North Dakota
Meet Miss North Dakota, VNL’s Sophia Richards!
FARGO, N.D. (Valley News Live) – We’re kicking off our coverage of the 2025 Miss America competition!
VNL’s own Sophia Richards took to the skies on Friday, flying to Orlando, Florida to compete as North Dakota’s state delegate.
The 23-year-old is from Hope, ND. She tells us she had 8 students in her class.
“Growing up on a farm, everyone in my family just had such strong work ethic and that’s something I’ve grown up with my whole life,” says Sophia.
“I’m kinda the odd ball out of my family. We’re a big sports family! So when I was first interested in pageants everyone in my family was a bit apprehensive, like what are we getting into?”
Sophia was 16 years old when she competed in her first pageant, taking the title of Miss West Fargo before winning Miss ND.
She adds,“it took me 3 years to win miss north Dakota, I was a non-finalist my first year, then I was first runner up, then my third year I was the winner.”
“I was such an awkward kid, and I went to my first pageant where I saw all these beautiful, confident young women and that’s something I didn’t see in myself. I thought…. That’s exactly what I want to be like when I grow up.”
“Even if you don’t know me, or any of the other contestants, it’s such a testament to female empowerment.”
The notion of female empowerment doesn’t just exist on the stage for Sophia; she’s been building confidence and grace in young women around the state for the past three years
She says, “Biogirls is my community service initiative, nothing in my life has been more impactful. The self esteem crisis in young women is truly troubling. It’s something I’ve personally experienced and I want to make a difference. It’s a North Dakotan organization, so I’m really excited to bring it to the national stage and get it some recognition.”
When she’s not wearing the sash, she’s wearing a microphone
“I already landed my dream job hosting the lifestyle TV show North Dakota Today. I love my career at Valley News Live, I really don’t see myself anywhere else.”
“I’m not gonna lie to you, it’s been really hard this year. A lot of girls, when they win their state title, will actually quit their job or quit going to school for the year… and that just wasn’t in my nature.”
With only 6 days until the miss America competition, her focus hasn’t left the crown
“I’ve had things done, pulled out of my skin, and teased waxed, tanned and sprayed that I never thought I would before.”
“I’ve been having my friends ask me questions, I’ve been doing mock interviews… but I think the most important thing is to just be incredibly in tune with myself.”
She’s got a little help from friends, family and even some guardian angels.
“I have a stuffed animal that my aunt gave me before she passed away. And all the pageants I’ve won, my mom has actually had that stuffed animal sitting with her in the audience so she can ‘watch me’.”
“You are actually more likely to have a son compete in the Super Bowl than have a daughter compete in Miss America. I mean it’s hard. When you’re in a pageant and getting up on stage, you’re telling the judges: this is who I am, take it or leave it.”
Copyright 2024 KVLY. All rights reserved.
Today in History revisits the Tuesday, December 29. 1959 edition of the Grand Forks Herald and highlights a story on the UND Hockey team being names North Dakota team of the year.
The University of North Dakota hockey team was named “Team of the Year” after winning the NCAA Championship in a 4-3 overtime victory over Michigan State. Forward Reg Morelli was voted the tournament’s Most Valuable Player. Runner-up honors went to the Bismarck High basketball team for winning its third straight Class A title.
Sioux Ice Champs N. D. Team Of Year
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS (as published by the Grand Forks Herald on Dec. 29, 1959)
North Dakota hockey stock reached a peak early in 1959 when the University sextet captured the NCAA championship with a 4-3 overtime victory over Michigan State.
The feat earned the Sioux icemen the accolade of “team of the year” in the annual Associated Press poll of sports editors and sports directors.
Runner-up honors in the balloting went to the Bismarck high school basketball team, which won its third straight Class A high school title.
The St. Mary’s high school football team, which came from no- where to win the Class A grid crown, won third place.
The University hockey team had taken western championship for the first time the year before, and finished second to Denver in the 1957-58 NCAA tournament.
As the 1958-59 campaign rolled around there were many problems to be solved if the Sioux were to maintain their position atop the college hockey world.
One by one the questions were resolved, and on March 14, at Troy, N. Y., North Dakota went into overtime to cop the coveted NCAA title.
Tremendous spirit marked the Sioux climb to the top. The North Dakota team won four games during the season in overtime, including two in the NCAA meet.
Members of the championship team included George Gratton and Bob Peabody, goalies; Ralph Lyndon, Julian Butherta, Pete Gaze- ly and Bob Began on defense; and Jerry Walford, Stan Paschke, Guy LaFrance, Art Miller, Ed Thomlinson, Joe Poole, Les Merrifield, Ron King, Bart Larson, Bernie Haley, Garth Perry and Reg Morelli, forwards.
