North Dakota
Group seeking more money, answers to high maternal mortality in North Dakota • North Dakota Monitor
A state-funded group that researches maternal mortality wants the Legislature to increase its funding five-fold to $240,000 for the 2025-2027 budget cycle.
North Dakota’s 26-member maternal mortality review committee collects and analyzes data on pregnancy-related deaths in the state. It’s affiliated with a national program under the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
While the state’s annual maternal deaths are consistently in the single digits, North Dakota’s overall maternal death rate is still significantly higher than the national average, according to Dr. Dennis Lutz, chair of obstetrics and gynecology at University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences.
The review committee is working to collect information that could help speak to why, but still faces several barriers to gathering accurate and complete data, said Lutz, who oversees the committee.
Its budget for the 2023-2025 biennium was $48,000. The committee wants to grow this number to cover expenses including recruiting additional staff, continuing medical education as well as travel costs.
It has plans to add two new staff members — one to act as a liaison to the Indian Health Service, and another to specialize in social work, Lutz said.
“I know it sounds like a lot of money,” he told lawmakers during a Health Care Committee meeting this month in Bismarck. “But on the other hand, if it’s preventative, and if we can reduce maternal deaths and complications and problems with newborns along the way, it’ll be well worth the money.”
Since North Dakota’s fertility rate is about 12,000 births per year, the funding would be equivalent to roughly $10 per delivery, he added.
Rep. Gretchen Dobervich, D-Fargo, a member of the Legislature’s interim Health Care Committee, said she’s spent the last year working on a tribal maternal mortality committee project with the CDC.
She said many North Dakotans face obstacles to quality maternal health care, especially Native residents and those who live in rural areas. A September article published by the North Dakota News Cooperative noted that more than two-thirds of counties in North Dakota were considered maternal health care deserts in 2022.
“As access to prenatal, natal and postnatal care gets more difficult for women to access, it is important for us to find solutions,” Dobervich said.
She said she’s interested in supporting Lutz’s request, but wants to hear more specifics about the maternal mortality review committee’s proposed budget.
In 2022, there were six maternal deaths in North Dakota, said Lutz. That included two traumatic deaths, one case of sepsis and a cardiac arrest.
Only one of those deaths has been confirmed as having been pregnancy-related under CDC criteria, according to a committee report. The CDC defines a pregnancy-related death as any death that occurs during pregnancy or within one year of having been pregnant.
The other five deaths could have been associated with pregnancy, but are still under investigation.
“Sometimes it takes us two or three years to research these cases and figure out what really happened,” Lutz said.
Lutz said the committee is aware of five maternal deaths that occurred in 2023, though those numbers are preliminary.
Based on the committee’s research, North Dakota’s average maternal mortality rate from 2008 to 2022 was about 50 women per 100,000 births, Lutz said.
“That’s a high number anywhere — one of the highest in the country, actually,” he said.
American Indian mothers accounted for about 30% of maternal deaths in North Dakota over that 15-year span, the committee found. By comparison, just about 8-12% of North Dakota births are to American Indian mothers.
Roughly 60% of maternal deaths in North Dakota over that time span were to white mothers, while 5% of deaths were to Black mothers.
The United States’ overall maternal mortality rate has been increasing for more than two decades, though experts aren’t sure why, said Lutz. In 2022, the national maternal mortality rate was about 22.3 deaths per 100,000 births according to data from the CDC. That’s higher than most wealthy nations.
The CDC estimates that about 80% of pregnancy-related deaths are preventable. Within the American Indian and Alaska Native population, this figure is estimated to be roughly 93%.
It can be extremely difficult to nail down what caused a maternal death, Lutz said. Sometimes, death records are filled out wrong, or are incomplete.
“For example, we’ve had exam cases where a coroner says the patient was pregnant, but she’s 80 years old. Well, obviously she wasn’t pregnant,” Lutz said.
To improve the accuracy of death records, the committee is working with the North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services, but also with local coroners and funeral home directors, he said.
The fact that many medical records are protected from release under law also makes it difficult for the committee to decode the circumstances behind a death.
“Our biggest problem right now is that over a third of all maternal deaths in this country are related to mental health issues — that could be suicide, it could be due to overdoses,” Lutz said. “And because we often have no way to get those records legally — at least their mental health records — we end up calling all those maternal deaths.”
The committee is interested in collecting data on maternal morbidity as well, Lutz said — instances where a mother experiences a health condition during pregnancy, labor or after delivery.
One National Institutes of Health article from 2021 that analyzed data on mothers who gave birth in California between 2007 and 2012 found about 1.3% experienced severe maternal morbidity as defined by the Centers for Disease Control.
Sen. Kristen Roers, a nurse, said the committee might benefit from investing more resources in this area.
