North Dakota
Airports hope to land state funding for major projects
Kyle Wanner, director of the North Dakota Aeronautics Commission, speaks July 1, 2024, at the groundbreaking ceremony for an expansion of Hector International Airport in Fargo. (Jeff Beach/North Dakota Monitor)
BY: JEFF BEACH
FARGO (North Dakota Monitor) – Three North Dakota airports have plans for major upgrades and will be asking the state Legislature to approve a combined $120 million for the projects.
Fargo’s Hector International Airport had its official groundbreaking Monday for a terminal expansion and parking garage. The airports in Grand Forks and Dickinson also have what airport officials call “generational projects,” that might come along every 30 to 40 years.
Fargo is seeking $60 million for its project and Grand Forks and Dickinson each are requesting $30 million.
At Monday’s event in Fargo, Kyle Wanner, director of the North Dakota Aeronautics Commission, called airports “economic engines” for the state.
“They sometimes need a major overhaul or an upgrade,” Wanner said.
Kelly Braun, manager of the Dickinson Theodore Roosevelt Regional Airport, said there is not another viable source of funding for its plans to build a new terminal next to the existing runways.
He said the plans for a new terminal are in the design stage for the $48 million project. He said there is local and federal funding for the project.
It is upgrading a secondary runway in preparation for that project.
Ryan Riesinger, executive director of the Grand Forks International Airport, said it plans to reconstruct its main runway – an approximately $75 million project.
That means ripping up asphalt that is about 1 foot deep and the original concrete that is 1 foot deep.
Riesinger said the concrete was poured on top of a clay soil base. The modern runway will be dug down about 4 feet and be better engineered to handle the weight of large planes as well as better drainage.
“So it’s much like reconstructing the interstate, only deeper, thicker,” Riesinger said.
The Grand Forks airport is currently upgrading its secondary runway to keep the airport humming while the main runway is redone over several construction seasons.
Wanner said while there are smaller airport projects all over the state, these three high-priced upgrades have been identified as needing extra state funding.
“There’s just no other path forward,” Wanner said in an interview.
North Dakota House Majority Mike Lefor, R-Dickinson, said he has been briefed on the projects and is supportive, as long as the revenue is available when lawmakers convene in January. He said a proposed property tax reform measure on the November ballot could change the budget picture dramatically.
“I’m generally supportive of this proposal, because I see the need,” Lefor said.
North Dakota’s commercial airports in 2023 had 1.1 million boardings, an 11% overall increase from calendar year 2022, according to the Aeronautics Commission. Fargo and Devils Lake recorded their best year on record.
North Dakota airports also had their busiest May on record, according to the Aeronautics Commission. Airline passenger boarding numbers reached 103,068 passengers for the month, breaking a May record set in 2014 during the oil boom.
Braun said the Dickinson airport was designed for about 9,000 passengers annually but last year had about 25,000, with projections of more than 30,000 in the next couple of years.
He said officials hope to have the new terminal open in late 2027.
The $200 million Hector project that is underway is for a four-story parking structure with about 1,000 spaces and a skyway to the terminal.
The terminal will add four more gates and there will be upgrades to the terminal interior. The project is expected to be completed in 2026.
At Monday’s groundbreaking, U.S. Sen. John Hoeven touted recent airport upgrades in Minot and Williston and called Fargo’s airport “the flagship” for the state.
“This is a quality of life issue,” Hoeven said of air travel. “So we’re going to have the best airport to go with the greatest people and the best state in the country.”
North Dakota
North Dakota composer launches statewide virtual choir project
GRAND FORKS — A North Dakota composer’s dream is turning into a statewide invitation.
Williston-based musician Emily Black-Driscoll was chosen as the North Dakota Music Teachers Association’s commissioned composer for 2026. She’s preparing an original composition that will premiere in August.
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North Dakota
Challengers declare victory after ND Supreme Court rules against Legislature’s attempt to alter term limits
BISMARCK — A constitutional ballot measure to amend the state’s term limits law as proposed by the Legislature will not appear on November’s ballot, the North Dakota Supreme Court ruled Thursday, siding with petitioners who argued the Legislature exceeded its authority and violated the state constitution in proposing the changes.
“The people’s voice was heard,” Grand Forks County Commissioner Terry Bjerke said in reaction to the news.
Bjerke was a member of the sponsoring committee behind the successful 2022 effort to pass a term limits initiative, which amended the state constitution by capping legislative term limits to eight years in the House and eight years in the Senate. The amendment, which became article XV of the state constitution, also included a clause barring the Legislature from making constitutional changes to term limits.
