Fair Housing at Risk, Smart Glasses and Nature Up Close

Welcome to this Thursday edition of Main Street here on Prairie Public. Thank you so much for being with us today. I'm Craig Blumen Shine. Coming up in just a bit, we'll get a bird's eye and a bees eye view of nature from the North Dakota Gateway to Science. For new ways to explore the natural world of North Dakota are being highlighted with camera-equipped bird feeders and close-up views of bees. Plus smart glasses, convenience. privacy, and maybe the disappearing screen? Our tech expert George Peck stops by in Tech with Peck. We'll talk about Meta's AI-powered glasses. Plus, news director Dave Thompson and I review this region's news. And we begin today's Main Street with our weekly a closer look with the monitor, where we'll try to understand what a federal grant delay means to fair housing services in the Dakotas. Welcome to a closer look with the Monitor. I'm Craig Blumenstein from Prairie Public each week. We go beyond the headlines with reporters from the North Dakota Monitor, a non-profit, nonpartisan news organization covering state government, politics and public policy. Of course, you can read all of its reporting free without subscriptions or paywals at North Dakota Monitor.com. It's a website truly worthy of adding to your daily reading list. Today we'll learn about an organization that helps people confront housing discrimination across North and South Dakota that's facing an uncertain future. High Plains Fair Housing Center has been waiting since May for a crucial installment of a federal grant. Without that money, the organization may have to furlough half of its staff, potentially limiting assistance for people facing discrimination. seeking disability accommodations, or trying to remain in their homes. North Dakota Monitor reporter Jack Dura has been following the funding delay and what it could mean for the people throughout the Dakotas and he joins us for a closer look with the monitor. Welcome, Jack. Hi, Craig. Thanks for having me. Jack, as we begin, let me introduce you to our listeners. You're a Fargo native and you've been reporting in North Dakota for about a decade. Tell us a little bit about your background and the stories you plan to cover for the monitor. Oh, that's true. I'm a Fargo native, an NSU graduate. I've worked at newspapers in Fargo, Hillsborough, Watford City. And most recently, I was the Capitol Reporter for the Bismarck Tribune for five or six years and then worked for the Associated Press in a similar capacity for the last three years before I joined the monitor last month. What's your beat with the monitor? I cover all things state government, elections, courts, and politics, really anything that affects public policy or our state elected officials. I think the monitor is pleased to have you, Jack, and we'll, of course, be looking forward to our conversations in the months down the road. Jack, let's talk about the High Plains Fair Housing Center and its financial situation. What brought that to your attention? I recall it was chatter on social media and my manager, Amy Dalrymple said to take a look into it. For listeners, unfamiliar with the organization, what is the High Plains Fair Housing Center? The High Plains Fair Housing Center is based in Grand Forks. It's the only fair housing organization in North Dakota as well as the Dakotas. And it helps people who are facing housing discriminations and need accommodations where they live.

So what does their work look like when someone calls them up or reaches out to them asking for help? So the center investigates, mediates, and resolves housing discrimination complaints, and they assist with reasonable accommodations such as closer parking spaces, changes in rent, due dates. and adjustments to heavy doors and mailboxes for people with disabilities, for instance. How much demand, Jack, is there for these services across the region? Well, last year, the center fielded nearly 1,000 phone calls. More than one-third of those calls were related to allegations of housing discrimination, and the others were about landlord-tenant matters or general inquiries. Over the last year and a half, the center has handled about 100 calls from South Dakota. Your story focused on what's going to become perhaps an unexpected gap in federal funding. How did that gap develop? So this money relates to the third installment of a three-year grant. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development had awarded in 2023. The second year of funding had ended in May, and the center expected the third year to start the next day. But through a series of communications with HUD, became clear the money wasn't going to show up on time and they are still awaiting that grant money it's $425,000 of a federal housing initiatives program grant and it's crucial to the center's future so this money has been awarded it's been federally approved and yet it still may not come to the group. Is that accurate? The money is expected to come, but it's unclear when. The center's executive director, Michelle Ritz, told me it could come tomorrow. It could come in more than a year. It is really unclear when it will show up. They've had discussions with HUD about the timing of the grant. What explanation, Jack, if any, has the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development provided for the delay? You know, that's unclear. It's unclear why the money hasn't shown up yet. I know I'm aware of other organizations around the country similar to this one that are facing similar problems. I just read about one in Spokane, for instance, which has a... has a similar situation of grant about the same size that has not shown up yet, even though it's been approved and authorized, etc. When the story was first reported in July, the center was preparing to furlough several employees. How immediate has that threat been? So at the time we did the story, the furloughs were expected to be about a week away. However, since then, after the center's been in touch with North Dakota's congressional delegation and the center's board has met. They haven't furloughed staff yet, even though furloughs were expected to be fairly imminent. So now they're kind of waiting, they're in a holding pattern until September 1st to see if this grant shows up before then. Do we know how large the organization is, Jack? How many people it employs? So the High Plains Fair Housing Center has seven full-time employees and one part-time employee.

