North Dakota

Coronavirus

North Dakota's Mask Mandate Expires as Infections Plummet

North Dakota led the nation in COVID cases for months before Gov. Doug Burgum issued a mask mandate last November. Since then, active cases have dropped by 80 percent. The mandate was extended last month but was allowed to expire on Jan. 18.

January 24, 2021 - Grand Forks Herald

Ambulance

Hospitals and Healthcare Workers Brace for Influx of COVID Patients

Coronavirus infections, while at record-high levels, have decreased during the past week, unlike hospitalizations, which are still surging. Public health experts expect it to get a lot worse due to the Thanksgiving holiday travel.

December 3, 2020 - Bloomberg News

El Paso

El Paso Update: 'On the Brink of Disaster'

Among the nation's more populous counties, El Paso continues to suffer the most severe coronavirus outbreak. One out of nearly every 30 residents currently has COVID-19. Four additional mobile morgues, on top of the existing six, have been ordered.

November 13, 2020 - CNN

COVID-19 protests

Election Post-Mortem: Politics Trumps Public Health

An analysis by the Associated Press found that voters in counties that are disproportionately impacted by the coronavirus were far more likely to support President Trump's reelection than voters in less-impacted counties.

November 9, 2020 - Los Angeles Times

Mass Shootings

Corona Crisis in America: The Metropolitan Area to Watch

The battle to control the coronavirus in the U.S is being led by 50 governors and the D.C. mayor, but ultimately it is at the local level where decisions are often the most consequential. Among large counties, the crisis is most severe in El Paso.

November 3, 2020 - The Texas Tribune

Coronavirus and Urbanism

An American Urban Coronavirus Success Story

The City by the Bay has joined eight largely rural counties in California by advancing last Tuesday to the least restrictive tier of the state's new reopening criteria by reducing coronavirus transmission to nearly New York levels.

October 27, 2020 - The Mercury News

Coronavirus

North Dakota Physicians Plead for State and Local Leaders to Mandate Masks

The medical community is sounding the alarm in North Dakota, where hospitals are overwhelmed with COVID patients. With the governor opposed to issuing a statewide mask mandate, physicians are asking local governments and the public for help.

October 21, 2020 - Grand Forks Herald

COVID-19

The U.S. Might Soon Be Surpassed in Coronavirus Infections

India could be on track to overtake the United States in the number of COVID-19 cases. The surge is explained by a sharp and growing urban-rural divide in the ability and willingness to follow public health measures.

October 13, 2020 - The New York Times

COVID-19 protests

Wisconsin in Crisis

Hospitals in parts of Wisconsin are experiencing a medical crisis reminiscent of New York and Arizona—they are running out of beds due to a surge of COVID-19 patients. The outbreak is statewide, showing no relationship with density.

October 11, 2020 - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Rural Pandemic

Can the Public Be Educated to Wear Masks?

The Midwest has been the epicenter of coronavirus since late August, led by North and South Dakota. Masks have the potential to significantly reduce viral transmission, but neither state mandates their use. Will a public health campaign help?

October 5, 2020 - Grand Forks Herald

Dartmouth Dorms

College Campuses Offer Opportunity to Demonstrate COVID Containment Strategies

As college students return for the fall semester, college towns are rightfully concerned about an influx of COVID cases, yet self-contained campuses have the potential to succeed where local and state governments may have failed.

August 28, 2020 - Penn State News

Coronavirus COVID-19

The Changing Geography of the Pandemic

During the pandemic's first phase in March and April, the Northeast was devastated by COVID-19. After Memorial Day, the surge was in the South and West. As cases decrease nationwide, they are now spiking in the Midwest, particularly North Dakota.

August 27, 2020 - The Washington Post

Welcome to North Dakota

An Unlikely State Emerges as Nation's Premier Contact Tracer

The Peace Garden State is one of a handful of rural states never to have issued a stay-at-home order, yet it is number three in coronavirus testing per capita and number one in contact tracing, two of the four tools needed to contain COVID-19.

May 11, 2020 - The Bismarck Tribune

Greensboro Station on Metro's Silver line near Tyson's Corner

5 Transit Projects to Watch in the D.C. Region in 2020

Light rail, bus rapid transit, subway cell service, and more.

December 26, 2019 - WAMU

Oil Rigs

Just What the Planet Needs: More Oil Production

A surge of oil from four countries—Norway, Guyana, Canada and Brazil—will more than compensate for slowing growth of U.S. oil production. The new sources might cause oil prices to dip to $50 a barrel and slow the transition to electric vehicles.

November 6, 2019 - The New York Times

Crude Oil Train

The Constitutional Clause Being Used to Threaten Climate Change Policies

An interstate commerce clause is being used to challenge climate change measures and regulations.

October 17, 2019 - Sightline Institute

North Dakota

What's Driving the Fastest Growing Land Values in the Upper Midwest?

Fargo-Moorhead, the metropolitan statistical area straddling North Dakota and Minnesota, has seen the quickest growth in land value in the Upper Midwest for the span of years between 2012 and 2017.

July 11, 2019 - MinnPost

Fargo, North Dakota

Stormwater Project the First Public-Private Partnership for the Army Corps

A $2.75 billion plan to build a channel for flood waters around Fargo, North Dakota is described as one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects in the country.

March 13, 2019 - Governing

pallets of green oil barrels stacked

U.S. Becomes Net Oil Exporter, If Only Briefly

Oil independence, a goal set by President Nixon in the depth of the 1973 energy embargo, was achieved in the last week of November thanks to a fluke in record keeping as well as an "unprecedented boom in American oil production."

December 27, 2018 - Bloomberg News

DAPL Protests

Standing Sioux Tribe Wins Court Case on Dakota Access Pipeline

A federal judge ruled that the Army Corps of Engineers failed to fully comply with NEPA in allowing the controversial pipeline to cross under the Missouri River. The judge did not order Energy Transfers Partners to cease operations of the pipeline.

June 16, 2017 - NPR: The Two-Way

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