Apparently the bottle rocket ban in North Dakota is getting a lot of attention (read here).  If it was just our state passing the ban, I would agree with the editorial as well, but I think North Dakota isn’t the only state that has passed this kind of legislation.  If all states pass something similar, it will be very [...]

In spite of its relatively slow pace, today was a surprisingly productive day in the North Dakota Legislature for energy related issues.
This morning three resolutions that could let Congress know where the state of North Dakota stands on issues like greenhouse gas regulations and drilling for more oil were heard.  In the afternoon, three bills offering tax [...]

One more thing about House Bill 1572, the personhood bill that is intended to challenge Roe vs. Wade:  Maria Lancaster and her five year old daughter Elisha are coming to North Dakota to testify on behalf of the bill.
Elisha is known as the Miracle Snowflake baby.  Read more about it here and watch a youtube video here.

House Bill 1572 will have its second hearing on Monday at 9:00.  The Senate Judiciary Committee will hear testimony (I’m assuming there will be a lot of it) both for and against the bill, which would define human life as beginning with fertilization and put that definition into North Dakota law.
Read more about it here, [...]

The recent impeachment of former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich brought to mind some early North Dakota history.   The first governor ever to be recalled in the United States was Lynn Frazier, who served as governor of North Dakota from around 1917 to 1921. 
Politics in those days were messy.  Farmers who felt they weren’t being treated [...]

Leave it to Rob Port to put things in perspective.  In this blog post, he explains how being able to buy American flags not made in the USA is one of our basic freedoms and something we ought to protect.  I hadn’t even given this issue much thought until I read this.

Kudos to Doug Leier for putting together a very comprehensive update of what’s going on in the Legislature regarding the outdoors.  I especially appreciate his coverage of House Bill 1045, which could prevent further separation of hunting rights from the surface estate. 
It seems that severance of rights is going to be a big issue this [...]

Myra Pearson, chairwoman of the Spirit Lake Tribe  is very well-spoken.  The feeling she portrayed during her State of the Tribal-State Relations address was one of hope and collaboration.  I believe the entire address is printed in the House of Representatives journal for Thursday, January 8.
Here are more comments.

Just for fun–I liked reading about the Bakken on Wikipedia and thought others might enjoy it, too.  So here it is!
It’s interesting to compare mental notes of last Legislative session ,when oil drilling in the Bakken area was a huge deal to this session, when legislators are concerned with how much money to save and [...]

The 61st legislative session for the state of North Dakota officially began Tuesday.  In the early afternoon, Gov. John Hoeven delivered his State of the State address.  Read more about it here and here.
Many committees began hearing bills today.