Free Republic

Tainted Dairy Products Being Removed from Ethnic Markets 10/1/2008 The North Dakota Department of Health says it`s working to remove recalled products from the shelves of ethnic markets in the state. Kenan Bullinger, director of the department`s food and lodging division, says Mr. Brown instant coffee and milk tea products, as well as White Rabbit Creamy Candies, have been found in ethnic markets in North Dakota. The recalls are the result of Chinese milk suppliers adding melamine to watered-down milk supplied to food companies around the globe to boost its apparent protein content. The compromised dairy products are blamed for...

Like neighboring Montana, North Dakota has become a lot friendlier to John McCain in the first polling conducted since Sarah Palin was nominated to be the Republican Vice Presidential nominee. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of North Dakota voters shows McCain with a 14-percentage point lead over Barack Obama, 55% to 41%. In early July, the candidates were tied in the state and Obama was looking to the Dakotas and Montana as a way to expand the electoral map for Democrats. Now, the Democratic nominee appears to be more focused on traditional battleground states.

John Bartelson, who smokes Marlboro Lights through fingers blackened with tractor grease, may look like an average wheat farmer. He isn't. He's one of North Dakota's new oil barons. Every month, he gets a check for tens of thousands of dollars from a company in Houston called EOG Resources Inc., which drilled two oil wells on his land last year. He says the day his first royalty check arrived was one to remember. "I smiled to beat hell, and I went to town and had a beer," Bartelson, 65, says. His new wealth springs from the Bakken formation, a sprawling...

"I want you to think about this," Barack Obama said in Las Vegas last week. "The oil companies have already been given 68 million acres of federal land, both onshore and offshore, to drill. They're allowed to drill it, and yet they haven't touched it – 68 million acres that have the potential to nearly double America's total oil production." Wow, how come the oil companies didn't think of that? Perhaps because the notion is obviously false – at least to anyone who knows how oil and gas exploration actually works. Predictably, however, Mr. Obama's claim is also the mantra...

The Bakken shale formation in North Dakota holds up to 167 billion barrels of oil but only about 1 percent of it can be recovered using current technology, a new state study says. The study released Monday said current technology could lead to the recovery of about 2.1 billion barrels in North Dakota's the "middle Bakken" formation, where oil-producing rock is sandwiched between layers of shale about 10,000 feet under the ground. "The future potential is enormous - it means we will be able to exploit this for the rest of the century," said Lynn Helms, director of the state...

3rd Sunday of EasterApril 25, 2004 – Cathedral of St. MaryBishop Samuel J. AquilaBishop of FargoIn our Gospel reading for this weekend we hear the threefold question, “Do you love me?” put to Peter – the apostle who denied that he knew Christ, the apostle who wept in repentance for that denial. In the threefold question, Jesus makes Peter His successor. He makes him the one who is first among the apostles. The Church ever since that time has had Peter serving her in the papacy. Each successor of Peter, and every bishop, is a Vicar of Christ. Jesus...

A skit with a black-faced white student portraying Barack Obama receiving a lap dance has sparked claims of racial insensitivity and an investigation at North Dakota State University. The NDSU Saddle and Sirloin Club and sorority Alpha Gamma Delta are at the center of the controversy for a lip-sync act performed for 500 people at the Mr. NDSU Pageant. People who attended the performance described what happened: A pageant contestant from Saddle and Sirloin dressed as the woman from the popular Internet video “I Got a Crush on Obama” and performed for another student who was wearing dark makeup and...

America is sitting on top of a super massive 200 billion barrel Oil Field that could potentially make America Energy Independent and until now has largely gone unnoticed. Thanks to new technology the Bakken Formation in North Dakota could boost America’s Oil reserves by an incredible 10 times, giving western economies the trump card against OPEC’s short squeeze on oil supply and making Iranian and Venezuelan threats of disrupted supply irrelevant. In the next 30 days the USGS (U.S. Geological Survey) will release a new report giving an accurate resource assessment of the Bakken Oil Formation that covers North Dakota...

