Plain Talk

Cramer talks Supreme Court and other topics during his regular appearance on the podcast.

"I have to own the miscue," Governor Doug Burgum said on this episode of Plain Talk. He was referring to a quarantine order issued by his administration earlier this week which carried with it a misdemeanor criminal charge for anyone who violated it. The order applied to people who came into close contact with someone positive for COVID-19. Burgum said interim State Health Officer Dr. Paul Mariani noticed, upon taking his new position, that in the area of quarantines North Dakota wasn't in compliance with CDC guidelines. "He wanted to align those two things," Burgum said. The result was the now-rescinded order, which included the misdemeanor charge because state law requires that to be the penalty for disobeying orders from the SHO. "We know the government telling people what to do in North Dakota doesn't work," Burgum said, adding that his administration's goal is "compliance" and not punishing people. "It didn't flag for me personally...that we were going to have the storm of reaction we did," Burgum said. He said he'd like to work with the Legislature in the next session to give the SHO position some flexibility to issue orders without a criminal consequence for violating them. "There wasn't a way for us to say that's an infraction instead of a misdemeanor," Burgum said, adding that he'd like to "get people to stop focusing on the penalty."

Jodi Meisch and Will Thompson are two Democrats in North Dakota's 22nd legislative district. They are hoping to unseat to Republican incumbents, Rep. Brandy Pyle and Rep. Michael Howe. On this episode of Plain Talk, they talk about the issues that are important to them, both big and small. We also delve into the complicated policy problems presented by property taxes and local control, as well as the difficulties inherent to campaigning as a Democrat in a state, and legislative district, that has come to view that political party suspiciously.

Democratic-NPL gubernatorial candidate Shelley Lenz takes questions and talks about her campaign. Also state Rep. Scott Louser (R-Minot) makes the pitch for Measure 2.

Rob and Jay talk about some recent fire at a Minot City Council meeting, and controversy over a Native American statue in Carrington.

Rob and Jay talk about a report connecting some 250,000 cases of coronavirus to the Sturgis motorcycle rally in South Dakota.

North Dakota has come "dangerously close" to not having the power it needs. That's what Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette said on this episode of Plain Talk. He said that political policies favoring energy sources like wind and solar are "distorting the economic viability" of baseload energy like coal. Secretary Brouillette said he wasn't going to criticize a company like Great River Energy, which announced earlier this year that they would be closing down North Dakota's largest coal-fired power plant because they're reacting rationally to a distorted market place. Still, with baseload energy sources like coal plants shutting down, it's putting Americans, generally, and North Dakotans, specifically, at risk. "If anyone misses the point of why baseload energy is important...look at California," Brouillette said. The Secretary is visiting North Dakota to review the nuclear missions at the Minot Air Force Base and to participate in roundtable discussions about the challenges facing the oil, gas, and coal industries, issues he also addressed in this episode.

Jay and Rob talk about the North Dakota Supreme Court kicking Measure 3 off the ballot.

On this episode of Plain Talk Dr. Robert Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control in Georgia, talks about the COVID-19 impact and how America, generally, and North Dakota, specifically, is handling it. One point Redfield made is that elected officials need to avoid making sweeping policies, instead tailoring responses to the needs of specific areas. "We need to be more surgical," Redfield said, echoing something Governor Doug Burgum has been saying about responding to the pandemic "using a scalpel not a sledgehammer." Asked how North Dakota is doing in its handling of the outbreak, Redfield offered a risk assessment. He said the CDC considers a state in the "red zone" if it has more than 100 active cases per 100,000 citizens. "North Dakota has about 151 per 100,000," he said, though he added that another measure his agency looks at is the percentage of tests being conducted that are coming back positive. A 10 percent rate puts a state in the red zone, per the CDC. Redfield noted that North Dakota's daily rates are typically coming back under 6 percent. In a recent column, I noted that just about everyone in North Dakota who is testing positive for the virus is recovering with most - around 95 percent - not even needing to be hospitalized. In response, some argued that even those who recover may face long-term health challenges resulting from having the virus. I asked Dr. Redfield about that. "It's unknown territory," he said, noting that the virus has only been with us for a matter of months. It's something the CDC is tracking, but he expects that healthy people without "co-morbidities" (which is to say, other health issues) who get the virus will likely recover and be fine long-term.

Jay and Rob talk about the Trump vs. Biden race, and the group calling itself North Dakota Voters First which is pushing Measure 3.