North Dakota
Bemidji postal concerns lead to district-wide USPS audit in Minnesota and North Dakota
BEMIDJI, Minn. — After reports of mail delays and poor working conditions at the United States Postal Service gained local and national attention in November, with a special focus on the Bemidji Post Office, the USPS Office of the Inspector General has announced that an audit will be performed on the Minnesota-North Dakota Postal District.
The Bemidji office first gained attention when its rural mail carriers put on
a symbolic strike in mid-November,
protesting 12-hour days and what they described as an influx of Amazon packages that were prioritized over other mail deliveries.
This story gained the attention of national news outlets, and the offices of U.S. Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith held
a listening session in Bemidji
where residents shared their experiences and former postal employees testified to poor labor conditions that caused several people
to quit or take early retirement.
Madelyn Haasken / Bemidji Pioneer
This led the senators, along with other Minnesota representatives, to call on the USPS Office of the Inspector General to conduct a full audit of the Minnesota-North Dakota Postal District.
“For years, I have been raising the concerns of Minnesotans to the Postal Service, and they repeatedly insist that everything is fine,” Smith said. “This audit will provide a much-needed, unbiased review of postal service in Minnesota.”
This audit was officially announced by the OIG in its report of a similar investigation into mail services around St. Paul.
“(Those reports) just verified everything we’ve been hearing across the state,” Klobuchar said. “They’re going to do this same in-depth review in Bemidji, in Blackduck, in other areas across our state, and I think what (the OIG) found makes them believe that there are going to be other problems.”
These reviews will be published as a part of a district-wide report that’s expected in late spring, and what Klobuchar hopes will address ongoing constituent concerns.
“In Bemidji, we know the issue of the Amazon packages and the concerns there, the workforce issues,” she said. “We just need to get this under control.”
The review will examine the postal service’s processing, logistics and delivery networks and will include observations of several post offices and mail processing plants as well as interviews with employees.
Alongside the examination of northern Minnesota’s postal service, the investigation will also audit several North Dakota locations, including offices in Mandan, Minot and Bismarck.
The results of the audit will come with a detailed list of issues and recommendations, which district management will have a chance to agree with and implement.
“When a report is issued, the postal service responds to each (OIG) recommendation, and if there is agreement, it provides a corrective action plan with a date of planned implementation,” explained Tara Linne, the OIG’s director of communications.
These corrective actions are evaluated and closed by the OIG once they have been resolved. If the postal service disagrees with or does not act on a recommendation, another process is followed.
“(If there’s disagreement) we work toward an agreement by elevating discussions between USPS and OIG management,” Linne said. “Any recommendations that the postal service does not act on remain open and are reported to Congress until a resolution is achieved.”
For the current and former postal workers whose efforts helped gain widespread attention, the audit is welcome news.
“This is the whole reason we started our endeavor with the symbolic strike,” shared Dennis Nelson, a former rural carrier who helped organize the efforts and resigned in December because of the working conditions. “We needed public officials to get involved with this.”
While the audit is only examining the Minnesota-North Dakota district, Nelson believes the issues with the postal service are likely nationwide.
“I suspect that these issues are not unique to our district. It’s systemic,” he said. “(This audit) has been a long time coming.”
Courtesy / Dennis Nelson
As for the changes he hopes to see, Nelson wants to see a less hostile working environment that treats its employees with respect. He also wants to see significant efforts made in hiring and an examination of rural carriers’ pay systems.
Importantly, he also wants to have a better system for reporting problems. Nelson explained that while he worked for the Post Office the narrative was that the OIG was something to be feared rather than an institution to reach out to for help.
“We were told to fear the OIG and that if they showed up we were in trouble — that we did something wrong and they would be investigating us,” he said. “It never occurred to anybody to contact the OIG or that they might be the people who could help us.”
While Nelson may no longer work for the Bemidji Post Office, he hopes that this audit will mark the first step toward progress and making the postal service an improved institution.
“The whole idea was to get this thing rolling and make it a better place for everybody,” he said. “It’s too little and too late for those of us who had to endure it, but if all the changes come about that I hope, then the whole thing will be worth it.”
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.
(Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor)
(North Dakota Monitor) – Two North Dakotans are semifinalists for the Bismarck State College president’s job as North Dakota State University narrows its presidential candidate list.
Valley City State University also is searching for a new president, with an application period closing this month..
Kevin Black, chair of the State Board of Higher Education and co-chair of the North Dakota State University Presidential Search Committee, said the committee reviewed over 60 applications. The committee is planning off-site interviews with candidates March 9-10 and campus visits with semifinal candidates March 23-27.
