News

North Dakota is still in drought status. When rainfall is sparse, salts and other naturally occurring chemicals become more concentrated and can even reach toxic levels. Therefore, the North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality recommends livestock producers test their water sources and monitor them throughout the grazing period. Depending on those results, testing may be more frequent. The North Dakota State University Veterinary Diagnostic Lab provides livestock water testing and microscopic identification of blue-green algae, salinity, nitrates, sodium, sulfate, bacteria, and a host of other parameters. Information on how to collect water samples and water quality laboratories is located at https://tinyurl.com/stockwatertesting.

Gov. Doug Burgum today welcomed positive news regarding the state’s two-year budget cycle that ended June 30. Preliminarily figures indicate a positive balance of more than $1 billion in the general fund for only the second time in state history.

The North Dakota Department of Commerce today announced that Bowman County Development Corporation has been selected for the 2021 Artists on Main Street Program. 

Gov. Doug Burgum released the following statement today after the Biden administration extended restrictions on nonessential travel at the U.S.-Canada border for at least a month, until Aug. 21. The decision comes two days after Canada announced it would reopen its border to vaccinated U.S. citizens for nonessential travel on Aug. 9.

Gov. Doug Burgum today appointed North Dakota Game and Fish Department Deputy Director Scott Peterson to serve as interim director of the department until a new director is named. Current Game and Fish Director Terry Steinwand is retiring July 31 after more than 15 years as director and nearly 40 years with the department.

The North Dakota Department of Commerce today announced five projects totaling $731,044, were awarded AmeriCorps funding. 

"AmeriCorps is dedicated to helping with community needs across North Dakota,” Commerce Workforce Division Director Katie Ralston said. “I’m proud to announce new funding that will elevate this work by AmeriCorps members across North Dakota. I appreciate all our AmeriCorps members – past, present, and future – for their dedication.” 

Gov. Doug Burgum today presented North Dakota’s highest citizen honor to the state’s first Olympic gold medal winners, officially inducting twin sisters and hockey stars Monique Lamoureux-Morando and Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson into the Theodore Roosevelt Rough Rider Hall of Fame. 

The North Dakota Department of Commerce today announced that registration for the 2021 Main Street ND Summit is now open. 

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum today issued a statement in support of Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem’s legal challenge to a federal ban on new oil and natural gas leasing on public lands. Stenehjem filed the lawsuit Wednesday against the federal government, including the Department of the Interior and its Bureau of Land Management.

Today, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Risk Management Agency (USDA-RMA) announced that agricultural producers with crop insurance can hay, graze or chop cover crops on prevent plant acres for silage, haylage or baleage at any time and still receive 100% of the prevented planting payment. Previously, cover crops could only by hayed, grazed or chopped after Nov. 1 on prevent plant acres, or the prevented planting payment was reduced.