North Dakota
Some assembly required in North Dakota lawmakers’ next half of session
BISMARCK — Tax cuts, tradition conflict points and workforce woes shall be on North Dakota lawmakers’ plates after they return to Bismarck subsequent week for his or her session’s second half.
Of 980 payments and resolutions launched, lawmakers have superior greater than 700 items of laws and killed greater than 200.
The session picks up once more Wednesday after a virtually weeklong break. The Home and Senate now swap handed laws.
Senate Majority Chief David Hogue, R-Minot, advised his colleagues his objective is to complete listening to Home payments in about 25 workdays, or round April 5. Home-Senate convention committees will then come collectively to reconcile variations on payments.
“I’m hoping to push us onerous,” Hogue stated.
His objective is to make use of 73 of the 80 days allowed for the session. That would depart seven days for lawmakers to handle any income shortfalls that may come up past April, he stated. The 2021 Legislature used 76 days.
Hogue and Home Majority Chief Mike Lefor, R-Dickinson, recommended the sturdy working relationships between chambers. The 2 leaders meet often with one another and Gov. Doug Burgum, Hogue stated.
Lefor stated Home and Senate leaders labored to search out settlement early on, which he stated permits for extra time later within the session “on stuff you don’t agree on” and a “smoother second half.”
The Legislature’s price range writers in March will revise a state tax income forecast, which can higher information their work, together with what raises to offer state staff.
A state price range workplace report
launched Monday confirmed common fund revenues by January operating 24% or $785 million forward of the Legislature’s 2021-23 forecast.
The stage is about for a tax lower showdown between Home and Senate leaders.
With Burgum’s backing, the Home
handed a number of proposals
to slash earnings taxes, together with two payments that may remove or almost erase the tax for decrease earners and set up a flat tax for greater earners.
The Senate permitted laws that may shift a few of the burden of property taxes from householders to the state.
One invoice would scale back property taxes
statewide by about 17%, whereas one other would primarily profit
householders ages 65 and up.
Legislative leaders have stated the rival proposals may very well be merged into a mixture of earnings and property tax cuts by the tip of the session.
Lawmakers even have handed a handful of tax incentives, credit and exemptions this session.
The chambers superior
a number of payments backed by the oil business,
together with laws to abolish a better tax fee triggered by elevated oil costs, and to offer oil producers tax breaks for
“refracking”
outdated wells.
The Home
gave the inexperienced gentle to gross sales tax exemptions
on diapers and supplies utilized by farmers, the coal business and drug producers, however representatives voted down a invoice to make tampons tax free.
Lawmakers have handed
a myriad of payments
that may limit well being care, actions and private expression for transgender residents.
The Home permitted laws to
ban gender-affirming care
for minors, to inhibit transgender
individuals’s use of restrooms
and to restrict
transgender women and girls athletes
in North Dakota Okay-12 and school sports activities.
Each chambers
superior payments
that may limit college districts and their governing boards from creating insurance policies to accommodate transgender college students.
Lawmakers are weighing concepts to spice up workforce and baby care in a state with greater than 30,000 open jobs.
Funds writers have dealt with a slate of Burgum initiatives, together with elevated baby care help and an enlargement of the state’s “Discover the Good Life” marketing campaign for advertising North Dakota and its communities and recruiting employees.
Different proposals embody the institution of
a state immigration workplace
to assist deliver international employees into the state and join them with employers, modifications to occupational licensing boards’ necessities and procedures, a tax credit score for middle-income households’ baby care prices, and a streamlined prison background test course of for baby care employees, amongst different payments.
Lawmakers superior payments concentrating on “specific sexual materials” in libraries.
Supporters say the laws would defend kids from pornography. Opponents say the payments are censorship and would topic librarians to prison penalties.
A lot of the talk has centered across the visible nudity in drawings within the ebook “Let’s Discuss About It: The Teen’s Information to Intercourse, Relationships, and Being a Human.”
