North Dakota
North Dakota spreads wealth to help communities celebrate America’s 250th birthday
Melissa Klocke-Joyce, program coordinator for the ND250 Commission, stands next to a replica of the Liberty Bell at the North Dakota Heritage Center on Dec. 22, 2025. (Photo by Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor)
By: Michael Achterling
BISMARCK, N.D. (North Dakota Monitor) – Events, concerts, community initiatives and educational opportunities will headline a year of celebration in North Dakota for the 250th birthday of the United States.
The ND250 Commission has awarded about $142,000 through two rounds of its Community Initiatives Grant program for events and projects around the state, said Melissa Klocke-Joyce, program coordinator. The programs and events will tell the story of North Dakota’s role in the country’s early history, she said.
“It gives communities an opportunity to get creative,” Klocke-Joyce said.
The ND250 Commission made awards to 15 initiatives on Wednesday, in addition to five grants awarded in November. About $32,000 remains for the final round of grants, with applications accepted through April 1.
Bill Peterson, director of the State Historical Society of North Dakota chair of the ND250 Commission, said the grants represent more than funding.
“They’re an investment in how communities across North Dakota share their piece of the American story,” Peterson said in a statement. “From murals and musical theater to lectures and living history, these projects help connect people to the past in ways that are meaningful, engaging, and rooted in local pride.”
The program also awards participating North Dakota schools up to $1,000 to be used as field trip grants to bring students to the North Dakota Heritage Center in Bismarck to see two exhibits dedicated to the anniversary – the Founders Museum exhibit and the Heritage Center’s own ND250 exhibit that will be installed by July 4, Klocke-Joyce said.
A national Founders Museum exhibit will feature content provided by the White House, including portraits of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and their insights on what independence meant to them, said Kara Haff, public information officer for the State Historical Society of North Dakota.
The content will be available through a large touch screen at the Heritage Center that will show the portraits and play videos. A second kiosk will be installed at the Capitol.
“They are also featuring some of the females that were involved as well … Martha Washington will be featured and a number of other females in addition to the men,” Haff said.
The Heritage Center will add an ND250 display in the Governor’s Gallery titled ND250 Roadtrip: Our American Story that will feature the history of the territory and an envisioned future of the next 250 years.
One grant was awarded to the Pembina Historical Society in November and will commission a colonial-style cider press for their community orchard.
“We really want to try to tie in celebrating the 250th, and what better way to do it than demonstrating how people lived back in that time,” Klocke-Joyce said.
Woodworker Talon Stammen, designer of the Pembina cider press said he hopes the portable press will be used across the region because that’s how colonists lived, through shared infrastructure and equipment.
Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library Foundation received a $10,000 ND250 grant to create lesson plans for North Dakota students about the history and ideals behind the Declaration of Independence.
Matt Briney, spokesperson for the library foundation, said the money will be used to provide a stipend for North Dakota teachers to design the lesson plans.
He said studies, like one released in 2023 by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, identified that only two-thirds of U.S. adults could name the three branches of government.
Briney added the lessons will be free for other teachers to use.
Other grants awarded include $10,000 for a project in Sheyenne to record oral histories from regional residents; $5,000 for the city of Beach for a community art sculpture; and $9,000 for the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa for a public historical exhibit interpreting treaty-making, land negotiations, federal policy shifts and cultural traditions;.
Klocke-Joyce said she expects events to celebrate America’s milestone birthday will continue to be announced, and the ND250 website will update its calendar as more plans are finalized.
Haff encouraged organizers of any of the 250th birthday events across the state to take photos, video and document as much as they can because the State Archives wants their content to create an in-depth catalog of America’s milestone birthday.
“One hundred years from now, when they are reflecting back on what we’ve accomplished, they can pull this out and say, ‘oh my gosh, look at how amazing ND250 was,’” Haff said.
GRAND FORKS — A North Dakota composer’s dream is turning into a statewide invitation.
Williston-based musician Emily Black-Driscoll was chosen as the North Dakota Music Teachers Association’s commissioned composer for 2026. She’s preparing an original composition that will premiere in August.
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North Dakota
Challengers declare victory after ND Supreme Court rules against Legislature’s attempt to alter term limits
BISMARCK — A constitutional ballot measure to amend the state’s term limits law as proposed by the Legislature will not appear on November’s ballot, the North Dakota Supreme Court ruled Thursday, siding with petitioners who argued the Legislature exceeded its authority and violated the state constitution in proposing the changes.
“The people’s voice was heard,” Grand Forks County Commissioner Terry Bjerke said in reaction to the news.
Bjerke was a member of the sponsoring committee behind the successful 2022 effort to pass a term limits initiative, which amended the state constitution by capping legislative term limits to eight years in the House and eight years in the Senate. The amendment, which became article XV of the state constitution, also included a clause barring the Legislature from making constitutional changes to term limits.