During the 2025 session, however, lawmakers narrowly approved Senate Concurrent Resolution 4008, in which the legislature proposed Constitutional Measure 1, a ballot measure to amend the term limits language to allow legislators to decide in which chamber they want to serve their 16 years, and to repeal the clause limiting the legislative assembly’s authority to propose an amendment to alter or repeal term limits.
Bjerke and former Minot legislator Oley Larsen brought the lawsuit challenging the validity of the Legislature’s action in January, and the state Supreme Court
heard oral arguments in the case
this spring.
“Those term limits may only be altered by a measure proposed by the people rather than the Legislative Assembly. And yet a few years later, the Legislative Assembly is doing what they are prohibited from doing,” attorney Zachary Wallen argued on Bjerke and Larsen’s behalf.
Tanner Ecker / The Bismarck Tribune
The Legislature’s attorneys argued the clause prohibiting legislative proposals to alter the constitutional term limits language “infringes on our republican form of government” by “limiting the people’s ability to vote on amendments proposed by their elected officials.”
Justice Jon Jensen seemed skeptical of that argument during the April 2 hearing, questioning whether a second vote was appropriate.
“The public did speak on this. The public spoke on it when it passed the original constitutional amendment and they said, ‘Legislature, you don’t even get to propose a change.’ They have already spoken on it,” Jensen said. “You want a second shot, or a second bite at the apple, not a first one, a second.”
In Thursday’s ruling, all five justices sided with Bjerke and Larsen.
“We … conclude the Legislative Assembly’s adoption of S.C.R. 4008 violated N.D. Const. art. XV … and declare S.C.R. 4008 and Constitutional Measure 1 void … We enjoin the Secretary of State from placing Constitutional Measure 1 on the November 2026 general election ballot,” the ruling said.
Bjerke thanked the legal team that worked on behalf of their lawsuit, and said he was grateful the court reached the conclusion it did.
“I’m thrilled that what the people voted on and approved has been validated,” Bjerke said.
He added that the Legislature had “multiple opportunities” to address term limits prior to 2022’s initiated measure and chose not to, and gave a nod to the country’s coming milestone and the process by which voters expressed their support for term limits.
“We’ve lasted 250 years,” Bjerke said. “I have two words for those elected leaders who think they aren’t: everyone’s replaceable.”
North Dakota
Fargo woman convicted in North Dakota fraud case now faces charges in Minnesota: A deeper dive
FARGO, N.D. (Valley News Live) – A North Dakota woman who was sentenced to 180 days in jail in Cass County for defrauding healthcare providers and Medicaid programs is now facing additional fraud charges in Minnesota.
Christine Marie Pryor, 55, pleaded guilty in November 2024 to theft by deception involving more than $50,000. She was sentenced to first serve 180 days with a 3-year sentence suspended. She received credit for 44 days already served.
Pryor was ordered to pay $82,584.78 in restitution to Southeast Human Services in Fargo, where she worked between 2018 and 2019.
How the scheme unfolded
According to court documents, Pryor worked at multiple healthcare facilities in North Dakota and Minnesota between 2018 and 2023, using the identities and credentials of three licensed professionals without their knowledge. She submitted fraudulent Capella University diplomas and transcripts to gain employment.
Investigators say Pryor admitted she searched state licensing websites for therapists who shared her first name, then used those therapists’ last names and license numbers when applying for jobs.
At Southeast Human Services, where she worked as a Licensed Addiction Counselor, Pryor earned $55,584.82 while providing therapy services to approximately 150 patients. She also opened her own counseling center, NIAM Brain Injury Center, in Fargo between 2020 and 2021, and worked at The Lotus Center in Moorhead, Minnesota, from 2021 to 2023.
Court documents say the three licensed professionals whose identities were used told investigators they had no knowledge of Pryor’s actions and did not give her permission to use their information.
Two additional charges against Pryor in North Dakota, unauthorized use of personal identifying information, were dismissed on motion of the state.
Additional charges in Minnesota
Pryor is also facing charges in Minnesota. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced on Tuesday charges against Pryor in Clay County District Court for six theft offenses and six identity theft offenses related to defrauding Minnesota’s Medicaid program of more than $150,000.
According to the Minnesota complaint, Pryor claimed to provide psychotherapy and alcohol and drug counseling services to Medicaid recipients despite having no license or credentials to do so. Prosecutors allege she used the credentials and identities of three licensed professionals while claiming to provide Medicaid-funded services to 169 clients.
The Minnesota charges were filed as part of National Health Care Fraud Takedown Day, a joint effort involving the Department of Justice and more than 40 state Medicaid Fraud Control Units.
Copyright 2026 KVLY. All rights reserved.
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