Public Affairs – Page 26 – TheMinotVoice.com

Judge Rules Ward County State’s Attorney’s Demand ‘Not in Good Faith’

by: Josh Wolsky | July 18, 2017

Minot area criminal defense attornies and the Ward County State’s Attorney’s office have been squabbling in court recently. The incidents have brought considerable media coverage, and now a ruling against the State’s Attorney’s office. Andrea Johnson with The Minot Daily News has the coverage, but it’s not available online so you’ll have to find it

Read & Share sourced from: Dickinson Press

Tech workers brace for Seattle’s plan to ‘tax the rich’

by: Josh Wolsky | July 18, 2017

The City of Seattle is on a pathway toward attempting to solve their low-income housing and public transit challenges by implementing an income tax on individuals earning more than $250,000 per year and couples earning more than $500,000. It’s not the first policy initiative Seattle has undertaken to attempt to make the City more livable

Read & Share sourced from: NPR

Criminal justice reforms have sheriffs worried about shifting costs

by: Josh Wolsky | July 17, 2017

The battle over who pays what is an eternal one in government, and when it comes to housing inmates serving sentences the payor is often a matter of where the inmate is staying. Is it in a state correctional facility or a county one? And shifting policy as well as a lot of new beds

Read & Share sourced from: Bismarck Tribune

Why don’t more women run for political office?

by: Josh Wolsky | July 11, 2017

When women run, they win just as often as men. But they don’t run as often. Follow the source link below and have a listen to a couple political operatives discuss why women aren’t running for political office.

Read & Share sourced from: Minnesota Public Radio

Self-Driving Cars Mean Cops Won’t Have Excuses to Pull People Over

by: Josh Wolsky | July 2, 2017

Self-driving cars are coming; there’s nothing to be done about it. Automation, in general, is going to radically remake the way we live our lives and our society, and if we look at self-driving cars as one of the early dominoes, the challenge then becomes what are the second, third, and fourth cultural dominoes that

Read & Share sourced from: Motherboard

The Government Shouldn’t Compete With Private Businesses for Profits

by: Josh Wolsky | June 30, 2017

Rob Port with the Say Anything Blog weighs in on the City of Minot’s proposed garbage pick-up policy revisions that would result in a mandated change of service from private haulers to City-provided garbage pick-up. The law change would capture about 1,200 multi-residential units. At a Committee of the Whole meeting this week, members of

Read & Share sourced from: Say Anything Blog.com

Opioid epidemic forces us into new territory

by: Josh Wolsky | June 28, 2017

In today’s Minot Daily editorial, Mike Sasses, editor of the Minot Daily provides some perspective on the new challenges created by opioid and drug abuse that’s more and more prevalent. When a judge has to consider whether granting someone bond may endanger their own life, we know we have a difficult problem to solve. Read

Read & Share sourced from: Minot Daily News

US Supreme Court decision redefines the line between church and state

by: Josh Wolsky | June 27, 2017

The doctrine of separation of church and state in American is embedded deeply into our culture. But where and how we separate the two will now likely change as the result of a U.S. Supreme Court decision. Quartz has the story on the case and the implications of the ruling.

Read & Share sourced from: Quartz

Hi, my name is America, and I have a problem

by: Jim Maxson | June 26, 2017

It is common knowledge that the USA is the greatest country on earth. It is very hard for me to dispute that as a fact because to do so would be less than graceful. The USA has been very good to me. It has provided me with a wonderful public education system which was subsidized

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The Strange Tale of North Dakota’s Midnight Rider: Serial Killer Eugene Butler

by: Josh Wolsky | June 24, 2017

From the macabre category and Troy Larson with the Ghosts of North Dakota comes, we rediscover the story of a North Dakota serial killer.

Read & Share sourced from: Ghosts of North Dakota

Africa is now the world’s testing ground for commercial drones

by: Josh Wolsky | June 24, 2017

North Dakota likes to think of itself as a leader in UAS investment. And in the U.S., we are. But on a global scale, strict U.S. regulations are dampening the industries ability to advance at the pace dictated by commercial demands and technical ability. In Africa, regulatory burdens aren’t a problem there we’re seeing drones

Read & Share sourced from: Quartz

Burgum opens applications for State Water Commission

by: Josh Wolsky | June 23, 2017

The State Water Commission is a hugely influential body, they’re responsible for directing the Water Commissions legislative appropriation which in recent bienniums numbered in the hundreds of millions of dollars. They’re also the organization informing many aspects of our local flood protection project. And at the conclusion of yesterday’s meeting, Governor Burgum announced that there

Read & Share sourced from: Grand Forks Herald

CHART: Who Wins, Who Loses With Senate Health Care Bill

by: Josh Wolsky | June 23, 2017

If you’re confused by who to trust with regards to the news about the Republican-drafted revision Obamacare, Gisele Grayson with NPR put together a simple chart that outlines the proposed legislation’s impacts. It’s pretty straight forward information from a news source that I still trust operates with healthy dose of professional and journalistic integrity.

Read & Share sourced from: NPR

North Dakota full legalization of marijuana ballot petition push to start in fall

by: Josh Wolsky | June 23, 2017

A citizen group in favor of the full legalization of marijuana in North Dakota has organized and is finalizing petition language before submitting it to the Secretary of State for approval. Once approved for circulation, petitioners have one year to gather the required signatures that would move the issue to a vote of the people.

Read & Share sourced from: Bismarck Tribune

Canadian Federal Government Sets Deadline for Provincial Marijuana Legalization

by: Josh Wolsky | June 23, 2017

By July 1, 2018, marijuana will be legal North of the border. The interesting part, it’s the federal government in Canada that is setting the deadline. And if the provinces don’t put a framework in place for legalization, citizens seeking the product will be able to mail order it directly from the federal government. It’s

Read & Share sourced from: Winnipeg Free Press

Legislature Opts to Sue Governor Doug Burgum Over Vetoes

by: Josh Wolsky | June 22, 2017

Shortly after the close of the legislative session, Governor Burgum took out his red veto pen and added his own thoughts to some of the legislation. That left a few of our legislative leaders a bit ruffled, and now after a couple months of deliberation and an Attorney General’s opinion that stated the Governor did

Read & Share sourced from: Say Anything Blog.com