What's the center doing then to continue operating? How is it able to extend beyond the time that it was thinking it may have to furlough? So the center's executive director told me she's been doing fundraising and in the meantime its operations are continuing as usual. And so September 1st now is the date targeted where if this grant doesn't occur, then the furlough could happen or could other things happen with inside the organization? So if the grant doesn't show up by September 1st, they do expect to furlough four of their eight staff at that time. Do we know what those staffing reductions would impact how they would affect the people seeking help with a housing problem? Yes, the center's associate director, Nikki Green, told me that with reduced services, fewer people would... know about their civil rights and be helped in their housing situation. And a fair housing specialist with the center I spoke with said that clients of multiple employees would have to be passed on to fewer staff. And that would be tough for the staff to juggle all of that with fewer people handling the caseloads. Jack, do we have a general idea about who would be impacted? So the center assists people within the scope of the Federal Fair Housing Act, which prohibits people from being treated differently under a variety of protected characteristics. These include race, color, religion, national origin, sex, familial status, and disability. are most concerns that are brought to the organization resolved without having to file a formal complaint or is a formal complaint filed right away and then we go through a formal process of resolution. So like I said earlier, the center received about a thousand calls last year, about a third of which related to allegations of housing discrimination. The center reached slightly over 200 resolutions. for clients, their intake team, according to their annual report last year, they were able to assist half of all their housing discrimination clients through mediation or other types of intervention without legal action. And their annual report says they filed 12 complaints with HUD or the State Department of Labor and Human Rights last year. And then those go through a formal process for resolution that can take perhaps a little more time. Enjoying my conversation with Jack Dura. He's a Fargo native who's been reporting in North Dakota for about a decade, and he now is with the North Dakota Monitor. We are visiting about Jack's reporting about High Plains Fair Housing Center and how it may be waiting now for crucial money and could face furloughs as soon as September 1st. High Plains is based in North Dakota, but it also assists people in South Dakota. How did that expanded role develop? Right. They handled about 100 calls in South Dakota over the last year and a half. They had a HUD grant, which ended recently, that was specifically for working with organizations in South Dakota and educating people there about the Fair Housing Act with the end goal of a fair housing group starting up there.

But the center's executive director told me the way the grant is set up now, it doesn't look like there's the possibility for a new organization to step into a fair housing role in South Dakota. So they're doing fundraising in the state, and they're trying to assist South Dakota as much as possible. And if their crucial grant comes through, they will keep handling calls in South Dakota. What role Jack has North Dakota's congressional delegation played in trying to get answers or secure the funding perhaps more quickly? I reached out to the offices of Senator Hoven and Representative Fedorchak. Both have inquired with HUD about the grant status and Fedorchak's office even contacted the White House and there have been conversations between federal officials and the center staff. since then. Is this an isolated administrative delay, Jack, or are there fair housing organizations elsewhere that are facing the same problems? My understanding is there are others around the country facing the same thing. The center's executive director said that. I read just today about a Spokane-based fair housing group that's facing a similar funding gap. related to the same grant, you know, that hasn't, hasn't shown up yet. Jack, after speaking with the center's staff and checking out their work, what struck you most about what could be lost? Certainly is the only organization of its kind in not only North Dakota, but both of the Dakotas, if its work went away, that certainly would not be good for the people who call for help who need the center's services and whatever housing problems there. facing. I was surprised to learn this is the only fair housing group and both are sparsely populated states, but that doesn't mean these issues are less important for people who live there and only one organization doing this work. It makes you wonder who will take up that mantle, who will handle those calls and questions if this organization, for whatever reason, is no longer able to do so. Jack, what will you be watching for as September 1st approaches? So I've been staying in touch with the center's executive director for updates. Certainly I'll be watching for whether the grant arrives when that is and what happens if the money doesn't show up. Jack Dura is a new reporter with the North Dakota Monitor. He can be his continuing coverage of the High Plains Fair Housing Center at North Dakota Monitor.com. Jack, thank you so much for joining the monitor and for joining us today on a closer look with the monitor. Oh, thanks, Craig.