Conservative legislators have put forth plans to revise North Dakota’s abortion legal guidelines because the
state Supreme Court docket
considers whether or not to permit a near-total ban to take impact.
The Senate superior
a invoice that goals to reconcile variations
between the abortion ban caught up in courtroom and the state’s different abortion legal guidelines, in response to sponsor Sen. Janne Myrdal, R-Edinburg.
The proposal addresses medical doctors’ worries about treating pregnant ladies experiencing life-threatening problems, although it could restrict abortions for victims of rape and incest to only the primary six weeks of a being pregnant.
Looming over the Legislature is the way forward for the state’s public worker defined-benefit pension plan. Lawmakers will weigh two competing payments for addressing the fund’s $1.9 billion shortfall, and whether or not to protect the plan or transition it to a defined-contribution, 401(okay)-style plan for future hires beginning in 2025.
Lefor says a defined-contribution plan affords “portability” that youthful, future employees will need, and could be a aggressive profit amid excessive turnover in state authorities lately.
Sen. Sean Cleary, R-Bismarck, says his invoice to protect and shore up the pension fund is a “accountable” answer for sustaining the pension plan. The union that represents state staff needs to stay with the pension plan.
Each payments search a large, one-time money infusion into the fund to make it solvent.
Lawmakers within the first half of the session killed payments to ban mail ballots, to legalize medical marijuana edible merchandise, and to broaden
the place hid weapons may be carried
.
Different unsuccessful payments included ones to ascertain
state-administered paid household go away,
to
restrict prescription drug costs
for public staff, to require figuring out info from open-records requesters, and to mandate
two Home committees
be chaired by ladies.
Jack Dura is a reporter for The Bismarck Tribune. Jeremy Turley is a reporter for Discussion board Information Service.
North Dakota
Former FM media professionals relocate to Pembina Gorge to become Airbnb hosts
Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of feature stories on the Pembina Gorge in northeastern North Dakota.
LANGDON, N.D. — The little ranch next to a county road seemed practically heaven-sent to the prospective Airbnb hosts.
Terry and Sarah Hinnenkamp had long dreamed of creating a “home away from home” for tourists who traveled the rolling hills and wooded beauty of northeastern North Dakota’s Pembina Gorge.
They even relocated from Fargo to Langdon, North Dakota, in 2019 to pursue that dream. But after fruitlessly searching for the right property for over a year, they had to put their search on pause.
Fate had other plans.
On a sunny July day in 2020, the Hinnenkamps and their two children had spent a day exploring the Gorge. On their way home, they drove by the Triple H Horse Ranch as they’d done countless times before. But on that day, they noticed it was for sale.
As a handful of curious horses looked on, the family climbed out of their vehicle. They learned the owner had found a new vocation, so planned to sell the horse-boarding/training facility. The land featured a mature thicket of trees and plenty of room for cabins or RVs. It served almost like a hub for local attractions, including the Gorge, Frost Fire State Park, the Mount Carmel Dam Recreation Area and Icelandic State Park.
At 9 acres, it was just the right size.
It felt right, too: Quiet and serene — a place to get away from it all.
“It was dumb luck,” said Terry, better known in Fargo as long-time on-air personality Rat on Y-94. “We walked out here and … this was just the perfect spot.”
“We had kind of given up, but we couldn’t have planned it better,” added Sarah.
The Hinnenkamps bought the land several months later and transformed it into Up North Cabins. Now they rent out two short-term vacation rentals: a fully winterized, 540-square-foot park model and a 2023 travel trailer.
Since Up North’s launch on March 31, the family has been pleasantly surprised by the popularity of their cabins.
Guests have ranged from amateur paleontologists looking to dig up sea monster bones in the state’s annual public fossil dig to people looking to dig up family roots in the nearby Icelandic mecca of Mountain.
