News

by Jacques Harvieux
jacquesthejock@gmail.com

At first, optimism filled the air on Election Day at the Fargo Billiards and Gastropub. Earlier, Cole Haymond, the political strategist and campaign adviser for Legalize ND, expressed his optimism.

Here's a rundown of what we've done in the last week:
1. Direct mail - mailed to households in Bismarck and Minot
2. David Crosby radio ad - Bismarck/Minot/Grand Forks
3. $14k in Digital ads targeting women under 40 statewide
4. Digital Ads IP address…

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FARGO — The promised blue tide didn’t sweep North Dakota; the state is redder than before. Across the nation, however, Democrats won majority of the U.S. House and Congress is now split. Republicans increased their hold on the U.S. Senate as one of the nation’s most watched races featuring Heidi Heitkamp fell to her opponent Congressman Kevin Cramer.

Cramer is now one of two Republican U.S. Senators in North Dakota, and attorney Kelly Armstrong took Cramer's seat, the only U.S.…

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FORT YATES – The Standing Rock Sioux are not angry. After centuries of unfair treaties and mistreatment they’re shrugging away the latest government attempt to suppress their votes, and heading to the polls in record numbers.

Absentee ballots have quadrupled this midterm election from previous years with 320 received by the Sioux County Auditor’s office by November 5. More than 1,480 Standing Rock Sioux have already voted, and at least 650 more will vote November 6 after they…

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CANNONBALL – As Senator Heidi Heitkamp’s four-day tour neared Standing Rock, Senator Cory Booker from New Jersey disclosed why he joined the North Dakota Democrat’s last push before Election Day.

“She corrals me all the time to advocate her issues,” Booker said. “God, I’ve got so many stories, some times things I’m really reluctant, but that goes to show the power that she has. She brings people together on both sides of the political aisle.”

As an example, Booker said…

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FARGO – The differences between competing political rallies in North Dakota is palpable. Senator Heidi Heitkamp’s last push before Election Day – former Vice President Joe Biden attending – was lively, filled with people from all races, and featured Indigenous music performed by the Turtle Mountain Drum Group.

Few people among the hundreds that attended “Bring It Home, Heidi!” rally on Thursday at the Fargo Air Museum wore hats. Parents held months-old babies and swayed to…

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BISMARCK – After medical marijuana’s Measure 5 was passed by more than 64 percent of North Dakotans in 2016, but before the legislature gutted the measure and enacted laws, André Thom, J.D. worked at a Minnesotan marijuana manufacturing company.

When invited to speak before the legislature Thom asked for a no vote on Senate Bill 2344, because he saw the state stripping the original intent of Measure 5 away. And then he lost his $60,000 a year job because the North Dakota Attorney…

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BISMARCK – The state’s agenda to suppress the Native vote is already working during early election. A handful of votes have already been denied because their addresses didn’t match the Secretary of State’s confusing database.

The suppression is backfiring, however. Indigenous voters are applying for new IDs in record numbers. Absentee ballots in some reservations have quadrupled. Native voters are fighting back and yet the state remains mostly quiet and callous to Native…

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FARGO – Hours after Savanna Lafontaine Greywind’s body was stuffed into a cramped bathroom closet, police came to search Brooke Lynn Crews’s and William Hoehn’s apartment. They found nothing suspicious, not then, not during a second search, nor a third.

The first time police arrived Hoehn was resting on the apartment’s only bed, drinking a beer, playing a video game, with baby Haisley Jo, ripped viciously from her mother’s womb, quiet, wrapped in blankets beside him. 

After…

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by: Melissa Gonzalez
melissam.gonzalez@outlook.com

North Dakota Human Rights Coalition held an LGBTQ+ Summit over the weekend of Oct. 5-7 at the Baymont Inn in Mandan.

The summit was a historical moment as it was the first statewide gathering for members of the LGBTQ+ community. The goals of the summit were to provide opportunities for networking, support and strategizing for educational opportunities as well as assisting attendees in recognizing their political power.

The North Dakota…

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BISMARCK – The differences between two attorneys – one fighting to retain his Attorney General’s seat and the other striving to take it – couldn’t be starker.

Wayne Stenehjem, a Republican, is the longest-serving Attorney General in North Dakota’s history. Tall, peppery-brown haired, he’s a difficult official to reach.

His rival, David Thompson, is gaining political ground online and through a grassroots campaign. Balding and stocky, a juggernaut for personal injury cases…

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