Latest news with #PrairiePublic
Yahoo
03-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
North Dakota lawmakers approve Prairie Public funding, but reduced amount
John Harris, president and CEO of Prairie Public Broadcasting, speaks March 7, 2025, during a legislative committee hearing about state and federal funding for the organization. (Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor) North Dakota lawmakers set state funding for public broadcasting at $400,000 early Saturday, providing money for tower improvements after threatening to cut off Prairie Public funding completely earlier in the session. Gov. Kelly Armstrong had proposed $2.9 million in his preliminary budget for the 2025-27 biennium, with $1.7 million in one-time funding to assist with transmitter maintenance and replacement. A bill mandating that Prairie Public funding be eliminated advanced through the House but was defeated in the Senate. The Senate vote allowed lawmakers to restore funding in House Bill 1015. Some senators, however, advocated for cutting back on the Prairie Public appropriation. The bill was amended in the Senate to provide $850,000 for Prairie Public, but did not restore its $1.2 million base funding. A conference committee this week cut the funding to $400,000 for infrastructure. John Harris, president and CEO of Prairie Public, testified in a hearing that Prairie Public would be spending $4 million to $7 million in the next 18 months to upgrade facilities and buy transmitters. Prairie Public leaders testified that the organization could survive without state funding, but that it will mean less local programming. Other funding sources for Prairie Public include charitable gambling, endowment funds and investments. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
17-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
North Dakota Senate vote allows funding for public broadcasting, but no guarantee
Prairie Public Broadcasting's offices in downtown Fargo. (Jeff Beach/North Dakota Monitor) The North Dakota Senate defeated a bill that bans state or federal funding for public broadcasting but some senators who voted against the bill still called for defunding Prairie Public Broadcasting. North Dakota typically funds Prairie Public Broadcasting through the Office of Management and Budget bill. Gov. Kelly Armstrong's proposed budget included nearly $2.9 million for Prairie Public. When House Bill 1255 mandating the public broadcasting funding ban passed the House of Representatives, Appropriations Committee members took Prairie Public funding out of the OMB bill. Sen. Kristin Roers, R-Fargo, said Monday that the appropriations bill is where the funding decision should be made and warned of unintended consequences of passing the House bill. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Jorin Johnson, R-Fargo, failed on a 24-6 vote. Prairie Public supporters urge North Dakota Senate to restore state funding Roers said the House bill would have prevented federal funding for public broadcasting from passing through a state agency. She said the bill also could have prevented state agencies from renting space on towers owned by Prairie Public for things such as emergency sirens and weather instruments. 'If you want to defund public radio and television in North Dakota, do that through the appropriations process,' Roers said. Roers said there are upsides to continuing to fund Prairie Public, such as supporting broadcasts of state high school sports, educational television and local documentaries that are free over the air. She said Prairie Public's broadcast towers also benefit the state. Sen. Scott Meyer, R-Grand Forks, and Sen. Janne Myrdal, R-Edinburg, were among those who voted against the funding ban but advocated for cutting funding in House Bill 1015, which funds the Office of Management and Budget. John Harris, president and CEO of Prairie Public, testified last week in a Senate Appropriations hearing asking that the funding be restored. Harris said Prairie Public would be spending $4 million to $7 million in the next 18 months to upgrade facilities and buy transmitters. The nearly $2.9 million for Prairie Public during the 2025-27 biennium in Armstrong's preliminary budget included $1.7 million in one-time funding to assist with transmitter maintenance and replacement. Prairie Public leaders have testified that the organization can survive without state funding, but that it will mean less local programming. Other sources of funding include charitable gambling, endowment funds and investment funds. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
08-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Prairie Public supporters urge North Dakota Senate to restore state funding
John Harris, president and CEO of Prairie Public Broadcasting, speaks March 7, 2025, during a legislative committee hearing about state and federal funding for the organization. (Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor) Prairie Public supporters are urging Senate lawmakers to defeat a bill that removes taxpayer support for North Dakota's mainstay public broadcasting organization. But even if House Bill 1255 is defeated, Prairie Public would still need to convince lawmakers to add state funding back into a budget bill. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Jorin Johnson, R-Fargo, passed the House on a 48-41 vote in February after two House committees recommended the bill be voted down. The bill would prohibit state officials from using state or federal tax dollars to support the organization. A Senate State and Local Government Committee hearing Friday was the first time members of the Senate had the opportunity to weigh in on the matter. House votes to defund North Dakota public broadcasting, sends bill to Senate Johnson told state senators that Prairie Public won't need to close its doors because of the loss of $1.2 million in state funding. He added it could even be a good thing for the organization because he believes donors would rally behind the organization to keep it funded, just without state tax dollars. 