FARGO — The Hector International Airport has received $8.5 million in federal funding to support its

$200 million construction

of a terminal expansion and parking ramp.

This money was given by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as part of the $24,499,236 given to airports throughout North Dakota through the Airport Improvement Program (AIP), according to a release from the office of Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D.

The future of the airport’s project came into question with Fargo City Commissioners debating in July about whether or not to renew the $1.6 million in local funding that the city gives each year to Hector International Airport.

Mayor Tim Mahoney proposed that the city reallocate that money in the 2025 budget — currently expected at just over $133 million — to provide a higher cost of living raise for city staff across the board.

Some commissioners objected to the idea and members of the Airport Authority said that, without that local funding, the future of the airport expansion could be in jeopardy because state and federal partners would follow Fargo’s suit and dis-invest.

Ultimately, the commission agreed to continue providing funding for the airport in 2025 and, in an effort to still provide city staff with raises to boost retention, agreed to find money to cut elsewhere in the city’s budget to pay for those raises.

What, exactly, will be cut has not yet been identified.

Hector International Airport also received the support of the North Dakota delegation earlier this year when they helped to secure the project an additional $10 million, according to the release.

Other North Dakota projects funded by the AIP include $9.8 million in funding so the Bismarck Municipal Airport can reconstruct and reseal portions of the paved taxiways and $6.1 million to allow the Minot International Airport to rehabilitate its taxiways as well as replace taxiway lighting, according to the release.

“North Dakota airports are essential infrastructure for our economy,” Cramer said in the release. “These funds will help our commercial and municipal airports make needed repairs, improvements, and expansions to ensure efficient operations.”

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HAVANA, N.D. (KFYR) – You’ve heard the saying, “It was written in the stars.”

But what about, “It was written in the soybeans?”

That’s where one southeastern North Dakota farmer decided to write his marriage proposal.

Justin Lehmann started planning this proposal last May when he was planting soybeans on his farm near Havana.

He used technology and precision planting to write the words “marry me” into this soybean field. Lehmann had a pilot friend take him and his now fiancé Hayley Schmidt on an aerial crop tour. That’s when he popped the question.

His brother was there too and was in charge of capturing the moment on video.

Lehmann said keeping the proposal a secret wasn’t easy.

“It’s obviously huge letters in a field,” he said. “Luckily it was facing away from any major roads, so I was able to keep it away from mostly everybody. There were a couple people who saw it, but luckily, they didn’t spill the beans.”

Schmidt said she and Lehmann had talked about getting married someday, but she had no idea that crop tour would end with a marriage proposal.

“Most people who know me know I’m pretty gullible, so I was like, sure let’s go look at some crops and go on a flight. I didn’t really think anything of it,” she laughed.

“She had never been in a small airplane before either, so it was fun,” added Lehmann.

The couple is planning to get married late next summer, sometime between planting and harvest.

Lehmann said he promises not to keep any more secrets from Schmidt.

Copyright 2024 KFYR. All rights reserved.

BISMARCK — A Walsh County man claimed a North Dakota senator violated his First Amendment rights when she blocked him on Facebook. Now, he wants the North Dakota Supreme Court to reject an unfavorable ruling that would force him to pay nearly $5,000 in court fees to the lawmaker.

Mitchell Sanderson, of Park River, North Dakota, argued Monday, Sept. 9, that he shouldn’t have to pay the attorney and court fees to Sen. Janne Myrdal, R-Edinburg. He asked the Supreme Court to roll back Walsh County Judge Kari Agotness’ Jan. 30 ruling, which said Sanderson must pay Myrdal $4,975.

He said Agotness abused her power and shouldn’t have ruled on the case. He also made criminal allegations against Myrdal and Agotness, which have not been brought in a criminal court.

“The crimes and abuses that took place are why we are here today and why I appealed this,” Sanderson said. “All government branches need to be held accountable to the law or we will have more criminal behavior in this country as we are seeing happen to President (Donald) Trump.”

Sanderson initially sued Myrdal in mid-2023 because she blocked him from seeing her Facebook pages. One of the pages is titled “Myrdal ND Senate” and has “all the trappings of a government page,” Sanderson argued.

He claimed that, as a public figure, Myrdal can’t block people on social media because “she does not like them or that they have different views of how the government is to operate.”

“This is a violation of the First Amendment!” Sanderson wrote in his initial lawsuit. “This is censorship by a government public figure which is Illegal and Unconstitutional!”

He asked for $200,000 in damages, as well as the ability to see and post on Myrdal’s Facebook page.

