News

“Kicking the Cannabis Can”

February 2nd, 2017

Types of leaf marijuana at Choice Organics, Fort Collins, Colorado - photo provided by Jason Spiess

FARGO - State politicians are playing an exclusive game of 'kick the can' with Measure 5, or the North Dakota Medical Marijuana Initiative, which was approved overwhelmingly in every voting district in the state last November.

The people of North Dakota apparently are not invited to play, critics say.

Nearly 80 days after the measure's passing, the Peace Garden State suspended parts and postponed the entire bill, according toSenate Bill 2154. The bill sat on Governor Doug Burgum's desk…

Dozens Arrested at Last Child’s Camp

February 2nd, 2017

Police prepare to march on Last Childs Camp online sources

CANNON BALL - Dozens of police and National Guard swarmed Last Child’s Camp Wednesday afternoon, arresting approximately 76 activists including attorney Chase Iron Eyes.

Officials called those who moved to Last Child’s Camp a “rogue camp,” and that they refused to move from the hilltop south of Backwater Bridge after repeated warnings.

“The group was told they were committing criminal trespassing on private property and needed to leave,” Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier…

Is The Pen Mightier Than The Law?

February 1st, 2017

Activists surround fire lit at Last Childs Camp - video still provided by Chase Iron Eyes

CANNON BALL - Nearly two months after the Standing Rock’s victory against big oil, Trump’s Administration is trying to take it away.

Senator John Hoeven, R-N.D. reported the Army Corps has been ordered to proceed with the easement needed under the Missouri River at Lake Oahe.

“Today, the Acting Secretary of the Army Robert Speer informed us that he has directed the Army Corps of Engineers to proceed with the easement needed to complete the Dakota Access Pipeline,” Hoeven said.…

White supremacists’ hit list of small towns

January 25th, 2017

Craig Cobb and Dutton marching through Leith with weapons - photo by Gregory Bruce

Since the town of Leith’s victory against white supremacists, eleven towns across North Dakota made their hit list. The towns range from populations of 16 to nearly 7,000.

Listed by names, pictures, and real estate advertisements by Pioneer Little Europe North Dakota, a white supremacist operation welcoming Nazis, the Creativity Movement, Ku Klux Klan, militants, white nationalists, and racialists, the North Dakota towns are the group’s next targets to become Aryan enclaves.

Known…

Rodent Poison Spread by North Dakota Rancher Not Cause for “DAPL Cough”

January 24th, 2017

Front lines at DAPL - photo provided by Johnny Dangers

CANNON BALL - Around the time Standing Rock’s first camp was pitched against the Dakota Access Pipeline, a deadly poison was spread across thousands of acres in the area by a rancher intent on killing prairie dogs.

Six eagles, a buffalo, prairie dogs, and an antelope may have died because of the poison, investigators from the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe report. Questions have arisen as to whether humans who traveled to the area last…

“This Is Not A War”

January 19th, 2017

Activists nearing dapl drill pad - photo provided by Johnny Dangers

CANNON BALL - Inch by inch, coil by razor-tipped coil, Standing Rock activists near the Dakota Access Pipeline drill pad.

During the past week marches launched from the main camp outside of Standing Rock targeted the east side of the pipeline near the Missouri River and Backwater Bridge, which is still militarized with razor wire, cement blocks, and recently the addition of an Avenger weapon system -- a lightweight surface-to-air missile unit capable of being armed with eight Stinger…

Shaving the corners of justice: the prosecution of Leonard Peltier

January 18th, 2017

On December 21st, 2016, James Reynolds, an attorney from the prosecution team against Leonard Peltier, penned an open letter to Obama requesting his clemency. He states in his letter that granting Leonard clemency is “in the best interest of Justice.” A huge statement for a prosecuting attorney who put someone in jail for 40 years and accused them of murder.

Reynolds however topped it in a subsequent interview with the New York Daily News published on January 3rd stating, in regards…

Women’s March on Bismarck

January 18th, 2017

FARGO - As state politicians ponder legalizing drivers running down protesters on public roads, hundreds of Fargo women will march on the state’s capitol in Bismarck.

On the day Donald Trump takes office, they want answers, particularly to one question: how do we move forward in the face of fear that this incoming administration is causing for too many of us?

The Women’s March on Bismarck is a sister march of the Women’s March on Washington, according to the group’s Facebook…

North Dakota: a perfect place for white supremacists

January 11th, 2017

FARGO – He no longer resembles the American Nazi he was 10 years ago during a recruitment drive in Fargo. He’s forgotten where he last put his braunhemden, or brown shirt, his black tie, and Nazi pin. The imperious swastika armband once wrapped around his left arm has also been packed away.

“Not the best way to convert people, I believe,” Nick Chappell said. “The purpose was to grab attention, which it did.”

Once a rising star in the American Nazi party, he left the…

US Senator Calls on BIA to Clear Anti-DAPL Camps

January 11th, 2017

BISMARCK - North Dakota National Guard units, 1,300 law enforcement officers, 585 arrests, and 22 million dollars apparently isn’t enough for the Peace Garden State to stop Standing Rock’s fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline, politicians report.

State politicians are now calling on the Bureau of Indian Affairs to help remove activists from camps along the Cannonball River.

“We want more BIA law enforcement officers working with our state and local law enforcement to move…