Support for Prey Public is provided by Dr. Julie Peterman Bryant of the Bryant Clinic of Chiropractic and Acupuncture in Bismarck. Naturally working with people to feel better, be healthy, and live well at all ages. Extra, extra, read all about it. Dave Thompson joins Main Street. He and I on Thursdays try to visit about what's been going on in the region. Dave, welcome back to Main Street. Thanks, Craig. Good to be here. Dave, you're, of course, our news director, and you're looking forward to the North Dakota legislature as they prepare for an upcoming special session, supposedly to talk about Kratum, but there could be other issues on the table. What's the latest? Well, the latest is that there's this cretum working group. They're looking at proposals, and there are going to be probably several proposals about what to do. But it seems to be consensus is starting to kind of mesh around, A, ban the synthetic stuff. B, put guardrails around, you know, the natural cratum. And I think that's the package on that that will go through to the legislature. But here are the other issues that are kind of sitting there waiting. You know, one is that the shortfall in the military museum money, and there's been some talk about some other things. For example, perhaps doing something with child care or maybe something in terms of local property taxes. These things are not, the bread is ready, let's go for it. but they are looking at issues like that. They do want to keep it to three days, and legislative management is going to act as a de facto delayed bills committee. And, Dave, of course, that session is set to begin September 2nd. When will the latest be for us to know what bills will be considered in this session? I'm thinking that it'll probably be the week before because legislative management is going to be meeting the week before. Dave, the Public Service Commission as we move along here today. has approved a wind farm in Morton County. What's the latest? That's an interesting wind farm. It's just north of Glen Olin, and this is being built by Minnesota Power, specifically to get wind power into Minnesota. So they're going to be, you know, building this pretty large 780 kilowatt wind farm. They're going to put the, on the line to a substation in Oliver County and send it to Minnesota. What is different about this one is that they're using fairly large windmills and fairly large power production facilities, and it's going to be a bigger than normal wind farm from that perspective. So there's some questions we're being raised about that. Not necessarily to say it's a bad thing, but it's just going to look a little different from the other wind farms that you've been looking at in North Dakota. Some wind farms already look... very large. These will be larger, so this will be something to see. Four and a half megawatt per turbine. Dave, if you are a state employee, you might be able to restore TikTok on your state-owned device. Are you happy about that? If I were a state employee, I don't know if I'd be happy about that, but maybe, you know, some TikTok is where you can use to do some major communication these days.

Never been on TikTok. I will admit that. But I thought it was interesting because our former governor banned it because it was majority owned by a Chinese company. Now that it's majority owned by a U.S. company, Governor Armstrong is removing the ban. And in order to use it, you still have to go through a process, meaning you have to sign up, you know, reasons for you to use it and submit it to the IT department. All right, Dave, a tribal nation now has reclaimed reservation land through a much debated carbon credit. Now, this is very interesting. It's basically a Minnesota story. The tribe has really done some very interesting things, and it looks like a lot of this is going toward plants and the horticulture and things like that, and trees are going to grow back on ground that was logged very hard for decades, which is really interesting because you think of Minnesota, yeah, there are a lot of trees, and logging was a big thing. And not as big as it used to be, but a big thing. And they have really embraced this. They're going to start growing the trees again, going to start growing plants. I think it's wonderful. Dave, you're optimistic in your reporting that Senator Hoven now is also optimistic that a new farm bill will finally see the light of day once Congress returns. What's the latest there? He explained this, and he explained it very well in an interview with him. He said when they passed or when they took up the farm bill and they couldn't get it out of committee. They never closed the debate. They didn't close the vote. So when they come back from recess, they're expecting Mitch McConnell to be back, and he will cast a yes vote, and that will send the farm bill to the floor of the Senate for further action. Interesting the way they did that. And it's perfectly fine under legislative procedures. They have an open-ended vote. The gavel did not fall on the vote. So that's how you can get it back. Well, the farm bill has been a long time coming, Dave, so we'll see if that moves forward. Dave Thompson and I, we look at the states and the region's news on Thursdays. Thanks, Dave. Hey, thank you, Craig.

