GRAND FORKS – Trygve Hammer, the Democratic candidate for North Dakota’s U.S. House seat, told supporters Monday that people across the state are tired of not being listened to.

“We’re meeting people where they are and listening to people,” Hammer said. “They feel like they’re not being listened to; they’re being told what’s going to happen or what needs to happen instead of hearing what their needs are and how do we address them.”

Hammer and his campaign held a meet and greet event Monday at Archives Coffee House near UND. Around 20 people crowded into the building chatting with Hammer about their concerns and getting to know the Democratic candidate for North Dakota’s U.S. House seat.

Hammer is running against

Republican Public Service Commissioner Julie Fedorchak to become North Dakota’s next representative in the U.S. House. The seat is open as incumbent Rep. Kelly Armstrong, R-North Dakota, is running to become governor. While a Democrat hasn’t sat in the seat since Earl Pomeroy more than a decade ago, Hammer said people are excited, especially with Vice President Kamala Harris

being named the Democratic nominee for president.

“It’s palpable (the excitement now). When I was making phone calls before, I felt like I was a therapist for all these Democrats, now I’m the cheerleader,” Hammer said. “There are at least three people in this room who think of themselves as Republicans who are voting for me.”

Across the state, voters who typically vote Republican have said they would vote for Hammer. Hammer has said he has heard a of range of issues people have. Those include a federal indictment of former state Sen. Ray Holmberg, R-Grand Forks, for sex with minors

and alleged violations of release conditions,

the deleted emails from

former State Attorney Wayne Stenehjem

and

state lawmakers being arrested for driving under the influence.

“We’re just hearing this discontent with scandal at the state government level,” Hammer said. “And this feeling that big business can come into the state and want something and (big business is) going to be able to take it from you, and they’re going to roll right over your resistance because no one’s fighting for them.”

People in attendance also expressed their concern for Project 2025, a plan created by the right-wing Heritage Foundation. The plan lays out conservative policy for the next Republican presidential administration and includes calling for the ending or shrinking of programs that support farmers and

getting rid of the U.S. Departments of Education and Homeland Security.

Hammer also touched on his thoughts of Fedorchak — he said he would step whereas she has not.

“When she went to the Republican convention this year, she expected to waltz in there, be coordinated, waltz out with the endorsement — well that didn’t happen,” Hammer said. “When she ran into a little resistance, when the going got a little tough,

she got out of there, she didn’t stay and fight for her support.

I would not not do that. I would not do that to you in Congress.”

Voigt covers government in Grand Forks and East Grand Forks.

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Visitors to the North Dakota Capitol enter a spacious hall lined with portraits of the Peace Garden State’s famous faces. But the gleaming gallery is nearly out of room.

Bandleader Lawrence Welk, singer Peggy Lee and actress Angie Dickinson are among the 49 recipients of the Theodore Roosevelt Rough Rider Award in the North Dakota Hall of Fame, where Capitol tours start. The most recent addition to the collection — a painting of former NASA astronaut James Buchli — was hung on Wednesday.

State Facility Management Division Director John Boyle said the gallery is close to full and he wants the question of where new portraits will be displayed resolved before he retires in December after 22 years. An uncalculated number of portraits would have to be inched together in the current space to fit a 50th inductee, Boyle said.

Institutions elsewhere that were running out of space — including the U.S. Capitol’s National Statuary Hall, the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum’s Plaque Gallery — found ways to expand their collections by rearranging their displays or adding space.

Boyle said there are a couple of options for the Capitol collection, including hanging new portraits in a nearby hallway or on the 18th-floor observation deck, likely seeded with four or five current portraits so a new one isn’t displayed alone.

Some portraits have been moved around over the years to make more room. The walls of the gallery are lined with blocks of creamy, marble-like Yellowstone travertine. The pictures hang on hooks placed in the seams of the slabs.

Eight portraits were unveiled when the hall of fame was dedicated in 1967, according to Bismarck Tribune archives. Welk was the first award recipient, in 1961.

Many of the lighted portraits were painted by Vern Skaug, an artist who typically includes scenery or objects key to the subject’s life.

Inductees are not announced with specific regularity, but every year or two a new one is named. The Rough Rider Award “recognizes North Dakotans who have been influenced by this state in achieving national recognition in their fields of endeavor, thereby reflecting credit and honor upon North Dakota and its citizens,” according to the award’s webpage.

The governor chooses recipients with the concurrence of the secretary of state and State Historical Society director. Inductees receive a print of the portrait and a small bust of Roosevelt, who hunted and ranched in the 1880s in what is now western North Dakota before he was president.

Gov. Doug Burgum has named six people in his two terms, most recently Buchli in May. Burgum, a wealthy software entrepreneur, is himself a recipient. The first inductee Burgum named was Clint Hill, the Secret Service agent who jumped on the back of the presidential limousine during the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963 in Dallas.

The state’s Capitol Grounds Planning Commission would decide where future portraits will be hung. The panel is scheduled to meet Tuesday, but the topic is not on the agenda and isn’t expected to come up.

