Voters in North Dakoka -- flush with oil boom money and enjoying the lowest unemployment in the nation -- had the chance Tuesday to become the first state to cast off property taxes. But in the end, voters decided to keep the $800 million a year the taxes raise.

Business and political leaders say North Dakota's budget surplus and lack of "massive socioeconomic problems" makes the Midwestern state ideal for technology companies, the Fargo Forum reports. Republican Sen. John Hoeven said, "We are definitely driving energy development in the United States, but I don't think people realize how much we're driving technology development as well."

The number of oil drilling rigs at work in North Dakota is leveling off, and a state regulator says that's a good thing because the pause "will allow infrastructure and various other things to catch up."

An oil boom has brought great prosperity – but also great amounts of waste – to North Dakota, investigative reporting by ProPublica reveals. Data obtained by ProPublica show oil companies are spilling and dumping drilling waste onto North Dakota's land and into its waterways with increasing regularity. Many dumpings along roads and in pits go unreported, state regulators acknowledge.

North Dakota's oil boom is fueling demand for more air travel. Delta Air Lines is adding two nonstop daily flights between the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and Williston, N.D., starting in November, the Fargo Forum reports.