Greenland warns a Trump-linked oil company to stop. That story and more on H2O Radio's weekly news report. I'm Jamie Suddler. I'm Franny Halperin, and it's this week in water. Greenland has issued a strong warning to a Texas oil company linked to President Donald Trump. The company, Greenland Energy, had begun moving equipment to a remote peninsula called Jamison Land, preparing to drill exploratory oil wells without any legal authority. The government says that all logistical matters related to drilling must be approved in advance. After the company brought equipment on shore, Trump posted a picture on social media of himself hovering over a village in the country. The Guardian reported that finding oil in Greenland was viewed by Trump lieutenants as strengthening the case for a U.S. takeover. Greenland has not issued new oil licenses since 2021 on environmental grounds. A study by Arhus University said that oil exploration could cause harm to the land and marine ecosystems. Back in June, a representative of Greenland Energy said it had permits to put equipment, like 300 shipping containers of drilling gear on the land. However, according to the Guardian, Greenland's Resources Ministry said there were no such permits. The Texas company has hired Dr. Phil, the former talk show host, to make a film about these so-called modern oil wildcatters. In May, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry, who is President Trump's special envoy to Greenland, told Fox News it could be exporting 2 billion barrels of oil a day right now, and that production could start within 10 months.

to build trump's wall on the mexican border takes a lot of water some of it is used to mix cement build new roads and suppress dust Contractors working for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection have been drilling wells in New Mexico to harvest groundwater, but it's water they have no right to take. The state has a permitting process protecting the groundwater that families and farmers depend on, and they enforce it rigorously. Officials are threatening to cancel the licenses of two companies drilling unlawfully. More than half of the water New Mexico comes from aquifers, and like other states in the southwest, there has been a long-term drought. A statement from Customs and Border Protection said that it's committed to working collaboratively with local landowners to ensure that construction activities do not adversely impact their water needs. As of last week, the New Mexico Engineers Office said eight wells had been drilled without permission on the southern border. They could still be pumping. starting friday august seventh people living in puerto rico began having their water rationed authorities issued a plan that forces hundreds of thousands of people in the capital san juan and surrounding communities to go without water for forty-eight hours at a time san juan had its driest month in more than one hundred and twenty years and its second hottest on record governor jennifer gonzola's cologne blamed the weather for the water shortage but customers have been contending with low pressure in spotty service for the last year most residents say the issues are due to poorly maintained infrastructure stemming from the island's budget problems and also its history of corruption The Puerto Rico Aqueductin Sewer Authority says roughly 65% of the water it produces is lost, much of it through leaks and aging pipes. The agency said it would deploy water trucks to affected communities and urged customers to avoid any non-essential uses of water and to boil it for at least three minutes once service resumes as a precaution against possible contamination. The long-term weather forecast indicates a milder 2020. hurricane season with drier conditions that will persist at least until September. CBS News reports that government officials have not said when the rationing will end and have warned that outages could be extended to 72 hours if necessary. and finally stroll down most aisles in your local grocery store and it's hard to miss products boasting about the amount of protein they contain from cereals and snack bars to pastas and beverages many products are upping their protein content perhaps to jump on the

Protein maxing craze on social media where influencers claim that leveling up protein can boost metabolism, manage weight, and build muscle. Heck, there's even muscle mayo and super salsa on the market, but most condiments don't add protein yet. Not to be left out, researchers at the University of Otago in New Zealand have developed a protein-enriched ketchup using algae. to catch up on the trend specifically they incorporated extracts from fresh water microalgae called chlorella vulgaris into the typical ingredients of plum tomatoes sugar salt vinegar spices and citric acid they did a taste test with panelists to get the algae content just right and found that samples with just one to three percent retained the familiar flavor with a subtle algal note Because Chlorola vulgaris can be cultivated rapidly throughout the year using comparatively little land and fresh water, the team says it's a potentially more sustainable protein source than many terrestrial crops. Additionally, their fortified ketchup contained higher amounts of essential amino acids, minerals, and antioxidants, which could make you feel less guilty when you add fries at the drive-through window. Hope you enjoyed your latest serving of this weekend water. Thanks for listening and we'll see you next time.

