Backers get needed funds for North Dakota Roosevelt library

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Microsoft, a Walmart heir, and a Fargo media mogul are among the major financial backers of a proposed presidential library for Theodore Roosevelt in the state’s Badlands. The North Dakota Legislature last year approved $50 million to operate the library, but specified it must be matched by $100 million in private money to build it. The library foundation announced that it had obtained the $100 million in commitments late Tuesday, on what would be Roosevelt’s 162nd birthday. Roosevelt lived in North Dakota for four years before he went on to become the 26th U.S. president.