Kelly Armstrong

This week before Christmas does not seem like a time to discuss starting over. So many things left to do. For families with kids in school there is the Christmas programs, vacations and travel to schedule, and gifts to buy....

North Dakota Gov.-Elect Kelly Armstrong has appointed an interim head of the North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services.

The outgoing governor’s parting requests included funding for housing, education, and child care initiatives.

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum has handed his final budget blueprint to lawmakers that includes a rosy picture based largely on his state’s success in extracting near-record levels of oil and gas from the ground. The Republican nominated by President-elect...

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum has handed his final budget blueprint to lawmakers that includes a rosy picture based largely on the state’s success in energy production.

President Biden's pardon of his son Hunter has opened the floodgates to a battery of requests from members of Congress in both parties for additional pardons.Why it matters: Biden has received more than 10,500 pardon requests over his four years in office but has only issued 25, a historically low number even for single presidential terms, according to the Justice Department.Now Biden's controversial act has unleashed a wave of pleas on behalf of people convicted or accused of various crimes, including figures such as Wikileaks founder Julian Assange and NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.Zoom in: Several lawmakers have specific pardons or commutations in mind that they would like to see Biden issue.Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) is enlisting colleagues on behalf of Steven Donzinger, an environmental lawyer accused of using fraudulent evidence to win a lawsuit against Chevron, according to a draft letter first obtained by Axios.McGovern also is urging Biden in a separate letter to posthumously exonerate Ethel Rosenberg, citing "significant evidence" that she did not engage in the Soviet spying for which she was executed in 1953.Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who has urged Biden to pardon Assange, also told Axios he also wants pardons for Snowden and drug trafficker Ross Ulbricht — seen by libertarians such as Massie as anti-government crusaders.Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) cited Billie Allen, a death row inmate who says he was wrongfully convicted of murder, as well as Michelle West and Ismael Lira, who are serving life sentences for drug-related offenses.Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) wants a pardon for indigenous activist Leonard Peltier, who was convicted of killing two FBI agents.Several lawmakers have urged Biden to pardon President-elect Trump for his actions related to Jan. 6 and his handling of classified documents. Zoom out: Some lawmakers want Biden to go far bigger than just a few high-profile pardons, with progressives planning a wide-ranging push for Biden to issue sweeping pardons for certain non-violet or low-level offenders.Progressives want pardons for "those that are elderly, those that are ill, those that are non-violent offenders, those who have been incarcerated because of cannabis convictions," said Pressley, who is leading the effort."I had a lot of members stopping me in the halls today about it," she added in an interview with Axios.The plan was in the works even before the Hunter Biden pardon, according to Progressive Caucus chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), who told Axios she "spoke to the White House right before Thanksgiving about our asks about clemency."The intrigue: It's not just Democrats seeking categorical pardons.Rep. Kelly Armstrong (R-N.D.) told Axios that "everyone who was released under the CARES Act during COVID that hasn't reoffended should at least be granted clemency."Right-wing Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) said Biden should pardon those convicted for their roles in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot — though Trump has already signaled plans to do just that.Between the lines: Many progressive activists have seen Biden as woefully lacking when it comes to clemency and had been urging him to ramp up pardons in his last few weeks on the job, according to the nonprofit news outlet NOTUS.Biden couching his son's pardon as a response to a "miscarriage of justice" against has kicked that dynamic into overdrive."I hope he can look a little wider and understand there are a lot of people who have committed crimes less serious who need a little compassion," McGovern said of Biden.Even House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) urged Biden on Tuesday to "exercise the high level of compassion he has consistently demonstrated ... including toward his son" by pardoning "working-class Americans" who were subject to "unjustly aggressive prosecutions."The bottom line: "I would hate see President Biden leaving office with less commutations and clemency issuances than even President Trump," Ocasio-Cortez said.

U.S. Rep.-elect Julie Fedorchak has announced her chief of staff and her state director, among other staff members.

The party gained one Senate seat but lost a post in the House.

Top Democratic leadership won't be changing for the upcoming 2025 North Dakota Legislature.

U.S. Rep. Kelly Armstrong, R-N.D., is projected to win the North Dakota gubernatorial race, replacing sitting Gov. Doug Burgum, who ran for president.

Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump will compete for North Dakota’s three electoral votes in the Nov. 5 presidential election

Portland will remake its entire city council in the November election. Here's what to know about the nearly 100 candidates on the ballot.

