North Dakota
Food insecurity increasing in North Dakota
JAMESTOWN — Food insecurity is increasing in North Dakota, according to Ethan Liu, a research specialist at the Sheila and Robert Chailey Institute for Global Innovation & Growth at North Dakota State University.
Liu’s data indicates the overall food insecurity rate in North Dakota has risen from 4.8% in 2020 to 8.5% in 2022, the most recent year statistics are available.
“If the family feels they have problems affording food, they have food insecurity,” he said. “The large cities have more resources than the rural areas.”
Liu said food insecurity is less in North Dakota than nationally. The national average for families with food insecurity is 13.1%.
“Almost all (North Dakota) counties have a food insecurity rate of less than 20%,” he said, “but we can do better.”
According to Liu’s report, food insecurity by county in North Dakota ranged from a low of 5.8% in Renville County to a high of 21.4% in Sioux County. Stutsman County had a food insecurity rate of 10.8% and is one of six counties in North Dakota with a food insecurity rate above 10%. Other counties in North Dakota with a food insecurity level greater than 10% are Sioux, Rollette, Ramsey, Benson and Eddy counties.
A new committee is in the process of organizing to address Jamestown and Stutsman County hunger issues, according to Olivia Schloegel, a concerned citizen who’s participated in formal meetings to discuss food access, opportunities and barriers.
“It is still in the organizing steps,” she said. “Trying to decide who should be and involved and what the organization should look like.”
Schloegel said she hoped the group would address the short-term goal of connecting people to food resources and the long-term goal of increasing poverty in the region.
Families with children often have the greatest needs, especially during the summer months when school lunch programs are not available, Liu said.
Families with children often have the greatest needs especially during the summer months when school lunch programs are not available, Liu said.
Nikki Meza, food pantry coordinator for Community Action Region IV in Jamestown, said the needs are growing.
“This year’s numbers are up,” she said. “…if prices were to go down, it helps.”
In the month of November, Community Action Region IV supported 197 families in the Jamestown area. That is at the top end of the average of 150 to 200 families it has provided food to each month this year.
Meza said the food comes from several sources, including grocery retailers in Jamestown that donate food that is nearing its expiration date or is being discontinued. Other sources include individual donations, including organizational or company food drives, which are often held during the holiday season, along with some items from the Great Plains Food Bank.
“At this point, we are meeting everyone’s needs in the community,” Meza said. “It helps out families meet their needs. They can use that money for other needs like boots or winter coats.”
Food distribution has also increased through the Salvation Army in Jamestown, according to Dan Furry, divisional public relations and communications director for the Salvation Army Northern Division.
Grocery orders have increased 37.4% for the third quarter of 2024 compared to the same quarter in 2023, he said. A grocery order fulfilled by the Salvation Army would typically supply food necessary for 25 to 30 adult meals.
The Salvation Army is aiding 99 households and 228 individuals in the Jamestown area, an 11% increase from last year, Furry said.
Meza said the best items to donate are pasta, rice and canned soup.
“Those things can go a long way in feeding a family,” she said.
Other items include pet foods, household items and personal care items.
“Simple things that help out families are the best,” Meza said.
Liu said another way to combat food insecurity in North Dakota would be increased funding for Great Plains Food Bank.
Great Plains Food Bank operates from offices in Bismarck and Fargo but partners with local agencies including Community Action, Progress Community Center and the Salvation Army in Jamestown.
“A solution would be more resources for Great Plains Food Pantry,” Liu said. “If they had $47 million it could eliminate food insecurity in North Dakota.”
Liu said the current budget for Great Plains Food Pantry is $18.7 million and is just meeting the most immediate needs of the public.
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.
North Dakota
NCAA Set to Change Unpopular Football Rule Just in Time for North Dakota State’s FBS Jump
North Dakota State playing in the FCS playoffs and College Football Playoff in back-to-back years? It’s likelier than you think.
That’s because on Wednesday, according to a report from Ross Dellenger of Yahoo! Sports, the NCAA Division I cabinet voted to repeal a rule that effectively barred teams transitioning from FCS to FBS from playing in postseason games in their first FBS seasons. The Bison are making that move along with Sacramento State in 2026.
The reported change has been a long time coming; the rule has hampered teams from immediate bowl eligibility for decades. Its good intentions of dissuading teams from rashly making the FCS-to-FBS leap have been rendered obsolete in recent years by the fact that programs generally arrive in FBS more prepared than ever before.
Consider the number of new FBS teams that have had to work within the provision in the past decade alone
That list includes: Liberty (home for the holidays at 6–6 in 2018), James Madison (8–3 in 2022 under coach Curt Cignetti, and barely able to play in a bowl at 11–1 in ’23 due to a lack of bowl-eligible teams), Jacksonville State (8–4 in ’23 before backing in like the Dukes), Missouri State (7–5 in 2025, also backed in) and Delaware (6–6 in ’25, ditto).
James Madison in particular became a cause célèbre in ’23 because it started the season 10-0, climbing as high as No. 18 in the AP Poll in mid-November. Then-Virginia attorney general Jason Miyares bandied about suing the NCAA before the Dukes lost 26–23 to Appalachian State, an event that caused the program to back off and accept a bid to play Air Force in the Armed Forces Bowl. James Madison lost that game 31–21, by which time Cignetti had left for Indiana.
There was a time when the FCS-to-FBS jump was an imposing one, and the NCAA did not want to incentivize making it lightly—not even a proud Florida A&M program could make a mid-2000s attempt at a jump stick. However, the Flames, Dukes and other teams have shown it’s not so great a climb for programs with the right resources and management.
Now the Bison and the Hornets stand to benefit.
How far can North Dakota State and Sacramento State go in the near term?
The Bison opened 12–0 last year before a shock loss to Illinois State in the FCS playoffs’ second round, so that question may answer itself. North Dakota State does not play a single Power 4 team—a potential strength-of-schedule albatross if it has designs on really surging. A potential roadblock: the fact that the Bison have to visit the Mountain West’s two favorites, UNLV (Oct. 10) and New Mexico (Oct. 24).
It’s a different story for the Hornets, a 7–5 squad a year ago whose move to the FBS is widely seen as a gamble on their growth potential. Sacramento State also does not play a major-conference team, but has a breakneck travel schedule ahead of it—the Hornets will visit Ypsilanti, Mich.; Bowling Green, Ohio; Muncie, Ind.; Mount Pleasant, Mich. and Honolulu. Combine that with a first-year coach—Oakland native and ex-MC Hammer choreographer Alonzo Carter—and it could be a long FBS debut in California’s capital.
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