“Most North Dakotans, Minnesotans who qualify for heating assistance don’t seek it,” reads a headline over a recent article by my colleague April Baumgarten. “Of the 55,358 households eligible for heating assistance in North Dakota, only 22 percent (12,331 households) received it in 2017, according to the most recent analysis by the National Energy and…
Minnesota’s Taxpayers Paid $10,000 for This Awful Painting Depicting the #NoDAPL Protests
In 2018, the Minnesota Arts Board gave artist Jim Denomie a $10,000 grant to “create a series of large paintings in response to Standing Rock and other contemporary events from a Native American perspective.” Here’s what Mr. Denomie produced (click for a larger view): I’ll admit that it’s…interesting. In the same morbid way that a car wreck…
This screenshot from YouTube shows so-called "valve turner" activists vandalizing an Enbridge facility in Minnesota YouTube
We Have to Hold the Groups Behind Valve Turners Criminally Responsible for Pipeline Tampering Before They End up Killing Someone
Yesterday a group of political extremists broke into an Enbridge pipeline facility in Minnesota and attempted to turn off two oil pipelines. Specifically the company’s Line 3 and Line 4 pipelines, which have a combined capacity of over half a million barrels of oil per day. The company is in the process of replacing the…
Public Health Officials Need to Stop Treating Vaping as Though It Were the Same as Smoking
Should we care that much if teen’s vape? It’s a question I asked in a recent print column – my conclusion is that the vaping “epidemic” is yet another in a long line of moral panics and that the rise of vape technology is a net gain for public health – and it drew a…
Public Service Commission Says North Dakotans Can Be Charged for Green Energy Policies in Other States
The Public Service Commission, in a split decision, recently gave the go-ahead to Xcel Energy to inflate power bills here in North Dakota to recover the cost of building wind energy capacity in compliance with green energy policy in other states. Commissioner Randy Christmann, who voted no, made it clear why this was a terrible…
Podcast: MN House Candidate Dave Hughes, a Health Care Discussion, and Opposition to North Dakota’s New Tourism Logo
On the radio show today Jordan Loftis, the organizer of an open letter with more than 700 signatories asking Governor Doug Burgum to undo a “brand refresh” he announced for the state’s tourism logo, explains why so many people are upset about it. Loftis says the logo will be used in tens of millions of…
Minnesota Has Been Refusing to Return a Captured Confederate Flag to Virginia for More Than a Century
Here’s a fun bit of history for a Wednesday morning that you might have been aware of but I wasn’t. Last night I stumbled across this City Pages article about the presence of Confederate flags at the Minnesota State Fair despite Minnesota a) fighting on the side of the Union in the war between the…
Minnesota’s Falling Health Insurance Premiums Are Hardly a Sign of Obamacare Stability
“Minnesota health insurers propose lower premiums,” read a headline from the Minneapolis StarTribune late last week. According to the reporting under the headline there will be some premium drops for individual health insurance plans in that state’s market, and supposedly this is a sign of stability. from Obamacare. “Health insurers in Minnesota’s individual market say they…
Podcast: Stenhejem Talks Opioids Lawsuit, Line 3 Supporter Talks Pipeline, Cramer Takes Calls
Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem joined me on the radio show to discuss the lawsuit he’s filed on behalf of the State of North Dakota against Purdue Pharma, the company which introduced America to Oxycontin. Stenehjem contends that the company committed “consumer fraud” in lying about how addictive the drug is, among other things. He said…
Pipeline Companies Shouldn’t Have to Pay for the Costs of Protests Against Them
Over in Minnesota the opponents of Enbridge’s Line 3 Replacement project have promised protests akin to what we here in North Dakota saw against the Dakota Access Pipeline. If that’s true, what Minnesotans will suffer is violence and vandalism. That’s the legacy of the #NoDAPL movement. There is absolutely nothing wrong with peacefully assembling on…