Featured articles

Mitsubishi Power Americas CEO Paul Browning and Bakken Energy founder Steve Lebow color in a single eye on traditional Japanese dolls presented at the North Dakota Capitol on Wednesday, June 2, 2021, a traditional gesture meant to show commitment to the fulfillment of a challenging task. Adam Willis / The Forum

LIVE at 2 P.M.: A Hydrogen Hub Is a Big Deal for North Dakota; Listen to the Discussion

- June 10, 2021 - ,

LIVE at 2 P.M.: A Hydrogen Hub Is a Big Deal for North Dakota; Listen to the Discussion

- June 10, 2021 - ,

A big name in power is coming to North Dakota to invest in hydrogen energy, and it’s a big deal for our state in a lot of ways. Mitsubishi Power is partnering with Bakken Energy to build a hydrogen hub in the state. The potential benefits are enormous. It’s a new industry, for one, in a state that desperately…

A payloader damaged by anti-Line 3 activists at a pump station construction site (photo via Gordon Construction)

How Do You Promote Native American Voices by Attacking Native Americans?

- June 10, 2021 - ,

MINOT, N.D. — Earlier this week a group of activists looking to stop construction on Enbridge’s Line 3 replacement project attacked a pump station site. They vandalized equipment and terrorized workers, dozen of whom were locked in by the protesters. Ultimately, the assault resulted in about 250 arrests, though the group that organized the activists, Treaty People, was…

The sign for the North Dakota Republican Party headquarters sits along East Boulevard Avenue near the state Capitol in Bismarck. (Jeremy Turley / Forum News Service)

The NDGOP Will Have to Do All Those Messy District Reorganizations Again

- June 10, 2021 - ,

MINOT, N.D. — The faction of Donald Trump loyalists who ambushed many of the North Dakota Republican Party’s local district reorganizations, and had some success electing their own to leadership positions, may have to do it all over again. That’s the law. The Democratic-NPL will have to do theirs over too, though that wasn’t nearly so contentious an endeavor…

LIVE at 2 P.M.: Lawmakers Say OK to a Ban on LGBT Conversion? Watch the Discussion and Chat Live With Rob Port

- June 9, 2021 - ,

The Administrative Rules Committee approved a ban on LGBT conversion therapy asked for by the North Dakota Board of Social Work Examiners, which oversees licensing for social workers. Some Republican lawmakers resisted the change. Was it the right move? I’ll talk about it with former Democratic-NPL executive director Chad Oban on this episode of Plain Talk.…

An oil train slowly moves through Fargo-Moorhead as seen Monday, May 9, 2016. (Dave Wallis / Forum News Service)

Did Someone Purposefully Derail a Train Carrying North Dakota Oil?

- June 9, 2021 - ,

MINOT, N.D. — There has been much talk about political violence of late, and it has been appropriately centered on the Jan. 6 riot in Washington, D.C., inspired by disgraced former President Donald Trump’s conspiracy-mongering about the 2020 election results. But if we’re going to get serious about political extremism, the discussion can’t just be about Trump…

A Donald Trump political message is engraved into the grass at a farm in southeast Minnesota. The state hasn't backed a GOP presidential candidate since Richard Nixon in 1972. (Noah Fish / Forum News Service)

If 2022 Is About Trump’s Grievances Republicans Will Lose

- June 9, 2021 - ,

MINOT, N.D. — What are Republicans going to campaign on in 2022? It’s a midterm election, the first of President Joe Biden’s term, and historically those go pretty well for the opposition party. In the modern political era, the opposition’s candidates pick up an average of 30 seats in the House and Senate combined. In 2018, the…

The row of wind turbines receive shade while underneath a summer cloud. Soon to be pushed away by North Dakota's wind. (Josiah C. Cuellar/The Dickinson Press)

LIVE at 3 P.m.: How Many Wind Turbines Do You Want in Your Back Yard? Watch the Discussion

- June 8, 2021 - ,

“Rural America gets bad vibrations from Big Wind,” Robert Bryce wrote recently for the Wall Street Journal. He notes that President Joe Biden’s administration is pushing for “tens of thousands of wind turbines,” but asks, “where, exactly, will all those turbines be built?” It’s a good question. Many Americans, even those who support the concept of wind energy, may not…

After Furor at District Conventions, Trumpists Are Unlikely to Get Control of the NDGOP

- June 8, 2021 - ,

MINOT, N.D. — At the dawn of every new cycle North Dakota’s political parties reorganize themselves. Local, district-level party committees elect new leadership, and then that leadership elects leaders at the statewide level. Normally this process plays out quietly, with little fanfare outside of the picayune rivalries and intrigues of deeply local politicking. This spring,…

See More
Top