Bakken and Torquay Formations - A Saudi Arabia of oil under Saskatchewan, North Dakota, South Datkota, Montana and Manitoba The Bakken oil formation is possibly the largest conventional oil discovery in Canada since 1957. If this oil formation plays out toward the higher end of size and recoverability then it will change the geopolitics of oil and the economies of the United States and Canada. If a lot of the oil proves difficult to recover now, new technologies could still drastically improve the percent recoverable. The motivation to pull out another 100 billion barrels would be $9 trillion at todays...

North Dakota Supreme Court Upholds Stopping Visitors in New Cars A North Dakota Supreme Court ruling authorizes police to stop anyone displaying a temporary vehicle registration from another state. Out-of-state motorists face being stopped in the state of North Dakota when driving a vehicle with a temporary registration tag, even if the registration is entirely valid. The North Dakota Supreme Court came to this conclusion Thursday in a ruling that found that Grand Forks police officers had properly stopped and searched Clinton Mitchell on October 1, 2006. On that date, the officers pulled over Mitchell because his vehicle displayed a...

The oil industry has known for decades that there was oil in North Dakota's Bakken Formation. But until recently, few thought it was worth chasing. The Bakken, an immense blanket of rock that covers about 200,000 square miles, stretching from Saskatchewan to straddle western North Dakota and eastern Montana, has long frustrated efforts to extract its oil. The oil was two miles down and trapped in tightly packed horizontal layers of shale that were easy to miss with conventional drilling. By 1999, when oil prices were low, the industry had largely given up on North Dakota, recalls Ron Ness, president...

A T-shirt produced by a North Dakota business at tempting to poke fun at the UND Fighting Sioux logo con troversy has inflamed ten sions on an already sensitive issue. The shirt, which James town, N.D.-based Orriginals Inc. began printing about a week ago, includes the words: "No Sioux Logo No Sioux Ca sinos!" It also features UND's Indian head logo with the words: "Hostile and Abusive," and plots out the location of three casinos in North Dakota and South Dakota, which it describes as "Destructive and Addictive."

from Tagg Romney: "I recently returned from a trip to North Dakota and Minnesota, my 21st and 22nd states visited on the campaign trail so far. We had a straw poll in Bismarck, ND and I was a speaker at the GOP round-up. It was a ton of fun to meet so many enthusiastic Republicans. My message could be summed up, as reported in the AP, as, 'Personally, I think the best way to beat Hillary Clinton is not to water down our values, or to try to act more like Hillary Clinton, or try to blur the distinction between...

North Dakota Catholic Bishop Leads Prayers Outside State's Only Abortion Facility FARGO, October 1, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Facing the busy street in front of the state of North Dakota's only abortion facility Friday morning, Most Rev. Samuel J. Aquila, Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Fargo, led the prayers of the rosary. The dozen or so men and women who joined him drew close to hear his words above the sounds of the traffic and occasional nearby trains. The bishop had scheduled an hour of prayer at the abortion facility as part of the 40 Days for Life North Dakota...

As he stood facing the busy street in front of the Red River Women's Clinic, the dozen or so men and women who joined him drew close to hear his words above the sounds of the traffic and occasional nearby trains. The campaign, which began Sept. 26, includes prayer and fasting, community outreach and a 40-day, 24-hours-a-day prayer vigil in front of the clinic. According to a diocesan release, "40 Days for Life" is a nationwide, ecumenical effort to increase awareness about abortion, "save the lives of unborn children and bring healing to those who have had abortions, those who...

North Dakota’s U.S. Rep. Earl Pomeroy calls President Bush a “clown” and says he “can’t stand” him in a new video posted on the Internet. The Democratic congressman was approached by a group called Grassroots America last week as he was walking the streets of Washington, D.C. As he talked on a mobile phone, two women approached him and asked him about impeaching Bush, giving statistics of people who approve of the idea. As a camera rolled, Pomeroy is shown to be clearly agitated by their questions. “Most of the people I represent think that’s (impeachment) a horrible idea. I’m...

