Connect with us

North Dakota

Northwood Police Department signs off for final time

Published

on

Northwood Police Department signs off for final time


NORTHWOOD, N.D. — That call for help is a little farther away in one Grand Forks County community.

The Northwood Police Department signed off for good on Monday afternoon, Sept. 30.

The city of Northwood has been on the map for 140 years and residents here say they can’t remember a time the city was without a police department.

On windy day, there was one big question blowing around town.

Advertisement

“How long will it take for the police activity to be here?” said Deb Hannestad, who works in Northwood.

The town of 900 losing its police department for good following the resignation of the city’s only officer, the police chief. He’s taking a job outside of law enforcement.

“The police department has always been good about letting us know when there has been questionable people in our town,” said Northwood resident Joanne Uglem.

The issue of of the future of the police in Northwood has been discussed for years as retaining officers has been a struggle.

“We have had tried, we have tried really hard to keep it local here, it just seems like the trend is that we need to move to a more sustainable situation,” Uglem said.

Advertisement

As of Monday night, Sept. 30, the Grand Forks County Sheriff’s Office is now responding to all calls in Northwood. It’s a 40-mile trip from the sheriff’s office headquarters in Grand Forks.
Sheriff Andy Schneider says the plan for now is to keep a deputy within five to 10 minutes of Northwood.

“We will spend more time on patrol in the city of Northwood and making sure we give them more attention, let them get to know us a little bit better,” Schneider said.

The city and sheriff’s office are working on a more permanent solution. The nearby city of Larimore pays the sheriff’s office $225,000 a year for two full-time deputies. A similar coverage plan is proposed for Northwood, which was spending $200,000 a year for a one-officer department.

There are also talks of a co-op with Larimore for services. Schneider said whatever the plan, a permanent solution likely would not be in place until May 1 at the earliest.

“Yes, we are a small town, but things do happen,” Hannestad said.

Advertisement

A special City Council meeting to discuss law enforcement coverage for the city of Northwood will be held at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, at the community center.

Only two Grand Forks County communities still have their own departments — Thompson and Emerado. Both are one-person departments, with just police chiefs.

Matt Henson is an Emmy award-winning reporter/photographer/editor for WDAY. Prior to joining WDAY in 2019, Matt was the main anchor at WDAZ in Grand Forks for four years.

Advertisement





Source link

North Dakota

Hoeven, Armstrong, Traynor speak on OBBB Rural Health Transformation Fund updates in ND

Published

on

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.

Advertisement

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.

A KFYR+ exclusive

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.

Advertisement

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.

Politicians outline plans for ND Rural Health Transformation Program



Source link

Continue Reading

North Dakota

North Dakota officials celebrate being among big winners in federal rural health funding

Published

on

North Dakota officials celebrate being among big winners in federal rural health funding


North Dakota U.S. Sen. John Hoeven and Gov. Kelly Armstrong on Friday touted the success of the state’s application for federal Rural Health Transformation Program funding, which landed one of the largest per-capita awards in the nation.



Source link

Continue Reading

North Dakota

Tony Osburn’s 27 helps Omaha knock off North Dakota 90-79

Published

on

Tony Osburn’s 27 helps Omaha knock off North Dakota 90-79


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.

Advertisement

___

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



Source link

Continue Reading

Trending