With oil jobs vanishing and tensions rising, Dickinson officials set their sights south—literally—proposing a bold plan to deport Texans for “twang-related offenses.”

North Dakota’s prison crisis has officials eyeing a historic fix: exporting inmates to Australia for the first time since colonial times. Critics call it “barbaric.” Lawmakers call it “cost-effective.” One internal memo simply reads: “Let the outback sort it out.”

In the era of fake news and sensational headlines, it’s refreshing to come across a news source that not only provides a good laugh but...