North Dakota

Investigation into North Dakota AG building, emails referred to county state's attorney

Published

2 years ago

January 11, 2024

Investigation into North Dakota AG building, emails referred to county state's attorney

A Montana investigation into an over-budget building project and deleted emails of former Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem was referred to a state’s attorney after a string of failed attempts to get a prosecutor on board, Attorney General Drew Wrigley confirmed Wednesday, Jan. 10.

The handoff, made on Friday, Jan. 5 to Mountrail County State’s Attorney Wade Enget, marks the latest step in a yearslong search for answers on the two matters.

Enget said Wednesday he was not familiar with the case and was still waiting on materials to arrive in the mail.

“I have no idea what’s involved in it,” he said. “I just said that I would take a look at it.”

Under Stenehjem, the Attorney General’s Office leased and renovated new office space in a series of business deals linked to Rep. Jason Dockter, a Bismarck Republican. The project exceeded anticipated costs by more than $1.7 million.

Stenehjem died in January 2022. Immediately after his death, Liz Brocker, his executive assistant, directed IT staff to erase the former attorney general’s email account. Brocker has said the request was at the direction of Troy Seibel, Stenehjem’s chief deputy, according to the Montana investigation.

Wayne Stenehjem

After Seibel resigned that March, some of Seibel’s emails were permanently wiped, too, at the direction of Brocker.

The deletion of Stenehjem’s emails became publicly known after media open records requests related to the building project.

The building lease and deleted emails prompted repeated calls for further inquiry.

The purpose of the investigation by the Montana Division of Criminal Investigation — which culminated in a 131-page report made public in September — was to straighten out the facts of the case. It didn’t take a stance on whether any criminal activity may have occurred; rather, it’s up to Enget’s office to decide whether to bring charges based on the report’s findings.

The investigation would normally fall under the jurisdiction of the Burleigh County State’s Attorney’s Office, but Brocker now works there.

The Montana investigator, Don Guiberson, told lawmakers in a December meeting his probe was limited in scope due to a lack of subpoena power.

Lawyer previously referred the Montana investigation to prosecutors in Morton and Grand Forks counties, but both declined.

The Montana investigation is separate from an inquiry by the Ethics Commission into Dockter. The Ethics Commission probe led to a misdemeanor charge that accuses Dockter of voting to support funding for a property in which he had a financial interest, court records show. Dockter has pleaded not guilty to the charge. His attorney declined to comment.

This story was originally published on NorthDakotaMonitor.com.

______________________________________________________

This story was written by one of our partner news agencies. Forum Communications Company uses content from agencies such as Reuters, Kaiser Health News, Tribune News Service and others to provide a wider range of news to our readers. Learn more about the news services FCC uses here.

Source link

Related Topics:Featured Minnesota News state news

Click to comment

North Dakota

Area places four on North Dakota Class B all-state volleyball team

Published

16 hours ago

November 24, 2025

Press Room

Area places four on North Dakota Class B all-state volleyball team

GRAND FORKS — Langdon Area-Munich’s Hilary Haaven helped power the Cardinals to a North Dakota Class B state championship last weekend in Bismarck.

On Monday, she was one of four area players recognized with North Dakota Class B all-state honors.

Haaven and Park River-Fordville-Lankin’s Lauren Bell were all-state first team choices, while Drayton-Valley-Edinburg’s Elizabeth Fedje and Griggs-Midkota’s Kelsey Johnson received second team honors.

Haaven, just a freshman, recorded 23 kills and 39 digs in the state title match as Langdon Area-Munich repeated as state champions by pulling off a reverse sweep of Medina-Pingree-Buchanan. Haaven already surpassed 1,000 career kills in October.

Haaven was the only member of the 24-member all-state team who is younger than a junior in high school.

Bell, a junior middle hitter and repeat all-state choice from 2024, racked up 520 kills, 393 digs, 43 aces and 84 blocks this season.

Fedje, a senior middle hitter, racked up 521 kills and 296 digs. Fedje, who has been the D-V-E kill leader each season since 2022, has more than 1,300 career kills in 347 career sets played.

Johnson, a senior outside hitter, finished with 255 kills this season and 353 digs. She also had 31 aces and 12 blocks.

Brynn Sorenson of Medina-P-B was named the Outstanding Senior Athlete, while her coach Jacie Connell was named Coach of the Year.

Miller has covered sports at the Grand Forks Herald since 2004 and was the state sportswriter of the year in 2019 (NSMA, NDAPSSA), 2022 (NSMA, NDAPSSA) and 2024 (NDAPSSA).

