North Dakota
Time for change? Locals react to the push to remove daylight savings in North Dakota
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BISMARCK, N.D. — Lawmakers in the North Dakota House have passed Bill 1259 that could make the state the third in the nation to permanently observe standard time, eliminating daylight saving time.
Arizona and Hawaii are the only states that already observe standard time year-round, and if the bill becomes law, North Dakota would join them.
The bill has sparked mixed reactions from residents, especially in Fargo-Moorhead, where the change would have a noticeable impact on daily life. According to Representative Dan Ruby, a co-sponsor of the bill, the benefits of no longer switching the clocks twice a year outweigh the potential disruptions.
“It’s maybe not preferable for the time that I would like to be on, as many other people would, but it is the advantage of not having to disrupt our lives twice a year. It kind of outweighs that,” Ruby said.
However, students at Minnesota State University Moorhead (MSUM) have expressed concerns about the potential confusion. “It is just one hour, but it’s the mental, cognitive load to remembering that time difference in terms of planning on two different time schedules is going to be a little bit of an annoyance,” said Tony Urbanski, an MSUM student.
Some residents also worry about the complications along the North Dakota-Minnesota border. If the bill passes, residents in North Dakota would permanently observe standard time, while neighboring Minnesota would continue to follow daylight saving time. “If I lived in Moorhead, and worked in Fargo, my clock would fall back an hour when I cross the state line getting to work… for six months out of the year, and vice versa,” said one Fargo resident.
Others, like former State Senator Tim Flakoll, don’t see the value in the change. “I just don’t see the value in it from my perspective… I think a lot more people want to be out in the evening doing things than they care about being up at 4:30 or 5:30 in the morning to get things done,” he said.
Meanwhile, MSUM students voiced concerns about missing classes or flights due to the time change. “I think that would cause people a lot of trouble, especially since the Hector International is, is over there. I mean, I always fly through there… I could definitely see myself missing a flight because of that,” said Aiden Price, an MSUM student.
Ruby acknowledged the confusion but emphasized that the change would simplify life overall. “He had voted no on the bill on the floor, and said, ‘You know, I think I voted wrong, because I’m kind of thinking that in the spring, kids would be getting on the school bus with more light when, when that switches, it moves back, and kind of puts them back into darkness for a while when they’re going to school,’” Ruby said.
As of now, the bill has passed in the House and is set to be discussed in the Senate, where Ruby will be gauging support in the coming future.
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North Dakota
North Dakota House votes to repeal 'discriminatory' HIV law
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BISMARCK — The criminal charge associated with knowingly infecting someone with HIV could change in North Dakota after lawmakers voted Wednesday, Feb. 19, to downgrade the crime from a felony charge to a misdemeanor.
According to
state law,
HIV is the only infectious disease that carries a felony charge if it is knowingly transmitted to another person.
Those found guilty of doing so face 20 years in prison and a $20,000 fine, while knowingly infecting someone with any other sexually transmitted disease is punishable by a fine up to $1,000.
House Bill 1217
would move the penalty for spreading HIV to the same misdemeanor class as other sexually transmitted diseases.
Bill sponsor Gretchen Dobervich, D-Fargo, said in a House Human Services hearing on the bill that the existing law, which was enacted in the 1980s, is discriminatory against people with HIV.
Dobervich added that in 35 years of the law being in effect, no one has been prosecuted.
“There has been a lot of discussion on this bill, and one of the things that keeps coming up is that HIV can be terminal. And it can — so can a lot of other infectious diseases,” she said. “This bill reflects the tremendous body of evidence that modernizing HIV laws decreases the risk of HIV, as people who are at risk of HIV are more likely to seek testing.”
There was no further discussion on the House floor before lawmakers passed the bill with a 50-43 vote, sending it to the Senate for consideration.
The state Department of Health and Human Services, American Civil Liberties Union and representatives of two health care clinics voiced support for bill in its hearing. There was no opposing testimony.
North Dakota
Could a state icon bring more attention to North Dakota?
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BISMARCK — A
state icon
could help North Dakota promote itself to the rest of the country and possibly bring in more visitors, a tourism leader says.
More than 5,200 people have voted for one of two state icons that could represent the Peace Garden State. Voting began last week and runs through the end of the month.
Voters who go to
surveymonkey.com/r/StateIconPress
can choose between two options: a circular icon that features an American bison in the Badlands or a sunset icon inside the letters ND.
