By Jeff Beach | Deputy editor
“We are not simply asking for the healthcare funding. We are advocating for the health and the dignity and the safety of the future of our Native nations.” - Lonna Street, chair of the Spirit Lake Nation, on tribal healthcare needs.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks during a roundtable discussion with North Dakota tribal leaders at United Tribes Technical College on Nov. 5, 2026. (Photo by Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor)
By Jacob Orledge
Native American communities experience some of the highest disparities in healthcare in the country. Tribal chairs are hoping to work with U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who visited North Dakota Thursday, to remedy that.
A major theme of the tribal chairs’ comments Thursday was the need for the federal government to provide the necessary resources to support local tribal solutions, not to impose solutions crafted in Washington, D.C.
Kennedy agreed and said “we need to overhaul” the Indian Health Service to better support tribal governments’ local efforts, rather than directing everything from Washington.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. center, speaks during a press conference next to Sen. John Hoeven, left, R-N.D., and Sen. Kevin Cramer, right, R-N.D., at the Bismarck Event Center on Nov. 5, 2026. (Photo by Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor)
By Jack Dura
The top U.S. health official visited a ranch near Bismarck Thursday where he talked about the importance of soil health for human health.
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spoke at a roughly 90-minute roundtable on regenerative agriculture at the Black Leg Ranch east of Bismarck. Reporters were not allowed in except for a 15-minute portion, during which Kennedy talked about how vital soil health is for the human gut, which he said dictates health, emotions, moods, energy levels and “our effectiveness in life.”
“If we can keep that healthy, we can maintain public health. It’s hard to keep it healthy if the nutrients that are supposed to be in the soils are not making it into the plants, then onto our tables or our plates,” Kennedy said.
Trucks fill up with diesel fuel in Casselton, North Dakota on Oct. 1, 2026. (Photo by Jeff Beach/North Dakota Monitor)
By Jeff Beach
Moves to provide help for farmers, truckers and others hit by high diesel fuel prices are having a limited effect in North Dakota.
For some farmers, loosening up restrictions on the use of lower-taxed diesel came too late and was complicated by farming in two states following different sets of rules.
North Dakota allowed farmers to use a lower-tax diesel on highways when the fuel is normally reserved for field work. But a North Dakota State University researcher said that move is “not able to make a big dent” in fuel costs.
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North Dakota and President Donald Trump have tried to give farmers and truckers a break on diesel prices, but the effectiveness of their executive orders have been limited by a number of factors.
North Dakota Monitor deputy editor Jeff Beach joins host Craig Blumenshine discuss what farmers and researchers are seeing in the week’s episode of A Closer Look with the Monitor.
A Closer Look with the Monitor is a partnership with Prairie Public's Main Street.
EARLIER ND MONITOR NEWS AND COMMENTARY
School meals focus shifts to Legislature after Measure 2 defeat | Jacob Orledge and Michael Achterling
New faces, new leaders and a few more Democrats will shape North Dakota’s next Legislature | Jack Dura
FROM STATES NEWSROOM
U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures, D-Ala., speaks at a final rally before the 2026 midterm elections at the Oliver-Dunn Acadome at Alabama State University in Montgomery on Nov. 2, 2026. (Anna Barrett/Alabama Reflector)
By Jonathan Shorman
Alabama Republicans had hoped Rep. Shomari Figures would deliver a concession speech on Tuesday night after the state legislature redrew his district to be more GOP-friendly.
Instead, the Democrat declared victory — winning nearly 54% of the vote.
“We know what happened with this district,” Figures told supporters as he invoked the Republican gerrymander. “But we had a job to do. And so we put our hands to the plow and we did not look backwards.”
The Republican project to gerrymander congressional districts across the country, initiated by President Donald Trump more than a year ago, failed to deliver significant wins for the party — and, in North Carolina at least, even worked against it.
Still focused on D.C. projects, Trump signs order preserving Oval Office | Ariana Figueroa
3M settles chemical contamination claims for $7.35 billion, while admitting no guilt | Minnesota Reformer
Sen. Chuck Grassley doesn’t plan on resigning before Sand becomes governor | Iowa Capital Dispatch
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