Still ahead on this Thursday's Main Street, a bird's eye and a bee's eye view of nature at North Dakota's Gateway to Science. Plus, META's AI-powered smart glasses can do a lot of things, including record video, translate conversations, and provide information without requiring users to reach for a phone. What about privacy? And Dave Thompson and I will review this week's news. That's all still to come this Thursday. We invite you to stay with us. It all follows this news. This is Main Street. I'm Craig Blumenchine. Some of the newest attractions that North Dakota's Gateway to Science are bringing visitors closer to the natural world, sometimes through a bird's eye view, and sometimes through a camera pointed directly into the life of a beehive. Joining us with an exhibit spotlight is Alicia Kellan from North Dakota's Gateway to Science. Alicia, welcome back to Main Street. Hi, thank you. Let's begin in the outdoor explorium. What is that space? How does it extend the learning beyond the museum walls? Our outdoor explorium, this is the first summer that it's technically open. We had a soft opening last year. It is an outdoor explorium where you can go and learn and grow, and it is an extension of the gallery that we have inside. So there is some great artwork. There are some new musical features. There is a Bobcat. exhibit where you can learn to drive a bobcat but more importantly that's where we plant and grow for our camps and clubs we have a pollinator garden just really bringing a lot of that learning about nature to life You recently received a Feather Snap seed feeder and hummingbird feeder. What makes these different from ordinary bird feeders? So they have a camera. And what we've been able to do is to watch the wildlife that comes. And I say wildlife because with our seed feeder, sometimes there's a squirrel or some other super fun wildlife that will show up. But we're able then to take pictures and leave those for guests in the outdoor explorium. to look at the birds that we have on site and try to identify them. And we've also used that in our camps and clubs. What is in our natural area? What birds are we seeing? What are they eating? Why do they like it here? How can we be more sustainable and make more bird populations like it here? So it's really helping us make decisions in our outdoor explorium. Do visitors then notice details about birds, their markings, their behavior, their feeding habits that they might otherwise overlook? Definitely. It is up close and personal to these birds. So one of my favorite learning opportunities with these is we were looking at some of the pictures with campers and they were immediately noticing the difference in the bird beaks. And we got to have just a kind of an impromptu lesson on why some bird beaks are shaped one way and why some are shaped the other.

It's not something that you typically see up close on a bird because if you get that close, they fly away. So you're able to see a lot of things that you wouldn't normally see. You're also adding a camera near the beehive located behind the Gateway to Science Sign. How did the grant from the Whole Foods Market Foundation make that possible? So we applied for this in order to. really talk to the public about bees, about saving them, about making sure that we have sustainable homes for them. I personally am very scared of bees, and so now that I've learned so much more about them, I know... how helpful they are, how they really are not something to be scared of, and really how they change the world around us. So through this grant, being able to get that camera, which is going to be going up soon, we have our hive that came back this year. It is behind our sign. And we're able to give our guests a view of what's going on inside the hive. And we're also going to have some highlight reels for guests. What is a bee waggle dance? And why do bees do it? And what does it look like? Where is the queen? How does she look different? What are drones? What job are they doing? One thing that I realized this year was really the drones job of keeping the hive cool because it's been so hot lately and how they flap their wings. It's something that I hadn't really ever thought about and I was able to see it up live close and personal. And of course, I'm guessing the beehive connects with the outdoor exploriums pollinator garden. Yes, they are. out there they are you can see we do also have bumblebees we have i saw my first monarch butterfly just a couple of days ago those will be coming through soon so we have a very active pollinator garden and we want to make sure that our guests understand in that pollinator garden what pollinators look like what to be afraid of and what not to be afraid of so it extends that learning as well when do you expect that bee hive camera to be online We're hoping by the end of the summer at least for a highlight reel and then looking into next summer at some potential for live options or for more of the learning options, even extending it into classrooms if they're interested right from our website. Visitors can explore the bird feeders and pollinator garden in the outdoor Explorium at North Dakota's Gateway to Science. Video highlights from the Beehive Camera will also be shared and hopefully as we've just learned posted online. Alicia Kellam is with the North Dakota's Gateway to Science. Thanks for giving us a closer look, Alicia. Thank you. One in four adults is caring for someone they love in North Dakota. If that's you, AARP can help. The Family Caregiving Kit is available at aARP.org slash ND Care Kit.

