North Dakota
4 major takeaways from North Dakota governor debate • North Dakota Monitor
Independent candidate Michael Coachman differed on several issues Thursday in a gubernatorial debate with Republican Kelly Armstrong and Democratic-NPL candidate Merrill Piepkorn.
Here’s how candidates responded to four major issues highlighted during the debate moderated by Prairie Public News Director Dave Thompson:
Measure 4
Armstrong and Piepkorn said they both oppose Measure 4, which would eliminate assessed value property taxes in the state, while Coachman said North Dakotans shouldn’t be paying property tax now because of Article 10 of the state constitution.
“You will start losing absolute local control in the smaller communities,” said Armstrong, North Dakota’s at-large member of Congress. He added state programs would need to be cut to raise funds to fill the budgetary hole left by eliminating property taxes.
Armstrong, Piepkorn differ on gun laws during second gubernatorial debate
Piepkorn, a state senator, said he worries townships would be put into a difficult position if the measure passes because they don’t have taxing authority.
“They’ve got hundreds of miles of roads they are responsible for and it costs a lot to gravel, and maintain and pave those roads,” Piepkorn said. He added a statewide sales tax, more special fees and a decrease in services could be the result if voters pass the measure this fall.
Coachman said “people aren’t free” if they don’t actually own their property because it can be seized by a local subdivision for failure to pay property tax
“What no one wants to address is what happens when people can’t pay a property tax,” Coachman said. “They come and confiscate all those lands.”
He said he would cut services that “don’t have a purpose” and audit state agencies to find and free up funds to eliminate property taxes.
Abortion
Armstrong said he believes the judge who overturned the state’s abortion law erred in his decision.
“I don’t think that’s the last say and I think the North Dakota Supreme Court will have an opportunity to weigh in,” Armstrong said. He added he’s proud of his anti-abortion record and wants the state’s abortion law to make sense for doctors to be able to use in an emergency room and not be worried about a courtroom.
Coachman said life begins at the moment of conception and he does not support exceptions for rape and incest.
“You can call it women’s health care, it’s murder,” Coachman said. “I’m going to do everything I can to protect life.”
Piepkorn told Coachman he doesn’t believe abortion is murder and said the Legislature has no business in conversations between a woman and her doctor
“We shouldn’t be involved in any of that talk,” Piepkorn said. He added people shouldn’t want this type of government overreach.
Child care
Coachman said the state should not be involved in helping to provide child care for North Dakotans.
“You don’t want the state involved in everything,” Coachman said. “We have to stop the spending … because what you are saying is that we should almost be like a socialist country, or communist country, to take care of everyone. No. It’s a free enterprise.”
Armstrong, Piepkorn talk workforce, culture war issues during first debate
He said child care is best handled at the local level with residents helping each other.
Armstrong said the child care workforce needs to be a focus because new facilities won’t be able to succeed without people to adequately staff them.
“You can’t just build your way out of it,” he said. Armstrong said streamlining grant writing processes for providers would make it easier for them to receive assistance.
Piepkorn said the state should incentivize businesses to start child care programs to help their workers, and even suggested they should start a child care program for workers at the Capitol.
“How about at schools for teachers?” Piepkorn said. “So they can have their children right there in that day care at school.”
School choice
Piepkorn said the state should increase its funding commitments for public education before any extra funding is allocated for a school choice program.
“Taking money away, right now, from public education for vouchers, any money you take and send in that direction, is going to mean less money for the public education we have now,” Piepkorn said.
Coachman said he would support a school voucher program because parents should be given choices with their child’s education.
“Parents should have the opportunity to send the child to whatever program they want, public school, private school, home school; the power needs to be in the parent’s hand,” Coachman said.
Armstrong said he believes in school choice, but doesn’t think vouchers would be a good approach because private schools could raise their tuition to take advantage of the new state money.
“It doesn’t need to be either-or,” Armstrong said. “We can fund our public school system and we can have the best public school system in the country, and we can still allow for significantly more parental autonomy in school choice.”
The final debate of North Dakota’s gubernatorial race will be held at 7 p.m. Monday hosted by BEK TV.
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FARGO — Drivers can expect to see a slight uptick in gas prices as a result of the Iran conflict.
As of Monday, March 2, the average for North Dakota is $2.65 a gallon. While that is a $0.13 increase from a month ago, it is significantly lower than prices a year ago.
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GRAND FORKS – The Study ND, formerly Humanities North Dakota, has received $15,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts for a statewide theater and humanities initiative in recognition of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States.
This commemorative investment is meant to bring historical events and figures – such as the framers of the U.S. Constitution – to life through virtual and live performances that celebrate the nation’s history.
The grant, along with funding from private sources, has made it possible for The Study ND to host “America 250” activities after the organization sustained a considerable cut in funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities last year, according to Brenna Gerhardt, The Study ND executive director.
“We absorbed a 50% budget cut, resulting in a loss of $467,645 in funding,” Gerhardt said. “As a result, we had to significantly scale back our American 250 initiatives focused on American history and civics education.”
Funds received from the National Endowment for the Arts will be used to present public readings, theatrical portrayals and guided discussions to encourage audience members to reflect on the nation’s founding in 1776 and on its democratic ideals, while engaging in contemporary conversations about civic life.
