North Dakota

State program expands services to domestic violence victims

Published

6 months ago

February 4, 2024

State program expands services to domestic violence victims

BISMARCK — Domestic violence victims in central and western North Dakota will now have access to expanded forensic medical services under a state-funded pilot program.

The Legislature last year with the approval of Senate Bill 2202 set aside $250,000 in grant dollars through the Attorney General’s Office toward the effort.

Supporters of the bill told lawmakers that Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners, who provide trauma-informed care including forensic photography and assessment of injuries to sexual assault victims, should also be made available to victims of domestic violence.

Central Dakota Forensic Nurse Examiners, a nonprofit with nurses that respond to area hospitals to assist victims, was awarded $220,000 of the state grant dollars and began offering the expanded services in the Bismarck and Williston regions on Thursday, Feb. 1.

The nonprofit saw an inequality in the response available to victims, said Kristie Wolff, communications and engagement coordinator.

“If two victims had nearly identical circumstances, but one was bitten on the breast and the other was bitten on the shoulder during the assault, they would have access to different services,” Wolff said.

The sexual assault victim would have access to a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner, who is trained to take photos that can later be used as evidence, collect saliva from bite marks, assess injuries and provide expert testimony in court. That would be available at no cost through the state program, Wolff said.

But previously the victim of physical violence would have been referred to the emergency room at their own expense with no access to a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner, she said.

“We believe both victims deserve access to the same care,” she said.

Tisha Scheurer, the nonprofit’s executive director, told legislators last year that the multi-disciplinary approach used by Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners leads to better health outcomes and higher prosecution rates.

The nurses also participate in a detailed interview process, and sometimes victims are more comfortable with the medical provider than law enforcement, she said.

“We cannot continue to ignore the other victim population that is even bigger in numbers,” Scheurer told lawmakers last year.

A survivor of domestic violence told a legislative committee that evidence collected in her case did not make it to a judge. The woman said one police officer took a photo of her injury through a patrol car window. Additional photos taken at a hospital did not qualify to be admitted into evidence, she said.

In 2022, domestic violence crisis shelters across the state served 6,128 new victims, according to CAWS North Dakota, the statewide sexual and domestic violence coalition.

It’s unclear how many victims the new pilot program might serve. Wolff said she anticipates it primarily benefiting victims of felony-level violence, such as nonfatal strangulation or cases involving a weapon or severe injury.

Central Dakota Forensic Nurse Examiners serves Burleigh, Morton, Grant, Sioux, Kidder, Sheridan and Emmons counties through its Bismarck region and Divide, McKenzie, and Williams counties through the Williston region.

The Abused Adult Resource Center in Bismarck and the Family Crisis Shelter in Williston are partners in implementing the new program.

“By continuing our work together, we can create a safer and more supportive environment where survivors of intimate partner violence feel empowered to seek help and reclaim their lives,” said Courtney Monroe Ryckman, direct services supervisor with the Abused Adult Resource Center.

Another $20,000 in grant dollars was awarded to Safe Alternatives for Abused Families in Devils Lake, according to the Attorney General’s Office.

The state funding is a one-time program, but organizations will report back to the Legislature during the 2025 session. Central Dakota Forensic Nurse Examiners also plans to make the expanded services available to pediatric patients in the future, Wolff said.

This story was originally published on NorthDakotaMonitor.com

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North Dakota

Letter: Be wary of plans for large-scale dairies in North Dakota

Published

4 hours ago

July 24, 2024

Press Room

Letter: Be wary of plans for large-scale dairies in North Dakota

To the editor,

There is a history of confined animal feeding operations ruining the environment in many states. The new

Riverview Dairy

operations set to enter the eastern part of North Dakota near Hillsboro and Wahpeton should be looked at through the eyes of how we want our livestock industry to expand.

Twenty-five thousand confined dairy cows is huge. Yes, they have state of the art waste disposal systems — or do they? What about flooding? Not unheard of in the Red River Valley. Additionally, the water required for these animals may seem fine but what about in a drought? Do you want to compete for drinking water with cows? Aquifers are being depleted for ag use already.

Twenty-five thousand animals hooked up to machines. Not grazed. Not good.

Workers will be temporary and not connected to the communities. Their money will be sent out of state/country. The money from Riverview will be sent out of the state. Riverview has multiple dairies in other states. Most inputs will be bought wholesale and not locally.

Ag Commissioner Doug Goehring said this LLP can do business without the change to our corporate farming law in the last legislative session. However, they sure are being subsidized by support for infrastructure stemming from other legislation piggy backed on that change in our anti-corporate farming law. A law that was meant to support local farmers to expand by accessing capital from other sources. This dairy will finish the small dairy opportunities in North Dakota using money meant to support them.

