News
Many towns struggle to recruit, retain officers
Recent legislative measures providing grants toward attracting law enforcement personnel are welcome in communities across the state, but it remains a struggle to find answers beyond one-off bonuses and additional advertising for open slots, community leaders say. The situation is particularly problematic in smaller communities, they say, with housing and other service shortfalls. The recent deaths of officers in Fargo and Beulah this year also bring into stark focus the dangers of police work.
Housing complicates ND town's business expansion
Applied Digital is in the process of expanding its footprint in the fields near Ellendale. The first phase included a data mining operation opened last September that smoothly hums just to the west of town. The second phase, which can be seen rising through the fields if you’re close enough, and heard in town as the piles are driven into the foundation, is expected to be complete by the latter end of 2024.
Crop insurance reforms needed, some farmers and groups say
Federal crop insurance subsidies grew to record highs last year and a growing chorus of farmers and other groups say the system needs reform. They say a lack of transparency about where the money goes and a system that favors a small segment of farmers on large commodity crop farms unfairly puts smaller, beginner and more diversified farmers at a disadvantage.
Poll #1: Disconnect between ND voters, legislators
North Dakota legislators are out of sync with their voters on the state’s strict abortion law and decidedly independent on topics like property taxes and ballot measures expected to be a focal point during elections a year from now, according to results from the first North Dakota Poll (ND Poll).
Commerce accuses recreational vehicle company of misuing loan funds
Just two years after welcoming recreational vehicle company Hoefer Group to the state with open arms, North Dakota’s Department of Commerce appears ready to show it the way out. The latest move is part of a larger saga of controversy surrounding the company’s efforts to produce RVs in Dunseith. This includes potentially sensitive defense and aerospace materials and documents found at its site and a loan freeze by Commerce last fall, as well as fears by Commerce officials late this summer that they may be sued by Hoefer.
RV training partnership with Dunseith CTE scuttled, for now
A partnership between Hoefer RV and a soon-expanding Career and Technology Education center at Dunseith High School has potentially fallen apart due to push back from some in the community against the newly arrived recreational vehicle company.
Federal investigations cast shadow on Dunseith manufacturing site
Federal investigations into possibly sensitive military defense and commercial aerospace materials discovered at a Dunseith manufacturing facility are curtailing development of a new company that could hire dozens of employees once fully operable. Greater concerns beyond local development are also being raised, with the potential that some of these components made their way into military or commercial aircraft supply chains, threatening both flight safety and military readiness.
Investigation into Dunseith site reveals long-time official involvement
An investigation by U.S. Army criminal investigators and evidence collection by other federal authorities related to aerospace and defense components found at a manufacturing facility in Dunseith have raised questions into what state and local authorities understood about activities occurring at the site. Over the years federal, state and local officials approved funding to try to keep the facility viable, with the latest being a $2.25 million North Dakota Development Fund line of inventory financing credit to support the rollout of recreational vehicles.
Group, community say more flexibility needed in treating trafficked youth
Home on the Range, a therapeutic ranch and qualified residential treatment program nestled on the rolling prairie just a few miles east of town, is a working ranch where youth residents build themselves back up with support of trained staff. Many have severe trauma from being sexually trafficked. Some have problems related to drugs or alcohol. Deep emotional scars lead to issues trusting others and trusting themselves. A federal policy aimed at keeping children from languishing in institutionalized care, the Family First Prevention Services Act, and adopted in North Dakota in 2019, changed how facilities like Home on the Range operate.