North Dakota
Port: Doug Burgum now campaigning to be Trump's secretary of state
MINOT — “He doesn’t want to be pigeonholed as just an agriculture and energy guy, I’m told, though that’s a natural reflection of where he’s been doing his governing,” I wrote in a column over the weekend, referring to Gov. Doug Burgum’s ongoing campaign to be a part of the Donald Trump administration.
Now that his presidential and vice presidential campaigns are over, having ended unsuccessfully, it’s been widely expected that Burgum will get a cabinet posting. And the most talked about positions, given that he’s the governor of North Dakota, where agriculture and energy are the dominant economic drivers, are Secretary of Agriculture or Secretary of Energy.
But that’s not where Burgum is pointing himself. “Burgum has his eyes set higher, perhaps on one of the top-tier seats,” I wrote. “Secretary of state? Secretary of the Treasury?”
According to a report from Axios today,
“Former President Trump’s two veep runners-up, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, are in the running for secretary of state.”
The other names mentioned in the article for that post are Sen. Bill Hagerty of Tennessee and Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, though the latter is said to prefer Secretary of Defense.
The State Department does make some sense for Burgum. It does jibe with the themes of his own presidential campaign, which were all about using America’s prodigious economic might — of which energy and agriculture are a not insubstantial part — as a lever in world diplomacy. After all, that’s the game China and Russia are playing.
Of course, for Burgum or any other Republican to get an appointment, Trump has to actually win the election, and that’s looking like a far less certain thing than it did a couple of weeks ago. The polls have shown that Vice President Kamala Harris has closed the deficit incumbent President Joe Biden had against Trump in the polls and some of the latest polling has her
opening a small lead.
This talk of which Republican will get which post in a second Trump administration smacks of some premature drape-measuring.
Still, it wouldn’t be surprising that Trump would be deeply concerned about who staffs his cabinet. Moreso, even, than the typical presidential candidate, given that dozens of people who served in his previous administration, including those who filled top-level positions like secretary of defense and secretary of state, now oppose his reelection.
“Trump constantly tells friends he felt burned by disloyal Cabinet officials and staff last time around,”
Axios reports.
“This time, he wants people he can trust both to implement his policies and never block his will.”
Trump doesn’t want a “team of rivals,” in other words. He wants sycophants and yes-men.
And Burgum,
with all the bowing and scraping he’s done since ending his own presidential campaign,
has positioned himself perfectly for the gig.
FARGO, N.D. (Valley News Live) -A North Dakota woman is facing a federal involuntary manslaughter charge after a deadly crash on an American Indian reservation last fall.
A federal grand jury indicted Brittany Renne Laverdure on April 22, 2026, accusing her of killing a person while driving under the influence of multiple substances on or about Sept. 21, 2025, in Indian country in North Dakota.
Because the incident occurred in Indian country, the case falls under federal jurisdiction, specifically under 18 U.S.C. § 1153, which gives the federal government authority to prosecute certain crimes committed by Native Americans on tribal lands. The indictment identifies Laverdure as an Indian under that statute.
According to the indictment, Laverdure acted with “wanton and reckless disregard for human life amounting to gross negligence.” Prosecutors say she attempted to make a U-turn and pulled into oncoming traffic while impaired, without due care for the safety of others.
The victim’s name is not being reported at this time and court documents did not provide any further details on the incident.
An arrest warrant was issued April 23, 2026 and a special agent with the FBI arrested Laverdure on April 28, 2026, in Grand Forks.
Laverdure is scheduled to stand trial June 23, 2026, before U.S. District Judge Peter D. Welte in Fargo. The trial is expected to last four days.
Involuntary manslaughter under federal law carries a maximum sentence of eight years in prison.
Copyright 2026 KVLY. All rights reserved.
BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) – North Dakota has a new junior duck stamp winner.
On Saturday afternoon, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service held an awards ceremony for the state contest at the Heritage Center in Bismarck. 900 kids submitted entries.
16-year old, Gabe Coleman, from Baldwin, took first place overall with his entry which is an acrylic painting of a pair of blue-winged teal. Gabe has been entering the contest since he was in kindergarten, but this year is the first time he took best of show.
“For all my nine years, this is what I have been trying to do, and I finally achieved it this year. To win it is actually amazing”, said Coleman, who is a homeschooled sophomore.
Coleman has another reason to celebrate. As the top finisher in the state, his winning artwork advanced to the national competition. He ranked among the top 15 out of 13-thousand entries in the national contest.
Runner-Up Best of Show (Second Place) in the North Dakota contest this year went to first time-entrant Kamryn Nissen from Grand Forks. Kamryn, a sophomore at Thompson Public School, used colored pencils to design her entry of a mallard drake in eclipse plumage.
The Conservation Message winner was Brandi Agnew, a seventh grader from Menoken, with her message: “Protect the prairie; preserve the hunt.”
The call for entries is an educational program that uses science and art to encourage students to explore wildlife, conservation, and recreation.
Copyright 2026 KFYR. All rights reserved.
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