The former Minneapolis police officer who fatally shot an unarmed woman who called 911 to report a possible sexual assault behind her home in 2017 is scheduled to be released from prison next week. Mohamed Noor is scheduled to be released from custody Monday. He received a new sentence in October of nearly five years in prison after the Minnesota Supreme Court overturned a third-degree murder conviction against him for killing Justine Ruszczyk Damond, a dual U.S.-Australian citizen. The decision vacated a prison term of 12 ½ years that Noor had been serving. Damond's father, John Ruszczyk, said in an email to The Associated Press that his release after a “trivial sentence” shows disrespect to the wishes of the jury that convicted him.

Authorities say a Michigan man was arrested after Minot police seized 15,000 fentanyl pills and 80 grams of fentanyl powder with an estimated street value of more than $1 million. The drugs were found after a search warrant was executed at a storage garage where police say they found the powerful opioid along with a large amount of marijuana. A search at a second site resulted in the seizure of two firearms and $18,000 in case. Thirty-year-old Ryan Rattler, of Flushing, Michigan, was charged Tuesday with possession with intent to deliver more than 40 grams of fentanyl and possession with intent to deliver marijuana. Police say fentanyl was the cause of the “vast majority” of the 38 overdose deaths in the Minot area in 2020 and 2021.

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem got an emphatic victory when the Senate removed Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg from office by convicting him of impeachment for killing a pedestrian with his car. Noem pressed impeachment through the Republican-controlled Legislature. She provided crucial support on an effort that at times faced razor-thin vote margins.  Though her aggressive approach riled some lawmakers, Ravnsborg’s ouster provides Noem with some key benefits. She can name his replacement, discredit a one-time adversary who had investigated her and claim political independence because she held a fellow Republican accountable.

Two Detroit men have been convicted of leading a drug trafficking organization that targeted three American Indian reservations in North Dakota.

South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg faces the state's first impeachment trial this week for his conduct surrounding a 2020 car crash in which he struck and killed a pedestrian. The state Senate is preparing to decide whether the first-term Republican should be kicked out of office and barred from holding state office in the future. It will take two-thirds of the Republican-controlled Senate to convict Ravnsborg. The House set the stage for the trial this spring, deciding that Ravnsborg made misleading statements about the crash and misused his office during the investigation.

Several old scams are circulating again in North Dakota and catching some people unaware, according to Attorney General Drew Wrigley.

A former oil industry executive from Minnesota who co-founded a facility that loaded crude from the North Dakota oil patch onto rail cars has been convicted in a stock manipulation scheme. A federal jury earlier this week found Michael Reger guilty of securities fraud. The conviction caps a shareholder lawsuit that filed five years ago against Reger and the other co-owner of Wayzata-based Dakota Plains Holdings, Ryan Gilbertson. The suit alleges that Reger and Gilbertson intentionally manipulated the price of stock in its first 20 days of trading. Gilbertson was convicted in 2018 and sentenced to 12 years in prison. A federal judge earlier this month preliminarily approved a $14 million settlement between shareholders and other directors and executives of the now-defunct company.

Four recent North Dakota high school graduates have filed a discrimination lawsuit seeking to reinstate the University of North Dakota women’s ice hockey program. The complaint filed Thursday comes three years after a judge dismissed a similar federal complaint by former Fighting Hawks players. It alleges that UND violated Title IX laws that prohibit women from being treated differently because of gender. The lawsuit was filed by 19-year-old Emily Becker, of Grand Forks; 20-year-old Calli Forsberg, of Devils Lake; 19-year-old Morgan Stenseth, of Grand Forks; and 18-year-old Maya Tellman, of Grand Forks.  The women say they want to attend UND and play hockey but the decision to drop the program in 2017 has deprived them of that that opportunity. The program was dropped in 2017.