North Dakota
Shaw: Properly fund ND’s small state colleges; Dockter and Mitchell should resign
There is a real problem on the campuses of North Dakota’s small state colleges and universities. Many non-academic buildings are falling apart. Buildings such as dorms and student unions.
The problem is the state will not fund non-academic buildings. The philosophy is that the small schools must raise the funds themselves. That’s not possible. The donor base is too small, and there aren’t enough students to pay for these costs with increased fees.
Funding dorms and student unions should be the state’s responsibility. These buildings are vital to all students on campus. Other facilities, such as college football practice complexes, should be paid for with private funding, because they don’t benefit all the students. In nearby states, the states that North Dakota is competing with for college students, dorms and non-academic buildings are paid for with public money.
Currently, there are college dorms across the state that need to be renovated. Other dorms are in such poor shape that they need to be replaced with new dorms. However, nothing is happening on those fronts because the colleges don’t have the money. North Dakota has the money. It’s time for the Legislature to step up and support the state’s smaller colleges and universities.
North Dakota Rep. Jason Dockter, R-Bismarck, should resign. Dockter was found guilty in a Bismarck court of a conflict of interest, for voting on legislation that he financially benefited from. Those were budgets for the North Dakota Attorney General’s Office. Even without the criminal conviction, Dockter should resign for making the sweetheart deal with former Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem. That sleazy deal for a building project sent millions of dollars to Dockter’s companies.
Likewise, Minnesota Sen. Nicole Mitchell, D-Woodbury, should resign
. Mitchell was charged with first-degree burglary after being found in her stepmother’s house in Detroit Lakes. I realize you are considered innocent until proven guilty, but the evidence against Mitchell is overwhelming. According to police, Mitchell entered the house through a window and was found in the basement at 4:45 a.m. wearing all-black clothing and a black hat.
Donald Trump’s whining about his gag order is getting old. That order was well-deserved because of Trump’s public comments blasting those connected to his trial. Trump’s complaints that he can’t defend himself are untrue. He can testify if he wants to. He likely won’t do it because he knows he authorized the hush-money payments.
Just wondering if Minnesota Rep. Michelle Fischbach will ever stop ducking the media and actually talk to them. It’s her job. As a member of Congress, Fischbach needs to answer questions from the news media and appear on talk shows that aren’t MAGA echo chambers. Say what you will about North Dakota Sen. Kevin Cramer and North Dakota Rep. Kelly Armstrong, but they rightfully make themselves accessible to the media.
InForum columnist Jim Shaw is a former WDAY TV reporter and former KVRR TV news director.
FARGO, N.D. (KELO) — The Sioux Falls Stampede staved off elimination with a 2-1 overtime win over the Fargo Force in game four of the USHL Western Conference Finals Saturday night.
Thomas Zocco scored the game-winner 12 minutes into the extra period. Arseni Marchenko put Fargo on the board first in the first period. Noah Mannausau tied the game for the Herd in the second period.
Sioux Falls outshot Fargo 53-49, including 9-5 in overtime. Linards Feldbergs made 48 saves.
Three of the four games of the series have gone to overtime. The winner-take-all game five is Tuesday at the Premier Center.
New ballot measure guide to be mailed to North Dakota voters ahead of election
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BISMARCK (North Dakota Monitor) — A federal district court judge indicated he will nullify a nearly $28 million judgment against the federal government related to costs North Dakota incurred during the Dakota Access Pipeline protests so the parties can reach a settlement.
North Dakota is still set to receive a payment Attorney General Drew Wrigley described as satisfactory, but attorneys would not disclose the amount during a Friday hearing.
Attorneys for the United States and North Dakota said the settlement would allow the parties to avoid litigating the case in appeals court,putting the nearly seven-year-old lawsuit to rest.
“We’re hoping we really don’t need to fight any further,” Department of Justice attorney Jonathan Guynn said during the hearing.
The lawsuit, filed in 2019, concerns demonstrations against the construction of the crude oil pipeline, also known as DAPL, that took place in rural south-central North Dakota in 2016 and 2017.
North Dakota claims the federal government caused the protests to grow in size and intensity by unlawfully allowing demonstrators to camp on federal land. The state says it had to pay millions of dollars on policing and cleaning up the encampments as a result. The United States denies the state’s allegations.
North Dakota U.S. District Court Judge Daniel Traynor in April 2025 sided with the state and ordered the executive branch to pay North Dakota the $28 million sum, a decision the U.S. Department of Justice later appealed to the 8th Circuit.
If the settlement moves forward, North Dakota would receive a “substantial monetary payment” from the United States, attorneys said Friday. As a condition of the agreement, the Department of Justice wants Traynor’s judgment and three other orders in which he ruled against the United States to be voided. That includes the court’s 120-page ruling from April 2025.
Both parties said Friday that having the rulings nullified wouldn’t have a significant negative impact on the public, since the documents could still be cited even if they no longer hold the weight of court orders.
At the same time, Guynn said the Department of Justice wants the orders vacated because it doesn’t want the legal conclusions Traynor made to influence the outcome of future lawsuits.
“The downstream consequences of keeping these on the books is troublesome for the United States,” he said during the hearing. If Traynor does not agree to axe the rulings, the United States would likely no longer be willing to settle and move forward with its appeal instead, Guynn added.
Traynor’s orders make findings about the federal government’s responsibility under the Federal Tort Claims Act — the law North Dakota filed the suit under — which the state noted previously in court filings “could have utility holding the federal government to account” in the future.
Still, attorneys for the state said they believe this trade-off is outweighed by the time and money the public would save by not going through the appeals process. North Dakota would also avoid the risk of having Traynor’s judgment overturned by higher courts.
Wrigley said the settlement will be made public once it’s finalized.
The United States’ appeal of Traynor’s decision has been on hold since last summer, when the state and federal government informed the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals they had started settlement negotiations and wished to pause the case.
The 8th Circuit will have to first send the case back to Traynor before he could grant the parties’ requests.
The case went to trial in Bismarck in early 2024. During the four-week trial, the court heard from witnesses including former governors Doug Burgum and Jack Dalrymple, Native activists, federal officials and law enforcement.
The Dakota Access Pipeline carries crude oil from northwest North Dakota to Illinois. It crosses the Missouri River just north of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, which prompted the tribe to begin protesting the pipeline on the grounds that it poses a threat to its water supply and sovereignty.
North Dakota’s lawsuit originally requested $38 million in damages from the federal government. Traynor ordered the executive branch to pay $28 million since the U.S. Department of Justice previously gave the state $10 million as compensation for costs it spent related to the protests.
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