North Dakota
Photos: Thousands attend 'Hands Off' protests across Minnesota, North Dakota
MINNEAPOLIS — Hundreds, sometimes thousands, gathered in clusters across North Dakota and Minnesota on Saturday, April 5 as part of a nationwide day of protest against actions by the White House administration.
More than 1,200 “Hands Off!” protests were scheduled to take place across the United States Saturday as citizens gathered to rally against President Donald Trump and adviser Elon Musk, who heads the Department of Government Efficiency.
The Hands Off 2025 website said April 5 was a day for people to take to the streets nationwide with the message “Hands off!” to fight back against the “most brazen power grab in modern history.” The website specifically mentions cuts to Social Security, firing federal workers and cutting consumer protections and health care funding.
In Alexandria, Minnesota, organizers said they were expecting around 300 people, but that Alexandria Area Indivisible ended up running out of the 500 buttons they brought to give away. Alexandria’s rally included comments from Leah Landwehr, a local veteran, who talked to attendees about the importance of the Veterans Administration to local vets.
DETROIT LAKES — More than 200 people showed up at a rally and town hall in Detroit Lakes on Saturday.
The event was held in the former Ace Hardware building downtown — the site of the future Manna Food Co-op.
A large federal grant — awarded to Manna and later pulled — was set to be used for a commercial kitchen in the new Manna building. Manna Food Co-op Treasurer Ryan Pesch said that the Trump Administration likes to frame any spending it cuts as benefiting “a bunch of fraudulent moochers,” but said that the grant to Manna would have supported local contractors and community members.
The Detroit Lakes rally also played host to criticism of Congresswoman Michelle Fischbach for not conducting in-person town hall events, of Trump’s various tariffs on imported goods and against a swath of federal funding cuts or proposed reductions.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison addressed the crowd at Duluth’s Hands Off rally on Saturday.
Tom Wilson of Eau Claire reported roughly 2,500 people had attended the Duluth event on Saturday. Wilson also attended an event in Superior, Wisconsin, where organizers estimated roughly 500 people turned out.
“I’ve been political all my life,” said Wilson, who will turn 80 next month. Going back to the early 1960s, Wilson said he’s been involved in protests for civil rights, against war, and for the environment, and as critical as those issues were, this moment feels even more critical.
“If you read the Declaration of Independence, almost any one of our grievances against King George equally apply to Donald 2.0,” Wilson said “That’s it. The very truly founding principles of our country are at risk at this point.”
Similar events took place around the Northland Saturday, including in Chisholm, Cloquet, Ely, Grand Marais and Grand Rapids.
Approximately 2,000 people lined both sides of Veterans Memorial Bridge between Fargo and Moorhead to protest the actions of President Donald Trump and Elon Musk.
Organizer Lyn Dockter-Pinnick, of Moorhead, said organizers hoped 500 people would show up and she was overcome by the showing.
Periodically, someone broke into a chant, “Show me what democracy looks like,” and the crowd responded with, “This is what democracy looks like.” At other times, the crowd chanted, “Protect the Constitution, the promise of our union.”
Tammy Shannon, of Moorhead, not only carried a sign, she dressed in the long red cloak and white bonnet popularized by Margaret Atwood’s “Handmaid’s Tale” as an additional protest about what’s happening regarding women’s rights.
A rally in Bismarck drew 1,000 attendees Saturday.
Hundreds of people attended a protest near and on Grand Forks’ Sorlie Memorial Bridge against President Donald Trump and Elon Musk on Saturday.
Cathy Williams, of Indivisible Grand Forks, estimated more than 400 people were in attendance, both Democrats and Republicans.
“This is just a wonderful turnout on a beautiful day,” she said.
Williams and Sheila Fontaine, chair of the Minnesotan Polk County and Red Lake County DFL, were two organizers of the protest on their side of the river.
“(Veterans Affairs), Medicare, Medicaid, social security, LGBTQ, veterans, federal workers, you name it,” she said. “That’s the theme from a lot of the signs — hands off.”
