ERIC JOHNSON: Legislative session hurt public health

Now that the North Dakota Legislature has closed its record-setting, 80-day 63rd Assembly, I’d like to review the apparent lack of concern shown by the super-majority Republicans for a number of public health issues.

Bernie Erickson, Fargo, N.D. letter: Gay marriage changes society for the better

Bernie Erickson of Fargo writes in about Gay Marriage

Rob Port, Minot N.D. letter: Higher ed’s problems go far beyond Shirvani

Rob Port of Minot writes in about higher education

DAVID BROOKS: Scandals show massive failure of self-restraint

Government, Clinton Rossiter once wrote, is something like fire: “Under control, it is the most useful of servants; out of control, it is a ravaging tyrant.”

• David Brooks

Hal Gershman and Kaus Thiessen: ‘Bakken boom’ powers exciting growth in Grand Forks

In 2012, our city welcomed the Grand Forks expansion of Steffes Corp., a long-time Dickinson, N.D.-based manufacturer of residential off-peak, oil field and renewable energy products.

• Hal Gershman

OUR OPINION: DFL erred by pursuing party-line approach

Minnesota and the party alike would be better off if DFLers had invited Republicans to the table.

• Our Opinion

GLENN SCHERER: Fracking encroaches on national parks

When I was a teen, a friend and I drove coast-to-coast, touring our national parks. What I remember from that 1977 road trip is rolling across endless, wild, empty, unspoiled public and private lands on the way to the Grand Canyon, Yosemite and Zion.

PHIL KRINKIE: Minnesota commits another stadium error

For more than 30 years, Minnesota legislators and local officials have stumbled and bumbled their way through a half-dozen taxpayer-funded stadium deals. Today, as the 2013 legislative session draws to a close, they are about to commit still another in a long list of stadium building blunders.

• Phil Krinkie

GEORGE WILL: Absolute power is corrupting absolutely

Leaving aside the seriousness of lawlessness, and the corruption of our civic culture by the professionally pious, this past week has been amusing.

• George Will

OUR OPINION: The scandals’ key casualty is trust

Revelations and headlines steadily erode the Obama administration’s most valuable resource, the asset it most desperately needs: trust.

• Our Opinion

Ross Hartsough, Grand Forks, letter: They’d never do that? Oh, yes, they would

On to your list of places where young women would never text, please cross off “the back of a speeding motorcycle.”

Stan Stein, Wahpeton, N.D., letter: N.D. cuts taxes, Minnesota raises them

As the dust settles following the 2013 legislative session, voters from both sides of the aisle should be proud of the work that their elected Republican majorities have done on their behalf.

MAC SCHNEIDER and KENTON ONSTAD: Questionable priorities weaken legislative session

With respect for our friends the majority leaders, if that’s the definition of getting the job done, we fully expect the people of North Dakota to decide someone else should do the job next session.

• Mac Schneider
• Kenton Onstad

KATHRYN RAND: On behalf of the UND School of Law: Thanks

The university, the North Dakota University System chancellor and the State Board of Higher Education saw the need to ensure continued excellence in legal education for decades to come at North Dakota’s law school.

• Kathryn Rand, dean of UND School of Law.

OUR OPINION: Shirvani’s management style matters — a lot

Here’s an idea for Chancellor Hamid Shirvani as he approaches a performance review by the North Dakota University System’s board: "I'm sorry" goes a long way.

• Our Opinion