This is Main Street on Prairie Public. I'm Craig Blumen Shine. For years, tech companies have tried to convince us all that smart glasses will become the next big personal device. Now that possibility seems maybe a bit closer. Meta's latest glasses look much like ordinary eyewear. They can take pictures, record video, play audio, make calls, translate conversations in real time and answer questions about what the wearer is seeing. Some models even place information directly in front of the eyes of the user. Meta has also expanded beyond ray-band frames into glasses designed for athletes. The appeal is easy to understand. It's useful information without constantly reaching for your phone. But when cameras, microphones, and artificial intelligence creeps up into all of our conversations become nearly invisible, the technology also raises difficult questions about privacy. consent and how we behave around one another. So we bring in George Peck, our tech expert, to chat about this in another edition of Tech with Peck. George, welcome back to Mainstream. Yeah, thank you. So I almost left when I found the new meta glasses that were designed in cooperation with Caitlin Jenner. Oh my goodness. Like, okay, the Caitlin glasses. You know, I guess I follow a little bit of pop culture, but probably not that much. But you know, okay, all the glasses, Caitlin can do the glasses. But at the same time, it was like all the different places, the courts, the retail spaces that are not letting you in with them too. So a lot of things to discuss. So when meta glasses comes to your mind, George, what floats in your head? What do you, what do you think about? So what I think about immediately is the MetaQuest headset. So that's kind of my, my, my, benchmark because that's where I've spent probably three years. Now, when Meta shut down the fitness app, I can remember the name off the top of my head. I remember Leon Pedante was like the athletic director. This was a great app. So you have a VR headset on and you're going through various exercises. You're playing with batons or you're running and it was a great exercise app and Meta shut it down. But that was my primary kind of visual. interface. So I think from that right off, now glasses obviously are a little less obvious. I did see a few people with a MetaQuest in the airport and they look pretty weird. Whereas if you've got a pair of VR glasses, it's unless you look very carefully and there's a little green light on the front, in which case you want to turn and walk away. It's not nearly as obvious. So the difference, I think, is certainly cosmetic. The difference is comfort, but that full kind of inner, you know, immersive 3D VR experience isn't going to be there, but you've got some good opportunities for things like... I mean, think about real-time translation if you want to see something translated in front of your face, you know, in English when you're hearing a different language. I mean, there's very interesting options, answers to, you know, AI-generated questions. So there's interesting possibilities. It's just, you know, how far is it going to go? What are all the apps going to be? What's the future hold? It's a good question. I'm not sure it's being adopted as quickly as we might think, but yeah, kind of in the middle.

We experienced Google Glass first, George. What? What is it? What was it? Google Glass. And all of a sudden, Google shut it down. They heard it from every side, it seemed to me like it never became an everyday consumer product. Not to say they're probably not working on it or haven't been working on it since. But at the time and even today, they have not felt it necessary to release something. Meta says that, hey, you're going to notice when somebody wears meta glasses because they're going to have the little light that you referred to in their eye. And if somebody tries to mess with that, then it doesn't work. I don't recognize George, everyone who's looking around me at an airport or at the baseball game I went to last week or anywhere else, pretty much for that matter. I'm in and out of a grocery store looking for my stuff. And now I got to worry about who's recording me, maybe? Well, so the privacy concerns, I think, are very interesting. That's where I've kind of read the most news and the most discussion on it. There was a court in the United States where Mark Zuckerberg, the chairman of Mehta, was testifying, and his security team were in the courtroom wearing meta glasses. The judge let him keep him on, but demanded that they not record anything, any proceedings in the courtroom. I believe its courts in the UK have unanimously banned them. If you try to come into a courtroom, they will take them from you and not give them back until you leave. So there have been scenarios like that. There are restaurants and coffee shops that have specifically banned them. A couple of scenarios that have led to this are people who unwittingly found themselves in compromising positions on social media. and it was determined that someone was doing video and they didn't know about it. Now, by the same token, my wife, who's maybe listening, has on more than one occasion sent me a little surreptitious video. She's taken with her phone, so it's not necessarily something's exclusive to glasses. But it's a little bit harder to, you know, hide an iPhone held up to your face, pointed at somebody than it is just looking at them with a pair of glasses on. Green light or not, and as you mentioned, the green light. people are trying to put tape over it and there's some way that that putting the tape over it disables recording but someone's found a way around that and it's kind of a silly conversation but it does raise some issues about can you ever expect not to be videotaped old term video recorded in public and this is an interesting another twist on that discussion along the same lines we all know about flock cameras these days hundreds of thousands of them including here in fargo that videotape us all the time wherever we drive. Interestingly enough, just FYI, Fort Susan Collins is taking them out. Fort Susan Collins, Colorado, they tried them, and the city council said, out. So they're on their way out here. I can think of great applications for metaglasses. For instance, if I'm a tourist in somewhere I'm not familiar with, but I can look at something and then all of a sudden maybe read about it right in front of my face without even having to do anything but maybe wink. Not even having to do that and there the information is. I can think of great applications maybe at a store. If I'm looking at something, I can immediately see where else it's available and where it may be available for a better price. If you think about it, in essence, almost any, you know, not full visual, we're not going to have the full immersive 3D experience you have with a headset. It's just not possible. But supplementary visual text, some kind of a very limited, you know, visual overlay.

