Last night David Owen called me and said he wanted to speak out about the dangers of marijuana vaping products. Owen is one of the organizers behind Legalize ND, a citizen group which backed a ballot measure to legalize recreational marijuana in North Dakota last year. His group is readying another proposal for the ballot…
Local Politics Are as Partisan and Ideological as Any Other Kind of Politics, We Just Pretend Like They Aren’t
Earlier this year state Rep. Scott Louser, a Republican from Minot, introduced legislation which would have allowed local elected leaders to identify themselves with a political party on the ballot. It was permissive legislation, which is to say that nobody would have been forced into an affiliation. Local candidates, much like legislative and statewide candidates…
City of Grand Forks Says Alerus Center Finances Were Misrepresented
UPDATE: Reporter Sam Easter now insists that the City of Grand Forks did not initiate a response to the SAB blog posts. This is at odds with communications he had with me, both via email and via telephone, where he referred to an “accusation” and a “complaint” about the post. Also, his article linked below…
Guest Post: Grand Forks Alerus Center Had a Net Operating Loss of $3,777,692 in 2018
This guest post was submitted by a Grand Forks resident, and long-time SAB contributor, who uses the nom-de-plume of The Whistler On Monday the Grand Forks City Council had the most exciting item of the year on the agenda. The Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) was set for discussion and approval. The CAFR is the…
Guest Post: The Grand Forks City Council Didn’t Let Citizens Speak Before Deciding to Ax Columbus Day
This guest post was submitted by Dr. Kevin Fire of Grand Forks One thing that city governments have traditionally encouraged is public participation in the political process. That is, unless the topic about which there may be discussion might anger the left. As a case in point, last Monday, the City Council in Grand Forks…
When It Comes to Columbus Day, We Can’t Add Through Subtraction
“As another example of the liberal cesspool the city of Grand Forks is becoming, the Committee of the Whole voted unanimously last night to replace Christopher Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day,” a reader emailed me today, asking me to write about it. “I am floored.” He’s right. “City Council members, acting as the city’s…
Grand Forks City Council Member Says Democrats Mistakenly Included Her in Fundraiser
Earlier this year state lawmakers considered legislation, introduced by Rep. Scott Louser (R-Minot), which would have allowed those running for local political office to affiliate themselves on the ballot with a political party. You can listen to my interview with Louser about the legislation here. It wasn’t too popular among some local elected leaders, including…
Democrat Lawmaker Offers Non-Apology for Hitler Memes
If your apology starts with “I’m sorry if” it’s not really an apology. Yet that’s how Rep. Mary Adams, Hitler meme aficionado, worded a letter to the editor of the Grand Forks Herald. She even started off the letter acting as if an elected official comparing the President of the United States to Hitler (not to…
Any Reform to North Dakota Speeding Fines Should Avoid Move Toward Policing for Profit
If there were no risk of death, injury, or property damage on our roads we’d have no need for speeding fines. Unfortunately, that risk exists, and so to mitigate it we set speed limits and enforce them primarily with fines. Many, including the editorial board of the Grand Forks Herald today, argue that North Dakota’s…
Official National Weather Service Twitter Account for Eastern North Dakota Calls Mitt Romney a “Fraud”
Something odd happened on the official, verified National Weather Service account for eastern North Dakota today. It posted a message, responding to Republican Mitt Romney, calling the one-time Presidential candidate a “fraud.” I didn’t get a chance to capture which Romney tweet this was in response to before it was deleted, but I’m pretty sure…