The results could be revealed as early as mid-March, North Dakota Tourism and Marketing Director Sara Otte Coleman told The Forum on Tuesday, Feb. 18. The state icon will help North Dakota promote itself to potential visitors, she said.
“We not only wanted to help educate and raise awareness for the state, but we also really wanted to create some in-state pride and have it be something that people would want to buy and wear and tout,” she said.
The state icon will complement the state’s
“Be Legendary”
brand, Coleman said. North Dakota changed its logo in 2018 as a way to bring its 57 brands under one unifying logo.
Contributed
The rebrand attracted criticism and controversy. The state changed its longtime black-and-white logo and “Legendary” slogan, opting for a simpler font with color.
Lawmakers and others questioned why
North Dakota didn’t bid out the logo project.
Instead, the state hired Kara Ellefson, a longtime marketing executive at Great Plains Software from Hawley, Minnesota, for $9,500 to create the logo. Then-North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum knew Ellefson — he was the CEO of Great Plains before he sold it to Microsoft in 2001.
The threshold for bidding a North Dakota project is $10,000, meaning the transaction was legal. The governor’s office said Burgum did not suggest Ellefson for the project.
Contributed
The North Dakota Department of Commerce asked for bids to design the state icon, Coleman said. Four companies submitted proposals, and The Good Kids, a design studio in Bismarck, won with a bid of about $23,000, she said.
Other states have icons, like Minnesota’s blue and green “MN.” Some states have multiple symbols, Coleman noted.
There could be tweaks to the proposed icons before a final one is announced, she said.
“This is something to build on,” she said. “It’s not the do-all, end-all. … It’s just kind of a fun marketing metric.”
North Dakota has used different visuals in the past to promote the state, including the pioneer logo used for the Centennial Celebration in 1989 and imagery of Lewis and Clark.
The state proposed themes to include in the icon designs, Coleman said. People praise the state’s “beautiful sunsets, landscapes and blue skies,” she said.
State tourism leaders also encouraged “ND” to be a part of the logo, she said.
“I think they’re fun,” she said of the proposed icons. “I’m excited about them. I think either one of them could work well.”
The state has limited recognition in the U.S., Coleman noted. A 2022 study showed that only 22% of respondents were familiar with North Dakota, according to the request for proposals that sought bids for the icon. North Dakota is largely seen as a flyover state with few attractions.
North Dakota Tourism expanded advertising in recent years. TV promotions used Minot native and actor
Josh Duhamel
to highlight attractions like Theodore Roosevelt National Park.
It seems to have paid off. About 3.6 million people visited the state tourism website last year, up 30% from 2023, she said. Several visitor metrics, such as the number of people flying into the state and Canadian border crossings into North Dakota, were up about 10% each last year, she said.
Other metrics, including hotel occupancy rates and Theodore Roosevelt National Park visits, remained flat, Coleman noted.
“We’ve had great results with the work that we do, considering we have one of the smallest budgets in the country,” she said.
North Dakota has in the past underfunded its marketing budget, Coleman said, but it is making progress in telling its story.
“Hopefully, next time we do that national survey, we will show a higher number than 22%,” she said.
The survey doesn’t have a comment section, but input on the icons can be sent to
tourism@nd.gov.
North Dakota
Arctic air sweeping south over Plains shatters record temperatures in North Dakota
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BISMARCK, N.D. — North Dakota felt more like the North Pole on Tuesday as lows broke records in the state capital of Bismarck and other parts of the state that had stood for more than a century.
Bismarck hit minus 39 on Tuesday, breaking the record of minus 37 (-38.3 C) set in 1910 for the same date, said National Weather Service Meteorologist James Telken in Bismarck. And late on Monday, Bismarck set a record of minus 35, shattering a 150-year-old record of minus 30 for the date of Feb. 17.
Much of the Midwest including Iowa, Minnesota and Nebraska also is gripped by low temperatures double digits below zero.
People should make sure to bundle up with hats, jackets and other winter gear even if they are outside for only a few minutes in such subzero cold, and they should bring pets indoors, Telken said. Warm clothing is especially important for drivers should they become stranded, he added.
A gradual warmup is expected with lows on Wednesday night across most of North Dakota forecasted to be in the minus 10s to minus 20s. By Thursday, lows are projected to be in the single digits above and below zero.
Forecasted highs for Monday are in the 50s for parts of southwestern and south-central North Dakota, he said.
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