The Mike McFeely Mess

Forum reporter Patrick Springer joins host Mike McFeely to talk about the controversy over wild horses in Theodore Roosevelt National Park in western North Dakota. The National Park Service for years has wanted to remove the horses, saying they aren't native, while horse advocates and park visitors overwhelmingly want the creatures to stay.  The issue came to a head the last couple of years when i...

Forum columnist and former TV reporter and news director Jim Shaw joins host Mike McFeely to discuss the results of this week's North Dakota primary election. Voters chose Julie Fedorchak to be the Republican candidate for U.S. House, Kelly Armstrong to be the GOP candidate for governor and locally former TV anchor Michelle Turnberg was the surprising top vote-getter in the Fargo City Commission r...

KFGO and "News and Views" radio network host Joel Heitkamp joins host Mike McFeely to talk about North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum's indefensible defense of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and what spurred Burgum to go from a seemingly independent thinker politically to a MAGA mouthpiece. Also, Joel handicaps the North Dakota primary races coming up June 11 and explains what he believes...

Sam Herder, Football Championship Subdivision national analyst for HERO Sports, joins podcast host Mike McFeely for a wide-ranging interview about the state of FCS. What does it mean that four teams are likely to dominate the subdivision for the foreseeable future? Who are the next programs that could rise up? Was Missouri State right to leave FCS for FBS? And, of course, how does Sam view the asp...

Ben Portnoy, reporter for the Sports Business Journal, joins host Mike McFeely to give a 101 level class on the massive House vs. NCAA lawsuit settlement that will be announced this week. It has the potential to be one of the most ground-shaking outcomes in college sports history. At issue is a settlement the NCAA and Power Five conferences reached with former college athletes who sought "back pay...

Apologies from the start: This podcast recording is rough because Clay Jenkinson was in the woods of Vermont when we reached him and his Internet connection cuts out for long stretches, which means there are long stretches of silence when he is supposed to be talking.  Also, host Mike McFeely recorded it from home and his dogs chose to bark wildly at a couple of different junctures during the disc...

Forum business reporter and columnist Tammy Swift joins podcast host Mike McFeely to chat about a story Tammy wrote about world-famous Dot's Pretzels leaving little Velva, North Dakota, after the company was purchased by food giant Hershey's Company. The two dozen or so jobs the move eliminated is bad, but the small town near Minot in north central North Dakota also lost a big part of its identity...

Aaron Rupar, publisher of the Public Notice newsletter and longtime political commentator and Trump follower on social media, joins host Mike McFeely to chat about how Aaron can keep his sanity having to watch and dissect so many rallies and press conferences of former president Donald Trump. They talk about this fall's election and its potential consequences. Trump and President Joe Biden are, of...

Forum columnist Jim Shaw joins host Mike McFeely to break down the debate between North Dakota Republican gubernatorial candidates Kelly Armstrong and Tammy Miller. Spoiler alert: Both Jim and Mike found it to be a snoozer. Jim also gives his thoughts on how Cara Mund will do in the June primary for the state's lone seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

WDAY-TV sports host and North Dakota State play-by-play broadcaster Dom Izzo joins host Mike McFeely of The Forum to talk about the spring football transfer portal opening and the NDSU spring game coming up this weekend (it's actually a "showcase," not a game). So far — and we emphasize so far — no Bison players have entered the portal in the first couple of days it's been open in the spring windo...

Forum reporter Tasha Carvell joins host Mike McFeely to discuss some of her recent stories, including one that involves a North Dakota judge throwing out a lawsuit a Native American group with tenuous ties to the state filed against the NFL's Washington Commanders. Tasha also gives an update on former North Dakotan Rockne Earles, who had his charges amped up for his role in the January 6 riot at t...

Talk-show host Joel Heitkamp of KFGO and the "News and Views" radio network joins host Mike McFeely to talk some politics, specifically Donald Trump and his hawking of Bibles to help pay his bills. Unsurprisingly, Joel and Mike find hypocrisy and humor in Trump selling the Bible.  They also touch on other political topics like Joe Biden, immigration and the North Dakota Republican gubernatorial pr...

