter turnout, which is not bad compared to two years ago, but two years ago, everything was basically mail-in ballot because of COVID. And so he's a little bit disappointed that it was slightly below average for a primary, which is the normal average is about 22%. Of course, they'll likely be more voting in the upcoming general election. - I think there will be. - Yes. - All right, Dave, there's a state office building on the Capitol grounds that's set to be torn down and it has some history. - It does, and I had to write the history because I knew the history. Just watching this building, you know, it started as Bismarck's Junior College, which became Bismarck State College. And it was built in the early 1950s. Well, BJC at the time moved to Northwest, North Dakota. I mean, the Highway Department moved in. And when the Highway Department got its new building in the late '60s, they moved out and the Water Commission moved in. Water Commission moved out in 2022. The small irony of this, and I just find it a little funny, the reason the Water Commission moved out was mold. And it was built, as we found out later, it was built over an underground stream. - Perfect place for the Water Commission. - Exactly, it is. - Dave, the state is experiencing a prison-over-crowding problem and is trying to use, now, county jails to help out, and we're talking about male prisoners in the state. - That is correct, and they've contracted with, say, the Burleigh County Detention Center in Bismarck. They're contracting with other jails that have some room right now, but everybody is complaining we're running out of room. What used to be the Youth Correctional Center is now a women's prison in Mandan, and there's just some nation talk about maybe expanding that, too, to have more male prisoners, but I don't know if that's gonna work. Then you've got the minimum security Missouri River Correctional Center, that's south of Bismarck, and everybody is full. - From someone who has just recently moved here, Dave, is it trending? Is the population trending upward? And do we understand the reasons for that trend? - Well, that's just it. We have more population in North Dakota, and that brings with it potentially more crime. It probably doesn't mean a percentage increase of those who are offenders, but we just have more offenders 'cause we have more people in the state. - Matter of numbers. There's a, we talked about this last week, a little bit of coalition now has formed to really oppose the measure to end local property taxes, and these are the folks that benefit from local property taxes that would face uncertainty if their revenue stream immediately ended. - Right, and they had announced this last week, and now I have some breaking news for you. The committee that is backing the measure to end property taxes will deliver petitions to the Secretary of State tomorrow afternoon at 2 p.m. It is likely it will be on the ballot, but they have to go through a process to make sure that the signatures are correct. That may take a little while, but it will be on the ballot probably this fall. - Property taxes for my family are much higher here in North Dakota than they were in Wyoming, and I can understand the frustration that many people feel who have lived here for a long time and have seen the value of their home skyrocket and with that property taxes. - I think, Craig, you've got the crux of the problem right there. Property values go up, your taxes, property taxes go up as well, and there are some proposed legislative solutions to try to put some caps on how much you can raise your property taxes. - There is a concern that it would be $1.3 billion each year and listening to our OMB Director, if you took the Legacy Fund and spent down the Legacy Fund, you'd probably run out in 20 years on the Legacy Fund, and if you went to the, what does they call the SIF Fund, which is kind of like general fund number two, they'd probably have it for six months. - I think I've mentioned before, Dave, in Wyoming they're considering eliminating property taxes too, but also then increasing sales tax by 2% to offset that. That has gotten some traction in the legislature, as has a problem to half property taxes and then increase sales tax by one cent. So this is not just an issue here in North Dakota. - Oh yeah, it's initial all over the place. As a matter of fact, North Dakota, you may see your property taxes high, but we're just under the top 10 in terms of states that have local property taxes. It's not the most in the country, but it is kind of high. - Dave, housing in North Dakota is still in the news. - Oh yes, it is. And there's a couple efforts about housing. One that was approved by the States Industrial Commission yesterday would provide some funding from the bank in North Dakota to have workforce housing built. Now the thing is that in Grafton, there might be an expansion of Marvin Windows in the Grafton, and that would bring with it the need for more housing. And of course in Ellendale, you've got that data center going in there, and that could create 50 new full-time jobs, and they're hurting for housing. And the idea is that the state could help because housing construction costs are the same whether you're in Fargo or in Ellendale. - Jobs are great, folks have to have a place to live. Dave speaking of housing, homelessness in Fargo has been in the news also. - Yes it has. As a matter of fact, Chief Dave Zabolsky, the Fargo Police Department has just testified before a legislative committee that's looking at the homelessness situation. And he said the homelessness situation has kind of stretches the officers a bit thin because they're responding to a lot of calls. And a lot of calls come in because they're concerned about the homeless in Fargo. He said most of the calls they get, these are not criminals wandering around. The few calls that they do have for people who are maybe unruly or something like that, well, you've got a case where mental health is a problem for a percentage of the homeless in Fargo and they need more work on that side. So a legislative committee is taking a look at how do you do that? What do you do to deal with the mental health issue? Dave, what are you and your team working on for next week? I think we're going to be doing some follow up depending on whether or not Governor Bergen is going to be the vice presidential candidate. We get to review the news once a week with our news director Dave Thompson. Dave, thanks for stopping by Main Street. Thank you, Craig. (upbeat music) Madeline reviews the movie The Bike Riders. That's next, stay with us. Support for Pray Public is provided by North Dakota Living, celebrating 70 years of featuring the great people in places of North Dakota and proudly serving the members of North Dakota's electric cooperatives. