North Dakota
Letter: Life in the slow lane
When I was commuting in the Twin Cities for many years I would go with the flow. I tried to leave space ahead of me, and let others merge in and out. The flow was sometimes well over the speed limit, and sometimes zero miles per hour stuck in traffic. But now, when I head out on the highway with some room, I make a point of setting my cruise control exactly at the speed limit.
We recently had a Sunday trip which included driving on Interstate 94 in Minnesota for about 110 miles. I set my cruise control right at 70 (can’t drive 69 for some reason) and settled into the right lane. Driving 75 versus 70 would have saved us only about 10 minutes on that stretch. It also would have meant we’d be weaving in and out of traffic lanes, risking a ticket, and having someone behind us a few feet off our bumper who wanted to drive 80 or 85 miles an hour.
I counted 20 cars passing us during one 10-minute stretch, which seemed representative of traffic during our 100 or so minutes on the highway. We passed one auto and two semis. That means about 200 cars were speeding and only two cars that were not.
Maybe I’m a grumpy old man, and maybe those passing us were shaking their heads or cursing ‘that nut’ who was driving the speed limit. But when we hear frequent cries about the need for law and order, rule of law, obeying the law or respecting the law, what could be simpler than driving the legal speed limit? Why not slow down a bit and enjoy the ride, safely?
David Stene lives in near Pelican Lake, Minn.
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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