Plain Talk

A faction of the North Dakota Republican Party which calls itself the Bastiat Caucus is pushing a constitutional ballot measure to implement term limits for the Governor and for the state Legislature. This comes amid deep tensions between the Batiats and the rest of the NDGOP. Does the state need term limits? Is this a wise political move from the Bastiats? Chad Oban, the former executive director of the Democratic-NPL, joins the episode of Plain Talk to discuss.

There is broad bipartisan agreement that America needs to invest in infrastructure. The problem is, there isn't a lot of agreement on what infrastructure is. In Congress, Democrats are pushing an infrastructure bill that includes a raft of progressive policy priorities that have little to do with roads or bridges, or power grids. Congressman Kelly Armstrong of North Dakota talks about that debate on this episode of Plain Talk Live. We'll also talk about Coal Creek Station, North Dakota's largest coal-fired power plant, finding a new buyer. The plant was set to be closed, but now a new company plans on operating it into the future, but what does it need to be a success? Also, the role of big tech in our lives continues to be a pressing political concern, particularly in issue areas like privacy and free speech. Armstrong has been appointed to a task force taking on this issue, and will talk about his work there.

Jupiter Paulsen was a 14-year-old girl who was brutally murdered in Fargo by a man with a history of criminal conduct who was out on probation. Some are blaming officials for letting Arthur Prince Kollie, the man arrested for the murder, out of custody. North Dakota, like many other states in America, has made some long strides toward criminal justice reform that includes an emphasis on moving away from incarceration. Was Paulsen's murder evidence of those reforms going too far? Jay Thomas, host of the Jay Thomas Show on WDAY AM970 in Fargo, joins this episode of Plain Talk Live to discuss.

A group of hardcore supporters of Donald Trump have gotten approval to begin circulating a petition to recall North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum and his running mate Lt. Governor Brent Sanford. Will they be successful? Chad Oban, former executive director of the North Dakota Democratic-NPL, joins this episode of Plain Talk Live to discuss it. Also, a federal judge has dismissed the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe's lawsuit against the Dakota Access Pipeline, marking the end of an era of North Dakota politics, and at the national level Democrats suffered a defeat in their efforts to implement national election reforms. Is that issue over?

Critical race theory. You've no doubt been hearing a lot about it. It's in our headlines. It's grist for the ceaseless mill of cable news outrage. It's a topic of debate in our school districts. Do you know what it is? Is it valid curriculum? A worthy avenue for scholastic endeavor? Or is it an ideology? Political doctrine dressed up as academics? Perhaps it's a bit of both. Dr. Dan Conn, a professor teacher education at Minot State University, joins this episode of Plain Talk Live to talk about it.

Since 2007, the City of Fargo has had an ordinance making it illegal for federal firearms license holders to conduct transactions out of their homes. Only, nobody really paid attention to it until federal officials became aware of it and informed FFL holders in Fargo operating that way that they couldn't renew their licenses. There aren't many people in Fargo who do this. There were just seven in May of last year when then-Fargo Police Chief David Todd said there hadn't been any complaints about them. Still, Fargo's city leaders have refused to back down from this restrictive ordinance, so the Legislature stepped in. During their 2021 session, they passed a state law pre-empting Fargo's ordinance. But at a recent meeting, city commissioners tabled a motion to bring their ordinance into compliance with state law, opting instead to explore a lawsuit against the state over the law. Edward Krystosek, a Fargo resident and past candidate for the city commission who has followed this issue closely, joins this episode of Plain Talk Live to talk about the city's actions.

Earlier this year North Dakota's lawmakers passed a bill requiring full legislative approval of any interim appropriation of federal money that exceeds $50 million in a biennium. Now lawmakers don't want to follow their own law. Former North Dakota Governor Ed Schafer weighs in on that situation on this episode of Plain Talk Live. Also, there's drama at the State Investment board, with revelations that a consultant, paid by the state to manage its money managers, has also accepted payments from the managers it recommends for hire. Is this pay for play? What steps can the board take to address this situation?

If you can name me a North Dakota community that wasn't built around a railroad stop, or at least had rails running through it at one point in its history, I'll buy you lunch. Rail infrastructure has been important to North Dakota for as long as our state has been a state. Longer, really, so when one of the companies providing rail service in our region is seeking out a merger with another American rail line, it matters to us. John Brooks, Chief Marketing Officer for Canadian Pacific Railway, joins this episode of Plain Talk Live to talk about his company's efforts to merge with Kansas City Southern, and why that transaction is a better outcome for North Dakota than a rival merger bid from Canadian National.

With the vigorous demonstrations against the Line 3 pipeline, the upper midwest is getting another front-and-center look at the often vicious politics of energy infrastructure. Left-wing activists train to be arrested, the plot conflict with law enforcement, all to produce media coverage that is sympathetic to their cause. Meanwhile, every single one of us, including the most ardent and extreme of pipeline protesters, is using the oil moved by pipelines every day. Jay Thomas from WDAY AM970 in Fargo joins this episode of Plain Talk to talk about the Line 3 protests and pipeline politics in general.

A big name in power is coming to North Dakota to invest in hydrogen energy, and it's a big deal for our state in a lot of ways. It's a new industry, for one, in a state that desperately needs economic diversification. The proposed hydrogen hub will be a new customer for North Dakota natural gas, a commodity produced as a byproduct of oil exploration here. We produce so much a lot of it gets burned off as excess in the Bakken oil fields. It will also be a shot in the arm for North Dakota's nascent efforts with carbon capture. The hydrogen plant will be carbon-neutral because what carbon it produces will be captured and stored here in the state. On this episode of Plain Talk Live, Bakken Energy CEO Mike Hopkins will discuss this new project and the specifics of North Dakota, from public policy to geology, that are making it possible.