North Dakota
Port: The best thing we can say about this book-banning lawmaker is that he's lazy
MINOT — The problem with Sen. Keith Boehm’s book-banning bill, which has already passed the state Senate and is currently before the House Appropriations Committee, is that it would cost North Dakota taxpayers an enormous amount of money.
No, strike that.
The problem with Boehm’s bill is that it’s censorship, motivated by a seething hatred of the LGTBQ community and grounded in the notion that the government, not parents, ought to curate the sort of literary content kids consume.
But certainly, a problem with Boehm’s bill is undoubtedly the cost. Boehm seems to be aware of that, which is why he turned up before the appropriators with an amended version of the legislation in hand that, while compromising his censorious vision, certainly reduces his cost.
Hilariously, Boehm proposed removing his bill’s restrictions on digital content. He asked that a requirement for age verification on the online library system be cut, something the state library estimated would cost $2 million to implement.
This was desperation, and state Rep. Karla Rose Hanson, a Fargo Democrat who serves on the committee, called it out. “It seems like it would be an inconsistent application of your policy, just to eliminate a fiscal note in order to get it passed,”
she said,
and, well, yeah. Precisely.
Boehm’s bill also got a smackdown from the state’s prosecutors.
Anna Paige / The Forum
The way things work now, there is a reasonable democratic process through which people irked by library content can file a challenge to have that content restricted in some way or removed. It’s typically handled by local library boards, or school boards, and for generations this process has been just fine, though in most parts of the state it hasn’t been used often, because despite what troglodytes like Boehm and his ilk might have you believe, our librarians and educators are not devious pornographers bent on soiling the innocence of North Dakota’s young people.
Senate Bill 2307
allows any member of the public, be they a North Dakota citizen or not, to appeal a decision made about library content to law enforcement. Specifically, state’s attorneys. They would “have to read the material, determine if it’s unlawfully obscene, decide whether to prosecute the library and potentially be the prosecutor,”
Peyton Haug reports.
Jonathan Byers, representing the North Dakota States Attorney’s Association, said that process would be expensive and burdensome for prosecutors. He’s got a point. Prosecutors have to deal with actual criminals and shouldn’t be distracted by some gadfly perturbed because a junior checked out a book about a gerbil with two dads.
He also said that putting prosecutors in the position of a censor would be “unethical.”
Byers noted that Boehm didn’t bother to talk to them about his legislation. In fact, Boehm, who is not what any reasonable person would describe as a competent or diligent lawmaker, didn’t bother to engage with the State Library Association or the State School Board Association.
“I have not engaged all the stakeholders,” Boehm was forced to admit to the committee.
Think about that for a moment.
Boehm has wasted hours and hours of this Legislature’s time during its hectic session — he’s distracted his colleagues from important debates about property taxes and infrastructure spending — to debate a bill that accuses our state’s libraries and schools of spreading pornography and would turn our prosecutors into cultural bowdlerizers.
He’s done all that without bothering to have a conversation with the people who run our libraries and schools or the people he’d put in charge of his proposed interdiction.
One wonders if Boehm’s ever actually been in a library. Or read a book, for that matter.
Per Haug’s reporting,
several members of the Appropriations Committee were deeply skeptical of the fiscal implications of Boehm’s bill. “There has to be somebody and some entity that has to bear these costs,” Rep. Brandy Pyle, a Republican from Casselton, said during the hearing. “Somebody’s going to have to pay if this goes forth.”
She’s right. There’s a heavy cost to this sort of legislation. In dollars and cents, sure, but there’s a cultural cost, too, that comes from replacing enlightenment in our community with darkness and fear. Unconvinced by Boehm’s maneuvering, the committee, today, gave his bill a 22-1 “do not pass” vote.
Boehm and those who side with him seem to delight in being offended, but the most offensive thing in this sorry spectacle is that someone like Boehm would be given the privilege of serving in elected office.
The citizens of District 33, the voters of the great state of North Dakota, deserve better than this.
BOWBELLS, N.D. — More cases of
measles
have been identified in North Dakota, including in a previously uninfected county.
The North Dakota Health and Human Services Department announced on Thursday, May 29, the state’s 28th case, up seven from last week.
The latest case was the first reported in Burke County in far northwest North Dakota. The release did not identify the age of the infected individual but said they traveled frequently to
Williams County, where the first case was reported.
Williams County has nearly half the state’s cases with 13 infections, according to Health and Human Services.
The state has reported 23 cases in people who are less than 20 years old, including three in children 5 years old or younger.
Burke is the fourth county in North Dakota to have a measles case. Cass and Grand Forks counties reported seven cases each as of Thursday. At the end of last week, Cass County reported six cases and Grand Forks County reported two.
People in Divide County may have been exposed to the virus, Health and Human Services said. Places of possible exposure in Crosby include Lindsey’s Grocery Store at 211 Main St. S. from 3 to 5:30 p.m. Monday and Dollar General, 1108 Fourth St. SE, between 3:20 and 5:45 p.m. Monday, the release said.
