Articles written by James Macpherson
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Auditor: North Dakota election systems 'incredibly secure'
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — The state auditor said Thursday that an examination of North Dakota's electoral systems conducted in response to voter concerns found that they are "incredibly secure." Auditor Josh Gallion said he undertook the review in r...
Largest yet: $1.3 billion contract for border wall awarded
PHOENIX (AP) — A North Dakota construction company favored by President Donald Trump has received the largest contract to date to build a section of Trump's signature wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Republican U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakot...
Task force aims at incentives for oil drillers amid virus
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Hoping to avoid what North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum has called a potential "economic Armageddon," state and industry officials have formed a group intended to help oil and gas producers recover from falling crude prices due to me...
Doosan Bobcat restarts plants, putting 2,300 back to work
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota's largest manufacturer, Doosan Bobcat, resumed operations Monday after a two-week shutdown amid the coronavirus pandemic, putting some 2,300 people back to work. The company's restart came as the state is w...
Winner of $400M border wall contract: 'a gung-ho, smart guy'
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Tommy Fisher peered into a Fox News camera and talked up his North Dakota-based company's ability to build a border wall faster and cheaper than others could, with technology "so revolutionary, it's like comparing the iPhone t...
Wall builder who pitched to Trump on Fox wins $400M contract
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Tommy Fisher's ambitious plan to win a border wall contract included what could be the next best thing to making a pitch directly to President Donald Trump himself — talking to him through his favorite cable TV channel, Fox New...
Keystone pipeline leaks oil in northeastern North Dakota
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A pipeline that carries tar sands oil from Canada through seven states has leaked an unknown amount of crude oil over more than quarter-mile swath in northeastern North Dakota, state environmental regulators said Wednesday. S...
North Dakota agency disregarded policy on spill reporting
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota's Health Department disregarded its own policy in updating the volume of a 2015 pipeline spill at a natural gas processing plant, and it remains unclear whether promised quarterly inspections of the site have b...
2015 North Dakota liquid gas spill much bigger than reported
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A 2015 pipeline spill of liquid natural gas in western North Dakota initially reported as just 10 gallons is at least hundreds of thousands of gallons larger and may take another decade to clean up, state health officials s...
Heitkamp says no to Kavanaugh, citing temperament
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota Sen. Heidi Heitkamp's decision to vote against Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court defies her state's heavy support for President Donald Trump, but could boost the vulnerable Democrat's standing with i...
North Dakota oil output cut back to meet gas capture rules
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Fearing sanctions by the state, some North Dakota oil drillers have begun cutting output to control the amount of natural gas that's being burned off at well sites and wasted as a byproduct of crude production, industry and s...
GOP struggles to woo candidates in states where Trump won
BISMARCK, North Dakota (AP) — Republican Rep. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota got a hard sell last week from President Donald Trump, who gave Cramer and his wife a personal tour of the West Wing and used the gilded luster of the newly renovated Oval O...
Minnesota man lived with bodies of mom, brother for year
A Minnesota man who lived in a house with the decomposing bodies of his mother and twin brother for about a year said he could not bring himself to report their deaths to authorities. "I was traumatized," Robert James Kuefler told The Associated...
Hoeven, industry want study of North Dakota oil potential
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota oil drillers and U.S. Sen. John Hoeven want federal geologists to reevaluate the amount of recoverable crude oil in the state, saying a new assessment likely would show stronger production potential and attract i...
4 years later, cleanup nears end for big North Dakota spill
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Cleanup is finally in sight four years after a pipeline break sent more than 20,000 barrels of oil oozing across a wheat field in northwestern North Dakota, state regulators said Friday. Excavation of the affected site is s...
Trump denies disaster declaration for Dakota Access pipeline
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — The Trump administration rejected North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum's request for a "major disaster declaration" to help cover some of the estimated $38 million cost to police protests of the Dakota Access pipeline, a spokesman for...
Want a governor's mansion? You'll need to move it
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — If you want to live in a governor's mansion without being elected, North Dakota has a deal for you. With a catch. The state wants to preserve the 10,000-square-foot home that has served North Dakota's first families for 57 years...
North Dakota may halt rail inspections aimed at derailments
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — The end of the line may be in sight for a North Dakota safety program aimed at lowering the risk of disastrous train derailments involving the state's crude oil. The pilot program, which includes two rail safety inspectors a...
Keystone XL operator reassessing interest of US producers
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — TransCanada Corp. is reassessing whether oil producers in North Dakota and Montana are still interested in shipping crude through its long-delayed Keystone XL pipeline now that they have other new options to ship their p...
Measure proposes moratorium on North Dakota wind energy
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Worried North Dakota's burgeoning wind-energy industry may be threatening the state's coal-fired power plants, a Republican lawmaker has proposed legislation that would halt wind-generation projects for two years. Mandan Sen. D...
Tribe files legal challenge to stall Dakota Access pipeline
CANNON BALL, N.D. (AP) — Construction crews have resumed work on the final segment of the Dakota Access pipeline, and the developer of the long-delayed project said Thursday that the full system could be operational within three months. Meanwhile, a...
Oil pipeline foes protest around country in 'last stand'
CANNON BALL, N.D. (AP) — With the federal government about to green-light the final phase of the Dakota Access pipeline, opponents of the project protested around the country Wednesday in an action some dubbed their "last stand." Some members of t...
ND bill heightens penalties for rioting against oil pipeline
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A North Dakota lawmaker urged colleagues on Monday to slap tighter penalties on people involved in riots, the latest measure the Republican-controlled Legislature is considering that was spawned by ongoing protests against the D...
Last pipeline protesters weigh whether to fight or leave
CANNON BALL, N.D. (AP) — Most of the demonstrators who gathered on the North Dakota plains to oppose the Dakota Access oil pipeline declared victory and departed their snowy protest camp last month after the Army announced it would halt the p...
North Dakota's experience with pipeline protests spurs bills
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota's Republican-led and largely oil-friendly Legislature is quickly introducing a raft of bills spurred by the bitter dispute between Dakota Access protesters and law enforcement, from restricting face coverings at p...
