Matt Von Pinnon
Matt Von Pinnon is editor and longtime employee of The Forum. His column appears each Sunday on the editorial page of The Forum.Contact
Articles
Record-setting Red River flood five years ago grabbed world's attention 
Five years ago today, the Fargo-Moorhead area held its collective breath. The Red River gauge in Fargo hovered at 40.84 feet, the highest flood crest ever seen here. And yet nobody declared victory.
RELATED CONTENTVon Pinnon: Seven more ready to work on Forum Readers Board
Meet the seven new members of The Forum’s Readers Board. They join five returning members whose terms expire in June.
RELATED CONTENTVon Pinnon: Was local TV station right to break the law for news?
Is it ever justifiable for a journalist to break the law in pursuit of news? That’s the question many area journalists and non-journalists are asking themselves following a local TV station’s actions last week.
RELATED CONTENTVon Pinnon: Visiting Pakistani journalist became a friend and teacher
The Forum newsroom recently said goodbye to a visiting journalist from Pakistan whom we now call a friend.
RELATED CONTENTVon Pinnon: HoDo has place in Fargo's psyche
Sitting inside the HoDo lounge, it seems anything is possible. By day, business people craft plans on the back of bar napkins. Old friends hug before sitting down to lunch. By night, women in heels mug for cellphone photos with martinis while men in T-shirts and blue jeans join co-workers for a beer.
RELATED CONTENTVon Pinnon: Gossip today spreads faster, cuts deeper
High school might just be harder today. Not necessarily on the academics side. That’s still up for debate. But on the social side, no doubt.
RELATED CONTENTVon Pinnon: Will social networking kill the Christmas card?
Forget the presents and the food, though those are nice, too. Christmastime, for me, is about the Christmas cards.
RELATED CONTENTMeet the six new members of The Forum's Readers Board
Meet the six new members of The Forum’s Readers Board. They join six returning members whose terms expire in December.
RELATED CONTENTVon Pinnon: Celebrating the spirit of ’76 in south-central Moorhead
They came to Moorhead to better their lives and, in doing so, they made my life richer, more wordly. It was a powerful Independence Day lesson early in life.
RELATED CONTENTVon Pinnon: Day a chance to show Mom how you really feel
Mother’s Day will always mean something more for me. Last year, after spending the entire day with her children, grandchildren and husband, my mom had an unexpected heart attack and died. She was 70.
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Von Pinnon: Skuza story was difficult for our readers and for us
Last Tuesday we ran a front-page story that upset and angered many readers. Headlined “Officer who killed himself was to be fired,” it revealed that an internal investigation over an accidentally fired Taser led three deputy chiefs to recommend Fargo Police Lt. Jeff Skuza be fired for lying.
RELATED CONTENTFrom the editor: Facts behind resignation reported once we knew
When the longtime principal resigned in late July, it was reported elsewhere that no reasons were given by the principal or superintendent and the school board asked no public questions of either.
RELATED CONTENTVon Pinnon: Look for changes you asked for in The Forum
We’re excited to announce some changes we’re making to your newspaper starting with today’s edition, though the biggest changes will be evident in weekday editions starting tomorrow.
RELATED CONTENTVon Pinnon: Police deserve scrutiny because of their authority
Today’s front-page stories about area law enforcement officers being disciplined for professional missteps or ethical breaches is the latest in a series of recent Forum stories shedding light on the internal affairs of police agencies in Cass and Clay counties.
RELATED CONTENTVon Pinnon: Summer interns learn, and we learn from them
Every year at The Forum for as long as anyone can remember, we’ve welcomed summer interns into our newsroom.
RELATED CONTENTVon Pinnon: Six new members join Forum Readers Board
Meet the six new members of The Forum’s Readers Board. They join seven returning members whose terms expire in December.
RELATED CONTENTVon Pinnon: Open records laws should also apply to lawmakers
When a North Dakota legislator wants to dig into a year’s worth of written correspondence of a university president, he files an open records request, obliging the president to turn over what he has. But if that same university president wanted to dig into even a day’s worth of correspondence from that same state lawmaker, the legislator could outright ignore that request.
RELATED CONTENTVon Pinnon: Awareness events at times lose out to breaking news
A couple recent letters to the editor took us to task for not covering the April 6 Run 4 Change, a Deutscher Family Memorial in Fargo.
RELATED CONTENTVon Pinnon: Dear Shirvani: Take the buyout; consider it a learning experience
If your bosses offer you a nearly $1 million payout of taxpayer dollars to buy out your contract, don’t stop to ask questions.
RELATED CONTENTVon Pinnon: We scrutinize Moorhead because we care about it
Moorhead officials recently discussed whether the city should continue spending tens of thousands of dollars to market Moorhead to potential new residents or spend that money improving services for its current residents.
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