Legacy Fund transparency vs. accessibility

By Amy Dalrymple | Editor

By Jacob Orledge

North Dakota has launched a new website aiming to make Legacy Fund investments more transparent to the public. 

The long-awaited website allows users to see where and how the state has invested taxpayer money through the Legacy Fund, a sovereign wealth fund fueled by oil taxes, which is valued at $15 billion. 

State officials who sit on the two boards responsible for overseeing the Legacy Fund hailed the website as a major step forward during a presentation Wednesday.

But Rep. Bernie Satrom, R-Jamestown, one of the sponsors of the 2025 law requiring the website’s creation, said the intent was to improve the transparency around investments state officials have declined to disclose. He said the website falls short.

By Jack Dura and Michael Achterling

The North Dakota Supreme Court on Wednesday denied an effort by GOP officials to overturn potential election victories of four legislative candidates whose paperwork they challenged, saying the court case came too late.

The three challengers filed a petition with the court asking the seats be declared vacant and filled by appointment should any of the four challenged candidates win. Two of the challengers lost their primaries to three of the candidates they allege are ineligible due to primary paperwork errors they said Secretary of State Michael Howe’s office wrongly allowed to be corrected.

In the court’s unanimous opinion, Justice Mark Friese said the challengers filed their court case a month after the Aug. 31 deadline for candidates to correct their nominating petitions. The timing of the challengers’ case “disrupts an ongoing election, potentially confusing voters,” he said.

By Jack Dura

North Dakota’s Ethics Commission voted unanimously Wednesday to begin its own inquiry into a state-backed business financing program that drew critical audit findings and lawmakers’ concerns about conflicts of interest and a lack of documentation for millions of dollars in transactions. 

The move is the first of its kind for the 7-year-old ethics panel.

Last month, the Legislature’s audit review committee asked Attorney General Drew Wrigley to investigate the North Dakota Development Fund. He declined to do so earlier this month, citing a legal conflict in his office representing current and former Development Fund Board members in a lawsuit.

“I would ask the question: If we don’t initiate, who would initiate it, if it wasn’t us?” Chair Pam Sharp said.

By Faye Seidler

I think everyone should vote, but not for the aggravating script we’ve heard over the last two decades. I think people should vote because they matter, their lives matter, their voice matters, and they deserve to be heard. 

A vote, by itself, is often not a particularly powerful thing. However, the act of voting is tremendously powerful as it sends the message that there are people who haven’t given up yet. That democracy is still alive.

By David Lightman

Most of the nation returns to standard time Sunday morning, and Congress could decide as early as next month whether it will be the last time people have to change their clocks.

President Donald Trump wants year-round daylight saving time. The U.S. House voted overwhelmingly in July for the change. Lots of Democrats and Republicans are behind the idea.

Yet, any momentum has stalled. The legislation can’t get out of the U.S. Senate, and it looks unlikely there’ll be much progress anytime soon.

Senators are due to return to Washington from a lengthy recess on Nov. 9, and a push for year-round daylight saving time is expected. But it faces strong opposition from senators in rural areas and those who represent states where children could be walking to school in darkness for most of the winter.

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