North Dakota
Griggs County Sheriff and Chief Deputy are first female duo in North Dakota
COOPERSTOWN, N.D. — They are one of the smallest sheriff’s departments in North Dakota, but the Griggs County Sheriff’s Office has made state history.
Sheriff Amberly Michaelis and Chief Deputy Danielle Bjorlie are the first female sheriff and chief deputy duo in North Dakota.
Griggs County might look like any other small-town department, but Michaelis and Bjorlie are breaking new ground in law enforcement.
“I never would have guessed it,” Michaelis said.
“Honorable to think we did that here in Griggs County,” she added.
This marks the second time Michaelis has served as sheriff in Griggs County. Her law enforcement career began 15 years ago in Florida.
“At the end of the day, the way we can help people and try to better our community is really what it’s all about,” Michaelis said.
Bjorlie, who has been in law enforcement since 2007, echoed the sentiment. She comes from a family of first responders.
“When I was little, I talked about this the other day, I climbed in the back of my dad’s car when he was responding to a grass fire because I wanted to see what was going on … one of the other firemen ratted me out because he saw me peeking my head over,” Bjorlie said.
Neither woman focuses much on being a female officer.
“You just go out and do your job every day. I don’t really get much flak from other people as being a female,” Michaelis said.
“No one really treats us differently, there’s maybe been a handful of times when it has happened,” Bjorlie said.
In addition to keeping the community safe, the two women are focused on building strong connections with local children, hoping to inspire future leaders.
“Try to be that role model for them like I had for me, just trying to do the best I can so that other kids might be interested,” said Bjorlie.
“I hope that females can look at us as role models and it can open their eyes that they can do whatever they put their mind to,” Michaelis said.
The Hettinger County Sheriff’s Office recently became the second in state history to have both a female sheriff and chief deputy. Sheriff Sarah Warner is the longest-serving female sheriff in North Dakota with 15 years of service.
Matt Henson is an Emmy award-winning reporter/photographer/editor for WDAY. Prior to joining WDAY in 2019, Matt was the main anchor at WDAZ in Grand Forks for four years.
North Dakota
Hoeven, Armstrong, Traynor speak on OBBB Rural Health Transformation Fund updates in ND
BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) – On Friday, North Dakota U.S. Senator John Hoeven, Governor Kelly Armstrong and Health and Human Services Commissioner Pat Traynor explained how the state plans to use millions of dollars from the Big Beautiful Bill’s Rural Health Transformation Fund to transform healthcare across the state.
They spoke extensively about the special session to allocate the funds, and confirmed that it is still tentatively set for Jan. 21.
The Big Beautiful Bill allocated $25 billion for rural healthcare nationwide. North Dakota received $500 million for five years and $200 million for the first year. There is still another $25 billion left to be spent, and North Dakota is hoping to receive an extra $500 million.
“I truly believe that with the plan we’re putting in place and the things we built that line up with that, we’ll get a billion dollars over five years,” said Hoeven.
Federal rules require the state to lock in contracts for the money by October first— a deadline officials say is driving the need for a special session.
In the first year, North Dakota will focus on retention grants to keep existing staff, technical assistance and consultants for rural hospitals, as well as telehealth equipment and home patient monitoring.
Governor Armstrong says the special session will include policy bills tied to how much federal rural health funding the state can earn.
“We’re going to have a physical fitness test for physical education courses, nutrition education, continuing education requirement for physicians, physician assistant licensure compact—which North Dakota has been doing, dealing with that since the heart of the oil boom and moving forward—and then an expanded scope of practice for pharmacists,” said Armstrong.
Hundreds of millions of dollars could reshape healthcare in rural North Dakota, and state leaders say the next few weeks are key to receiving and spending that money wisely.
The governor says he only wants to focus on bills related to the Rural Health Transformation Program during the special session and doesn’t intend to deal with other state issues during that time.
Copyright 2026 KFYR. All rights reserved.
North Dakota
North Dakota officials celebrate being among big winners in federal rural health funding
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Tony Osburn scored 27 points as Omaha beat North Dakota 90-79 on Thursday.
Osburn shot 8 of 12 from the field, including 5 for 8 from 3-point range, and went 6 for 9 from the line for the Mavericks (8-10, 1-2 Summit League). Paul Djobet scored 18 points and added 12 rebounds. Ja’Sean Glover finished with 10 points.
The Fightin’ Hawks (8-11, 2-1) were led by Eli King, who posted 21 points and two steals. Greyson Uelmen added 19 points for North Dakota. Garrett Anderson had 15 points and two steals.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
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