North Dakota can sometimes have a reputation as being a sleepy state, but believe it or not, there are a lot of things going on. Trust me. As someone whose job it is to write about what's happening in state an local government, there just aren't enough hours in the day for me to cover all the things I'd like to write or talk about.

That being said, a new source for news in the state can't be a bad thing, right? The North Dakota Monitor is a new state-based iteration of a nonprofit news organization called the States Newsroom. They fund reporters in some 38 states who cover politics, courts, government, and other matters.

They don't charge for subscriptions, and they don't run ads. Their reporting is funded by donors. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Amy Dalrymple, the former editor of the Bismarck Tribune who is now heading up the Monitor, joined this episode of Plain Talk to discuss it. She answered questions about what her organization will be covering, and criticism the States Newsroom organization has taken from media watchdogs like NewsGuard over their nonprofit model.

Also on this episode, co-host Ben Hanson and I discuss the NDGOP hiring a new executive director, Andrew Nyhus, and the most recent court ruling about North Dakota's legislative map.

District Court Judge Peter Welte is refusing to move a December 22 deadline for lawmakers to introduce a new map. Will the Legislature have to rush into their second special session of this year? Or will an appeal to the 8th Circuit, at the very least, move the deadline?

To subscribe to Plain Talk, search for the show wherever you get your podcasts, or click here for more information.