The North Dakota Capitol was completed in 1934. The building’s Art Deco interior features striking designs, lighting and materials.

The peculiar “Monkey Room” has wavy, wood-paneled walls where visitors can spot eyes and outlines of animals, including a wolf, rabbit, owl and baboon.

The House of Representatives ceiling is lit as the moon and stars, while the Senate’s lighting resembles a sunrise. Instead of a dome, as other statehouses have, the North Dakota Capitol rises in a tower containing state offices. In December, many of its windows are lit red and green in the shape of a Christmas tree.

Showing livestock with 4-H youth as judges at the North Dakota State Fair

PUBLISHED ON August 5, 2024

FARGO, N.D. — On July 27, several state leaders experienced the world of 4-H livestock showmanship as they tried their hand at showing livestock with 4-H youth as judges at the North Dakota State Fair in Minot.

Prior to the North Dakota Public Leaders 4-H Showmanship Event, a leader was paired with a selected 4-H member who exhibited one of the six livestock species at the North Dakota State Fair. The youth provided their leader instruction and advice on how to show a specific species of livestock and then served as the judges for the leaders’ efforts.

“This 4-H event connects today’s leaders with tomorrow’s leaders,” said Kurt Froelich, NDSU Extension agent from Stark-Billings County. “Thank you to our participants and supporters of this event for making this experience possible for the 4-Hers.”

“Our goal for 4-H is to help youth achieve the best in themselves,” said Leigh Ann Skurupey, North Dakota Center for 4-H Youth Development assistant director. “4-H helps youth to develop essential life skills, gain knowledge and build confidence to thrive, lead and change the world. This event is a good example of how 4-H provides opportunities for our youth to thrive.”

“I had the best time learning from my coach Tessa Sigvaldson,” said Chloe Drummond, 4-H Foundation board coordinator and relationship specialist. “Learning that Tessa balances school, work, clubs, her livestock projects and her own business is a great example of how 4-H prepares youth for work and life. I loved seeing 4-H in action!”

The state leaders who took first place in the event were:

• Beef Cattle – John Fjeldahl, Ward County Commissioner, Minot, coached by Bennett Johnson, Mercer County
• Dairy Cattle – Sarah Lovas, Chair, State Board of Agricultural Research and Education, Hillsboro, coached by Brekka Kuss, Stutsman County
• Dairy Goats – Kandi Mikkelson, North Dakota State Fair Board Member, Minot, coached by Devyn Fougner, Griggs County
• Meat Goats – Beth Richardson, Canadian Consul General, Minneapolis, Minnesota, coached by Lilli Steeke, Bowman County
• Sheep – Lynette Flage, NDSU Extension associate director, Fargo, coached by Gustin Ueckert, Golden Valley County
• Swine – Senator Keith Boehm, District 33, Mandan, coached by Cooper Strommen, Morton County

Other state leaders participating and their 4-H coaches were:

• Drew Combs, North Dakota Trade Office executive director, Bismarck, coached by Elizabeth Hanson, Ward County
• S. Congressman Kelly Armstrong, Dickinson, coached by Sydnee Johnson, Mercer County
• Representative Karen Rohr, District 31, Mandan, coached by Jarett Sanders, Oliver County
• Commissioner Sheri Haugen-Hoffart, Public Service Commission, Bismarck, coached by Jacob Sand, Bottineau County
• Mohamed Khan, NDSU Extension assistant director, ANR, Fargo, coached by Marie Sand, Bottineau County
• Woodrow (Chip) Poland, Director of Agriculture and Technical Studies, Dickinson, coached by Eleanor Carlson, McLean County
• Chloe Drummond, 4-H Foundation coordinator, Fargo, coached by Tessa Sigvaldson, Williams County
• Kevin Black, Minot Area Chamber Economic Development Corporation, Minot, coached by Maggie Iverson, Cavalier County
• Representative Paul Thomas, District 6, Velva, coached by Morgan Keen, Ward County
• Senator Kristin Roers, District 27, Fargo, coached by Rudi Wendel, Cass County
• Senator David Hogue, District 38, Minot, coached by Faith Carpenter, Ward County
• Jeff Eslinger, Communications Director, North Dakota Association of Counties, Bismarck, coached by Layla Krinke, Bowman County
• Senator Judy Estenson, District 15, Warwick, coached by Rosie Abraham, Griggs County
• Representative Vicky Steiner, District 37, Dickinson, coached by Tessa Dvorak, Dunn County
• Representative Matthew Ruby, District 40, Minot, coached by Rachel Schmidt, Oliver County
• Twyla Baker, President, Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College, New Town, coached by Bailey Hokanson, Williams County
• Greg Lardy, Joe and Norma Peltier Vice President for NDSU Agriculture, Fargo, coached by Haley Mcleod, Ranson County
• Senator Jeff Barta, District 43, Grand Forks, coached by Graesen Helgoe, Pembina County

NDSU Extension, the North Dakota 4-H Foundation and the North Dakota State Fair sponsored the event.

— North Dakota State University Extension