News

​‘Cat and Mouse’

May 14th, 2019

Activists at Standing Rock with raised hands before police and others along far shore - photograph by C.S. Hagen

BISMARCK – The civil case against private security firm TigerSwan and owner Jim Reese working illegally in North Dakota during the Dakota Access Pipeline controversy has followed a tedious legal route and came down to one question in the North Dakota Supreme Court Tuesday morning: what remedy does the board have?

Monte Rogneby, attorney for the North Dakota Private Investigative and Security Board, or PISB, said the Board has been hamstrung. Confusion came down to a District Court…

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​Bakken’s exploding train fears halted at Washington State border

May 10th, 2019

Bakken crude oil train derailment and ensuing destruction in Lac Magantic, Quebec 2013 - Wikipedia

BAKKEN – Bakken crude is volatile, and tankers hauling the oil have exploded repeatedly claiming at least 47 lives in the past decade. And while the state’s elected few and regulatory commissions refuse to effectively police the transportation of crude oil – evident in the number of explosive accidents involving Bakken crude – the state of Washington recently said they had enough.

With thousands of Bakken crude barrels traversing the country every day, and approximately a dozen…

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​Citing First Amendment violation, United Way is sued by its former president

May 9th, 2019

Patricia Berger, CEO and president of United Way of Grand Forks - photograph provided by Patricia Berger

GRAND FORKS – The United Way of Grand Forks and the organization’s leadership are facing a lawsuit five months after firing long time president and CEO, Patricia Berger.

Filed in the Northeast Central Judicial District by attorney David Thompson on Thursday morning, Berger is suing for wrongful termination and being unlawfully deprived of her salary. Although in February she was willing to settle, she is now seeking a financial amount greater than $50,000, according to court…

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More preemptive ALEC strikes

May 8th, 2019

Activists leaving the No-DAPL camps on the final day before law enforcement entered - photograph by C.S. Hagen

BISMARCK – Two more preemptive strikes from the North Dakota Legislative body target free speech against corporate oil interests. Although some of the bill’s wording is misleading and vague, focused on terrorism, the meaning could be open to interpretation, representatives said, and is a solution looking for a problem.

Four other preemptive strikes were passed this legislative session and include laws restricting banning plastic bags and reusable straws, gun buyback programs,…

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Preemptive strikes: bags, guns, zoning, and a living wage

May 1st, 2019

A 38 mm handgun - photograph by C.S. Hagen

BISMARCK – ALEC’s fingerprints are smeared across more than a handful of preemptive state strikes – now laws – from the 2019 Sixty-sixth Legislative Session of North Dakota.

Each bill was designed to eradicate smaller governments’ power, and more than one copied sample proposals from the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, the powerful bill mill backed by the Koch brothers.

ALEC reports that it is the largest membership driven organization of legislators in the…

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How a few bad apples almost spoiled the bushel

April 24th, 2019

Picking apples - photograph provided by Wild TERRA

FARGO – When apple supplies were low last year, Ethan Hennings called out for help. Hundreds, from Moorhead to Bismarck, answered.

Sweet Honeycrisps and tart Northern Lights came in by the bushel. SnowSweets, Prairie Magics, and deep red Hazens followed Dakota Gold, an early ripening apple great for sauces and pies. Plucked primarily from trees planted in backyards, some tree owners exchanged the fruit for drinking vouchers at Wild TERRA, the city’s only “urban cidery.” Others…

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It’s about high time

April 17th, 2019

Design by Raul Gomez

After nearly two and a half years since the people of North Dakota voted to pass the Compassionate Care Act into law in the state, medical marijuana is finally available to patients. Only one dispensary is open right now, but seven other cities have been named as future sites of medical marijuana dispensaries, including four which were named last week.

The most recent cities to be added to the list of dispensary sites are Minot, Devils Lake, Jamestown, and Dickinson. They join Grand…

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​‘Agents of the devil’

April 17th, 2019

Screenshot of Michael Anthony Peroutka speaking at a church in early March - Facebook

On the masthead of the New Song Church’s Facebook page is a picture of the word IDENTITY along with a fingerprint.

A quick search of the word’s meaning leads to the proper definition, also to extremist right wing groups such as one from Portland called Identity, and also to a religious movement to redefine what Christianity means. Religious links pertaining to identity also lead to St. Charles, Missouri and the Staley family, specifically to Jim Staley, who was sentenced to seven…

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​‘Government is like a steamroller’

April 17th, 2019

Chief Darrell Graf teaching firefighting techniques 2012 - Facebook

Former Medina Police Chief Darrell Graf was 23 years old when Gordon Wendell Kahl and his posse-men killed two and wounded three lawmen along rural Highway 30 outside of Medina. Kahl’s son Yorie was also severely wounded during the shootout, and is currently in prison.

Graf attended Dr. Clarence Martin’s Constitution Party meetings at the Medina clinic before the shootout in 1983, and listened to Kahl’s speeches, finding some truth, including Kahl’s belief that income taxes only…

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​North Dakota Rep. linked to extremist political group

April 17th, 2019

Congressman Kelly Armstrong during the ND GOP Convention 2018 - photograph by C.S. Hagen

MANDAN, ND – The state’s lone Congressman is an online member of a grassroots group promoting Constitutional interpretations shadowing anti-government movements.

Newly elected Kelly Armstrong, the Republican shoo-in who filled Senator Kevin Cramer’s seat after beating attorney Mac Schneider, a Democrat, in November 2018, is one of the 77 members of the North Dakota Constitutional Grassroots Movement, or CGM.

While the political organization – including another named North Dakota…

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