Last week Bismarck Tribune reporter Amy Dalrymple ran a story about a Twin Buttes woman named Melissa Starr who was elected to the local school board despite a conviction for embezzlement she’s still paying restitution on. Embezzlement from the school district she was just elected to govern. “Starr was one of seven Twin Buttes School…
It's Easy To Ban Fracking When You Don't Have Any Oil
Yesterday this strange piece railing against fracking in something called Yes! Magazine came across my radar. It’s a story, written by Yes! Editor-At-Large Sarah van Gelder, chronicling the process through which the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation banned fracking back in 2012. Apparently van Gelder visited North Dakota, specifically the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, and has all sorts…
Can We Just Legalize Gambling Already?
Here are a couple of stories illustrating the absurdity of anti-gambling laws. In Minnesota, the state has expanded its lottery to online games that might as well be slot machines. “A player sees a tic-tac-toe-like game board and uses a computer mouse to click on squares, hoping to get three 7s in a row,” reports…
Indian Reservation Wants Job Training Dollars From The State, But Not Oil Industry Jobs
Via Million Dollar Way, the leadership of the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation addressed the North Dakota legislature last week and asked for more funding from state tax revenues for job training and development on their reservation: The chairman of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa asked lawmakers from oil-rich North Dakota on Thursday to support…