National articles

A bin contains examples of the types of drugs seized by the Minnesota CEE-VI Drug Task Force, a unit that investigates drug cases in Chippewa, Kandiyohi, Meeker, Swift and Yellow Medicine counties. Agents give 20 to 40 community education presentations each year. Anne Polta / Forum News Service

Prohibition Is a Crock: Americans (Probably) Spend as Much on Recreational Drugs as They Do on Booze

- 14 hours ago - ,

Prohibition Is a Crock: Americans (Probably) Spend as Much on Recreational Drugs as They Do on Booze

- 14 hours ago - ,

A newly-issued Rand Corporation report (see below) indicates that Americans spent almost $150 billion on illegal drugs in 2016. To put that into perspective, Americans spent roughly $227 billion on alcohol the same year. The two numbers are seemingly far apart, until you realize the limitations of the drugs metric. For one thing, Rand only…

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D- Mass., speaks during a town hall event in Miami on June 25. Marco Bello / Bloomberg

Elizabeth Warren’s Attack on the Dakota Access Pipeline Is Why So Many Republicans Tolerate Donald Trump

- 2 days ago - ,

Why do so many Republicans support someone like Donald Trump? I get asked that question a lot, most recently by a couple of reporters who work here in North Dakota. They don’t understand why someone like President Donald Trump – a serial philanderer with only a rhetorical adherence to the mores of social conservative, an…

Former Fargo parks director Joel Vettel

Attorney General: Fargo Park Board Broke the Law With Meeting at Which Former Director Joel Vettel Resigned

- August 14, 2019 - ,

North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem has concluded that the Fargo Park Board broke open meeting law with too-vague agenda for a meeting at which former parks director Joel Vettel resigned. “The vague topic ‘HR/Staff review’ did not sufficiently describe the specific topic the commmission [sic] clearly knew it would be discussing at the special…

A man protesting President Donald Trump's visit to El Paso, Texas, is surrounded by Trump supporters in El on Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2019. Washington Post photo by Michael Robinson Chavez

Who Is Really Afraid to Shop, Worship, or Go to School?

- August 12, 2019 - ,

“We shouldn’t be afraid to shop, worship or go to school,” reads the headline over a recent column from Jim Shaw. Is anyone really afraid to do those things? Maybe some, but are those feelings based in factual reality or just feelings? Despite the intense (and at times downright ghoulish) media focus on mass shootings,…

Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) talks to voters at AFL-CIO House of Labor in Bismarck, N.D., Nov. 5, 2018. (Hilary Swift/Copyright 2019 The New York Times)

Some Democrats Relieved Heitkamp Won’t Run for Governor

- August 9, 2019 - ,

Yesterday I shared polling from Governor Doug Burgum’s not-yet-officially-announced re-election campaign showing the incumbent with a commanding lead in a hypothetical match-up with former Senator Heidi Heitkamp. Reacting to that poll later in the day, Heitkamp said that particular competition would remain strictly hypothetical. Heitkamp tells Bismarck Tribune she's not running for governor next year…

Sen. Heidi Heitkamp and former Vice President Joe Biden raise arms in unity at the North Dakota Democratic convention in Grand Forks during the 2018 election cycle. Photo by Eric Hylden/Grand Forks Herald

How Can Democrats Reach Out to Rural Voters When They Hate What We Do for a Living?

- August 7, 2019 - ,

Last month at one of the debates held for the crowded field of Democratic presidential candidates, supposedly moderate front runner Joe Biden said there would be no place in his administration for oil and coal. Biden on whether or not there would be a place for fossil fuels including coal and fracking in his administration:…

Flags fly at half-staff at Hector International Airport in Fargo in honor of the Colorado shooting victims. David Samson / The Forum

Stop Lowering the Flags

- August 5, 2019 - ,

“It’s never just guns. It’s never just mental health. It’s never just radical ideology. It’s never just sad manhood. It’s almost always a toxic combination.” That’s what New York Daily News opinion editor Josh Greenman wrote on Twitter in the time after the mass shooting in El Paso, but before the one in Dayton. His statement…

North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem announces the filing of a lawsuit against Purdue Pharma and their role in the opiod crisis on Tuesday, May 15, 2018, during a press conference at First Step Recovery in south Fargo. David Samson / Forum News Service

The Problem for All These Opioid Lawsuits Is Germany

- August 2, 2019 - ,

The State of North Dakota is suing the pharmaceutical industry over the opioid crisis (the suit was recently dismissed but apparently there will be an appeal). In addition to the state, 19 of North Dakota’s cities and counties have also been persuaded as of June to file suit against “big pharma” as well. Nationally, pretty…

Doug Burgum addresses the crowd after winning the office of governor Tuesday night, Nov. 8, 2016, at the Sanctuary Events Center in Fargo. Brent Sanford, at right in the photo, is the new Lt. Governor Dave Wallis / The Forum

Poll: Governor Doug Burgum Enjoys 60 Percent Favorable Rating, Has Support of a Plurality of Democrats

- August 1, 2019 - ,

In polling from DFM Research (which I’ve written about earlier this week with regard to the Teddy Roosevelt library project and President Donald Trump), North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum has a 60 percent approval rating. That’s about what you’d expect from a Republican governor in a Republican state, and it’s line with the numbers for…

President Donald Trump speaks in Bismarck Forum file photo

Poll: Trump Leads Biden Among North Dakotans in Head-to-Head Matchup, Has 56 Percent Favorable Rating

- July 31, 2019 - ,

The current polling has former Vice President Joe Biden leading a crowded field of Democratic candidates in the 2020 White House race on the national level, but here in North Dakota the front runner is a country mile behind incumbent President Donald Trump. That’s according to a May poll from DFM Research (which was also…

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