By: Mary Steurer (ND Monitor) The North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is working to add as many as 300 additional beds to its overburdened prison system over the next year. “We’re literally trying to lift up about, as far as I’m concerned, four mini prisons across the state all in the same year,” […]
North Dakota is the only state in America where three elected officials essentially jointly own a bank and a flour mill, regulate oil drilling, approve billion-dollar bond issues, and hand out grants for everything from housing and drone research, to hydrogen development. This board, the North Dakota Industrial Commission (NDIC), was created more than a […]
By: Mary Steurer (ND Monitor) Two North Dakota Native tribes and a group of tribal citizens plan to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review a court decision that found they don’t have standing to sue the state of North Dakota for alleged voter discrimination. The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in the ruling concluded […]
By: Michael Achterling (ND Monitor) Frozen federal grants are putting North Dakota after-school programs in limbo, pausing teacher training and leaving schools scrambling, education officials said this week. The U.S. Office of Management and Budget withheld $6.8 billion in federal education grants for the upcoming school year for further review. The total withheld for North […]
By: Amy Dalrymple (ND Monitor) North Dakota legislative leaders are scheduled to go into a closed-door session on Friday to discuss a possible lawsuit over a veto error. It’s a conversation that should happen out in the open because lawmakers should be transparent about their thinking and decision-making. The interim Legislative Management Committee is weighing […]
By: Mary Steurer (ND Monitor) The U.S. Department of Justice is appealing a federal judge’s decision to award North Dakota $28 million in damages for the executive branch’s response to the Dakota Access Pipeline protests. The case now heads to the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals for review. Thousands traveled to south-central North Dakota to protest the […]
By: Michael Achterling (ND Monitor) New budgets for state agencies and commissions in North Dakota went into effect July 1 and one commission will see a 20% increase over the next two years — the Commission on Legal Counsel for Indigents. The commission has a budget of nearly $27.2 million through the 2025-27 biennium, a […]
By: Michael Achterling (ND Monitor) North Dakota lawmakers plan to hold a security hearing with the North Dakota Highway Patrol and Capitol Security to discuss the safety concerns of legislators after Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman, and her husband Mark, were killed June 14 in their Brooklyn Park home. Law enforcement arrested and charged Vance Boelter in connection […]
By: Mary Steurer (ND Monitor) Small communities in North Dakota can soon apply for grant money to support their grocery stores. Lawmakers set aside $1 million for the grant during the 2025 legislative session out of concern for rural North Dakota towns that struggle to attract or sustain businesses that sell high-quality food. Successful applicants […]
By: Patrick Lohmann and Mary Steurer (ND Monitor) United States Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced this week that her agency intends to repeal a 24-year-old rule that prohibits road construction and timber harvesting on 91,000 square miles of federal Forest Service land. Rollins, speaking Monday at the Western Governors’ Association meeting in New Mexico, said […]
