North Dakota

Sharing North Dakota's Cold War History – KVRR Local News

Published

2 years ago

April 14, 2024

Sharing North Dakota's Cold War History – KVRR Local News

COOPERSTOWN, N.D. (KVRR) — Just outside of Cooperstown, N.D. lies the former site of Oscar-Zero Missile Alert Facility.

It is now the Ronald Reagan Minuteman Missile State Historic Site, where travelers can come to get a glimpse of where U.S. soldiers stood ready to launch in case of nuclear war.

Site Supervisor Robert Branting has been working at the site for several years, and this year he received the Heritage Award for a Front-line Tourism Employee at the Governor’s Travel and Tourism awards.

“It’s just an amazing ability to work with great seasonal staff. Have the veterans come through. Have visitors come in from all over the world. I’m very happy to help share that story of our Cold War mission.”

Branting has been sharing stories of the site on social media, as well as collecting oral histories from the veterans that were stationed there.

“They were able to talk to their loved ones down there in the capsules. So I’ve talked to their wives who would say, you know, “I was on the phone with my husband who was working at the console, and all of a sudden I hear the primary alerting system alarm,” and the husband goes “Gotta go.”

On tours of the site, visitors are taken down an elevator to the command center, more than 50 feet below the ground.

Tour guests will see two consoles where soldiers would have been sitting and turned the keys to launch a missile in the case of a nuclear strike.

Branting says that these histories are an important part of the story of the United States during the cold war.

“It’s very enlightening just to see how folks react and see where the launch keys were that potentially could have ended the lives of millions of people.”

Just to the south of Cooperstown is the November-33 launch facility, where the missiles would have taken off from.

There used to be more facilities like these, but like this one near Hope, N.D. many have been abandoned.

For Branting, who’s father contracted cancer from Agent Orange exposure in Vietnam, it’s all about sharing the stories about how the history of the Cold War era affected people.

“I remember a woman visited, who lived outside of Moscow, who was basically my age and she was just kind of in awe of all of these machinery here in place to potentially be targeting, you know, Russian installations near her home and I’m sure I’m sure I’d feel the same way over there.“

If you’re interested in taking a tour, you can stop by the Ronald Reagan middleman missile historical site just North of Cooperstown, N.D.

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North Dakota

Summit League tournament: Omaha women bounce North Dakota

Published

2 hours ago

March 5, 2026

Press Room

Summit League tournament: Omaha women bounce North Dakota

SIOUX FALLS — Ali Stephens had 17 points and 13 rebounds and 8th-seeded Omaha defeated 9th-seeded North Dakota 49-39 in the first round of the Summit League women’s tournament.

The Fighting Hawks had a tough time putting the ball in the hoop all night long, scoring just three points in the first quarter and having only marginally better luck from there.

UND (7-24) shot just 23.5 percent from the floor (12-for-51) and made 1-of-20 shots from outside the arc. Walker Demers and Mackenzie Hughes had 10 points each to lead the Hawks, with Demers adding eight rebounds.

Members of the Omaha women’s basketball team cheer for their teammates during the opening game of the Summit League tournament on March 4, 2026 at the Premier Center in Sioux Falls.

Matt Zimmer/Sioux Falls Live

Regan Juenemann had 10 points and five rebounds for the Mavericks while Avril Smith had seven points and 16 rebounds and Sarai Estupinan eight points, five assists and three rebounds. Omaha (6-26) shot the ball slightly better than the Hawks, going 16-of-53 from the field (30 percent) and 8-of-23 (35 percent) on 3-pointers.

With the win, the Mavs earn a date with top-seed North Dakota State on Thursday at 2:30 p.m.
The Bison won both regular season matchups by more than 50 points.

North Dakota’s Mataeya Mathern goes up for a shot during the opening game of the Summit League tournament on March 4, 2026 at the Premier Center in Sioux Falls.

Oral Roberts 84, Kansas City 62 — Don’t look now but the team that started the conference season 0-10 and at one point lost 15 of 16 games might be the hottest in the Summit League.

Oral Roberts picked up their fourth straight victory on Wednesday night in the conference tournament opener, routing Kansas City at the Premier Center in the 8/9 “play-in” game.

Ty Harper had 22 points to lead the Golden Eagles (10-22), who took a 44-21 lead by halftime and never looked back. ORU shot 50 percent from the floor and made 13-of-27 3-pointers while the Kangaroos shot just 34 percent and made 6-of-24 from deep. Martins Kilups had 17 points for the Eagles and Connor Dow added 14.

Jayson Petty had 14 points to lead the Kagaroos, who finish the season 4-27. It was their final game under coach Marvin Menzies, whom the school announced earlier this season would not return next year.

With the win ORU advances to face top-seed North Dakota State on Thursday at 6 p.m.
The Golden Eagles lost to NDSU 86-58 in Tulsa on Jan. 24 but they took the Bison to overtime in Fargo on Jan. 3 in a 79-77 loss.

Matt Zimmer is a Sioux Falls native and longtime sports writer. He graduated from Washington High School where he played football, legion baseball and developed his lifelong love of the Minnesota Twins and Vikings. After graduating from St. Cloud State University, he returned to Sioux Falls, and began a long career in amateur baseball and sports reporting. Email Matt at mzimmer@siouxfallslive.com.

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