Recently, in Fargo, a group of well-meaning people raised some $4,000 as a way to help address the roughly $30,000 in school lunch debt accumulated in the local public school system. These folks did is commendable. This sort of altruism, which has been making headlines both in North Dakota and across the nation, isn’t the…
As Dakota Access Pipeline Fight Heats up Again Poll Says Nearly 70 Percent of North Dakotans Support Expansion
On Wednesday next week, North Dakota’s Public Service Commission will be holding a public hearing at the Emmons County Courthouse in Linton to allow comment on a proposed expansion of the Dakota Access Pipeline. Currently, the line has the capacity for about 500,000 barrels per day. The expansion would take that into the neighborhood of…
Excessive Child Care Regulations Benefit Big Businesses but Hurt the Small Ones
One of the paradoxes of American politics is that our friends on the left (and even many on the right) are generally supportive of expansive regulatory regimes even as they rail against the evils of big business. This is a paradox because one way businesses deal with complicated and costly regulations is through consolidation. The…
Cass County Prosecutor Won’t Pursue Criminal Charges Over ND School of Science Audit
Earlier this year Auditor Josh Gallion’s office flagged a situation at the North Dakota State School of Science wherein a VP at the school, Tony Grindberg, was involved in negotiating a contract between the university and his wife’s public relations firm. NDSCS President John Richman has claimed that Grindberg’s connection to the firm, Flint Group,…
Auditor Gallion Needs to Be Careful Not to Prove His Critics Right
First-term state Auditor Josh Gallion, who recently announced his intention to seek another term in office, has earned himself a lot of praise. His aggressive and incisive audits have been something of a revelation, showing a willingness to uncover real problems in state and local government dominated by members of Gallion’s own political party. In…
Democrats in North Dakota’s Senate Call on Oley Larsen to Resign Leadership Position
Yesterday I posted an email embattled state Senator Oley Larsen had sent out his fellow Senators soliciting their input as to whether or not he ought to resign his position as President Pro Tempore. It’s hard to know how genuine Larsen was in asking for the input. After all, before he sent that email, he’d…
Publicly Oley Larsen Says He Won’t Resign, but Privately He’s Asking His Fellow Senators for Their Opinion
This morning embattled state Senator Oley Larsen (R-Minot) apologized for falsely claiming that Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar is a terrorist trained by al Qaeda. He specifically said he was not apologizing to Omar, though, and he also said that he doesn’t intend to resign his position. “I’m willing to own my role in spreading misinformation…
Oley Larsen: Ilhan Omar Isn’t a Terrorist, She’s Just Sympathetic to Them
This morning state Senator Oley Larsen, a Republican from Minot, finally got around to addressing the controversy over a false Facebook meme he shared claiming controversial Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar was trained by al Qaeda. In other posts he also called her a terrorist. He apologizes for sharing inaccurate information, but says: “I want to…
How Is It Not Racist to Call Someone a Terrorist Simply Because They’re Muslim?
I broke this story on Sunday evening. It’s now late Tuesday morning. Someone in the North Dakota Republican Party has finally got around to condemning Senator Oley Larsen (R-Minot) for perpetuating a long-debunked conspiracy theory about Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar and al Qaeda. Senate Majority Leader Rich Wardner (R-Dickinson) has called on Larsen to apologize,…
Republican State Senator Takes Down False Claim About Ilhan Omar and Al Qaeda, Leaves up Another Post Calling Her a Terrorist
State Senator Oley Larsen, a Republican from Minot, still hasn’t responded to my requests for comment from yesterday over a Facebook post he made of a picture he claimed was controversial Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar at an al Qaeda training camp. The photo is from the Associated Press. It was taken in a Somali military…