“We need to do a better job on our morbidity data, so that we can see what those trends are where you can possibly put an intervention in place,” the Fargo Republican said.
Lutz noted it’s very hard to get information on morbidity cases since they aren’t reported to the state.
“We would have to have the permission of hospitals to look at all their data,” he said, “and I don’t know that they would be willing to do that.”
The committee presents its research to the North Dakota Society of OB/Gyn in hopes that its insights can help educate medical professionals to prevent maternal deaths.
“Most OBGYNs have never had a maternal death in their career. If you’ve never experienced something, how do you prevent it?” Lutz said.
The committee doesn’t yet have data that could speak to how the state’s abortion ban may have affected maternal health care for North Dakota mothers, he said. The law was active from April 2023 to September 2024, when it was declared unconstitutional and vacated by a state judge.
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The Bison are in the game. For real, this time.
When EA Sports brought back its College Football title in 2024 after a decade-plus hiatus, FCS teams were not included. That’s still the case as the game moves into the third year of its revival, but, of course, North Dakota State has moved up to the FBS level, as members of the Mountain West.
And one of the perks of that move is inclusion in the popular sports simulation. Participating players get $1,500 plus a free copy of this year’s game, College Football 27.
Not bad, huh?
I can only imagine how cool it is for a kid like Abraham Myers, a tight end from Sioux Falls Washington High School, to see himself as a playable character on a millions-selling PlayStation game, but it’s cool for fans, too.
If you’re a Bison fan, it’s all right there. The Fargodome (sorta, EA didn’t bother to include the name, calling it ‘North Dakota State Stadium’), Tim Polasek, the Bison mascot — OK, that’s really about all the detail they went into, and Polasek’s likeness leaves a bit to be desired. Then again, they still haven’t made much effort to make Kalen DeBeoer look like Kalen DeBoer, so whatever, I guess.
In the past you could still play as NDSU, or SDSU, or USD, or Augustana, or Roosevelt High School, or St. Mother Theresa’s Middle School for the Deaf, or any other team, real or imagined, because of the game’s “Create a team” engine, and that’s still there on this year’s game. There are already a few Jackrabbit teams up on the servers that you can download if you’re an SDSU fan and want to play as the Jacks.
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But Bison fans (and Sac State fans, and Missouri State fans, etc., etc.) don’t have to do that. Their team is in the game, with their actual stadium and their actual coach and their actual players, and when I fired up the game on Thursday just an hour after it officially launched, I’ll admit it, the first thing I did was start a game in Fargo, pitting New Mexico against the Bison in the Fargodome for a Mountain West clash that sent former SDSU assistant Jason Eck up against his old Dakota Marker nemesis.
The game started up and there they were: Nathan Hayes under center for the Bison, with DJ Scott carrying the ball, Jackson Williams running free over the middle and Myers teaming with Reis Kessel at tight end to create problems in the red zone.
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I went right down the field and scored on the opening drive, with Hayes finding Williams on a drag route for the touchdown.
Despite the best efforts of New Mexico’s star linebacker and former Brookings Bobcat Jaxton Eck (Jason’s son), I had no trouble dispatching the Lobos 31-10.
Later I played around with some other fun matchups.
I brought Nebraska into the Dome, and while we all know the Huskers stink now, for someone like me who’s old enough to remember their Glory Days, it was fun to see the iconic Nebraska uniforms on the Fargo turf, and wonder if someday that could actually happen now that NDSU is in the FBS.
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Later I played a game at the Big House in Ann Arbor, sending the Bison up against the Wolverines. Michigan got the ball first and after a holding penalty pinned them deep in their own territory, Keenan Wilson’s strip-sack of Bryce Underwood gave the Bison first and goal, and with the Miaze and Blue crowd of over 100,000 roaring, I quickly turned it into a short touchdown pass from Hayes to Myers.
Ultimately I couldn’t keep that up against the Wolverines, falling 31-21.
I played around with some other teams, mostly the ones with familiar faces. Jimmy Rogers and Iowa State, Matt Entz at Fresno State, Missouri State, Kennesaw State, Sac State, Delaware and other former FCS powers.
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I also played a few series of the Tennessee vs. Alabama rivalry game to get an early glimpse of what kind of teams South Dakota’s two favorite SEC sons (DeBoer and Josh Heupel) might have in store for 2026.
Much has been made of trying to predict how successful the Bison will be in year one at the FBS level. Some have already anointed them a favorite to grab a G6 playoff spot. Others think they’ll at least win the Mountain West, while few seem to think they’ll finish much lower than third or fourth.
What does EA think?
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The Bison are given an overall team rating of 75 (99 is the highest possible), which is higher than many if not most G6 teams. James Madison, for one, gets a 77.