About six or seven North Dakota organizations put together the Grand Forks protest, while the Polk County and Red Lake County DFL organized the East Grand Forks one.
Delaney Otto / Grand Forks Herald
The protesters on both sides of the river met on the Sorlie Memorial Bridge around 4:10 p.m. after spending more than an hour on their respective sides. The groups came together with chants supporting democracy, cheering on cars that honked as they drove by on the bridge.
About 130 people gathered on public sidewalks on Saturday in Jamestown, holding signs in a peaceful protest.
Olivia Schloegel and Barb Lang, both members at large of the League of Women Voters of North Dakota, helped to organize the event.
Schloegel said people are affected locally by federal cuts, from Social Security to a USDA program that provided food for schools.
“And so we wanted to make sure that local folks had an opportunity to show up and speak out against what we don’t agree with, which is these destructive cuts at the federal level,” she said.
People participating spoke about, and carried signs about, various issues, including Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and support for veterans, victims of domestic violence, members of the LGBTQ+ community and transgender individuals.
At Rochester’s event, hundreds of people carried signs about federal funding cuts, demanding protections for Medicaid and supporting veterans.
“This mass mobilization day is our message to the world that we do not consent to the destruction of our government and our economy for the benefit of Trump and his billionaire allies,” the event page said. “Alongside Americans across the country, we are marching, rallying, and protesting to demand a stop the chaos and build an opposition movement against the looting of our country.”
Rochester’s event ended with live music.
Organizers estimate that more than 2,000 people attended St. Cloud’s Hands Off Protest on Saturday.
“The turnout’s incredible. I counted 2,125 people,” said Jill Kelly, one of the event organizers. She said she walked up and down the protest, which was a few people deep over more than two blocks on either side of Division Street.
Avery Bond of St. Cloud said she showed up to represent the people who would not be able to be at a protest like this one because it wouldn’t be safe. She said people should take hope from a protest like this.
“Anybody who feels like they’re alone going crazy, because the world’s falling apart around us, obviously there are a lot more people who are right here standing with us,” Bond said.
Carter Olson of Sartell held a sign that said “Hands off Dept of Education.” He’s working to get his teacher’s license, he said.
North Dakota
Today in History, 1975: Earthquake rattles portions of Minnesota and the Dakotas, including Fargo-Moorhead
On this day in 1975, a moderate earthquake centered near Morris, Minnesota, shook parts of North Dakota, Minnesota and South Dakota, startling residents but causing no major damage or injuries.
Here is the complete story as it appeared in the paper that day:
Earth Tremor Felt Across Wide Area Including F-M
An earth tremor at 9:56 a.m. today was widely felt in the Fargo-Moorhead area as well as other parts of North Dakota, Minnesota and South Dakota, but the National Weather Service here said it had no reports of damage.
The tremor lasted from two to five seconds, Keith Blessum of the Weather Service said, and ignited telephone reports from a wide area.
The earthquake measured 5.0 on the Richter Scale. Waverly Person of the National Earthquake Information Center in Denver, Colo., said: “The earthquake was moderate and was centered in the Morris, Minn., area. It could have caused much damage in a heavily populated area.”
The quake also was felt in northwestern Iowa. Carl Stover of the Earthquake Information Center said it affected an area 300 miles long and 180 miles wide in four states. He said the exact center of the quake was 10 miles west of Morris.
Person said the earthquake that struck California’s San Fernando Valley in February 1971, killing 54 persons and causing millions of dollars in property damage, measured 6.5 on the Richter Scale.
There were no injuries reported, but authorities in several communities in Minnesota and North and South Dakota reported that residents were startled, buildings shook, dishes rattled and books fell off shelves. Some residents in Alberta, Minn., and Wheaton, Minn., also reported cracked foundations.
Among the first to report locally was Mrs. Paul Dutt, 909 27th St. N., Fargo, who told the Weather Service pictures on the walls moved and a vase moved across the top of the television set.