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) When you hear the fanfare, that means it's time to go off to the movies with Madeline Matt, a quite a bit of action and drama in a movie that you've seen about a big motorcycle gang. The bike rider, so this is based on a series of photographs that ended up in a book in the late '60s by Danny Lyon and he took photos of a Midwest biker club called The Outlaws. And it became this picture book, this chronicle of these years of this bike riding club that became more than a bike riding club as the years went on. It got into more criminal activities and whatnot. So in the movie, written and directed by Jeff Nichols, now he is a wonderful independent filmmaker, Mud, with Matthew McConaughey was one of his movies, Take Shelter with Michael Shannon. And here he turns his attention to kind of that culture of motorcycle gangs, bike riding gangs. And so he calls them The Vandals in the movie, so it's a fictionalized account of The Outlaws. And I would say this is a good film, kind of in search of being a great film and it doesn't get there. There's some interesting scenes, there's some interesting performances throughout. I like the first half of the movie a lot better than the second half, Ashley. I thought the second half kind of lost its dramatic push a little bit and I'll get to that in a minute. It's told in kind of semi-documentary style. So Jody Comer, English actress, plays Kathy, who ends up marrying Benny, who in the film was played by Austin Butler, who of course played Elvis a couple of years ago. And in the movie, she kind of serves as our guide and narrator as the Mike Feist character who plays basically Danny Lyon, the guy who took the photos, made the interviews, chronicled this bike riding club. So he interviews her in a couple different parts, first 1965, then 1973. So you know by the 1973 interviews, eventually something's gonna come to a head with this biker gang. So Jody Comer is really our guide. She, you know, marries Benny. She kind of tells the interviewer what happens with the gang and all these things that happen and how she views the gang. So she's our guide through the gang and how it gets formed. It's formed by Johnny, played by Tom Hardy, of course, big, big, big film star. And he's sort of the leader of the gang. And he seems to be kind of channeling Marlon Brando in the wild one, I would say. In fact, there's a reference to that movie in the movie where he watches the wild one on TV and gets the idea to form this gang. - Oh wow. - Austin Butler. I swear seems to be channeling James Dean and Elvis a little bit here. So they're both kind of, you know, getting into their performances and they're all good. Hardy's really good. Jody Comer kind of steals the movie as Kathy. But as I said, I think the first half is a little more interesting, Ashley, as they're kind of forming the club and kind of getting the rules. And I also wanted a little bit more as to why these guys join these clubs. They really don't, Nichols doesn't really get into that too much of the kind of the bonding and why they join and kind of this bromance love affair with Johnny and Benny in the movie. So I wanted a little bit more of that, but there's a lot of interesting scenes. There's a lot of foreshadowing. You can kind of tell how this is going to end up by the end of the movie. So I think it's worth a look, but I don't think it's quite what it was supposed to be. And I think the release was delayed for a while. This was supposed to come out last year or it did not come out last year. So you kind of wonder about that. But I thought it was a pretty solidly made film. I don't think it's going to replace easy rider or the wild one as the key biker movies in American lore, but Hardy has just bucket loads of charisma on screen. And he's, he's, you know, surly and tough and kind of runs the gang and offers people chances to challenge him to lead the gang. And that's a key part of the movie as well. So liked it, didn't love it, but I do think it's worth a look. And, you know, it's good to look at the vintage motorcycles and kind of this gang culture and how bikers are or perceived back then. - What is the accent in this film? - Now, who are you talking about? - Well, I just only watched the trailer, but I, Tom Hardy's accent just sounded a little, it was harder for me to see him as a tough guy for the, for the duration. - Oh, he's tough in the movie. - Yeah. - You know, if you saw Warrior where he bulked up for that MMA film he did, he's not a tall man, but he exudes confidence on screen. So his voice is, I'm not sure what he's going for. That tends to be his American accent voice. I can tell you from watching other films, Jody Comer's character kind of sports this kind of Midwestern accent 'cause the bike club is based in the Midwest. It's kind of Milwaukee, Chicago, Columbus, Ohio. And clearly, I think the Jody Comer part, she clearly is from Wisconsin or Minnesota or somewhere like that with this kind of - Longer, oh, some kind of good accent. - She's sporting, but she's really good in the movie. And Butler, you know, like I said, I think he's kind of channeling James Dean here a little bit, but I did like it. And the person I went with really liked it more than I did, but some of the reviews are just really negative and I don't see that at all. I think it's generally getting pretty good reviews and it made 9 million of the box office. That's not too bad for a movie that's not a franchise. It's not really based on anything people are familiar with. So maybe it's the motorcycles that are getting people in the field. 