Former editorial page editor of The Forum Jack Zaleski joins host Mike McFeely to talk about North Dakota's Republican primary for governor between U.S. Rep. Kelly Armstrong and Tammy Miller. The TV ads are unavoidable and they are getting nastier. Also, how much sway will Gov. Doug Burgum have in the race and the latest on North Dakota's anti-abortion extremists getting even more extreme.

North Dakota humanities scholar and commentator Clay Jenkinson joins host Mike McFeely to cover a variety of topics. Mike invited Clay onto the podcast to get his reaction about a survey that showed Christian nationalism gets more support in North Dakota than in any other state, but as always the pair delved into several subjects.

Forum columnist Mike McFeely guest-hosted "News and Views" on KFGO radio and its statewide network on Thursday, March 14. Guests included Ken Martin, chairman of the Minnesota DFL, who visited about Vice President Kamala Harris' visit to the state and the Minnesota GOP's continued descent into radicalism; and Will Stancil, a University of Minnesota researcher and X influencer who chatted about Ame...

Forum sportswriter Eric Peterson joins host Mike McFeely in a last-second, emergency podcast (Mike just got back from Sioux Falls, S.D., covering the Summit League tournament and had nothing prepared) to chat about the North Dakota State women's basketball team, potential Summit League transfers, the Minnesota Vikings' free-agent moves and the now-relevant Minnesota Timberwolves. It's a smorgasbor...

Forum columnist and former local TV news reporter and director Jim Shaw joins host Mike McFeely to talk about North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum refusing to say whether he would've certified the 2020 presidential election in which Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump. Burgum is angling for something from Trump, possibly a Cabinet position. Also, Shaw offers a couple of thoughts on the Republican gubernatori...

Forum columnist and reporter Tammy Swift joins host Mike McFeely and turns the tables. Tammy asked if she could be the one asking the questions to learn more about Mike. He agreed. So Tammy fires away. Does Mike think he has a large ego? What's one thing about him that would surprise people? What does he fear? It's like a therapy session, in podcast form.

WDAY-TV sportscaster Dom Izzo joins podcast host Mike McFeely to talk about the pair's "Drive For Five (Thousand)" campaign to attract 5,000 fans to the North Dakota State vs. North Dakota basketball games Feb. 24 in Fargo. There likely won't be anywhere near 5,000 fans for either game, but the guys ask the question: Why is basketball attendance for the men's team dwindling and what can be done to...

Denver Post sports columnist Sean Keeler joins podcast host Mike McFeely to chat about one of North Dakota State's opponents this fall, the University of Colorado. Keeler recently wrote a column calling Colorado head coach Deion Sanders — you might have heard of him — "a false prophet, the Bruce Lee of B.S., Harold Hill in designer shades." Keeler and McFeely talk about the column, the reaction to...

Forum sportswriter Eric Peterson joins podcast host Mike McFeely to talk about North Dakota State football's latest quarterback recruit Jacob Kilzer, the addition of three new assistant coaches and this year's great success of Minnesota State University Moorhead's men's basketball team.

Noted Bismarck, N.D., author, historian and humanities scholar Clay Jenkinson joins host Mike McFeely to discuss, mostly, the sorry state of the American republic. The United States is in the hurt bag because of an electorate (mostly on the right) that is stuck in its partisan fantasy land and politicians (mostly on the right) who won't push back on Trump.  Jenkinson is the principal behind Listen...

Forum columnist and business reporter Tammy Swift joins host Mike McFeely to talk about several things, but mostly about columns she's written about her elderly mother's illness. Tammy's columns have been deeply personal, opening the door to thinking about her mom's mortality and her own. 

Forum reporter Tracy Briggs joins host Mike McFeely to talk about her stories on King Leo's, a long-ago popular hamburger joint in south Fargo that has readers stirred up with excitement. As is always the case when Tracy and Mike begin to talk, the discussion goes off-course into their careers, their spouses, travel, their aversion to math and other non-related topics. 

Former longtime Forum editorial page editor Jack Zaleski, who covered and wrote about North Dakota politics for decades, joins host Mike McFeely to hash over the internal strife in the state's Republican Party and the scandals that have rocked the party.