A proposed North American “super corridor” would relieve overburdened highways and promote economic growth in three countries, supporters say. But others wonder whether the proposal might bring in cheap exports and put unsafe Mexican trucks on U.S. roads. The issue takes center stage at a three-day conference that begins today in Fort Worth, Texas. More than 350 transportation, logistics and economic development specialists from the United States, Canada and Mexico are meeting. The conference is sponsored by Dallas-based North America’s SuperCorridor Coalition. The nonprofit coalition, whose members include public- and private-sector organizations, wants to develop an integrated transportation system linking...

A movement to essentially dump the Electoral College and give the presidency to the winner of the nationwide popular vote has been defeated in North Dakota and Montana, after opponents said it would eliminate any influence states may have in presidential contests. Thursday's votes represented the first legislative setbacks this year for the National Popular Vote plan, said spokeswoman Breeanna Mierop. It is a proposed agreement among states to cast their electoral votes for the presidential candidate who wins the popular vote. "If you look at the population trends ... if this were to become the law, our presidential elections...

AP) Grand Forks, N.D. The University of Minnesota's athletic director said the school has not strictly enforced a 2003 policy that discourages games with teams using American Indian nicknames and mascots. But that's about to change, according to Joel Maturi, university athletic director. Maturi said his school won't compete against the University of North Dakota in any sport except men's and women's hockey because of UND's Fighting Sioux nickname. Maturi said the policy won't affect other schools in the University of Minnesota system, such as Crookston and Duluth. North Dakota Athletic Director Tom Buning said Minnesota's decision won't affect the...

GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- A Dartmouth College official who disagrees with the University of North Dakota's "Fighting Sioux" nickname has publicly apologized for a hockey tournament that is to include the UND team. "I must offer a sincere apology to the Native American community, and the Dartmouth community as a whole, for an event that will understandably offend and hurt people within our community," Dartmouth athletics director Josie Harper wrote in a recent letter to the editor that was published in the college newspaper, The Dartmouth. The UND men's hockey team is scheduled to play Dartmouth in Hanover, N.H., on...

A district judge has granted a preliminary injunction to stop the NCAA from banning the University of North Dakota from hosting a postseason game because of its "Fighting Sioux" nickname, state Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem said. Stenehjem said judge Lawrence Jahnke alerted him to the decision Saturday night. Stenehjem did not know the details. UND is among a handful of schools with American Indian nicknames and logos that the NCAA considers hostile and abusive. Those schools are barred from holding postseason tournaments, or from using their nicknames during road playoff games. Stenehjem, in asking for the injunction, said the ban...

FARGO, N.D. -- State officials filed a lawsuit Friday against the NCAA to challenge its restrictions on the University of North Dakota's Fighting Sioux nickname. Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem said the lawsuit, filed in Northeast Central District Court in Grand Forks, alleges a breach of contract by the NCAA, a breach of good faith and illegal restraint of trade. Stenehjem said the lawsuit seeks to allow the University of North Dakota to use the nickname throughout the school year without being sanctioned in possible postseason play, along with unspecified money damages. The NCAA has banned the use of some American...

FARGO, N.D. - Jurors on Friday sentenced a convicted sex offender to death for kidnapping and killing University of North Dakota student Dru Sjodin, whose body was found in a Minnesota ravine nearly five months after she disappeared. It was North Dakota's first death penalty case in more than a century. The state does not have the death penalty but it is allowed in federal cases. Alfonso Rodriguez Jr., 53, of Crookston, Minn., looked straight ahead and showed no emotion as the sentence was announced. The jury reached its decision after more than a day and a half of deliberations....

BURLINGTON, Vt. (CP) - The governor of Vermont joined Quebec Premier Jean Charest on Friday in calling on Washington to avoid lengthening delays at Canada-U.S. border crossings. The leaders rejected recent proposals to deploy troops and build a giant fence along Canada's southern border. "To have troops along the longest friendly undefended border in the history of the world, I don't think it's necessary," said Gov. James H. Douglas said. The question of border security was raised during a symposium at Burlington College on Quebec-Vermont relations. The two leaders took advantage of the meeting to express opposition to the Western...

