Jim Shaw

2 weeks ago | inforum.com | Jim Shaw

The Fargo School Board had no choice. There was too much at stake. Specifically, $19.7 million in federal funding. The board had to drop its DEI educational justice philosophies from its website, which it did recently. Let’s put the board’s decision in context. President Trump has unleashed a frightening assault on DEI. What was designed as a system to open doors and remove biases and bigotry, is being treated as something sinister now.

3 weeks ago | inforum.com | Jim Shaw

The 2025 North Dakota Legislative session was a mixed bag. There were many excellent bills passed, many bad bills passed, and many missed opportunities. The top of the list for the good bills is significant property tax relief. Homeowners have been rightfully outraged at their high property tax bills, and the $1,600 tax credit will make a big difference. The only possible downside is the 3% limit on mill levy increases imposed on cities, counties and school boards.

4 weeks ago | inforum.com | Jim Shaw

Approval voting in Fargo was good while it lasted. Instead of city commissioners being elected with just 15% of the vote, the winners received about half of the vote. It’s shameful that the North Dakota Legislature abolished approval and ranked-choice voting for local elections. Many lawmakers said it’s damaging for cities to have this system. Of course, nobody can cite any specific damage from Fargo’s system.

1 month ago | inforum.com | Jim Shaw

It was an emotional reunion five years in the making. A daughter meeting with her mother. The daughter, Anastassiya Andrianvova, lives in Fargo. The 74-year-old mother, Oksana, lives in Kyiv, Ukraine. They were hoping to get together in 2020, but then the pandemic hit. Two years later, Russia launched its brutal attack against Ukraine. Meeting each other was virtually impossible. “I can’t put into words how hard this family separation is,” Anastassiya told me.

1 month ago | thelancet.com | Eva Gamper |Madeleine King |Jim Shaw |Outcomes Research

aDepartment of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatic Medicine, University Hospital of Psychiatry II, Medial University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria bSchool of Psychology, University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW, Australia cGlobal Health Economics and Outcomes Research, Bristol Myers Squibb, Lawrenceville, NJ, USA dDepartment of Health Economy, Norwegian Medicines Agency, Oslo, Norway eCenter for Health Technology Assessment and Center for Pharmacology and Drug Research and...