News

A valve turner’s trial: mostly guilty

October 6th, 2017

CMichael Foster and Samuel Jessup halfway through the trial - photo by C.S. HagenAVALIER – Friends call Michael Foster the valve turner a hero, the state is trying him as a criminal, and the Keystone Pipeline named him a terrorist for stopping their oil pipeline flow for eight hours in 2016.

After a week of trial and a five-hour deliberation, a jury found Foster guilty on all counts, except reckless endangerment, leaving felony criminal mischief, felony conspiracy to commit criminal mischief, and criminal trespass, a misdemeanor.

Foster’s co-defendant, Sam…

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Modern feudalism: tenant vs. landlord

October 4th, 2017

MOORHEAD – Water seeps into the Barbly family rental house, and has been leaking for two years, creating mold, eating away at trim, and forcing the family’s five children upstairs to sleep on the living room floor.

The company managing the property at 1510 34th Avenue South says the family is responsible, and linked the seepage to a sump pump hose placed too close to the building, and also to gutters, according to letters sent to the Barbly family.

Last week, after three years…

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‘No one should have to be afraid’

October 4th, 2017

WOODWORTH, N.D. – Autym Burke spent months preparing a nursery for the child she thought she was to adopt.

Living in Oregon, she’d seen pictures and videos of the Native American baby she planned to name “Ruby.” The paperwork seemed to be in order, at first, the caseworker seemed legitimate. After all, Congressman Kevin Cramer, R-ND, included her in a campaign video.

Betty Jo Krenz in Kevin Cramer campaign ad - YouTube

The reported caseworker, Betty Jo Krenz, was included in a 2014-campaign advertisement approved by Cramer. She also…

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ND medical-legal partnership: lawyers and physicians to help the needy

October 4th, 2017

When it comes to the intersection of healthcare and civil law, Anne Hoefgen, executive director of Legal Services of Northwest Minnesota (LSNM), has a story she often recounts. It is about a woman who once visited a dental clinic in Bemidji, Minnesota. The facility had teamed up with LSNM to offer patients non-criminal legal aid.

The woman was there to have a tooth pulled. Once the procedure ended, she asked if any of her healthy teeth could be extracted too. Her husband waited on her in…

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‘North Dakota just got punked’

September 29th, 2017

BISMARCK – Since 1977, the anti-bribery provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act have applied to all U.S. persons, except, apparently, Dakota Access Pipeline, LLC.

Law enforcement from four states standoff against activistts from and supporting Standing Rock - photo by C.S. Hagen On Thursday, the subsidiary son of Energy Transfer Partners wired $15 million to the state-owned Bank of North Dakota to “help retire debt incurred by the state as a result of its response to the Dakota Access Pipeline Protests,” Governor Doug Burgum announced. 

The money will be used to pay down loans, totaling…

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Suspects in Savanna’s murder plead not guilty

September 28th, 2017

FARGO - Brooke Lynn Crews pled not guilty to all charges related to Savanna Lafontaine-Greywind’s murder and kidnapping of her child in Cass County District Court on Thursday. Crews’ live-in boyfriend, William Henry Hoehn, also entered a not guilty plea on Wednesday, according to court documents.

Brooke Lynn Crews and William Henry Hoehn - photo provided by the Fargo Police Department

The couple were charged with class A felony conspiracy to commit kidnapping, and after Greywind’s body was found, wrapped tightly in plastic and duct tape, snagged by a tree in the middle…

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‘They are stealing our babies’

September 28th, 2017

Betty Jo Krenz - YouTubeWOODWORTH – A former case manager for the Spirit Lake Tribal Social Services is under police investigation for fraud and allegedly faking adoptions for Native American children.

Stutsman County Sheriff’s Department is currently investigating Betty Jo Krenz, approximately 46, and currently living in Woodworth, according to court documents and Stutsman County Sheriff’s Department Detective Jason Falk. It was unclear if other agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation,…

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​Nation, city, misleading public on refugee costs

September 27th, 2017

Refugees cost taxpayers money, but the buck doesn’t stop there

FARGO – All fingers point to refugees being cost positive for cities, states, and the nation, and yet pressure from the Trump Administration on local city leaders to curb the influx of “huddled masses” persists.

In Washington D.C., Trump Administration officials are refusing to recognize a recent study performed by the Department of Health and Human Services, or H.H.S., that reported refugees brought in $63 billion…

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​One, two, three strikes, you’re out

September 26th, 2017

Afl-cio President Waylon Hedegaard and member Andrew Buschaw, indivisible members Cheryle Schaafle and Karen Halsa before Hoevens office in Fargo - photo by C.S. Hagen

Republicans fail again to repeal and replace Obamacare

FARGO – If major league baseball rules applied to government, repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act struck out Tuesday afternoon.

Although the current administration’s latest attack against what has come to be known as Obamacare seemed doomed to fail for the third time, after three Republican senators defected, the AFL-CIO and Indivisible FM marched on a state senator’s office an hour before the bill’s failure to…

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State settles misconduct allegations with Dakota Access Pipeline developers

September 21st, 2017

DAPL route entrance Highway 6 - photo by C.S. HagenBISMARCK – The Dakota Access Pipeline developer agreed to plant trees to reach a settlement over two misconduct allegations while constructing the pipeline on Wednesday. 

A total of 20,000 trees are to be planted by December 31, 2018 along the pipeline route, a total cost that will exceed the $15,000 settlement the North Dakota Public Service Commission offered in August. 

Although pipeline developer Dakota Access LLC, faced 83 counts of improperly removing trees and foliage, multiple…

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