Tag Archives: North Dakota

The Hill reports: North Dakota’s coronavirus mortality rate is the highest of any U.S. state or country, according to an analysis of data from last week conducted by the Federation of American Scientists. The analysis shows that North Dakota has a rate of 18.2 deaths per 1 million people. South Dakota, meanwhile, has 17.4 deaths per million, the third-worst rate …

The Grand Forks Herald reports: North Dakota has put in place a statewide mask mandate, occupancy limits on public-facing businesses and the suspension of most high school winter sports as the state’s worst-in-the-nation COVID-19 outbreak continues to spiral out of control. The mask order, announced in a news release late Friday night, Nov. 13, means residents of the state must …

The Grand Forks Herald reports: North Dakota’s hospitals have reached their limit, and the coming weeks could push them past their capabilities, Gov. Doug Burgum said at a news conference on today. Due to a major shortage of health care staffing, the state’s hospitals have a severe lack of available beds. Rising COVID-19 hospitalizations and high noncoronavirus admissions, some resulting …

Bismarck’s Fox News affiliate reports: A Republican candidate for the state legislature in North Dakota who died from COVID-19 in October won his election Tuesday night. Election results in North Dakota showed the Bismarck-area district going to David Andahl and Dave Nehring. The district chooses two representatives. According to the Associated Press, Andahl died due to complications from COVID-19 at …

North Dakota’s Dickinson Press reports: A 33-year-old self-professed “Proud Boy” was arrested Wednesday by the Dickinson Police Department on C-Felony Terrorizing charges after sending an anonymous email to The Dickinson Press in which he conveyed a bomb threat, targeting a voting location in the city. Anthony A. Raymond of Dickinson was arrested and incarcerated at the Southwest Multi-County Correction Center …

Reuters reports: The number of tests coming back positive for COVID-19 is topping 25% in several states in the U.S. Midwest as cases and hospitalizations also surge in the region, according to a Reuters analysis. North Dakota’s positive test rate has averaged 30% over the past seven days compared with 6% the prior week. The positivity rate has risen to …

Bismarck’s CBS News affiliate reports: After both Republican and Democratic politicians spoke out against a portion of the North Dakota Republican Party’s recently adopted policy platform that describes LGBT practices as “unhealthy and dangerous,” and “sometimes infecting society at large,” the NDGOP Executive Committee voted to disavow Resolution 31 and its “harmful and divisive language.” In a statement after the …

The Associated Press reports: North Dakota’s Republican governor on Thursday blasted an anti-LGBTQ resolution that was passed by hundreds of his party’s delegates, calling it insulting and divisive. The resolution — one of dozens of party policy statements in a passed by this spring by mail-in ballot — states that many “LGBT practices are unhealthy and dangerous, sometimes endangering or …

The Associated Press reports: Bernie Sanders has won North Dakota’s Democratic presidential caucuses. Participation in Tuesday’s contest was expected to be dramatically higher than it was four years ago. That’s mainly due to a procedural change that makes the caucuses function more like a traditional election, with citizens able to drop in at 14 caucus sites to cast their ballot …

The Associated Press reports: A Republican state senator from North Dakota took to Facebook to post a long-debunked photo that claims to be Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar holding a weapon at an al-Qaida training camp. The photo on the home page of Rep. Oley Larsen, of Minot, has been debunked by several sources since it appeared on social media …

The Washington Post reports: North Dakota Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D), in a tough reelection race in her deep-red state, announced today that she would vote against Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court. She told local TV station WDAY that “the process was bad” and she’d be voting no. The reaction on Twitter and social media ranged from …

The Washington Examiner reports: A new poll shows Republican challenger Rep. Kevin Cramer leading Sen. Heidi Heitkamp by a 10-point margin, with North Dakotans overwhelmingly in favor of confirming Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court. Losing a race in North Dakota would make it significantly more difficult for Democrats to retake the Senate. The poll, from Mason Dixon and …

The Bismarck Tribune reports: The Bismarck Police Department is requesting additional funding to purchase AR-15 rifles and other equipment for school resource officers. Bismarck Public Schools and the Bismarck Police Department have agreed to provide $25,740 to purchase AR-15s, gun safes, additional bulletproof vests and medical kits to treat shooting victims. The rifles would be kept in a locked safe …

When you’re not extreme enough for the Koch Brothers: The powerful Koch political network won’t help the Republican nominee in a crucial Senate race less than 100 days before the midterm elections, saying Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) doesn’t do enough to further the Koch’s policy issues to warrant their help in the race. The announcement — made in front of …

The Forum reports: Will Gardner has made it official: The endorsed Republican candidate in the North Dakota secretary of state race filed notice that he’s withdrawing from the field. Gardner’s official exit, filed Thursday, June 14, according to a Facebook post by Gardner, was expected after he announced he would withdraw shortly after The Forum reported that, in 2006, he …

The Bismarck Tribune reports: A bill introduced by an oil patch lawmaker would provide an exemption for the driver of a motor vehicle if they unintentionally injured or killed a pedestrian obstructing traffic on a public road or highway. “It’s shifting the burden of proof from the motor vehicle driver to the pedestrian,” said Rep. Keith Kempenich, R-Bowman, who admitted …

The Associated Press reports: North Dakota’s Republican-led Senate rejected a measure Tuesday that would have changed state law to reflect the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision that same-sex couples have the right to marry. The bill failed 15-31. It would have changed dozens of references, such as “husband and wife,” to gender-neutral terms. North Dakota law lists “one man, one woman” …

As he tends to do in caucus states, tonight Bernie Sanders coasted to an easy victory in North Dakota. At this writing he leads Hillary by a whopping 39 points. There are 23 delegates at stake there.

Via Fargo’s ABC affiliate: A North Dakota lawmaker who sent an explicit photo of himself to another man says the exchange being made public is retaliation for a recent vote against expanding gay rights. Rep. Randy Boehning, a 52-year-old Republican legislator from Fargo, says a Capitol employee told him a fellow lawmaker vowed to out him as gay if he …

The attorneys general of fifteen states have filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court in which they predictably argue that a ruling in favor of same-sex marriage will “irretrievably” destroy their right to self-government. From the brief:  The Constitution takes no sides on same-sex marriage, and therefore leaves the issue up to the free deliberations of state citizens. The …