Plain Talk

In a recent column, I argued that the concept of "baby bonds" — a verison of which is included in "big beautiful bill" President Donald Trump is backing in Congress — is something North Dakotans should implement whatever the federal government might do.

We have hundreds of millions in revenue from the Legacy Fund's investments, and we have the Bank of North Dakota to administer the program. A rough estima...

The North Dakota Republican Party censured Republican Gov. Kelly Armstrong at a recent meeting.

And yes, despite what some party leaders are now saying, Armstrong does see it that way. "It was a censure," he said on this episode of Plain Talk, going on to expand on his immediate reaction to the censures which was "I don't care."

The censures expressed disapproval in Armstrong's property tax plan, along wi...

Andrew Loftesnes is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps. Specifically, he served with the 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division, which is the same unit that President Donald Trump has, controversially, deployed to Los Angeles to, as Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem put it recently, "liberate this city from the socialist and burdensome leadership" elected by local citizens.

The deployment...

When former Congressman Earl Pomeroy looks at the protests today against the Trump administration and the so-called "big, beautiful bill" in Congress, he sees echoes of the 2009 protests that ended his tenure in elected office.

"There's going to be an election day reckoning," Pomeroy, a Democrat who represented North Dakota in the U.S. House from 1993 to 2010, said on this episode of Plain Talk. What was i...

Artificial intelligence continues to dominate conversations worldwide, sparking both optimism and deep concern. On this replay episode of Plain Talk, hosts Rob Port and Chad Oban revisit a compelling discussion with the late Rep. Josh Christy, an influential North Dakota lawmaker and expert in artificial intelligence who tragically passed away during the legislative session.

Throughout the conversation, Christy emphasizes the criti...

At the beginning of this episode of Plain Talk, Attorney General Drew Wrigley took exception to my recent reporting suggesting that he and Gov. Kelly Armstrong are at odds over sentencing legislation and the performance of state prison officials.

Based on what would follow, I think the conflict between two of North Dakota's top elected officials is positively overt.

According to Wrigley, the North Dakota Department of Corrections a...

We all know the old saying.  You don't talk about religion and politics in polite company. Only, does that advice make sense in a society like ours, where we practice self-governance? How can we govern ourselves if we can't talk to one another about politics?

And, more pertinent to t...

Recorded live at the North Dakota Professional Communicators conference in Minot, this special episode features Rob and Chad in front of a live audience talking media bias, political polarization, and the value of honest disagreement.

They share lessons learned from tough interviews and respond to audience questions about journalism, trust, and what could be done to make North Dakota’s legislature more effective.

If you want to par...

On this episode of Plain Talk, co-host Chad Oban takes the reins with guest co-host and former State Senator Jessica Bell for a conversation with Matt Perdue, Government Relations Director at North Dakota Farmers Union.

Perdue, who's running to become the next president of NDFU, emphasizes the uncertainty facing many producers amid economic headwinds, fluctuating commodity prices, and ongoing concerns about federal farm policy and ...

On this episode of Plain Talk, Sen. Josh Boschee, a Democrat from Fargo, characterized the just-completed legislative session as marked by crucial victories but also "too many missed opportunities" and numerous "close calls on bad Republican bills."

He emphasized how Republicans and Democrats worked together to achieve both.

Among the victories? Passing Gov. Kelly Armstrong's property tax plan, which implements $1,600 primary resid...

Though his instance on a "skin in the game" provision in property tax reform -- effectively a cap on how much of the primary residence credit property owners could receive -- was one of the major flash points during this year's legislative session, Senate Majority Leader David Hogue says he's satisfied with the outcome overall.

More than that, really. He was downright enthusiastic on this episode of Plain Talk. "Nobody, whether you...

Nick Archuleta and North Dakota United, the state's combined teacher and public workers union, are touting a report showing that our state is sliding down the rankings in terms of teacher pay.

We're now 40th in the nation, down significantly from roughly a decade ago.

But Archuleta admitted during an interview on Plain Talk that educators could be doing a better job of giving the taxpayers some context around the pay issue. "We ar...

"The Minot State one took us by surprise," U.S. Rep. Julie Fedorchak told us on this episode of Plain Talk, referring to the cuts of nearly two dozen staff at the North Dakota Center for Persons with Disabilities. One of those workers, Kyle Erickson, who lives with cerebral palsy and not only works for the cent...

During the closing hours of the legislative session, lawmakers came to a consensus around a property tax plan endorsed by Gov. Kelly Armstrong which provides $1,600 credits for the primary residences of North Dakotans and a 3% cap on the growth in overall property tax bills.

Rep. Scott Louser voted for that plan, and encouraged his colleagues to vote for it, but in a surprise move, also announced in a floor speech that he had draf...

Like many organizations and government entities across our region, the Fargo School Board has had to weigh how to react to an erratic president who is on a seek-and-destroy mission for anything with even a whiff of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

Katie Christensen Mineer is the president of the school board. She and her fellow board members have come under fire for removing from their website four "philosophies" relat...

On this Plain Talk, Sec. of State Michael Howe and Rep. Ben Koppelman joined us to discuss a surprisingly contentious issue in the closing days of the legislative session.

Namely, a debate over laws requiring more rigorous campaign finance disclosures from legislative candidates. Howe supports the legislation, saying he wants better data for a new online database his office is implementing. Rep. Koppelman, however, suggested that t...

"Everybody's frustrated with everybody right now," Rep. Jeremy Olson said on this episode of Plain Talk.

Olson is a Republican from Arnegard, and serves as the Majority Caucus Leader, and is well known as a "gentle giant" of North Dakota politics. Which is to say that his comment about fist fights was tongue-in-cheek, but he was expressing a real sense of frustration as lawmakers reach the hectic end of their session.

Lawmakers are...

Just before Gov. Kelly Armstrong appeared on this episode of Plain Talk, he issued two vetoes for two very controversial bills passed by the legislature.

The first was a rejection of Senate Bill 2307, a book ban bill sponsored by Sen. Keith Boehm. "I'm kind of a free speech absolutist," Armstrong said of his decision to spike the legislation, "because nobody's ever figured out who polices the policers."

Armstrong criticized the leg...

Dane DeKrey is a criminal defense attorney with the Moorhead-based lawfirm Ringstrom Dekrey. He recently signed onto an amicus brief in a legal fight over an executive order signed by President Donald Trump, which exacts retribution on a law firm Trump feels has wronged him. It does so by, among other punitive measures, revoking the firm's security clearances and prohibiting its personnel from entering go...