By Amy Dalrymple | Editor
“The heat took a lot of bushels away from us.” - Ed Kessel, who farms near Dickinson, on the impact of recent hot, dry weather.
A soybean plant suffers from a lack of moisture in a sandy area of field in Griggs County, North Dakota, on July 31, 2026. (Photo courtesy of Jeff Stachler/NDSU Extension)
By Jeff Beach
More than half of North Dakota is now in a drought, with blistering July heat shriveling crops and taking a toll on pastures.
The U.S. Drought Monitor, which is updated weekly on Thursdays, shows a third of the state in moderate drought and more than 23% in extreme drought. The extreme drought area increased dramatically from the previous week, when less than 9% of the state was in that category.
“July was one of the warmest and driest on record, and so in turn we had some very rapid shift into dry conditions across the state,” Daryl Ritchison, state climatologist for North Dakota, said Thursday.
The Senate Agriculture Committee clashed over SNAP error rate policy, and failed to advance updated farm bill legislation. (Photo by Cami Koons/Iowa Capital Dispatch)
By Cami Koons
Farm bill progress stalled Thursday as the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee failed to move forward its version of the omnibus legislation due to a conflict over when states will shoulder a share of federal nutrition assistance costs.
While the bill included bipartisan language from more than 100 bills, Democrats were unwilling to budge on their demand for a two-year extension to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act policy that requires states to pay for part of their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program if they have SNAP payment error rates in excess of 6%.
Chairman John Boozman amended the bill to extend the deadline one year, as a compromise, along with additional funding for an emergency food assistance program.
Preschool children line up to go outside at the Ralph Hawley Head Start Center in Emeryville, Calif., in December. The Trump administration has proposed major changes to the Head Start program. (Photo by Florence Middleton for CalMatters)
By Carolyn Jones
The Trump administration appears poised to gut the central policies that shape Head Start, a popular and long-established early childhood education program that serves the country’s neediest children.
The Department of Health and Human Services announced the changes Thursday.
The federal Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs posted a notice that it intends to “significantly reduce regulatory requirements” for Head Start, effectively stripping the program of the unique features that have defined it since its creation in the mid 1960s.
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More than 186,000 people in North Dakota and a neighboring county in Minnesota sought food assistance in the past year, a record for the Great Plains Food Bank.
Monitor reporter Michael Achterling talks to host Craig Blumenshine about the increase and the impacts from cuts to federal programs.
In the second half of this week’s podcast episode, deputy editor Jeff Beach talks about his recent reporting on low water levels at Lake Sakakawea and impacts to recreation.
A Closer Look with the Monitor is a partnership with Prairie Public's Main Street.
EARLIER ND MONITOR NEWS AND COMMENTARY
Great Plains Food Bank sees record numbers seeking food assistance | Michael Achterling
Dem-NPL leader Jamie Selzler tapped to replace Fargo mayor in North Dakota Senate | Michael Achterling
FROM STATES NEWSROOM
By Ariana Figueroa
President Donald Trump on Thursday signed two executive orders in his second attempt to deny citizenship to babies born to noncitizens, following the Supreme Court’s defeat this summer of an earlier order to redefine birthright citizenship.
Trump said the Supreme Court ruling was “an unfortunate decision” so “we’re making adjustments” to birthright citizenship, which is included in the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment.
Both executive orders are likely to face swift legal challenges, possibly all the way to the Supreme Court again.
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