“We’re really excited about taking the next step and there’s some very quality people in there,” Black said.
FARGO — One season ago, a Cinderella run for the West Fargo United girls hockey team came up just short in the state championship game.
United, the No. 7 seed, fell to Legacy/Bismarck in the 2025 final.
This time around, the team had momentum swaying in its favor, riding nine consecutive wins into Saturday’s title game against Grand Forks at Scheels Arena.
Led by goals from a pair of senior captains, United capped its redemption season with a 10th straight victory, fending off the KnightRiders 2-1 to claim the North Dakota girls hockey state tournament championship.
“It just means everything,” said United’s Payton Stocker, whose goal at the 12:31 mark of the second period gave her team a 1-0 lead. “We’ve worked so hard and throughout the season, it’s just been such a battle. Winning and coming out on top is just such a great feeling.”
Eric Hylden / Grand Forks Herald
Stocker was followed up in scoring by United captain Rachel Spanier. The defenseman fired a slap shot from the left point that beat Grand Forks goaltender Kylie Schmaltz to make it 2-0 with 35 seconds remaining in the middle frame.
Reagan Wilson locked things down in net for United, finishing with 23 saves and picking up an all-tournament team nod.
“This is my first year of high school hockey,” the sophomore goaltender said. “I can’t believe coming in here and winning a state title with all of these girls. I just love them so much.”
While it was the senior duo of Stocker and Spanier finding the net for United on Saturday, contributions were seen across the board.
Sophomore Emma Hassler also put forth an all-tournament campaign with five goals and an assist for six points over the three-day stretch.
Eric Hylden / Grand Forks Herald
Freshman Kaylee Augdahl finished the tournament with four points — including
a double-overtime winner
over Fargo North/South in Friday’s semifinals — and junior Liana Williamson added three assists.
“It wasn’t just us (seniors),” said Stocker, who joined Hassler and Wilson on the all-tourney team. “It was everyone collectively. Being seniors, it feels a lot better. It was a great feeling.”
United, the No. 5 seed this year, capped its season with a record of 17-9-0.
“These girls are awesome,” first-year United head coach Kennedy Blair said. “They’ve worked super, super hard since last April. Wake up early in the mornings, go into off-ice training, on-ice training and all that.
“This group of girls is really special. They’re a really close-knit group, and they trusted our coaching staff coming in as a first-year group.”
Eric Hylden / Grand Forks Herald
Blair knows a thing or two about winning championships. She was a North Dakota state champion goaltender with the former Bismarck Blizzard co-op and also won an NCAA Division I national title with the Wisconsin women’s program in 2021.
Yet, she never imagined ending her first year as a high school varsity coach with a state championship.
“No, I didn’t,” said Blair, who also won North Dakota High School Coaches Association Coach of the Year honors. “But I had belief in these girls that we could get to the state championship again.”
It’s the United co-op’s first-ever state title — which consists of West Fargo, West Fargo Sheyenne and West Fargo Horace high schools.
Prior to Saturday, the last time a West Fargo girls program won the state title was in 2014 when it was still a standalone program competing as the Packers.
“It’s amazing considering United hockey has never won a championship game,” Wilson said.
Grand Forks, the tournament’s No. 2 seed, ended its campaign with a 21-5-0 record.
Ella Yahna’s fourth goal of the tournament — which came on a 2-on-1 rush with the assist from teammate Reese Meagher, put the KnightRiders within one shot with 8:17 remaining in the third.
Grand Forks, however, was unable to find the equalizer as its bid for a first state championship came up just short.
“I thought we came out in the first and we had a tough time,” Grand Forks head coach Kelly Kilgore said. “I felt we battled some nerves. I really liked our second period … We carried the play and tilted the ice a little bit back in our favor. The shots kind of started to really turn in our favor.”
Stocker said she wouldn’t have wanted to win a state title as a senior with any other group of teammates.
“(They mean) everything,” Stocker said. “We’re so tight and they’re all my friends. Leaving them is going to be hard. But they mean everything to me. We’re all so close and I love them a lot.”
FIRST PERIOD: No scoring.
SECOND PERIOD: 1, WFU, Stocker (Augdahl, Hassler), 12:31. 2, WFU, Spanier (Augdahl, Stocker), 16:25.
THIRD PERIOD: 3, GF, Yahna (R. Meagher), 8:43.
SAVES: WFU, Wilson 7-13-3—23. GF, Schmaltz 7-3-14—24.
Eric Hylden / Grand Forks Herald
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