'The original mission of PBS is no longer accurate with the explosion of digital media, streaming services and content creators,' Johnson said. 'There's an abundance of free, or low-cost content, available online making public broadcasting redundant.' Gov. Kelly Armstrong's preliminary budget included a recommendation of nearly $2.9 million for Prairie Public during the 2025-27 biennium, including about $1.7 million in one-time funding to assist with transmitter maintenance and replacement. The funding is typically in the budget for the Office of Management and Budget. House lawmakers removed those dollars from the budget bill after they approved House Bill 1255. Johnson said Prairie Public has $36.2 million in assets, about $16.8 million in reserves and is one of the largest charitable gambling beneficiaries in the state. 'I think they are doing OK,' he said. 'No one can convince me that Prairie Public won't survive without state dollars.' Johnson added, if Prairie Public starts to 'flounder,' representatives could come back during the 2027 legislative session and petition to have funding reinstated. John Harris, president and CEO of Prairie Public Broadcasting, told lawmakers he agreed with Johnson that the funding loss wouldn't force the nonprofit to close, but it would affect local programming. 'The national programming will continue, but what (news director) Dave Thompson does, what we do for the local community with our educational team going out and providing professional development, those are the things that will go away,' Harris said. 'We would become a pass-through for the national feeds is what would happen as we start losing money and our resources.' Johnson also criticized Prairie Public for taking steps to purchase a bar in West Fargo as a charitable gambling site, arguing they shouldn't need state money if they were looking into that purchase. Harris said they didn't follow through with the bar purchase, but they were looking into security for their charitable gambling site so a bar owner couldn't just sign another charity to conduct gambling and cut them out. 'It (gaming) is up and down in any given year,' he said. 'We've lost three sites in the last year-and-a-half-or-so because one changed hands and a couple closed.' Harris said the company operates 39 radio and television towers in the state that range from 200 feet to 1,000 feet in height and those towers reach about 98% of all North Dakotans for free. He added that some towers hold emergency warning sirens and weather equipment that benefit residents with their operations and data. Recently, Harris said Prairie Public installed a new tower in Minot that cost $3.5 million. Sen. Judy Lee, R-West Fargo, a Prairie Public donor, said she can't imagine ignoring the good Prairie Public Television has done over decades. 'I think it's really important that we have that available to everybody and I would not want to jeopardize that,' Lee said. More than 170 people submitted written testimony to the committee with the vast majority in opposition to cutting taxpayer support. Paul and Ann Nyren drove from Garrison to testify during the hearing. They shared how their daughter learned sign language from Prairie Public children's programming and was able to communicate with a couple they met at a mall food court. 'She signed something to them and I didn't know she even had that skill,' Paul Nyren said. 'They signed back and she was so excited that she was able to use this knowledge that she had learned through children's programming.' He said children being excited to learn through programming is an important thing to protect, which is one of the reasons his family supports Prairie Public. The committee did not take immediate action. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
18-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
House votes to defund North Dakota public broadcasting, sends bill to Senate
Prairie Public Broadcasting's offices in downtown Fargo. (Jeff Beach/North Dakota Monitor) North Dakota members of the House on Monday voted to defund Prairie Public Broadcasting, with one lawmaker citing it as in line with federal cost-cutting. The House Appropriations Committee had recommended continuing to fund Prairie Public with $1.2 million for the biennium. But House Bill 1255, sponsored by Rep. Jorin Johnson, R-Fargo, passed the House on Monday with a 48-41 vote, cutting the funding. The bill prevents state officials from providing state or federal funding to Prairie Public. It will move on to the state Senate, which also will take up the bill. Rep. SuAnn Olson, R-Baldwin, noted the House minutes earlier had passed a bill creating the North Dakota version of Department of Government Efficiency that has been generating headlines for the Trump administration. 'This may be our first opportunity to start looking for efficiencies,' Olson said. 'Our hope would be that we're not continually finding something that has the ability to fly on its own.' Supporters of the bill noted that Prairie Public has significant backing from members and from charitable gambling. Rep. Brandy Pyle, R-Casselton, said the bill wasn't necessary and expressed reservations about the Legislature cutting off federal funding. She said the Legislature has the ability to address Prairie Public's funding level in the budget for the Office of Management and Budget. In written testimony, Linda Mork, education services manager for Prairie Public in Fargo, said cutting the funding would impact the organization's educational mission. 'The loss of funding would not only affect educators but also students across the state, especially those in underserved communities,' she said. Johnson said that the explosion of digital media sources means that Prairie Public is now just one of many sources of news and programming for North Dakotans. Prairie Public CEO and President John Harris testified in committee that Prairie Public would continue to operate with the funding, but likely with less local programming.