Karen Anderson
Warwick, North Dakota

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North Dakota

Yankton County, SD deputies arrest South Dakota fugitive after 4-week search

Published

11 hours ago

July 24, 2024

Press Room

Yankton County, SD deputies arrest South Dakota fugitive after 4-week search

YANKTON COUNTY, SD (KTIV) – There’s a new development in a manhunt that started last month in South Dakota.

Authorities in Yankton County say they’ve found an Iowa man wanted for violating his parole and arrested him after a nearly four-hour standoff Monday night.

The Yankton County Sheriff’s Office says its deputies learned 48-year-old Jason Sitzman was inside a home in Lesterville, South Dakota, and went to that home trying to make contact with him.

Sitzman was wanted on warrants for violating his parole in Iowa, as well as, for failure to appear in court in Yankton County and for aggravated eluding of law enforcement.

But, Sitzman, and another woman who was inside, refused to leave the house. That was at around 7:00pm. Around 10:45pm authorities used chemical agents inside the home to get Sitzman and the woman outside. The woman is identified as 23-year-old Kendra Kirrman.

Both were taken into custody and charged with obstructing law enforcement.

Law enforcement have been looking for Sitzman for more than a month. Back on June 19th… he reportedly fled South Dakota authorities on a motorcycle… riding into Nebraska before ditching the bike at the Chalkrock Wildlife Management Area in Cedar County. Authorities searched the area using drones and a helicopter but weren’t able to find Sitzman.

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North Dakota

North Dakota judge will decide whether to throw out a challenge to the state's abortion ban

Published

19 hours ago

July 23, 2024

Press Room

North Dakota judge will decide whether to throw out a challenge to the state's abortion ban

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Attorneys argued Tuesday over whether a North Dakota judge should toss a lawsuit challenging the state’s abortion ban, with the state saying the plaintiffs’ case rests on hypotheticals, and the plaintiffs saying key issues remain to be resolved at a scheduled trial.

State District Judge Bruce Romanick said he will rule as quickly as he can, but he also asked the plaintiffs’ attorney what difference he would have at the court trial in August.

The Red River Women’s Clinic, which moved from Fargo to neighboring Moorhead, Minnesota, filed the lawsuit challenging the state’s now-repealed trigger ban soon after the fall of Roe v. Wade in 2022. The clinic was North Dakota’s sole abortion provider. In 2023, North Dakota’s Republican-controlled Legislature revised the state’s abortion laws amid the lawsuit. Soon afterward, the plaintiffs filed an amended complaint, joined by doctors in obstetrics, gynecology and maternal-fetal medicine.

North Dakota outlaws abortion as a felony crime, with exceptions to prevent the mother’s death or a “serious health risk” to her, and in cases of rape or incest up to six weeks of pregnancy.

The plaintiffs allege the law violates the state constitution because it is unconstitutionally vague for doctors as to the exceptions, and that its health exception is too narrow.

The state wants the complaint dismissed. Special Assistant Attorney General Dan Gaustad said the plaintiffs want the law declared unconstitutional based upon hypotheticals, that the clinic now in Minnesota lacks legal standing and that a trial won’t help the judge.

“You’re not going to get any more information than what you’ve got now. It’s a legal question,” Gaustad told the judge.

The plaintiffs want the trial to proceed.

Meetra Mehdizadeh, a staff attorney with the Center for Reproductive Rights, said the trial would resolve factual disputes regarding how the law would apply in various pregnancy complications, “the extent to which the ban chills the provision of standard-of-care medical treatment,” and a necessity for exceptions for mental health and pregnancies with a fatal fetal diagnosis.

When asked by the judge about the trial, she said hearing testimony live from experts, as compared to reading their depositions, would give him the opportunity to probe their credibility and ask his own questions to clarify issues.

In an interview, she said laws such as North Dakota’s are causing confusion and hindering doctors when patients arrive in emergency medical situations.

“Nationally, we are seeing physicians feeling like they have to delay, either to run more tests or to consult with legal teams or to wait for patients to get sicker, and so they know if the patient qualifies under the ban,” Mehdizadeh said.

In January, the judge denied the plaintiffs’ request to temporarily block part of the law so doctors could provide abortions in health-saving scenarios without the potential of prosecution.

A recent state report said abortions in North Dakota last year dropped to a nonreportable level, meaning there were fewer than six abortions performed in 2023. The state reported 840 abortions in 2021, the year before the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling overturning Roe v. Wade.

The court’s decision enabled states to pass abortion bans by ending the nationwide right to abortion.

Most Republican-controlled states now have bans or restrictions in place. North Dakota is one of 14 enforcing a ban on abortion at all stages of pregnancy. Meanwhile, most Democratic-controlled states have adopted measures to protect abortion access.

The issue is a major one in this year’s elections: Abortion-related ballot measures will be before voters in at least six states. Since 2022, voters in all seven states where similar questions appeared have sided with abortion rights advocates.