By Jeff Beach | Deputy Editor
“Artificial intelligence is changing so fast it’s hard to keep up with it. We need to know what other states and the federal government are doing.” - State Sen. David Hogue, R-Minot, on considering AI legislation.
Rep. Jonathan Warrey, R-Casselton, is the chair of the new legislative committee focused on artificial intelligence and data centers. The committee held its first meeting on July 15, 2026. (Photo by Jacob Orledge/North Dakota Monitor)
By Jacob Orledge
A new legislative committee is studying how other states approach regulating artificial intelligence and is considering what policy steps may be necessary in North Dakota ahead of next year’s legislative session.
Rep. Jonathan Warrey, R-Casselton, is chairing the committee and said the ultimate goal is to produce recommendations that are “practical, balanced, and focused on the long-term interests of the people of North Dakota.”
“We want to ensure that we take a North Dakota-first approach, one where innovation can thrive,” Warrey said. “But we’ve got to protect our citizens within reason and maintain public trust.”
Leonard Hoffmann is part of a group of North Dakota landowners asking the Supreme Court to find they’re entitled to attorney fees they incurred while settling an eminent domain dispute with pipeline company WBI Energy. (Photo provided by Institute for Justice)
By Mary Steurer
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to answer whether a group of McKenzie County landowners is entitled to attorney fees from a pipeline company.
The lawsuit stems from the landowners’ yearslong legal battle with WBI Energy after the company used eminent domain to take a portion of their properties for a pipeline project in 2018. The federal Natural Gas Act allows companies to take land for public natural gas infrastructure so long as landowners are fairly compensated.
The property owners — Leonard and Denae Hoffmann, Randall Stevenson and Rocky Prestangen — were paid for their land under a confidential settlement reached in federal court in 2021. They claim they’re also entitled to legal costs.
People gather near the scene of 26th Street and Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where federal agents shot and killed Alex Pretti on Jan. 24, 2026, the third shooting in as many weeks. (Photo by Nicole Neri/Minnesota Reformer)
By Ariana Figueroa
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on July 13 killed 25-year-old Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a Colombian national with legal work authorization, in Maine, making him the 22nd person shot at by federal immigration officers during President Donald Trump’s second term.
Nearly all of those 22 incidents – 19 – involved Department of Homeland Security officers shooting upon people in their vehicles during traffic stops, a crucial nexus, according to a States Newsroom review of news reports and documents. The encounters spanned the nation, from Colorado to Texas to Oregon to New Jersey.
Since Trump’s inauguration in January 2025, where he promised to carry out an aggressive immigration crackdown, federal immigration officers have killed six people, three of them U.S. citizens. Four deaths came during traffic stops.
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Two recent stories deal with how state regulators handle environmental protection and permitting of major development projects.
One covers the legal challenges surrounding the permit for what could become North Dakota's largest dairy operation.
Another is the ongoing courtroom dispute over the Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline, where attorneys debated whether the North Dakota Public Service Commission can even consider public safety when approving pipeline routes.
North Dakota Monitor deputy editor Jeff Beach talks about those stories in this episode of A Closer Look with the Monitor. The weekly podcast is a partnership with Prairie Public's Main Street hosted by Craig Blumenshine.
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MORE FROM STATES NEWSROOM
Billionaire philanthropist T. Denny Sanford died July 18, 2026, at age 90. (Photo courtesy of First Premier Bank, Premier Bankcard and Sanford Health)
By South Dakota Searchlight Staff
South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden said this weekend that the state “will forever be impacted” by the legacy of businessman and philanthropist T. Denny Sanford.
Rhoden issued his comments after First Premier Bank, Premier Bankcard and Sanford Health announced on Saturday that Sanford, age 90, had died. He owned the two companies and became the namesake of Sanford Health in 2007 when he donated $400 million to the organization.
Sanford’s total philanthropic contributions to numerous organizations in South Dakota and elsewhere totaled more than $4 billion.
Iowa agriculture experts release report on state ag economy amid downturn | Iowa Capital Dispatch
Judge temporarily blocks South Dakota’s abortion-pill advertising ban as lawsuit continues | South Dakota Searchlight
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