Myrdal has served in the North Dakota Senate since 2017. She declined to comment on this story.

Agotness ruled in December that Myrdal runs her Facebook page without the help of government resources. The page in question was created before she was elected, and Myrdal uses it to campaign for re-election, the judge wrote in her opinion. Myrdal acted as a private citizen, not a government official on behalf of the state, Agotness said.

“If Myrdal’s conduct was purely private, then the First Amendment does not apply because there is not a government abridgment of speech,” Agotness ruled.

Sanderson also sued Agotness, claiming she was biased against him. He demanded $200 million in damages from Agotness and that “the county and state investigate her for criminal actions,” according to the lawsuit that was dismissed by Grand Forks District Judge Jay Knudson.

Agotness also declined to comment for this story.

In his Supreme Court briefing, Sanderson claimed Agotness improperly denied multiple motions he made in the Myrdal case. That included a motion for default judgment in his favor since Myrdal didn’t respond within 21 days of him serving the senator a summons on May 2, 2023.

A court may rule in favor of a person who files a lawsuit if a defendant doesn’t answer within 21 days, Agotness ruled. In a June 3, 2023, email to Walsh County District Court, Myrdal said she hadn’t seen the summons in the case until May 30, 2023.

Myrdal answered the lawsuit four days before Sanderson asked for a default judgment, the judge wrote.

“North Dakota has a strong preference for deciding cases on their merits rather than by default judgment,” Agotness wrote July 10 in court filings that denied the motion for default judgment.

Sanderson claimed Monday the case shouldn’t have moved forward because he didn’t properly serve a summons to Myrdal.

“This is an obvious error by the court which requires reversal,” Sanderson said.

When pressed by North Dakota Supreme Court Justice Daniel Crothers that judges have discretion in declaring default justice or moving forward with a case, Sanderson said the U.S. Constitution and U.S. Supreme Court rulings supersede North Dakota law.

“It’s not the U.S. Supreme Court’s rule. It’s our rule,” Crothers said. “This isn’t a federal case. It’s a state case.”

“You’re bound by the Constitution, sir,” Sanderson said.

The appeal is moot, said Howard Swanson, who represented Myrdal in the lawsuit and at the Supreme Court hearing on Monday. Sanderson is no longer pursuing his First Amendment claims, Swanson said.

“Mr. Sanderson’s rights were not violated by Mrs. Myrdal’s blocking, on her personal Facebook page, his adverse comments,” Swanson said.

In Lindke v. Freed, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled this spring that public officials can sometimes block social media followers. A person must have authority to speak on the government’s behalf and act in an official capacity in order to violate a person’s First Amendment rights by blocking them on social media, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled.

The improper service of documents didn’t prejudice anyone, Swanson said. Improper service to Myrdal was waived because she continued with the case and defended against what Swanson called “absurd” motions filed by Sanderson.

“There was no denial of justice to anyone,” Swanson said. “It allowed the matter to pursue in the normal course of litigation.”

Sanderson called Swanson’s argument “verbal theatrics with the law.” Myrdal had her state-issued email on the page, Sanderson noted.

“Everything she did on it was pretty much political activity,” he said.

In an interview with The Forum, Sanderson said he can’t pursue the First Amendment claims anymore. He said he would go as far as he needs to go with his case.

“If the judges do not rule in favor of the service and default judgment, and they hold up the attorney fees, I will sue any one of the judges that violate their Constitutional oath,” he told The Forum. “Any judge that dissents against me will get sued in federal court.”

Sanderson also accused Myrdal of forgery and evidence tampering, as well as Agotness of corruption and perjury. North Dakota Justice Lisa McEvers suggested those allegations should be handled by a criminal court, not in a civil case.

Sanderson said the Walsh County State’s Attorney’s Office will “defend the state at all costs.” He said he has brought his evidence to the FBI but claimed the Department of Justice under President Joe Biden wouldn’t address the allegations.

“We have to wait for President Trump to get in,” he said. “This is not stopping her today, folks.”

He said more lawsuits are coming from him, as well as criminal charges.

“Trump is coming,” he said. “His DOJ is coming.”

Republicans have criticized a jury verdict that found Trump guilty in a hush-money case earlier this year. He also faces several federal indictments, including in connection to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection in Washington, D.C., where masses tried to overturn the 2020 election results that said he lost to Biden.

Sanderson filed a lawsuit against the North Dakota Republican Party after it kicked him out in 2022. He said he tried to run against Myrdal at the District 19 nominating meeting.

He and the NDGOP agreed to dismiss the case.