North Dakota News

Measles outbreaks in Illinois and North Dakota have ended

Health officials in Illinois and North Dakota say their states’ measles outbreaks are over, pointing to a continuing slowdown of measles spread in the U.S. during vaccine-preventable disease’s worst year since 1991. Wednesday’s national case count stood at 1,309 — 21 new cases in a week, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Last week, the U.S. passed the…

Gene-Edited Microbe Provides Crops with Nitrogen Boost at Grand Farm

The microbe, developed by Pivot Bio, has the potential to massively increase the yield from crops like corn and barley.

WHEATLAND, N.D. (KVRR) – It was a field day – literally – at Grand Farms Innovation Campus in Wheatland on July 16. The agriculture company Pivot Bio unveiled Proven G3, which are gene-edited-nitrogen-fixing microbes. That may sound complicated – and it is – but the way it is beneficial to crops is relatively simple. Naturally occurring microbes in the soil…

Folkways Making Progress in Getting Approval to Close City Street

They want added safety for the participants when they attempt to break the world record for most s'mores eaten at one time.

FARGO, N.D. (KVRR) – We have an update on Folkways’ request to close downtown streets for a world record attempt. The organization plans to break the world record for most s’mores eaten at the same time at their Night Bazaar on July 24. They hope to have over 1,200 people in the Broadway square area, so they submitted three separate…

Bail set for Fargo man involved in standoff with SWAT Monday morning in Moorhead

MOORHEAD, Minn. (KVRR) — A Fargo man accused of fleeing and hiding from law enforcement in a south Moorhead house on Monday makes his first court appearance. The judge set bond for 42-year-old Christopher Ringsrud-Knowels at $600,000 with conditions or $800,000 without conditions. He was out on bond for a possesion of explosives case in Grand Forks County and two…

AgViews Live: Trouble in Trump Country

FARGO — Bankers who work in agricultural finance say President Trump’s tariffs are costing him major support among farmers in what used to be solidly Trump country. That’s the word ahead of the annual AgViews Live seminar by Bell Bank. Uncertainty over the future of federal farm programs and tariffs on some trade items, as well as whether tariff trouble…

Fourth person reaches plea deal in brutal downtown Fargo beating in April 2024

Esiquio Hernandez FARGO, N.D. (KVRR/KFGO) — Another man has been sentenced for his part in a beating that left a man severely injured in downtown Fargo in April 2024. In a plea deal, 27-year-old Esiquio Hernandez pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated assault and had charges of robbery and accomplice to aggravated assualt dropped. He also pleaded guilty to…

Walsh County Commission votes 3-2 to uses sales tax to build new $25 million jail

GRAFTON, N.D. (KVRR/KFGO) — Walsh County Sheriff Ron Jurgens says the county will use the sales tax that passed during a special election in May for a new jail. Voters approved a three quarter percent sales tax but rejected a 20 mill property tax increase. Both needed to pass for the project to move forward, but Walsh County Commission voted…

UPDATE: Police make arrest for Essentia Hospital lockdown

(UPDATE 4:48 PM) — Fargo Police determined the call was made from Moorhead. They arrested 57-year-old Jerome Lampley for Terrorizing and was taken to the Clay County Jail.   (UPDATE 1:02 PM) — Statement from Essentia Health-Fargo: The lockdown at Essentia Health-Fargo has been lifted as of noon today. All services and patient care have resumed normal operations. This morning,…

North Dakota tribes ask Supreme Court to keep legislative districts intact amid lawsuit

Legislators attending a Redistricting Committee meeting Dec. 13, 2023, look at maps of different proposals. (Kyle Martin/For the North Dakota Monitor)BISMARCK, N.D. (North Dakota Monitor) — Two North Dakota tribes and a group of tribal citizens have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to keep North Dakota’s district map in place while it considers whether to review a voting discrimination lawsuit…

North Dakota attorneys withdraw from federal public defender work due to funding gap

The William L. Guy Federal Building pictured on July 15, 2025, in Bismarck. (Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor)BISMARCK, N.D. (North Dakota Monitor) — North Dakota attorneys and judicial officials say a lack of funding for a key federal program could harm federal defendants’ ability to get quality representation. The U.S. Constitution protects criminal defendants’ right to an attorney. When federal defendants…