Morelli Voted Most Valuable
Morelli was voted most valuable player in the NCAA tourney. Morelli and Thomlinson were on the first team and Lyndon and Poole on the tournament’s second team.
The Bismarck basketball feat of three straight state championships tied a record set by Fargo in 1922- 23-24. The Demons had an overall 21-3 record, averaged 61.6 points per game and held opponents to 49.3 per tilt on the season.
Starters were Ron Carlson and Bob Smith at forward, Rod Tjaden at center and Art Winter and Rich Olthoff at guards.
Carlson and Winter were all-west choices.
Here are “team of the year” choices, points in parenthesis:
- UND hockey (37)
- Bismarck high basketball (24)
- St. Mary’s high football (16)
- Bottineau high basketball (11)
- Valley City Teachers basket- ball (10)
- Williston high wrestling (5)
- Grand Forks Legion baseball (2)
- Shanley high football (1)
- NDAC football (1).
Our newsroom occasionally reports stories under a byline of “staff.” Often, the “staff” byline is used when rewriting basic news briefs that originate from official sources, such as a city press release about a road closure, and which require little or no reporting. At times, this byline is used when a news story includes numerous authors or when the story is formed by aggregating previously reported news from various sources. If outside sources are used, it is noted within the story.
A storm bearing down on the Great Lakes and New England is expected to bring rain, snow, and high winds over the next few days.
A narrow band from Fargo, North Dakota south to approximately Mason City, Iowa is under a blizzard warning ahead of the storm. That includes parts of of both states as well as parts of Minnesota. Winds in the affected areas are forecast to reach 45 miles per hour and, paired with an expected 3 to 8 inches of snow, are expected to create whiteout conditions through the start of the week.
Michigan’s upper peninsula is under a blizzard warning as well. There, snowfall is expected to be between 9 inches and 2 feet, and winds are expected to reach as high as 60 miles per hour, ABC News reports.
The National Weather Service has issued winter weather advisories for parts of the northeast, from the Scranton, Pennsylvania up through Burlington, Vermont and Portland, Maine. Freezing rain is expected in that area on Sunday and Monday.
Buffalo and Jamestown, New York, are also both under flood watches from Sunday afternoon until Monday afternoon.
Back in the Great Lakes region, both Cleveland and Detroit are bracing for high winds. Forecasters expect the cities will see gusts of up to 60 miles per hour on Sunday night through early Tuesday morning.
In the upper midwest, both Minneapolis and Green Bay are forecast to see between 5 to 9 inches of snow. A level 1 of 5 severe storm threat exists in a stretch from northern Indiana south into Missouri. That band includes Indianapolis, St Louis, Louisville, and Nashville. The affected region will be subject to high speed, damaging wind gusts, according to Fox Weather.
The storm began dropping snow on Sioux Falls and Fargo early on Sunday morning, and will continue to sweep east across the northern sections of the U.S. The midwest will begin to see storm conditions on Sunday afternoon, and the northeast will be affected shortly thereafter.
Road travelers in the affected regions should be wary. Parts of the I-95 corridor between Philadelphia and Boston may be made treacherous by freezing rain around 5 pm on Sunday night.
Forecasters believe that the storm system will clear by Monday night, though lake-effect snow is likely to follow in its wake for Great Lakes communities. That snow will likely continue into Tuesday and potentially Wednesday.
In northern New England, wintry precipitation may produce up to a quarter of an inch of ice in the area. While the interior northeast is expected to receive some lake-effect snow as well, forecasters believe snowfall in the region will be lighter.
The storm comes on the heels of another winter weather system that swept across the northeast earlier this week, dropping snow on New York and New Jersey and forcing thousands of flights to be either cancelled or delayed.
LINCOLN, N.D. (KFYR) – Lincoln got its very own cat cafe last week.
Ashley Kneavel learned about cat cafes while visiting another state.
“I fell in love with the concept and wanted to bring something like that to North Dakota,” said Kneavel.
And so with the help of Furry Friends Rockin’ Rescue director Julie Schirado, she got to work.
“About a year ago, I think it was, we started building this together,” said Kneavel.
Furry Friends’ role in the operation? Providing the cats. All of them are pre-vetted, meaning they are spayed and neutered and fully vaccinated.
Meaning they’re also ready for adoption.
“Instead of them sitting at a shop, they get to sit in an atmosphere that’s closely resembled to a home,” said Kneavel.
The cafe has already had three of its four-legged residents adopted.
“It’s a great thing to see when somebody comes in and connects with them on a deep level and takes them home,” said Kneavel. “It’s just… I don’t even know how to describe it, it’s just very rewarding.”
One of her goals in the future is to install a drive-thru window.
To learn how to adopt a furry pal from the cafe, or how to book a visit, click here.
Copyright 2025 KFYR. All rights reserved.
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