By DAVE KOLPACK, Associated Press Writer 44 minutes ago FARGO, N.D. - A federal jury declared a convicted sex offender guilty Wednesday in the kidnapping and killing of college student Dru Sjodin, whose body was found abandoned in a Minnesota ravine. The verdict against Alfonso Rodriguez Jr. clears the way for the first death penalty deliberations in North Dakota in more than a century. Rodriguez stared straight ahead as the verdict was read. Sjodin, 22, a University of North Dakota student from Pequot Lakes, Minn., was abducted from the parking lot of a Grand Forks shopping mall on Nov. 22,...

There's an oil boom in western North Dakota. Oil companies large and small are investing millions of dollars in new wells. The North Dakota oil industry has boomed and busted many times in the past 50 years. But some believe new technology and high oil prices will bring long term stability to the North Dakota oil patch. Tioga, N.D. — Al Golden has been looking for oil in North Dakota since 1953. His eyes still light up when he remembers the first time oil gushed from one of his wells. "It sends chills and thrills and prickles up and down...

How HHS Bullies North Dakota Citizens by Stephen Baskerville and Mitchell S. Sanderson Human Events Online Aug 17, 2006 Those who work in what was once nobly known as the civil service -- and what has degenerated into the "bureaucracy" -- are required by law and ethics to be politically neutral. Presidents and members of Congress, cabinet and sub-cabinet secretaries can voice opinions. Even judges are permitted (and often abuse) a privilege of obiter dicta. But career officials are supposed to implement the policies of the people and their elected officials, not publicly advocate what those policies should be....

(NOTE: Online version not available) Jim Salenski is a dairy farmer about 8 miles from the [Catholic] church in Rugby, [North Dakota]. He echoes a complaint heard from coast to coast that the federal government’s farm subsidy program is driving small farmers out of business. Studies show that as much as three-quarters of the federal support goes to the top 10 percent of the producers, which include Fortune 500 companies, celebrities, and other “hobby farmer” investors. “The more you farm, the more you get,” Salenski sums up the government policy. His German-Russian parents bought the farm in 1932. Jim, the...

Three nuclear protesters arrested Tuesday at a Minuteman III missile launch facility west of Garrison when they unlawfully entered the area, remain in the McLean County Jail in Washburn Wednesday. The three, Greg Boertje-Obed, 51, and Michael Walli, 57, both military veterans from Duluth, Minn., and Carl Kabat, 72, a retired priest from St. Louis, made their initial appearance in Washburn Wednesday afternoon before South Central District Judge Bruce Romanick. McLean County Sheriff Don Charging said the three are being charged with criminal trespass and criminal mischief, both Class A misdemeanors, and bond was set at $500 each. He said...

A geologist who estimated the Bakken formation in western North Dakota has far more oil than the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge died before other scientists could authenticate his study. Leigh Price, a scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey, published a study in 1999 that estimates the Bakken shales formation, which underlies much of several western and northwestern counties, may hold up to 400 billion barrels of oil. By comparison, the Arctic refuge oil reserve is estimated at 16 billion barrels. Now, Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., is pushing the federal agency to complete scientific work on Price’s paper as part of...

N.D. PRIMARY ELECTIONS: 'Ooh-rah!' It's Mac "We've got a raid going on right now, and I can't do anything for another 90 minutes. Can I call you then or is it too late?" Thus went the e-mail from Maj. Mike McNamara from Fallujah, Iraq, replying to a request for an interview following his victory in the Grand Forks City Council Ward 2 race. The race had been an intense one with four other candidates fighting for the same office and all of them having the advantage of being in town during the campaign. Not that Mac, as he is often...

The University of North Dakota basketball team is being told by the NCAA that they aren't allowed to use their name, the Fighting Sioux, anymore. (UND.edu.) The University president is not taking this sitting down, much to his credit. In an absurd paean to the Gods of Political Correctness, the NCAA has lost its collective mind and announced a policy of disallowing any school playing in their leagues and tournaments to have a team name the NCAA deems "racist" or creates a "Hostile environment" for students or sports fans. They have given the U of D an ultimatum; get rid...