They’ve attracted sightseers, Northern Lights enthusiasts, contract healthcare providers, hunters, construction workers and wind turbine technicians from points as far-flung as Kansas and Texas.
People itching to snowmobile the Pembina Gorge Trail have already made winter reservations.
“We used to hear from people, ‘What do people do here?” Terry said. “’But once they experience all the scenery, the festivals, Frost Fire and all the things to do, they say, ‘We’re coming back.’”
Inspired by Netflix renovation show
The couple already knew this, of course.
Then known as Sarah McCurdy, she grew up in the country between nearby Walhalla and Cavalier, then graduated from Cavalier Public School.
Terry is from Fargo, but his mother grew up in Neche, 30 miles northeast of the Gorge.
When his family visited his grandmother in Neche, he and Sarah sometimes attended the same church service — never suspecting they would someday meet in Fargo.
It happened in 2003, when Terry’s co-host on the morning show asked Sarah to fill in on the show while a third member was on vacation.
It took her a week to learn “Rat” also had a real name. “It never occurred to me,” she joked.
They married in 2010 at Frost Fire Park’s outdoor amphitheater, which is when both really started to appreciate the area’s rich tourism potential.
But they lived and worked in Fargo. They bought a character home in Fargo’s Clara Barton neighborhood. Terry’s love of history sparked the
“Ghosts of North Dakota” project,
in which he and Troy Larson chronicled the state’s ghost towns via a website and series of books.
Sarah left TV to edit magazines, then launched her own writing/marketing company.
They had two children: Elin, now 10, and Callen, now 8.
In between it all, both found time to binge-watch “Stay Here” on Netflix, which showed property owners how to give glow-ups to their short-term rental properties.
That ignited a desire to launch their own vacation rental in northeastern North Dakota. “We started Googling and saw that Frost Fire (ski area) had been purchased by a foundation. We could see that things were moving in the Gorge and we wanted to be part of supporting the tourism efforts,” Sarah said.
The Pembina Gorge contains undulating terrain, the state’s most extensive oak and birch woodlands and one of the steepest and deepest river valleys in North Dakota. In 2023, Gov. Doug Burgum announced an $8 million project to make the Gorge’s recreation area North Dakota’s 14th state park, which will enhance the area’s services, infrastructure and draw.
And so, timing it before their daughter started kindergarten, they moved nearly 200 miles, living with Sarah’s parents until they found a house. Terry got a job — this time, co-hosting the morning show on Maverick 105.1 FM in Langdon — while Sarah continued to run her business. Just a few months after he started, his radio co-host left to move to Montana.
Terry would have a natural rapport with the new co-host, as he happened to be married to her. Every morning, Sarah joins him on air via remote from the family’s basement, in between getting the kids off to school.
“We have fun,” she said, grinning. “The longer we do it, the more the filter comes off.”
As their new radio partnership emerged, they also worked at rehabbing their new property. They cleared out dead brush and carved walking trails into the groves. They hauled in truckloads of gray shale from nearby deposits to cover the campsites and created features like a natural playground out of tree stumps.
“Every time it rains, scrap metal comes out of the earth,” Sarah said, laughing. “We’ve had so many loads of scrap here. We’ve taught Callen to fish for scrap.”
Guests delight in the details
They decided to buy a camper for those marathon work days when all were too tired to drive home to Langdon.
That camper transitioned nicely into a B&B rental. The 45-foot trailer sleeps five and boasts an electric fireplace, recliners, TV, wifi, central air/heat and a double loft.
It’s located just a stroll away from their “tiny house” rental, a renovated 2008 park model which was already upgraded with extra insulation, a home-sized furnace and an on-demand water heater when they bought it. They worked with the crew at a friend’s custom-home company to update cupboards and trim, install a knotty pine ceiling and design a fireplace area with matching knotty-pine surround and shelves.
The end result is compact but attractive and cozy. It features two bedrooms and a pull-out couch; a refrigerator stocked with water, soda and necessary condiments; a fully outfitted kitchen; a large flat-screen with free Netflix, and a little porch with double-swing, cozy throw and tasteful autumn decor.
