North Dakota s Department of Human Services will temporarily administer the federally funded refugee resettlement program in the state in the wake of Lutheran Social Services announcing it is shutting down.
North Dakota state agency to temporarily manage refugee resettlement after LSS folds
North Dakota resettled 124 refugees in 2019 and 44 refugees in 2020, according to the governor s office. Written By: C.S. Hagen | ×
Barb Pates leaves the offices of Lutheran Social Services of North Dakota after dropping off her work equipment Wednesday, Jan. 20, in Fargo. She was one of more than 230 employees who lost their jobs when the charity announced it was preparing for bankruptcy and ending many of its human services programs. Michael Vosburg / Forum Photo Editor
While the state would prefer to have a third party administer the program, the alternative of letting the federal government resettle refugees in North Dakota would bring far less input or control, Burgum said in a statement.
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For 5 Questions this week the Herald speaks to Jeff VanGrinsven, who owns Heroes Rise Coffee Company. The business began in Bemidji, Minnesota, and recently opened a location in Crookston.
Construction is going well thus far and the project is expected to be completed in early summer, according to Brian Larson, UND’s director of construction management. After construction is complete, staff will spend the remaining summer months transitioning into the new Memorial Union. Everything should be set to go by the fall semester, he said.
The city’s Economic Development Authority approved on Tuesday, Jan. 19, a forgivable loan program that would dole up to $24,999 to area businesses that have struggled financially during the pandemic. The program is funded by the city government, where several officials have bristled at Gov. Tim Walz’s public health-minded restrictions on businesses statewide. Development authority board members will prioritize businesses affected by tho
The Oil Patch housing project that killed Lutheran Social Services of North Dakota
Lutheran Social Services of North Dakota scrambled to meet the urgent need for affordable housing in the Oil Patch and rural areas around the state. It moved aggressively, but ran into trouble when oil prices plunged and a Watford City housing complex played a pivotal role in the charity s financial collapse. Written By: Patrick Springer | ×
The Prairie Heights housing complex in Watford City, N.D., was developed by Lutheran Social Services of North Dakota during the oil boom in the early 2010s, when thousands of workers and their families flocked to the Oil Patch. Community leaders welcomed the $17 million project, but it ran into financial distress and helped to trigger the charity s collapse. Special to The Forum
Chuck Haga: What place do you love most?
The pandemic and quarantines have many folks rethinking their ties to a place. Now that their jobs can be performed remotely, people consider whether they might migrate to a place that feels more like home, a place they could love.
Written By:
Chuck Haga | ×
Chuck Haga is a columnist for the Grand Forks Herald. (Eric Hylden/Grand Forks Herald)
A friend who has lived in many places pointed me recently to an article in The Atlantic about “topophilia,” the love of place – especially the place we consider “home.”
My friend spent his early years in Eastern Europe, survived World War II and eventually made his way to the United States. “I ve lived in a refugee camp, a grimy steel mill city, rural Pennsylvania, three seminaries, Erie, Detroit, San Jose, Los Angeles, Winnipeg, Minneapolis, Mankato, the farm in North Dakota, a small Iron Range town, and lastly, the northern Minnesota wilderness, which I like best,