During the 2025 session, however, lawmakers narrowly approved Senate Concurrent Resolution 4008, in which the legislature proposed Constitutional Measure 1, a ballot measure to amend the term limits language to allow legislators to decide in which chamber they want to serve their 16 years, and to repeal the clause limiting the legislative assembly’s authority to propose an amendment to alter or repeal term limits.
Bjerke and former Minot legislator Oley Larsen brought the lawsuit challenging the validity of the Legislature’s action in January, and the state Supreme Court
heard oral arguments in the case
this spring.
“Those term limits may only be altered by a measure proposed by the people rather than the Legislative Assembly. And yet a few years later, the Legislative Assembly is doing what they are prohibited from doing,” attorney Zachary Wallen argued on Bjerke and Larsen’s behalf.
Tanner Ecker / The Bismarck Tribune
The Legislature’s attorneys argued the clause prohibiting legislative proposals to alter the constitutional term limits language “infringes on our republican form of government” by “limiting the people’s ability to vote on amendments proposed by their elected officials.”
Justice Jon Jensen seemed skeptical of that argument during the April 2 hearing, questioning whether a second vote was appropriate.
“The public did speak on this. The public spoke on it when it passed the original constitutional amendment and they said, ‘Legislature, you don’t even get to propose a change.’ They have already spoken on it,” Jensen said. “You want a second shot, or a second bite at the apple, not a first one, a second.”
In Thursday’s ruling, all five justices sided with Bjerke and Larsen.
“We … conclude the Legislative Assembly’s adoption of S.C.R. 4008 violated N.D. Const. art. XV … and declare S.C.R. 4008 and Constitutional Measure 1 void … We enjoin the Secretary of State from placing Constitutional Measure 1 on the November 2026 general election ballot,” the ruling said.
Bjerke thanked the legal team that worked on behalf of their lawsuit, and said he was grateful the court reached the conclusion it did.
“I’m thrilled that what the people voted on and approved has been validated,” Bjerke said.
He added that the Legislature had “multiple opportunities” to address term limits prior to 2022’s initiated measure and chose not to, and gave a nod to the country’s coming milestone and the process by which voters expressed their support for term limits.
“We’ve lasted 250 years,” Bjerke said. “I have two words for those elected leaders who think they aren’t: everyone’s replaceable.”
North Dakota
Fargo woman convicted in North Dakota fraud case now faces charges in Minnesota: A deeper dive
FARGO, N.D. (Valley News Live) – A North Dakota woman who was sentenced to 180 days in jail in Cass County for defrauding healthcare providers and Medicaid programs is now facing additional fraud charges in Minnesota.
Christine Marie Pryor, 55, pleaded guilty in November 2024 to theft by deception involving more than $50,000. She was sentenced to first serve 180 days with a 3-year sentence suspended. She received credit for 44 days already served.
Pryor was ordered to pay $82,584.78 in restitution to Southeast Human Services in Fargo, where she worked between 2018 and 2019.
How the scheme unfolded
According to court documents, Pryor worked at multiple healthcare facilities in North Dakota and Minnesota between 2018 and 2023, using the identities and credentials of three licensed professionals without their knowledge. She submitted fraudulent Capella University diplomas and transcripts to gain employment.
Investigators say Pryor admitted she searched state licensing websites for therapists who shared her first name, then used those therapists’ last names and license numbers when applying for jobs.
At Southeast Human Services, where she worked as a Licensed Addiction Counselor, Pryor earned $55,584.82 while providing therapy services to approximately 150 patients. She also opened her own counseling center, NIAM Brain Injury Center, in Fargo between 2020 and 2021, and worked at The Lotus Center in Moorhead, Minnesota, from 2021 to 2023.
Court documents say the three licensed professionals whose identities were used told investigators they had no knowledge of Pryor’s actions and did not give her permission to use their information.
Two additional charges against Pryor in North Dakota, unauthorized use of personal identifying information, were dismissed on motion of the state.
Additional charges in Minnesota
Pryor is also facing charges in Minnesota. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced on Tuesday charges against Pryor in Clay County District Court for six theft offenses and six identity theft offenses related to defrauding Minnesota’s Medicaid program of more than $150,000.
According to the Minnesota complaint, Pryor claimed to provide psychotherapy and alcohol and drug counseling services to Medicaid recipients despite having no license or credentials to do so. Prosecutors allege she used the credentials and identities of three licensed professionals while claiming to provide Medicaid-funded services to 169 clients.
The Minnesota charges were filed as part of National Health Care Fraud Takedown Day, a joint effort involving the Department of Justice and more than 40 state Medicaid Fraud Control Units.
Copyright 2026 KVLY. All rights reserved.
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