9 million isn't bad, especially when Inside Out 2 is dominating the box office right now. - Yeah, what's going on there? It's all anyone is talking about it seems like. - I did not see this coming, 355 million already. And it's second weekend, it did 100 million. I mean, usually the second weekend we see a drop off. So clearly the word of mouth is strong on Inside Out 2. As you know, Ashley, I can kind of pick and review what I want to see. And as my kids have gotten older and they're not kids anymore, I've kind of stopped going to animated movies. It's just not my thing. - No, I'm hearing this from people who are solidly in their 30s and going to go see this. - This is becoming the box office hit of the year since doing part two, so it must be well made. It's definitely kind of got the parents taking kids to it. And to do 100 million in a second weekend is just phenomenal. So Pixar is ecstatic right now 'cause they needed a hit. They've had a couple last two or three have not been huge hits for Pixar, so it's huge. I did not see it doing 355 million in the first three weeks. - We had a big loss in Hollywood, Donald Sutherland. - Well, that was a big one. He's been a familiar actor to people since the dirty dozen way back when, never even an Oscar nominee, but he got an honorary Oscar eventually. For a subtle actor, he was in a lot of big movies in the 70s like "Mash" and "Clute". Don't look now, "Day of the Locust" ordinary people. He tended to underplay his parts. And sometimes when you underplay, you don't get Oscar nominations, but certainly a wonderful actor. I loved him in "Clute", ordinary people, very good. He got a really showy performance kind of later in his career in "Backdraft" and also in "JFK" where he was allowed to really kind of do a character performance. So he was 88, big loss, Canadian actor, of course, Kiefer as his son. I didn't know he was sick, so that was kind of a surprise. - Yeah, well, a little bit of Oscar trivia for you going back to the theme of the movie, "The Bike Riders" here. And I'm sure this will be an easy one since you mentioned this in your review. One of the quintessential biker movies out there. Easy Rider did pick up a couple of nominations. - Jack Nicholson for Best Supporting Actor, and that's the movie that made him Ashley. That was, he stole that movie in a supporting part and then he was a star after that. And then I believe the screenplay got a nomination as well. - Yeah, all right. We've been to the movies with Madeline. (upbeat music) (dramatic music) - We heard big talk from the candidates before the debate. - Make my day pass. I'll even do it twice. - Should I be tough and nasty and just say you're the worst president in history or should I be nice? - We'll cut through the rhetoric and focus on the issues that really matter, from immigration to the economy to abortion rights. - On the next morning edition from NPR News. - 4 a.m. Central to 9 a.m. Central, here on Prairie Public. (birds chirping) - This is Dakota Daybook for June 27th. Millions of bison wants called the Great Plains Home. They were an essential element of the ecosystem. They were also essential to Native Americans and frontiersmen who depended on them for food, shelter, and clothing. The bison became an icon of the West, even as railroads began to cross the plains and an influx of hunters nearly wiped them out. The vast herds dwindled and they faced extinction. In 1959, Jamestown businessman Harold Newman commissioned a giant buffalo statue to stand on a hill overlooking the city. At 26 feet tall and 46 feet long, the statue is visible from I-94. It originally stood alone, but the city expanded the site by adding frontier village and attraction that portrays a town of the 1800s. In 1991, a group of Jamestown area citizens founded the North Dakota Buffalo Foundation with a dream of creating a buffalo museum. The idea was to establish a location that would educate the public about the important role the animals played. The logical location was under the gaze of Jamestown's giant buffalo. In addition to building a museum to display artifacts and artwork, the foundation also brought in a small herd of buffalo from Theodore Roosevelt National Park. The National Buffalo Museum opened its doors on this date in 1993. The decision was made to use the term buffalo instead of bison because buffalo is the more common term in American culture. The museum notes that the coin featuring a bison is known as the buffalo nickel and William F. Cody was known as buffalo bill, not bison bill. But the museum continues to evolve. In 2024, the National Buffalo Museum unveiled a new name, North American Bison Discovery Center. According to the museum, this change reflects the museum's commitment to showcasing the significance and majesty of the bison while fostering a deeper understanding and appreciation of this iconic species in North America. The center educates visitors not only about the history of the bison and their place in Western ecology, but also about the rehabilitation efforts and the future of these magnificent animals. Today's Dakota Datebook written by Dr. Carol Butcher. I'm Annal Quest. Dakota Datebook is produced in cooperation with the State Historical Society of North Dakota with funding by Humanities North Dakota, North Dakota's largest lifelong learning community. (upbeat music) - We'd like to thank the North Dakota Council on the Arts for supporting arts programming along with our members and other sources here on Prairie Public. (upbeat music) - That's it for this Thursday edition of Main Street coming up Monday on the show. You know him, and if you're like me, you love him NPR's Ari Shapiro. You know him as one of the hosts of All Things Considered. I've been a fan of this show since it's very earliest days. - But you know what? That's not the show we are talking about. Learn what Ari is up to Monday on Main Street. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)