His primary beat is UND football but also reports on a variety of UND sports and local preps.

He can be reached at (701) 780-1121, tmiller@gfherald.com or on Twitter at @tommillergf.

Source link

North Dakota

Yale, Harvard get bids in Ivy debut in FCS field

Published

1 day ago

November 24, 2025

Press Room

Yale, Harvard get bids in Ivy debut in FCS field

Nov 23, 2025, 06:32 PM ET

INDIANAPOLIS — The Ivy League is participating in the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs for the first time this season, and the conference will be well represented.

Yale, which defeated rival Harvard for the Ivy title on Saturday, and the Crimson are in the 24-team tournament field, which was announced on Sunday night on ESPNU. The Bulldogs (8-2) will play at Youngstown State (8-4), and Harvard (9-1) will play at Villanova (9-2).

“I am incredibly proud of our players and entire staff. They have poured their hearts into the work that brought us to this moment, and earning the opportunity to win a championship and become the first team to represent the Ivy League in the FCS playoffs makes it ever more special,” Yale coach Tony Reno said Saturday after the win. “Our players made a true commitment to one another and never stopped believing in our mission or in the goals we set together. This is an exceptional group of men, and I could not be prouder of everyone.”

In the 141st chapter of the rivalry known as The Game, Yale outlasted previously unbeaten Harvard, 45-28, as quarterback Dante Reno completed 15 of 19 passes for 273 yards and three touchdowns in the Yale Bowl in New Haven, Connecticut.

“Our defense is one of the best in the league,” Reno, a sophomore, said. “They’ve been proving that all year. It took us a little bit to start offensively earlier this season, and we kind of clicked over the last couple of weeks.”

TWO BID IVY.@HarvardFootball and @yalefootball have earned bids to the @NCAA_FCS playoffs.
🌿 Harvard vs. No. 12 Villanova
🌿 Yale vs. No. 15 Youngstown State pic.twitter.com/3Md5RlFGiJ
— Ivy League (@IvyLeague) November 23, 2025

At the top of the FCS board, defending national champion North Dakota State will lead a record-tying six teams from the Missouri Valley Football Conference into the tournament. The MVFC champion Bison (12-0) were named the No. 1 seed and will be making their 16th consecutive appearance.

All told, the field is made up of 11 automatically qualifying conference champions and 13 at-large selections. The first round begins Saturday with unseeded teams paired with teams seeded 9-16 primarily according to geographical proximity. The championship game is Jan. 5 at FirstBank Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee.

North Dakota State has won 10 of the past 14 FCS titles. The Bison beat St. Thomas-Minnesota 62-7 on Saturday to extend their winning streak to 16 games.

Montana State (10-2), the runner-up to NDSU last year, earned the No. 2 seed after beating rival Montana 31-28 to clinch the Big Sky Conference championship. Montana (11-1) is the No. 3 seed. Tarleton State (11-1) of the United Athletic Conference is the No. 4 seed.

Patriot League champion Lehigh (12-0) is No. 5, Southern champion Mercer (9-2) is No. 6, Southland champion Stephen F. Austin (10-2) is No. 7 and the Big Sky’s UC Davis (8-3) is No. 8.

The top eight seeds receive a first-round bye and will play their second-round game at home.

The rest of the first-round games are: Illinois State (8-4) at SE Louisiana (9-3); Central Connecticut State (8-4) at Rhode Island (10-2); North Dakota (7-5) at Tennessee Tech (11-1); New Hampshire (8-4) at South Dakota State (8-4); Drake (8-3) at South Dakota (8-4); and Lamar (8-4) at Abilene Christian (8-4).

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source link

North Dakota

Native Culture, Arts Highlight North Dakota Native Heritage Showcase

Published

2 days ago

November 23, 2025

Press Room

Native Culture, Arts Highlight North Dakota Native Heritage Showcase

(Photo by Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor)

(North Dakota Monitor) – Through the arts, stories, music and dance, North Dakota’s Indigenous community shared its culture at the Capitol in Bismarck on Friday during Native American Heritage Month.

The North Dakota Native Heritage Showcase, sponsored by the state’s Indian Affairs Commission, featured about a dozen vendor tables at the Capitol with handmade jewelry, paintings, books and other items.

Brad Hawk, executive director of the North Dakota Indian Affairs Commission, said the event is a way to showcase different Native cultures and give exposure to local nonprofit groups.

“It’s more than music. It’s more than regalia. We have different aspects of the culture in arts,” Hawk said. “It’s a communitywide event, a little bit for everybody, and that’s the way we set it up to be.”

Source link