“This is the highest number of measles cases reported in North Dakota since 1978, when 211 cases occurred,” state Immunization Director Molly Howell said in a statement.
North Dakota has a vaccination rate of almost 90%. The risk of measles to vaccinated residents is low, Health and Human Services said.
Measles is highly contagious since it can spread through the air and linger in rooms for up to two hours, the release said.
“People with measles are contagious before and after symptoms appear, increasing the risk of unintentional spread,” the release said.
The state recommends two doses of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine — the first between 12 and 15 months old and the second between 4 and 6 years old.
Two doses of the vaccine provide 97% protection, while one dose is 93% effective, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The MMR vaccine is effective for life.
Residents who were born before 1957 are considered immune.
Those who have contracted the virus should monitor symptoms for 21 days, while unvaccinated people who are exposed to measles should quarantine for the same time period, the release said.
Information on measles and the vaccine can be found at
hhhs.nd.gov/immunizations/measles.
North Dakota
North Dakota (NDHSAA) high school baseball playoffs: 2025 brackets, matchups, game times (5/28/2025)
The postseason has arrived for North Dakota high school baseball.
The playoffs begin in the Peace Garden State in Class A and Class B, with a handful of games getting underway this week. Region semifinal and finals will be played throughout the state of North Dakota, with a chance on the line to advance to the next round.
Stick with High School on SI North Dakota for all of the matchups, game times and scores throughout the 2025 NDHSAA baseball playoffs.
Here are the NDHSAA high school baseball playoff brackets, with matchups and game times from NDHSAA’s Class A and Class B:
No. 4 at No. 1 Mandan
No. 3 Legacy at No. 2 Sheyenne
No. 4 Jamestown at No. 1 Fargo Davies
No. 3 West Fargo Horace at No. 2 Minot
BYE: Thompson
Bishop Ryan at No. 3 Northern Cass
Rugby at No. 1 Park River/Fordville-Lankin
No. 5 Shiloh Christian at No. 4 LaMoure/Litchville-Marion
Follow SBLive North Dakota throughout the 2025 high school baseball season for Live Updates, the most up to date Schedules & Scores and complete coverage from the preseason through the state championships!
Be sure to Bookmark High School on SI for all of the latest high school baseball news.
To get live updates on your phone – as well as follow your favorite teams and top games – you can download the SBLive Sports app: Download iPhone App| Download Android App
— Andy Villamarzo | villamarzo@scorebooklive.com | @highschoolonsi
The North Dakota State Library’s Center for the Book announces the North Dakota Great Read titles for 2025 are “What We Leave Behind” by Barb Solberg and “Sir Rupert and the Battle of the Squirrels” by RubyAnn Stiegelmeier.
“Great Reads from Great Places provides a wonderful opportunity to highlight North Dakota authors both nationally and across the state,” says Literacy Specialist Tammy Kruger. “We are excited to have the talents and hard work of Barb Solberg and RubyAnn Stiegelmeier showcased in 2025!”
Every year, the Library of Congress asks each state Center for the Book to select titles that represent the state’s literary landscape to highlight at the National Book Festival, an event showcasing the importance of books and reading. This year’s festival will be held on Saturday, Sept. 6, in Washington, D.C., and online. More information can be found at
https://www.loc.gov/events/2025-national-book-festival
.
The North Dakota Center for the Book invites North Dakotans to read “What We Leave Behind” by Barb Solberg and “Sir Rupert and the Battle of the Squirrels” by RubyAnn Stiegelmeier.
For more information on the 2025 North Dakota Great Read Program, visit
https://library-nd.libguides.com/NDCenterforthebook/greatreads
.
About “Sir Rupert and the Battle of the Squirrels”: This book is a funny approach to creative problem solving, cooperation and perseverance. Sir Rupert is a young person living in the castle, aspiring to become a “real” knight someday. He tries to help everyone he can to gain necessary knighthood experience. When his friend Bertha, the castle cook, comes to him one day asking for help with squirrels that have overrun the kitchen, Sir Rupert’s skills are put to the test. He asks everyone he can find for help, but no one has practical advice, so he and his friends team up to tackle the problem on their own. This story draws on themes of asking for help, persevering no matter what, helping others in the face of adversity, and receiving approval for one’s efforts even when things don’t turn out the way you planned.
About “What We Leave Behind”: Martin and Asta came to America in 1913 to homestead and create a better life for themselves and a hoped-for family. Nineteen years later during the difficult years of the Great Plains Dust Bowl, they intend to improve the lives of three of their nine children by sending their 18-year-old daughter with her two younger sisters to Norway to live with relatives for two years. But things do not go according to plan. The oldest sister falls in love with and marries a young Norwegian man, leaving the two younger sisters with no one to take them home. By 1940, when Germany invades Norway, the two younger sisters were living with the family relative who in the meantime married a Quisling, a member of the Norwegian Nazi Party. The two sisters miss the last U.S. evacuee ship out of Petsamo, Finland, and soon German soldiers take one sister to Grini, a concentration camp north of Oslo. Eventually she and her older sister both marry men active in the Norwegian Resistance Movement of WWII. Will the entire family ever reconnect?
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