audio, the ability to, you know, interpret voice. So in many cases, many of the same applications you would see on a smartphone can now be simply on your face. I mean, there's some really interesting possibilities. And that's the difference, right? Every one of those applications I spoke about are available on my smartphone anywhere. Right, right. So I said, holding my phone up, they're now in my glasses. Right. more convenient perhaps i mean i think a little bit about i mean we think about the apple watch and i have an i don't know if you have an apple watch but i have an apple watch since the very first one came out and i don't make full use of it but i make a lot of use of it i open and close my garage door with it i open unlock and lock my door with it um i track all of my fitness with it which is a little more traditional but i mean all the things i can do i pay with my credit card with it if i want two taps on the you know, the stem and hold it up to a card reader and it's just like holding your phone up. So there's lots of possibilities of, again, another extension of a body worn electronic device. I may have to order a pair when we get done, Craig. Here's one thing that I've thought about. I saw a discussion about a high school debate team. using meta-glasses. So imagine then you're hearing somebody whip out their affirmative case and all of a sudden in front of your eyes is every response with every fact that you'll need to just blow them out of the water in real time. Translate that, not even have to think to do it. And these are things that we've talked a little bit about before. Is all of this stuff dumbing this down? I don't have to think anymore to... I wish I would have had that when I was debating your brother in high school, man. And me the same with your brother, George. You know, I mean, this is, I think that's an interesting discussion. I think it goes along the lines of any number of things like AI generated stuff. And that's a bigger like AI discussion or supplementary discussion. So yes, in the good old days, you had a box full of index cards that had your debate evidence. I haven't gone to a high school debate contest for a while. I don't know if there's a laptop or a tablet or you can use your phone. I don't know what the rules are. But I'm sure technology has changed. You still have the ability to gather some kind of evidence. I assume based on what the, you know, what's the term, what you're debating every year? The topic is. The topic. If there are different ways to debate now, resolve that, whatever. So, you know, the technology is changing that certainly. I would say a. smart glasses might be a really good way of getting some very fast evidence during a debate. Good idea. If that's not an app, there's an idea for you, buddy. There you go. So put your hat on five years from now. George, I think we're all going to have these. I think it's inevitable. I think we're all going to have these devices that we don't think of as phones anymore, that we're going to be able to glean information from in real time easier than we can today with a phone. I think. Do you agree? I thought you and I had this discussion well before tech with Peck was a thing. But I remember having a discussion with somebody probably two or three years ago about how far, you know, AI or smart glasses would go. And we both kind of thought, maybe really big, maybe not. By the same token, the conversation could have been had about a virtual headset.

Remember the Apple Vision Pro? Yeah. I almost forgot about the Apple Vision Pro. You know, I needed to go online today and see if there was a new version of my MetaQuest. I've got the MetaQuest 3. No, there's not a new version. So I think time will tell, I will tell you that I'm kind of still on the fence. I think it's going to be very heavily driven by apps and capability. I think we're going to have to still wait and see. And the other thing, George, is how will data be processed here? I've got to believe that you certainly have to have some punch and some horsepower when you're out and about with data, maybe a little more even than your phone would require. Although you can certainly watch video on your phone too, and that takes up a lot of data as well. Meta's AI glasses promise a world in which directions answers in translation, as we've discussed. And a camera are always in view. It's just hard to contemplate that. George, we wouldn't have had this discussion 10 years ago. No, there's a lot. Remember Dick Tracy's telephone watch? We always got a kick out of that with what I have on my wrist and how I answered the phone call this morning, right? George and I visit on Thursdays Tech with Peck. George, we'll see you soon. All right.

