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.

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Young adult immigrants known as “Dreamers” in 19 U.S. states will be temporarily blocked from getting health insurance through the Affordable Care Act’s public marketplace, a federal judge has ruled, limiting an effort by the Biden administration to help immigrants brought to the country illegally as children.

Judge Daniel Traynor of the U.S. District Court in North Dakota issued the order, dealing a setback to a Biden administration rule that was estimated to allow 147,000 immigrants to enroll for coverage. Traynor’s ruling came in a lawsuit filed over the policy and will remain in effect until the matter can go to trial.

The ruling applies to immigrants in 19 states where Republican attorneys general sued to avoid having to comply with the new policy. They cited concern over immigrants possibly qualifying for public subsidies available to many people insured under the ACA.

The GOP state officials argued that the rule created earlier this year by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services would be a strong incentive for immigrants to remain in the U.S. illegally and could creating costs for states. They argued that both the Affordable Care Act and a 1996 law prohibit U.S. government benefits flowing to immigrants living in the U.S. illegally. “Dreamers” are part of a program that makes them a low priority for deportation. However, President-elect Donald Trump won the Nov. 5 election promising “the largest mass deportation program in history.” He will succeed President Joe Biden on Jan. 20.

Traynor, a Trump appointee during his first term in office, concluded through what he called “a common-sense inference” that access to subsidized ACA coverage is a powerful incentive for people to remain in the U.S. illegally, creating a substantial risk that states will “suffer monetary harm.”

Federal law gives CMS the authority to determine whether someone is living in the U.S. legally, but, Traynor wrote, “It by no means allows the agency to circumvent congressional authority and redefine the term ‘lawfully present.’”

CMS said in a statement Tuesday that it is reviewing the lawsuit but does not comment on litigation.

Nicholas Espíritu, deputy legal director of the National Immigration Law Center, said some “Dreamers” have been waiting for more than a decade to get “life-sustaining” health coverage through the ACA.

“Judge Traynor’s ruling is both disappointing and wrong on the law,” Espíritu said, promising his group would continue to fight the issue.

But Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach called the decision “a victory for the rule of law.” He told reporters after a hearing in Bismarck in October that the Biden administration sought to redefine what it means to be an immigrant living in the U.S. legally by “executive fiat,” calling the rule “Alice in Wonderland stuff.”

North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley added then that American taxpayers, through Congress, determine how the federal government treats immigrants living in the U.S. illegally.

“And it doesn’t always come across as friendly and nice and cuddly, but it speaks to the access to our health care system, the cost of our health care system, and the burden on the American public, the taxpayer,” he said.

Kansas and North Dakota are the lead plaintiffs in the lawsuit filed in August. They’ve been joined by Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.

“Thankfully, the court put another nail in the coffin of Biden’s radical left-wing agenda,” Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said in a statement Tuesday.

Associated Press

North Dakota Fightin’ Hawks (4-5) at Utah Valley Wolverines (4-5)

Orem, Utah; Wednesday, 8 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: North Dakota faces Utah Valley after Mier Panoam scored 22 points in North Dakota’s 80-75 victory against the Weber State Wildcats.

The Wolverines have gone 2-0 at home. Utah Valley averages 13.6 turnovers per game and is 1-2 when it wins the turnover battle.

The Fightin’ Hawks are 1-3 on the road. North Dakota ranks ninth in the Summit League with 9.9 assists per game led by Treysen Eaglestaff averaging 1.9.

Utah Valley’s average of 5.3 made 3-pointers per game is 1.0 fewer made shot on average than the 6.3 per game North Dakota gives up. North Dakota averages 71.2 points per game, 2.7 fewer than the 73.9 Utah Valley gives up.

TOP PERFORMERS: Dominick Nelson is scoring 13.3 points per game and averaging 6.0 rebounds for the Wolverines.

Eaglestaff is shooting 35.1% from beyond the arc with 2.2 made 3-pointers per game for the Fightin’ Hawks, while averaging 18.3 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.