Marjorie Henderson, who lives on a farm between Enderlin and Lisbon, N.D., reported that the house shook and windows rattled during the tremor, while Mrs. Wesley Belter, who lives south of Casselton, N.D., said that she and four neighbors had similar experiences.
Mrs. Earl Ernst, who lives eight miles east of Wolverton, Minn., also reported that the walls of her trailer home shook and dishes rattled.
Other reports received by the Weather Service at Hector Airport here were from Hankinson and Wahpeton, N.D., and Breckenridge and Ottertail, Minn.; Milbank, S.D., White Rock Dam on the South Dakota border and Canby, Minn.
The earth tremor shook much of northeastern South Dakota and parts of southeastern North Dakota and western Minnesota but apparently caused no injuries, the Associated Press reported.
Donald Johnson, Codington (S.D.) County Civil Defense Director, said the strongest tremors were felt in the South Shore area, about 12 miles northeast of Watertown.
Johnson said a school was evacuated in South Shore, but there were no injuries or major damage reported.
A University of Minnesota professor said that part of that state has a history of minor earthquakes, with about half a dozen reported since the mid-1800s.
Residents in the Willmar, Alexandria, Morris and Long Prairie areas all felt the tremor. It hit about 9:55 a.m., and lasted five to 10 seconds.
No major damage was reported, although the tremor startled many people and shook household furnishings. Some residents in Alberta, near Morris, reported cracked foundations.
Dr. Harold Mooney, professor of geophysics at the University of Minnesota, estimated the tremor would have measured 4 or 4.5 on the Richter Scale. Mooney’s seismograph wasn’t operating when the tremor struck, and he said his was the only such measuring device in the area.
“The motion of a fault in the western part of the state sent out seismic waves at thousands of feet per second, and that’s what the people felt,” Mooney said.
“There is a history of earthquakes in that area, so this one was not without precedent.”
The most recent was near Alexandria in 1950, he said. The most severe was near Brainerd in 1917; that one broke some windows and knocked things off shelves.
President Trump traveled to North Dakota on Wednesday to visit the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library before its official opening on Saturday.
“He had a freakin’ wild life,” Trump told an audience at a Western-themed amphitheater, the Associated Press reported. “He didn’t want to be quiet. He wanted to be great.”
The library is expected to be a major source of tourism in rural western North Dakota.
-The Hagstrom Report
(North Dakota Monitor) –BISMARCK, N.D.– A West Fargo attorney will be the next member of the North Dakota Ethics Commission.
The Ethic Commission selection committee on Tuesday named Lisa Edison-Smith to fill an open position on the five-person commission.
Edison-Smith will replace Ron Goodman, who is retiring. Her term will expire in August 2027.
Edison-Smith is an employment and labor attorney with the Vogel Law Firm but plans to retire by the end of the year, according to a questionnaire she filled out for the selection committee. She also has served as a mediator.
She is a graduate of North Dakota State University and the Hamline School of Law.
Senate Majority Leader David Hogue, one of three members of the selection committee, said the committee was impressed with her resume and her interview.
“She made it clear that she’s an independent thinker and she’s not afraid to lead, which includes the ability to dissent,” Hogue said. “So to me, that was important.”
In her questionnaire answers, Edison-Smith said the commission should not usurp the Legislature’s lawmaking authority but adopt rules and conduct investigations in accordance with state law.
She also said it is important for Ethics Commission staff to review “facially deficient or frivolous complaints” and for the commission to dismiss those cases in 60 to 90 days.
The other finalist was North Dakota Insurance and Securities Department attorney Garrett Bryan.
The selection committee, composed of Gov. Kelly Armstrong, Hogue, R-Minot, and Senate Minority Leader Kathy Hogan, D-Fargo, also recently named Burleigh County Sheriff Kelly Leben to a spot on the commission.
The Ethics Commission’s duties include adopting ethics rules, investigating alleged violations and issuing advisory opinions to help public officials navigate ethical issues. They are paid a stipend for every day they meet, plus reimbursement for travel.
North Dakota voters in 2018 passed a measure to establish the Ethics Commission.
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