If you're listening to the 3 p.m. broadcast of Main Street catch up on the news and stories from around the world, the nation, and here at home on all things considered. That's up next on Prairie Public. And if you're listening to us during the evening broadcast, keep it here for the middle live. That follows Main Street on Prairie Public. Here's Czechlura with Natural North Dakota. Rangeland, often seen with some livestock on it, is a familiar site in North Dakota. But occasionally a reminder of the importance of that land and its use may be in order. With the support of over 100 countries and 400 organizations, the United Nations declared 2026 the International Year of Rangelands and Pasture Lists to, quote, honor and raise awareness that the important role these lands play in creating a sustainable environment and economic growth for communities around the world, unquote. North Dakota is a prairie state, and as such, around 30% of the state may be considered rangeland. consisting of private, state, and federally owned and managed land. SDSU's range scientists Tex Lewis said it well, quote, if we fail to develop scientific understanding of range ecosystems and ecological wisdom to plan their wise use, man's well-being will be jeopardized. We cannot plunder the resource of nearly half of the land base of this planet with impunity, unquote. Maintaining healthy range lands provides a variety of important monetary and social benefits to the local, state, and national economy. Some of the more commonly identified benefits include soil and water conservation, watershed protection, livestock, grazing, wildlife habitat, and biodiversity. More broadly, it also includes sustainable development, food security, and climate resistance. Research on the ecology, management, and economics of North Dakota range lands conducted at the NDSU Central Grasslands Research Extension Center and the work of the Natural Resource Conservation Service are among the many entities increasing our understanding of the ecology and management of these ecosystems. Native Prairie, including that in North Dakota, is one of the most endangered or perhaps the most endangered ecosystem in North America, largely due to conversion to cropland and other uses. It seems that the economic incentives work against the preservation of this ecosystem. Make an effort to become more familiar with the ecology and management of this important and dwindling resource. I put links to more information on the topic along with the text of this Natural North Dakota. You can access them at prairiepublic.org. I'm Chuck Lara. Natural North Dakota is supported in part by the NDSU Central Grasslands Research Extension Center. You can get Natural North Dakota essays delivered to your inbox every week. Sign up for the email newsletter at prairiepublic.org.

This is Dakota Datebook for August 13th. Buffalo Bill Cody had an astute talent for both business and self-promotion. He turned his experience as a Pony Express writer, Army Scout, and Buffalo Hunter into a successful career as a major celebrity. Ned Buntline wrote dime novels about Cody and Buffalo Bill, starred in a Broadway show about who else, himself. Cody came up with the idea of a traveling show that would bring the Wild West to people who had never seen it. The show featured everything from reenactments of events like Little Big Horn to an Indian village and even a buffalo herd. He sought out big names and top talent. In a brilliant public relations move, Cody hired Chief Sitting Bull, and, as expected, enormous crowds turned out to see him. Another of Cody's stars was a young woman from Ohio who was born on this date in 1860. Annie Oakley began the shooting game at an early age to help support her widowed mother and her brothers. In 1875, Marksman Frank Butler placed a $100 bet that he could beat any local fancy shooter. The last opponent he expected was a 15-year-old girl. annie won the contest and claimed the prize an amount that would be worth about three thousand dollars to-day butler began courting her and they married in eighteen eighty two north dakotans were just as captivated as the rest of the country by the star sharpshooter whom sitting bull named little sure shot North Dakota newspapers eagerly followed her adventures. One article recounted how Annie took part in a hunting party in Arkansas. Of the 63 birds taken, Annie shot nearly half of them. On September 1st, 1910, the Wild West show rolled into Jamestown with 80 rail cars, carrying performers, roustabouts, and animals. Buffalo Bill was on a farewell tour, presenting the same show that had been performed at Madison Square Garden. Newspaper ads proclaimed this was the last chance to see Buffalo Bill in action. At age 64, Cody said he was determined to retire. The Dickinson Press mourned the end of Buffalo Bill's time on the international stage. The newspaper observed, with the passing of Buffalo Bill from active life, the amusement world loses its greatest attraction. Annie Oakley continued performing in vaudeville and became a strong advocate for women's rights. She died in 1926 at the age of 66. Today's Dakota Date Book was written by Dr. Carol Butcher. I'm Merrill Pepcorn. Dakota Datebook is produced in cooperation with the State Historical Society of North Dakota, with funding by the Study ND, North Dakota's largest lifelong learning community.

Arts Programming on Prairie Public is supported in part by the North Dakota Council in the Arts, a state agency developing, promoting, and supporting the arts in North Dakota. The U.S.-Israeli war against Iran is approaching six months, and behind the headlines about the street of Hormuz and the economy are the people trying to survive both the bombings on their country and the increasingly hardline regime in power. We hear from Iranians in the border town of Van in Turkey, where our colleague Hadeal al-Shalchi is reporting on the next morning edition from NPR News. Starting at 4 a.m. Central, right here on Prairie Public. And that's it for this Thursday's Main Street. We are deeply grateful that you spent time with us. Monday on Main Street, we'll ask an expert at Ascentia Health if you should share your medical records with chat GPT. The answer may surprise you. Plus, we'll continue our conversation with North Dakota's teacher of the year, Franny Tunseth, as she shares practical ways parents and kids can get ready for school. We hope you have a great... North Dakota weekend, and we'll see you again Monday right here on Main Street.