For more than two weeks now a container of grenade rounds has been missing in western North Dakota. It fell off a vehicle from the Minot Air Force Base. There is a reward on offer for anyone finding the container, and a way to submit tips (even anonymously) if you have information. “The ammunition is…
Proposed Initiated Measure Would Create Constitutional Prohibition on Non-Citizens Voting in North Dakota Elections
This afternoon Secretary of State Al Jaeger’s office sent out a press release announcing that an initiated measure had been filed. You can read the proposed measure and other documentation below, but it’s really pretty simple. Here’s the changes it would make to Article II of the North Dakota Constitution (click for a larger view):…
Democrats Have a Point About Kevin Cramer and Harold Hamm
North Dakota Democrats are slamming Congressman Kevin Cramer today after he said in an interview with WDAY Television that what tipped the scales on his decision to challenge Democratic incumbent Heidi Heitkamp in the U.S. Senate race was oil billionaire Harold Hamm asking him to run. (Full disclosure, I work for WDAY’s parent company Forum…
Tony Gehrig: The Dirty Little Secrets of Special Assessments
This guest post was submitted by Fargo City Commissioner Tony Gehrig Special assessments or “specials” have been around for a long time in Fargo. So long that people have come to accept them as an unchangeable reality. Despite being around since well before I was born, there are still some dirty little secrets that you…
In Defense of North Dakota’s Income Tax Cuts
North Dakota Democrats have decided to campaign against the income tax cuts our Republican-dominated Legislature implemented in successive sessions from 2009 onward. The individual income tax rate went from a 1.84 – 4.86 percent range to its current 1.10 – 2.90 percent. The argument from Democrats, now echoed in a recent editorial in the Grand…
Rep. Scott Louser: North Dakota’s Voter ID Laws Protect the Ballot Box
This guest post was submitted by Rep. Scott Louser, a Republican from Minot A recent post on this blog referenced a political science professor assigning partisan motivation to the voter ID bill passed in 2017. As a Republican legislator, one of the sponsors of HB1369 (I prefer to call it the Voter Integrity Act) and…
Podcast: Lawyer Says DOT Is Ignoring Law on Issuing Temporary Driving Permits to People in Sobriety Program
On the radio show today Fargo defense attorney Charles Sheeley joined me to discuss a situation with the Department of Transportation which runs contrary to what Governor Doug Burgum’s administration has been saying about addiction and recovery. Currently the DOT is denying some participants in the state’s 24/7 sobriety program a temporary driver’s license despite…
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…
Cramer Joins Fellow Members of Congress Nominating Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize
Should President Donald Trump win the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in bringing North and South Korea together for peace talks? My position is…maybe. I’d like to see what the outcome is before we go handing out awards. I think giving Trump the peace prize at this point is premature. Just as it was…
North Dakota DOT to Begin Issuing “Real ID’s” the Legislature Opposed Back in 2007
News today is beginning May 1 the North Dakota Department of Transportation will begin issuing so-called “Real ID” cards. They’re a sort of enhanced identification the idea for which came from the 9/11 commission. Back in 2005 Congress passed the Real ID Act, which created criteria for the ID and required that the feds stop…