North Dakota

Buffalo’s Fire

The Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance's mission is to improve Indigenous people's civil liberties through research, advocacy, and Native nation-building by employing the core values of integrity, inclusivity, and transparency. Our vision is a world where democracy thrives for Indigenous people through an independent press.
Grace Fiori

​Grace Fiori

​Grace Fiori covers how agricultural and other industries environmentally impact the Tribal Nations along the Missouri River. The tribes have a long and storied history with the sacred waters of the Missouri. Prior to joining Buffalo’s Fire, Grace reported on the intersection of local economies and agricultural systems, first as an intern and then as a contributing reporter for the Harvard Press in Harvard, Massachusetts. She will graduate in May from the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and sustainable agriculture, having served as the managing editor of the student newspaper, the Massachusetts Daily Collegian. Grace has been passionately involved in both journalism and agriculture since her teenage years, spending multiple seasons on diversified vegetable farms, most recently with the UMass Student Farming Enterprise.

Buffalo’s Fire

Buffalo's Fire is the online news publishing division of the Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance, a nonprofit media organization covering American Indian communities in North Dakota and along the Missouri River based in Bismarck, North Dakota.

Adrianna Adame

Adrianna Adame covers Indigenous Democracy across the state of North Dakota for Buffalo's Fire. While in Bismarck, she will be reporting on voting rights, tribal council, school board and rural co-op meetings, tribal college stories and K-12 education. Prior to joining Buffalo's Fire, Adame graduated with her Masters in Journalism from Syracuse University's S.I. School of Public Communication, where she was a Newhouse Minority Fellow and intern at Syracuse.com In Syracuse, she reported on stories from underrepresented communities in Central New York, as well as arts and entertainment. Adame has also contributed and written for local and editorial sites such as POPSUGAR, the Stand, NPR Next Gen and Flique Editorial. Throughout her undergrad years, she also held the positions of Managing and News Editor for The Cougar Chronicle, California State San Marcos' student newspaper, where she lead, edited, reported and most importantly, first became passionate about journalism. Since her days at The Cougar Chronicle, she's has been determined to work in local journalism, primarily focusing on diverse communities. Adame is Mexican American and a proud member of the Chippewa Cree Tribe of Rocky Boy, Montana.

Jordan Rusche

Jordan Rusche covers community news in rural North Dakota for the Tioga Tribune and The Journal in Crosby. She recently graduated from South Dakota State University in Brookings where she served as co-editor-in-chief of The Collegian, the student newspaper, and received a bachelor's in English and journalism. Rusche also has held internships at South Dakota Public Broadcasting, doing general reporting on stories throughout the state, and 605 Magazine, covering South Dakota arts, entertainment and more. She was part of the 2022 Pulitzer Center Campus Consortium Fellowship reporting on Indigenous representation in education.

The Journal

The Journal has been published for 117 years.The news site and weekly paper covers general news, serving four small towns in an area where agriculture and oil exploration are the primary industries. There is no other news organization serving these areas on a daily basis.

Buffalo’s Fire

Buffalo's Fire is the online news site of the Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance, an independent, nonprofit news organization dedicated to serving the Indigenous communities of North Dakota.

Eric Standing

Eric Standing’s history with the Journal began in January 2022 when he began writing a humor column. His first experience with paid writing inspired him to want to pursue journalism as a full time career. The idea of taking pictures of people, places and events while telling their stories has appealed to him since he was a child. Standing is a dual citizen of Canada and America as well as Canadian born First Nations person with treaty rights. He occasionally covers stories in Saskatchewan for Eagle Feather News as well as working for the Journal. In May of 2022, Standing participated in the Indigenous Communications Arts (INCA) Summer Institute in Journalism. Through the First Nations University of Canada, Standing was able to train with professional journalists from CBC, CTV, APTN, Eagle Feather News and the Canadian Press. Standing considers himself an outdoorsman and his passions include hunting and fishing. His connections to his family and the land in North Dakota helped his decision to stay.

Tioga Tribune

The Journal has been published for 117 years, and its sister publication, the Tioga Tribune, has been around for 70 years.The news site and the two weekly papers cover general news, serving four small towns in an area where agriculture and oil exploration are the primary industries. There is no other news organization serving these areas on a daily basis.

Adam Willis

Adam Willis reports for The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead in North Dakota, where he covers statewide business issues and elections. Before moving to North Dakota, Willis was a freelance journalist and researcher based in Washington, D.C. His freelance work has covered religion, human rights, higher ed and regional politics and has appeared in The Atlantic, The Guardian, Politico Magazine, The Boston Globe and other national publications. In the fall of 2018 and spring of 2019, he reported on the response of the Catholic Church to President Rodrigo Duterte’s deadly war on drugs in the Philippines, a project supported by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. Willis has also worked as a Washington reporting fellow for The Texas Tribune, where he covered Texas politics on Capitol Hill. He is a graduate of the University of Virginia.