Outside, they’ve provided everything needed for a bonfire, including Adirondack chairs, a rustic split-log bench, firewood and kindling.
In fact, their days of brainstorming about vacation rentals have paid off. Numerous guests have commented on the cleanliness of the two units and the close attention to details. Realizing some of their visitors will arrive too late to cook or hunt down a restaurant, they provide them with a a frozen pizza from Johnny B’s out of Jamestown and a box of fresh doughnuts from Langdon’s Bread Pan Bakery for breakfast. Thoughtful touches like games, mosquito repellent, sunscreen and dog bowls are provided.
“You don’t want anyone to get here and think, ‘Oh I forgot,’ or ‘I need this,’ so we tried to anticipate anything a traveler might need,” Terry said.
Sarah flexed her writing and research chops to provide guests with a comprehensive binder that highlights information like local restaurants, ideal photo-taking spots and border crossing information into Canada (which is just 17 miles north of Langdon).
By August of this year, Sarah said they were at 70% occupancy, which she credits to AirBnB (where they have a perfect five-star score so far). Written reviews are effusive: “Absolutely amazing,” a Rochester, Minnesota, guest named Samantha wrote. “It was so peaceful and so perfect if you have dogs. So much space to roam and explore. Terry and Sarah were extremely friendly and super helpful with any questions we had.”
The property has room for more cabins, although the couple said they don’t want to turn the spot into an overcrowded campground.
They’re already talking about future improvements, such as adding an event center to the spot which held the old riding arena.
“At some point in time, we’d like to live on the property and be the stewards of it,” Terry said.
So did the reality of Airbnb ownership live up to what they’d first imagined while watching Netflix?
“It’s more,” said Sarah, pointing out that they can visit with California guests one day and folks from Louisiana the next. “It’s so much fun. I love that they’re coming from everywhere. And everyone has been so friendly and so kind and the gratitude that people express — that’s what strikes me. And that helps us have more gratitude.
“We just want to build community, wherever people are from.”
Rates are $132 per night for the RV and $153 for the cabin this season. Learn more:
https://upnorthnd.com/
North Dakota
Increase in North Dakota motor vehicle fatalities linked to lane departures
FARGO — Vision Zero is warning drivers about the deadly consequences of leaving their lanes.
They say a majority of motor vehicle fatalities in North Dakota in 2023 were caused by lane departures.
A fatal lane departure crash happened roughly once a week in 2023, said Lauren Wahlman, the safety public information program manager for the North Dakota Department of Transportation.
Avoiding distracted driving, such as not using cellphones while driving, is an easy way to prevent leaving your lane.
“Distracted driving is very under reported, but as you can imagine, that is a huge reason why people are leaving their lane, and they’re crossing the center line or leaving the roadway; because they’re distracted,” Wahlman said.
Lane departures can be especially dangerous on two-lane highways where there’s no margin for error if you cross the center or edge lines.
“You have a lot less room to correct your mistake if you are distracted and you go off the intended lane, or you cross that center line,” Wahlman says.
The North Dakota DOT continues to put safety features on roads to reduce the chances of a lane departure. District Engineer Joe Peyerl said rumble strips on center and edge lines are now the standard on new projects, with the exception being some roads in populated areas.
In 2024, they’ve also been widening pavement markings. For drivers, practicing safe habits can help keep you safe if others on the road aren’t following the rules.
“Exceeding speeds can have detrimental effects on motor vehicle crashes, and the No. 1 thing you can do every time you get into the vehicle is buckle your seat belt. You might do everything right, but you can’t control what others are doing on the road. So a seat belt is going to be your best defense in a vehicle crash,” Wahlman said.
Wahlman also says if you see another driver repeatedly swerving in and out of their lane, to pull over when you can and report the vehicle to law enforcement.
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