By Amy Dalrymple | Editor

Milking machines are attached to the udders of dairy cows that stand on a carousel at Riverview's Campbell Dairy in Wilkin County, Minnesota, on July 10, 2025. (Photo by Jeff Beach/North Dakota Monitor)

By Jeff Beach

Opponents of what would be North Dakota’s largest dairy argued Monday that a state agency failed to do an adequate review of the environmental threats posed by the milking operation. 

Attorneys for Riverview LLP, the Minnesota-based company behind the 25,000-cow Herberg Dairy in Traill County, and the North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality defended the work of the state agency, which issued an environmental permit in 2025.

While attorneys provided some back-and-forth on the value or liability posed by manure from 25,000 cows at a site just west of the Red River, East Central Judicial District Court Judge Susan Bailey said she was more interested in the legal arguments over whether the agency did an adequate review. 

“It’s not for me to judge the science,” said Bailey, who did not issue a ruling on the case Monday. 

A farmworker harvests bell peppers in California's Coachella Valley in 2021. (Photo by Heidi de Marco/KFF Health News)

By Paula Andalo, KFF Health News

Seasonal work. Inconsistent hours. Frequent moves. Cash payments and informal jobs. For farmworkers who rely on Medicaid, these common employment patterns could put their health coverage at risk.

It’s a heightened concern for the estimated million-plus farmworkers who are U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents, as new work requirements kick in for the federal-state healthcare program that serves low-income and disabled Americans.

Starting next year in most states, many adults enrolled in Medicaid will have to prove they work, are enrolled in college or vocational courses, volunteer, or do unpaid work for at least 80 hours a month. Advocates say this could pose a significant challenge to Medicaid-eligible farmworkers, who frequently work more than 80 hours a month during harvest season but less in other months.

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty announces the federal government has turned over evidence in the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by immigration agents during a news conference on July 13, 2026. (Photo by Max Nesterak/Minnesota Reformer)

By Max Nesterak

Minnesota prosecutors announced on Monday they obtained a trove of evidence from the federal government in the killings of two U.S. citizens — Renee Good and Alex Pretti — and the shooting of Venezuelan national Julio Sosa-Celis by federal immigration agents during Operation Metro Surge.

The evidence includes body camera footage, officer statements and the Honda Pilot in which Good was killed, all of which the federal government had previously refused to turn over in a major breach of the tradition of cooperation between state and federal law enforcement agencies.

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said the evidence allows her office to fully evaluate whether criminal charges are warranted in the January killings in Minneapolis.

EARLIER ND MONITOR NEWS AND COMMENTARY
FROM STATES NEWSROOM

The late Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., right, at the time a candidate for president, rides on the back of a golf cart with his sister Darline Graham Nordone, center, during the Iowa State Fair on Aug. 17, 2015 in Des Moines, Iowa. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

By Jennifer Shutt

President Donald Trump announced Monday he would like the South Carolina governor to select the late U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham’s sister to fill the Republican’s seat for the remainder of his term.

“I recommended, to Governor Henry McMaster, Lindsey Graham’s wonderful sister, Darline, to serve as interim Senator from the Great State of South Carolina,” Trump wrote in a social media post. “This would be a fabulous tribute to Lindsey, who loved her dearly!”

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