As the 2024 elections approach, the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) released its annual voter guide to inform citizens about where their gubernatorial and Senate candidates stand on cannabis policy reform.With over 70% of Americans supporting cannabis legalization, the stakes are high for federal and state-level reform, especially as 11 states will vote for their next governor and 34 Senate seats are up for grabs.Get Benzinga's exclusive analysis and the top news about the cannabis industry and markets daily in your inbox for free. Subscribe to our newsletter here. You can’t afford to miss out if you're serious about the business.Why These Elections MatterGovernors and senators hold significant power over cannabis policy. At the state level, governors can veto or sign cannabis reform bills and direct agencies to either implement or block regulations. Meanwhile, at the federal level, the U.S. Senate is the critical battleground for national reform. Bills like the MORE Act (which seeks to federally legalize cannabis) and the SAFE Banking Act (which would grant cannabis businesses access to financial services) have garnered bipartisan support but face a major hurdle: the Senate's filibuster rules.The filibuster requires 60 votes to move legislation forward, creating a significant barrier to cannabis reform, even though a supermajority of Americans support legalization. With the balance of power in the Senate up for grabs in the November election, the composition of the next Senate will determine whether federal cannabis reform finally has a path forward.What The MPP Voter Guide Covers And How You Can ...Full story available on Benzinga.com

Good government and a healthy economy are the results of good mechanics. Inflation is bad but so is a recession. What are the mechanics of lowering inflation without causing a recession? The provision of health care involves complicated mechanics. Health...

North Dakota’s new Office of Legal Immigration hosted its first Global Talent Summit on Wednesday, Aug. 21, where state industry leaders discussed ways to make the state more attractive to laborers.

Kentucky Gov. Beshear has leaned into abortion, but some reproductive rights advocates fear his positions wouldn’t go far enough at the national level.

AP reporting has revealed dozens of escapes, chronic violence, deaths and severe staffing shortages that have hampered responses to emergencies, including inmate assaults and suicides.

A federal judge said that Rudy Giuliani's bankruptcy has not been officially dismissed because the former New York City mayor has refused to pay administrative expenses — even though he seems to have the funds to do so.In July, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane said he would dismiss the bankruptcy case at the request of Giuliani and two former Georgia election workers, Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss. Giuliani had initially declared bankruptcy after a court ordered him to pay Freeman and Moss $148 million for defamation.In a five-page order on Thursday, Lane noted that the order to dismiss the case had not been entered into the court record because Giuliani claimed he could not afford to pay related administrative expenses."The administrative expenses in question are the fees for the financial advisors retained by the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors," the judge's Thursday order said. "What little we know about the Debtor's financial situation makes his stance here more troubling.""Even assuming that the Debtor does not have the funds on hand to immediately pay these bankruptcy expenses, he certainly has considerable assets upon which he can draw to pay such expenses," Lane continued. "It is undisputed that he owns two apartments of considerable value."Giuliani's New York apartment was said to be worth $5.6 million, and his Florida apartment was valued at approximately $3.5 million.EXCLUSIVE: Trump ‘secretary of retribution’ won't discuss his ‘target list’ at RNCLane explained that the "most obvious path forward" would be to hold hearings to determine Giuliani's financial conditions and possibly force him to testify."[T]here may come a point when dismissal is no longer an option because the Debtor is unwilling to pay these administrative expenses, a necessary requirement under the law for dismissal of the case," Thursday's order said. "Under such circumstances, the Court may be forced to reevaluate the alternative of a Chapter 11 trustee to supervise the administration of the Debtor's financial affairs and to promptly liquidate assets such as the New York apartment as appropriate."Lane gave Giuliani and his creditors until July 31 to submit proposals for a path forward.

A GOP strategist unleashed an attack on Kamala Harris that was dripping in sarcasm Thursday after losing his cool over positive media coverage of the Democratic Party’s presumed presidential candidate.Doug Heye was on CNN as the vice president finished a rally speech in Houston. As his co-guest, Democratic Party strategist Maria Cordona, finished praising the candidate’s performance, Heye got flustered.Raising his voice, he said, “Everything we heard is 'Oh my god, Kamala Harris is the greatest thing ever. She's the greatest cook that we've ever had near the Oval Office. She knows more about wine than anybody other than maybe Thomas Jefferson. Everything she does is amazing.'“So we should just cancel the election because clearly she's going to win by 25 points?”He then tried to bring the CNN panel back from what he saw as rose-colored adoration.ALSO READ: ‘Creepy weirdos’: Senator fears Trump WH staff would destroy government from ‘inside’“The reality is, i'm not going to get in Donald Trump's head, don't want to be there, don't know what's in there. But he sees the same polling that we do," he said.“Kamala Harris is marginally less unpopular than Joe Biden. She's not winning in the polls. Maybe that changes in a week or two, or six or eight, but at this point, Donald Trump is still winning despite this barrage of nothing but positive press for Kamala Harris and has been marinated in the public's mind.”Cardona had set him off by suggesting that Trump was “going through a mental meltdown” because of his opponent's popularity.“Not just that she is incredibly accomplished as DA, AG, senator, VP,” she said, “but the fact that she is also very attractive. I mean, I have to say it.“...In addition to that, she's not only a woman, she's a woman of African American Asian descent, daughter of immigrants, Jamaican descent.I mean, it's it's this sort of cauldron of all of the things that Trump has nightmares about every single night.”Watch the video below or click the link here.

Answering a direct question from Rep. Kelly Armstrong (R-N.D.), FBI Director Christopher Wray testified at a House Committee hearing on Wednesday that there has not yet been any evidence of a second shooter on the scene at the Butler, Pennsylvania, rally where an assassination attempt was made on former President Donald Trump on July 13.