All of the programming in the series organized by The Study ND, titled “American Heroes,” will be livestreamed statewide.
In the grant application submitted to the National Endowment for the Arts, “we framed the project around a simple idea: democracy requires more than information, it requires citizens who can think historically, listen well, and argue in good faith,” Gerhardt said.
“This series uses living history performances to bring consequential figures into the room, then turns the room into a civic space through moderated dialogue and related public events. We define ‘heroism’ as civic courage under pressure, the willingness to contend with hard truths, and the capacity to enlarge a community’s moral imagination,” she said.
“The project does not ask audiences to agree on a single interpretation of a figure. It invites them to grapple with complexity together, and to connect the past to the responsibilities of the present.”
When Gerhardt and her colleagues received the application for grant proposals from the National Endowment for the Arts, “we were already planning a line-up of America 250 events and it fit perfectly with what we were already planning, so then we just wrote the grant,” she said.
Private funds, including matching funds from the Bismarck-based Tom and Frances Leach Foundation, have also been provided for this project.
Details about all the events will probably be posted on the website
www.TheStudyND.org
in March, Gerhardt said.
The America 250 events, which are planned to take place at Bismarck State College, are 5-6 p.m. July 8, “Reading of the Declaration of Independence, with John Adams,” and 6-7:30 p.m. July 9, “Alexander Hamilton Speaks,” both performed by William Chrystal.
The Living History programs are planned for 7-8:15 p.m. Sept. 17, “Thomas Paine,” performed by Doug Mishler, and Oct. 6, 7-8:15 p.m, “Frederick Douglass,” performed by Nathan Richardson. Both will be moderated by Susan Frontczak.
The performers Chrystal and Richardson live in Virginia, Frontczak in Colorado,and Mishler in Nevada.
Another program, “Hemingway and Gellhorn,” is set for Sept. 16-18 at Bismarck State College, Gerhardt said. “It is part of our broader Chautauqua/living history programming connected to America 250 … (and) will feature performances and discussion centered on Ernest Hemingway and Martha Gellhorn, using their lives and writing as a way to explore major questions about American identity, war reporting, public memory, and the stories we tell about freedom, conflict and responsibility.
“What I am excited about with this event is that it gives us a way to approach America 250 beyond founding-era material. In other words, it helps us show the American story is not just about 1776, but also about the generations that followed and how Americans wrestled with democracy, power, truth and moral courage.”
This program “expands the initiative beyond commemoration into reflection, dialogue and interpretation, which is where the humanities are especially valuable,” she said. “It helps us reach audiences who may be drawn in through literature, journalism and performance, not only traditional history events.”
The Hemingway and Gellhorn program fits in with America 250 in that “it broadens the frame and adds depth to the larger effort.”
Gerhardt is hoping that these activities will give participants “a better understanding of all the debates and issues going on when our country was founded, and how those debates are continuing today,” she said, “and just to be more thoughtful and informed citizens.”
College students and members of the general public will also be invited to participate in a workshop aimed at teaching participants how to build a living history performance from primary sources and historical research.
Last year, The Study ND lost a substantial amount of funding – nearly $468,000, about half of its annual budget – from the National Endowment for the Humanities for its fiscal 2025 year.
The loss of that much funding was discouraging, Gerhardt said. “Very much so, because we had a lot of activities planned for America 250 and we had to cancel a lot of them, or – like in this case – seek other funding, which we were lucky to get.”
The Study ND currently has four full-time employees, she said. “We eliminated a part-time marketing position after the cuts.”
A nonprofit organization, The Study ND provides civics, arts and cultural education programming. The organization’s programs – which include online classes, book talks, lectures and more – reached about 24,000 people in 2024, Gerhardt told the North Dakota Monitor in April 2025.
During the summer, the organization hosts a civics education program for high school and middle school social studies teachers, she said.
On this day in 1943, two North Dakota army officers, Second Lieut. Arthur B. Kuntz and First Lieut. Bernard A. Anderson, were killed in separate medium bomber training crashes in Florida and Georgia.
Here is the complete story as it appeared in the paper that day:
Army Plane Crashes Kill Two N. D. Men
Two North Dakota officers in the army air forces were killed Sunday in bomber crashes during training flights, Associated Press dispatches revealed Monday.
Second Lieut. Arthur B. Kuntz of Harvey (Wells county) was killed with 10 others from the Avon Park, Fla., army bomber base when two medium bombers collided during a routine formation flight. Both planes crashed and there were no survivors.
First Lieut. Bernard A. Anderson of Warwick (Benson county) was one of six killed when a medium bomber from MacDill field, Tampa, Fla., crashed near Savannah, Ga. Lieutenant Anderson was co-pilot of the plane.
None of the other victims of either accident was from the Dakotas or Minnesota.
Lieutenant Kuntz, son of Mr. and Mrs. Roy Kuntz of Harvey, was graduated from the army air force navigation school at Hondo, Texas, as a second lieutenant last October, and received his wings as a navigator.
Kate Almquist is the social media manager for InForum. After working as an intern, she joined The Forum full time starting in January 2022. Readers can reach her at kalmquist@forumcomm.com.
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