"It's a false sense of security, because by the year 2012 we will see a huge nursing shortage. We always tell people there is a nursing shortage, not in Bismarck per se, but in places in North Dakota, like Wishek."

- Jan Kamphuis, Medcenter One chief nursing officer, on the expected shortage of nurses in the state, especially in rural areas.

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"I loved being pregnant. It's so neat to show it off."

- Heather Mautz Brousseau, a young Bismarck mom, on why she had photos taken of her while pregnant. She's the mother of two young girls.

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"I suspect that had an impact. There's a problem there in the need to stem the herd, the question is what kind of action? I just wanted them to come up with a solution that had some common sense attached to it."

- Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., on his efforts to have the Interior Department use volunteer shooters to reduce the elk herd at Theodore Roosevelt National Park. As a member of a Senate appropriations subcommittee that oversees funding for the Interior Department, Dorgan inserted language into the department's annual funding bill in June that would require the park use volunteer shooters to reduce the elk population.

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"His opinion was treated like all the other people who took time to comment. He's got a right to speak his mind like everybody else."

- Bill Whitworth, the chief resource manager for the Theodore Roosevelt National Park, on how Dorgan's push for the use of volunteer shooters was taken into account, but treated like the 285 public comments the park service received.

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"They pen deer and elk in an escape-proof pasture and then they're bringing in people to shoot them and they're calling that hunting. It's commercialization of wildlife and we believe in the long run it's going to injure hunting as we know it."

- Roger Kaseman, co-chairman of North Dakota Hunters for Fair Chase, which is attempting a ballot measure to ban high-fence hunting.

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"That's what I've been working toward for 40 years."

- James Iverson, North Dakota's longest-serving prison inmate, on his parole this week. He was convicted in 1969 of strangling two women. He's staying in the Bismarck Transition Center.

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"I enjoy the executive branch of government. I enjoy that, and I have a passion for that."

- Drew Wrigley, the U.S. Attorney for North Dakota who's stepping down next month, on why he would be interested in running for governor some day. He downplayed any interest in a congressional race.

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"It is a challenging goal, but we know the human service needs are higher, and the agencies we fund need more support."

- Rodger Wetzel, interim executive director for United Way, on why United Way's fundraising goal of $1.6 million for next year is $200,000 higher than this year's goal.

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"This is not a management problem."

- Dwight Aakre, a farm management specialist and North Dakota State University economist, saying today's dairy farmer is as efficient as at any time in the past and it's not a question of poor management. Dairy farmers are struggling to survive in the state.

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"Seat belt use or lack thereof is a trend that continues to indicate that we have an answer. We have the answers; it's just that we need the motoring public's cooperation to pay attention."

- North Dakota Highway Patrol Lt. Jody Skogen, on North Dakotans failing to use seat belts. So far, highway fatalities are trending higher than last year.