Since this paper CHARGES $1.95 to read the obit of one of the finest men I've ever known, let me add my tribute for friends and family alike. E.N. Paulsen was a giant of a man, both physically and morally. He owned a trenching business hiring Americans to do the jobs that, supposedly, Americans won't do. One of them was my brother who wrote of him: SO much I learned from Everett : darkroom and camera stuff, THE right way to use a shovel, check the oil on EVERY engine EVERY time you go to start it. "Jump on that...

Last month I had a couple of blog posts about the contest sponsored by the North Dakota National Guard that is offering 540 free trips (10 from each state and US territory), to North Dakota. Yes, FREE trips. In mid-February, only about 30 entries for this contest were received. The deadline to enter was February 28, but that has been extended to April 2. Medora, which is adjacent to Theodore Roosevelt National Park, is one of the destinations for winners of the contest; the contest is open to students who will be high school juniors or seniors in the upcoming...

...and according to AP, only 28 people have entered, 12 of them from North Dakota. Okay, let the jokes fly, but I've been to the Peace Garden State, and it's a great place. That's me below in 2004 running in the North Dakota Badlands near Medora, one of the places the winners--and their chaperones--will visit this summer. Anyone who knows any high schoolers who will be juniors or seniors next year should tell them about the North Dakota National Guard essay contest. From AP: A National Guard essay contest is offering 10 selected high school students from every state and...

Products based on NASA Earth observations and a new Internet-based decision tool are providing information to help land and water managers combat tamarisk (saltcedar), an invasive plant species damaging precious water supplies in the western United States. This decision tool, called the Invasive Species Forecasting System (ISFS), is being used at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Institute of Invasive Species Science in Fort Collins, Colo. It is the result of combining USGS science and NASA Earth observations, software engineering and high- performance computing expertise. "The ISFS combines NASA satellite data with tens of thousands of field sampling measurements, which...

BISMARCK, N.D. — Why put up costly cell phone towers in thinly populated areas, when a few balloons would do? In North Dakota, former Gov. Ed Schafer is backing a plan to loft wireless network repeaters on balloons high above the state to fill gaps in cellular coverage.

For once not involving Air America, liberal talk radio took a big hit this week, as Ed Schultz lost affiliates in three cities. In an especially significant blow, the syndicated talker was cancelled in his hometown of Fargo, North Dakota, from where his show remains based. According to Perry Simon of entertainment industry trade publication All Access, Schultz was cancelled in Fargo to make room for local programming, the same reason the Aberdeen American News has given for his South Dakota removal. And his Norfolk, Virginia outlet is switching to sports. While Aberdeen's KSDN is also dropping Rush Limbaugh for...

For those of you who are not aware, North Dakota and southwestern Montana got hit with their first blizzard of the season a couple of weeks ago) This text is from county emergency manager out in the western part of North Dakota state after the storm. Amusing... WEATHER BULLETIN Up here in the Northern Plains we just recovered from a Historic event--- may I even say a "Weather Event" of "Biblical Proportions" --- with a historic blizzard of up to 24" inches of snow and winds to 50 MPH that broke trees in half, stranded hundreds of motorists in lethal...

NORTH DAKOTA MAN GETS 30 YEARS FOR PRODUCING, RECEIVING CHILD PORNOGRAPHY Sentence is added to a 20-year term he is already serving FARGO, N.D.—As a result of an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Michael Wade Stuckey of Finley, North Dakota, was sentenced to 30 years in prison today for producing and receiving child pornography. Stuckey, 31, pleaded guilty on August 31, 2005, to producing video and digital images of himself engaging in various forms of sexual contact with a child who was approximately three years of age. An acquaintance of Stuckey’s accidentally found the video images and reported...

