Blog

Jan 15, 2024

5 things to know today: Trafficking lawsuit, Capacity concerns, Ruby slippers, Nursing bill, Juul settlement

A Williston hotel has been accused in a federal civil lawsuit of allowing sex

A Williston hotel has been accused in a federal civil lawsuit of allowing sex trafficking to happen in its rooms.

A woman from Georgia filed the lawsuit on Friday, May 12, in North Dakota's U.S. District Court against 26th Street Hospitality, which owns Mainstay Suites at 200 26th St. E. in Williston.

The woman said she was trafficked at the hotel in 2013 and 2014. That was during the oil boom, a time when oil workers flooded western North Dakota and authorities reported a spike in sex trafficking.

ADVERTISEMENT

"For an inordinate period of time, Defendant has allowed criminal trafficker(s) to brazenly sell commercial sex within the subject hotel," a civil complaint said. "Defendant chose to continue receiving financial gain at the expense of human life, rights, and dignity."

The lawsuit does not name the woman in an effort to protect her privacy. It also does not name alleged traffickers.

The Forum reached out to Mainstay for comment on the lawsuit, but that message was not returned by publishing time. Court records did not list an attorney for the hotel.

The civil complaint alleged the hotel received payment for room rental from traffickers. The woman was forced to perform "numerous commercial sex acts" in a Mainstay hotel room each day, the complaint said. She also was forced to ingest drugs and alcohol, the complaint said.

ADVERTISEMENT

Read more from The Forum's April Baumgarten

The Cass County Jail is being forced to go to extreme measures as it deals with too many inmates behind bars.

As the jail faces the threat of hitting max capacity, on Tuesday, May 16, jail officials made the unusual move of transferring 10 inmates at once to Grand Forks to make room for new arrivals.

WDAY News spoke with jail administrator Cpt. Andrew Frobig, who said they rarely transfer that many prisoners at once due to logistical issues and trying not to overcrowd the 348 beds at the jail.

Frobig said they try to keep transfers as close to home as possible and try limit them to only people who have been sentenced to avoid impacting court dates or access to attorneys. But even with sentenced inmates, Frobig said they don't want to send them out if they are receiving psychiatric or medical care in town.

ADVERTISEMENT

Read more from WDAY's Jay Dahl

A Minnesota man has been federally charged after prosecutors said he stole a pair of ruby slippers used in "The Wizard of Oz."

A grand jury in Minnesota's U.S. District Court indicted Terry Jon Martin on Tuesday, May 16, with theft of an object of cultural heritage from the care, custody, or control of a museum, according to a statement issued Wednesday by the U.S. Attorney's Office in North Dakota.

Martin is accused of stealing the slippers on or about Aug. 27 or 28, 2005 , from the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, prosecutors said. Court records did not list an attorney for Martin as of Wednesday.

The slippers have an estimated value of $3.5 million. At the time of the theft, the slippers were insured for $1 million. They are one of four pairs still in existence, prosecutors said.

ADVERTISEMENT

The slippers that were worn by Garland in the 1939 film were recovered by the FBI and Grand Rapids Police Department in July 2018.

The FBI in Minneapolis investigated the theft, but the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of North Dakota has been assigned to prosecute the case for an undisclosed reason.

Read more from The Forum's April Baumgarten

As the Minnesota legislative session winds down, the Minnesota Hospital Association is pleading with legislators to reconsider the Keeping Nurses at the Bedside Act before it becomes law.

Hospital leaders told state media in a call Tuesday, May 16, they fear the bill would only cause further harm to the already struggling health care systems across the state.

ADVERTISEMENT

Patti Banks, CEO of Ely-Bloomenson Community Hospital, said after a high volume of patients this past weekend, it's more clear than ever that the staffing requirements that would be enforced by the Keeping Nurses at the Bedside Act would hurt the rural, critical access center.

"I can assure you that if we had to adhere to the mandates in this proposed legislation, we would have had to turn patients away," Banks said. "This would have been detrimental to our communities as well as the reputation of our organization. Care delivery in Greater Minnesota looks different, but our expectation to save lives is the same."

The bill would require every hospital in Minnesota to form staffing and nurse workload committees, as well as develop and implement core staffing plans. The Minnesota Nurses Association has been vocal about its support for the act, saying the bill was designed to address the nursing shortage and retention crisis. MNA leaders have asked Gov. Tim Walz to sign the bill into law as written.

However, Minnesota hospitals strongly oppose this outcome. A letter signed by leaders at every nonprofit hospital in the state, including Essentia Health and St. Luke's in Duluth, was sent to legislators last week, warning them of the consequences this law could have on health care.

ADVERTISEMENT

Carrie Michalski, president and CEO of RiverView Health in Crookston, said hospitals, especially rural hospitals like hers, are already under financial and workforce strain to the point where RiverView had to close its skilled nursing facility earlier this spring. The Keeping Nurses at the Bedside Act would only add more administrative burden onto teams that have no margin to take on more work.

Read more from Forum News Service's Laura Butterbrodt

Minnesota has reached a $60.5 million settlement with two companies for their alleged deceptive practices in marketing e-cigarettes to youth and young adults.

E-cigarette Juul Labs and former investor Altria, a major tobacco company, will have to pay the multimillion-dollar settlement and cease marketing to children and young adults in Minnesota, under settlement details released Wednesday, May 17. Juul will also have to stop selling flavored products.

At a news conference announcing the details of the settlement, Attorney General Keith Ellison said the settlement sends a message that Minnesota is prepared to hold companies accountable for their actions.

"This is a notice to all companies looking to addict kids," Ellison said. "If you try to do this in Minnesota, not only are we going to sue you, we’re going to take you to court and hold you accountable — and you’re going to pay."

E-cigarette or "vape" makers have come under scrutiny in recent years as youth vaping boomed, driving high rates of nicotine addiction among minors. Health officials blame e-cigarettes flavored like fruit or other non-tobacco flavors for making nicotine more accessible to kids.

Read more from News Service's Alex Derosier

ADVERTISEMENT