Plain Talk

Rob and Todd Mitchell from KFYR AM550 in Bismarck talk about the Greta Thunberg mural controversy. Eventually. After all the stuff about Pauly Shore movies.

Bismarck-based filmmaker Matt Fern has been making a documentary about the controversy around the University of North Dakota's Fighting Sioux nickname for seven years now. This spring, he's finally ready to put it in front of wide audiences. The film, now called Fighting Over Sioux, will get a theatrical release in North Dakota this spring, to be followed by availability in other media such as online streaming. Fern talks about his journey in making this film and why the story is still relevant today. This episode of Plain Talk is brought to you by Americans for Prosperity of North Dakota.

On the Jay Thomas Show on WDAY AM970, Rob and Jay discuss the controversy over a Great Thunberg mural in Bismarck.

"Art is art," Governor Doug Burgum said of a controversy in Bismarck over a mural of activist Greta Thunberg. "Art is free speech." On this episode of Plain Talk, he also discussed what he described as our "broken energy market" which is contributing to the financial woes of a major coal-fired power plant owned by Great River Energy. Burgum responded to the recently-launched campaign of a potential Democratic challenger in 2020. He said he hasn't yet met Dr. Shelley Lenz, but agreed with her calls to promote North Dakota's animal agriculture even as he disagreed with her claims that western North Dakota has been ignored under his administration. Burgum said one way to help animal agriculture, and agriculture, in general, is to end North Dakota's corporate farming ban. This episode of Plain Talk is brought to you by Americans for Prosperity of North Dakota.

Dr. Shelley Lenz is a Veternarian, originally from Ohio but a resident of western North Dakota since 2007 with long-standing familial ties to the region. She's running for governor as a Democrat, though she says she doesn't really have a party. She talks on this episode of Plain Talk about why she feels the state government is ignoring western North Dakota, how she'd address the state's workforce needs, and what her views are when it comes to energy, social issues, taxes, and regulation. This episode of Plain Talk was brought to you by Americans for Prosperity of North Dakota.

A company which owns a coal-fired energy plant in North Dakota says they're facing financial struggles. Senator Kevin Cramer says it's because the government has put its finger on the scale in the energy markets, and talks about how the issue could be remedied. He also discusses Trump's acquittal from impeachment charges, the blow-back against fellow Republican Senator Mitt Romney for voting not to acquit, and the President's State of the Union address. This episode of Plain Talk is brought to you by Americans for Prosperity of North Dakota.

David Owen, a pro-marijuana activist working to put legalization of recreational pot on North Dakota's 2020 ballot, says a Legislative study into how to handle legalization has gone "off the rails," including testimony from a former prison warden who suggested a tie between pot use and Satan worship. This episode of Plain Talks was brought to you by Americans for Prosperity of North Dakota.

In 2017, North Dakota lawmakers made electronic pull tab machines legal for charitable gaming. That resulted in a 52 percent increase in state gaming revenue, but tribal casinos have taken a hit. North Dakota Indian Affairs Commissioner Scott Davis says that when this legislation was being debated, tribal interests were assured that it wouldn't impact their casinos. Yet it has. Davis says tribal casinos have seen a 30 to 45 percent decline in revenues. "I don't want to use the word duped," Davis said, but the tribes feel duped.

Rob and Jay talk about the Super Bowl halftime show, Rush Limbaugh's lung cancer, and tribal gaming.

On this episode of Plain Talk, state Rep. Tom Beadle joins me to talk about the campaign he just announced for Treasurer, an office the existence of which he once voted to put on the office. Beadle says he was voting more to have the debate at the ballot box than out of any real conviction to end the office. He says these days he's convinced it's important to have an independent Treasurer to provide oversight and transparency for the state's finances. This episode of Plain Talk is brought to you by Americans for Prosperity of North Dakota.