BISMARCK, N.D. - A car crashed through the glass wall of a waiting room at Medcenter One hospital, sending six women, including the 87-year-old driver, to the emergency room. "It was total chaos," Bismarck Police Officer Dave Horner said. "There were so many people there that we didn't know who had been hit and injured, or who the witnesses were." He said it was fortunate that so many doctors and nurses were nearby. Horner said the car driven by Ruth Otto, of Mandan, "sideswiped the building, then sideswiped a car and then went into the building." It happened at about...

BEULAH, N.D. (AP) -- Leroy Walker can recite a story for each one of his Edsels, all 226 and counting. There's a lipstick red '58 that caused its driver to be arrested three times between Las Vegas and Bowman, because he was mistaken for a bank robber who used an identical car for a getaway. Another, a two-tone green '58 Ranger, was delivered that same year in front of a church for a wedding present. Walker purchased it three years ago from the widow at an auction. "She had lived an exciting life," Walker said. "She drove an Edsel." Today,...

BISMARCK, N.D. Oct 10, 2005 — To sell things over eBay, Mark Nichols may be required to take instruction in rapid-fire speaking, breathing control and reading hand gestures, even though the transactions are done by computer keyboard and mouse. North Dakota's Public Service Commission is exploring whether people like Nichols, who runs a small consignment store in Crosby, must obtain auctioneer licenses before they can legally use eBay to sell merchandise for others. To get a North Dakota auctioneer's license, applicants must pay a $35 fee, obtain a $5,000 surety bond and undergo training at one of eight approved auction...

Gov. John Hoeven “put to rest speculation about my political intentions” by announcing Friday that he will not challenge U.S. Sen. Kent Conrad next year. “It’s not my intent to run this (election) cycle,” he said.

WASHINGTON - North Dakota Sen. Byron Dorgan said Tuesday that he will vote to confirm Supreme Court nominee John Roberts. Dorgan, a Democrat, said he made his decision after a Monday meeting with the 50-year-old appeals court judge and former Reagan administration lawyer. "Judge Roberts is clearly a conservative," Dorgan said on the Senate floor Tuesday. "But, from the discussion I have had with him, I also believe he will be a justice who will honor precedent and who will view his high calling to an impartial interpretation of the law." Dorgan said he talked with Roberts about issues that...

Karl Rove, President Bush's top political adviser, plans to speak Saturday at a GOP fundraiser and meet with Gov. John Hoeven, whom Republicans hope to coax into running against Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D.

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove is planning to travel to North Dakota later this month to rally GOP activists and, Republicans hope, persuade Gov. John Hoeven (R) to challenge Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) next year.

When A. T. Burgum came to the Dakota Territory in 1880, the way to riches lay in the deep, rich soil of the Red River Valley. A generation later, his son J. A. Burgum founded an elevator company in a small town called Arthur (current population 400). The company remained in family hands, and after A. T.’s great grandson Doug Burgum graduated from Arthur’s high school, he left town to attend North Dakota State University and then Stanford. In 1983, after working in Chicago, he returned to North Dakota, lured back by another kind of natural resource: its people. “My...

WASHINGTON -- Nearly 800 convicted sex offenders in 14 states got Medicaid-funded prescriptions for Viagra and other impotence drugs, according to a survey by The Associated Press. The majority of the cases were in New York, Florida and Texas. Medicaid, the health insurance program for the poor, is administered differently in every state. Thus, while some states allowed Medicaid payments for prescriptions for the drugs Viagra, Cialis and Levitra, other states did not. New York, acting on a tip, was the first to uncover that Medicaid had paid for Viagra prescriptions for sex offenders. Its report prompted the federal government,...

CONRAD SEES REDIt's true that President Bush hit the upper Midwest and the South in his first big push after the State of the Union Address in order to target potential Democratic support in the House and the Senate. But he also was sending Democrats a clear message: 2002 and 2004 were no mistakes. Recall that the President was particularly aggressive in campaigning for Republicans in the midterms in 2002, and barring unforeseen political disasters, will be out there again, pressing for added GOP strength in Congress. Democrat Sen. Kent Conrad of North Dakota is up for re-election in 2006,...