MINOT, N.D. — North Dakota State University’s Challey Institute for Global Innovation and Growth conducts an annual survey of college students which, among other things, “assesses student perceptions about viewpoint diversity and campus freedom.” If you care about things like viewpoint diversity and campus freedom, the most recent survey’s findings are pretty grim. The survey is not just NDSU students.…
Serious Talk About a Split in the NDGOP
MINOT, N.D. — One evening this week, I got a phone call from a Republican friend who asked me how viable I thought a third party movement breaking off from the North Dakota Republican Party might be. It was a surprise. This person is a Republican whose name most of you would probably recognize immediately. A serious…
Donations From Democrats to Hoeven Ax Attacker Look Worse Now That He’s Pleading Guilty
MINOT, N.D. — In early January, just days before an angry mob of disgraced former President Donald Trump’s supporters would execute a violent attack on the U.S. Capitol, I reported in this column that some prominent North Dakota Democrats had donated to a GoFundMe page set up for a man who had attacked Sen. John Hoeven’s Fargo office with an ax.…
North Dakota’s State Parks Are a Treasure
MINOT, N.D. — “I don’t want to leave, Daddy.” Those were the words of my 4-year-old son, Cooper. He and I were in the process of packing up our tent on a recent Sunday after a weekend at Lake Metigoshe State Park. Though it’s more accurate to say that I was packing up the tent,…
Heidi Heitkamp Bringing Controversial Homeland Security Figure To North Dakota
“U.S. Sen Heidi Heitkamp is bringing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s No. 2 official to North Dakota this week for a two-day trip,” reports the Associated Press. “Heitkamp and Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas are scheduled to meet with local officials Tuesday and Wednesday.” That’s an interesting development given that Mayorkas is embroiled…
Michael Filloon: Failing To Reform The Oil Tax May Have Cost North Dakota A Billion Dollars
The recent failure to adopt a flat oil production tax in North Dakota may have cost the state a minimum of a billion dollars. Initially shot down and sold as a tax cut to oil producers, the same oil price based system exists using triggers to decrease taxes. Oil producers benefit from a lower tax…