The other Mountain West teams earned the following ratings:
Air Force – 74
Hawaii – 76
Nevada – 73
New Mexico – 76
Northern Illinois – 70
San Jose State – 72
UNLV – 78
UTEP – 72
Wyoming – 73
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As for the NDSU players, here are their top rated personnel:
Griffin Empey (LG): 87
DJ Scott (RB): 83
Keenan Wilson (DT): 80
Darius Glance (SS): 79
Myles Mitchell (RB): 78
Josh Magin (RT): 78
Donovan Woolen (LB): 78
Keith Williams (LB): 78
Logan Larson (DT): 77
Jackson Williams (WR): 76
Matthew Stenbroten (DE): 76
Zach Vanderpool (DT): 76
Alijah Wayne (DT): 76
Jaylin Crumby (FS): 75
Kelton McCaslin (DE): 75
Reis Kessel (TE): 75
Nathan Hayes (QB): 74
Nate Tastad (RG): 74
Taylen Eady (FS): 73
Ryan Babatz (LT): 73
Alex Jenkins (LT): 73
DJ Volts (CB): 72
Mekhi Collins (WR): 71
Jack Liwienski (OG): 71
EJ Davis (CB): 71
Will Steil (FS): 70
Drew Klein (K): 70
Makes you wonder how players like Chase Mason and Charles Pierre would measure up. Maybe someday the Jacks, Coyotes and Fighting Hawks will be in the game and we’ll find out.
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Matt Zimmer is a Sioux Falls native and longtime sports writer. He graduated from Washington High School where he played football, legion baseball and developed his lifelong love of the Minnesota Twins and Vikings. After graduating from St. Cloud State University, he returned to Sioux Falls, and began a long career in amateur baseball and sports reporting. Email Matt at mzimmer@siouxfallslive.com.
BISMARCK — A West Fargo attorney has been appointed to the North Dakota Ethics Commission.
According to a release, Lisa Edison-Smith was appointed to the commission Tuesday, July 7, to fill the unexpired term of Commissioner Ronald Goodman, who will retire from the board.
Edison-Smith works for Vogel Law Firm, from which she plans to retire at the end of the year, the release said. She specializes in employment and labor law and is also the editor of the North Dakota Employment Law Letter, a monthly publication providing guidance to employers.
Edison-Smith graduated from North Dakota State University and Hamline University School of Law. She was a clerk for the Minnesota Supreme Court and worked in finance and accounting roles at GTE Corp., the release said.
“I am grateful for the opportunity to bring my legal experience and problem-solving skills to the important work of the Commission,” Edison-Smith said via release. “Together, I believe we can improve public trust and deepen the Commission’s commitment to accountability and transparency in North Dakota.”
Commissioners are appointed by consensus of the governor and majority and minority leader of the North Dakota Senate.
Our newsroom occasionally reports stories under a byline of “staff.” Often, the “staff” byline is used when rewriting basic news briefs that originate from official sources, such as a city press release about a road closure, and which require little or no reporting. At times, this byline is used when a news story includes numerous authors or when the story is formed by aggregating previously reported news from various sources. If outside sources are used, it is noted within the story.
North Dakota
Schulz to transition from ND Parks and Recreation to ND Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
Gov. Kelly Armstrong today announced that North Dakota Parks and Recreation Department Director Cody Schulz is leaving the agency next month to assume the role of chief financial officer in the North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, effective Aug. 17.
Schulz has led Parks and Recreation since being appointed director by then-Gov. Doug Burgum in October 2021. Armstrong reappointed Schulz to the position upon taking office in December 2024. Schulz previously served 13 years in the state Department of Emergency Services (DES), including as business manager and finance officer for seven years and as the state’s director of Homeland Security from 2018 to 2021. Prior to joining DES, he spent nearly 13 years in the private sector as a business owner, account specialist and government and public affairs analyst.
“Parks and Recreation has thrived under Cody’s leadership, opening a new state park at Pembina Gorge, expanding and improving existing parks, making major investments in infrastructure and enhancing visitor experiences,” Armstrong said. “While we will miss his leadership of the agency, we’re excited that he has decided to continue serving the citizens of North Dakota at DOCR, where his experience in finance and accounting will serve the department well.”
“This was an incredibly difficult decision, one driven primarily by the desire to travel less and spend more time with family, especially my aging parents. At the same time, my new role at DOCR allows me to work in finance and public safety – two passions that have shaped much of my career,” Schulz said. “I am filled with gratitude for the team at Parks and Recreation, and I leave with complete confidence in this organization. This is an exceptionally talented team filled with capable, dedicated people who care deeply about one another, our mission, and the citizens we serve.”
A native of New Salem, N.D., Schulz earned an associate’s degree from Bismarck State College, a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Dickinson State University and an MBA from the University of North Dakota. He also served on the Morton County Commission from 2012 to 2020, including as chairman in 2016, 2017 and 2020, and as a member of the Morton County Park Board for eight years.
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