Wayne Byers Show – Evening – Nov 9

FARGO, N.D. (AP) — The governor-elect of North Dakota remains tight-lipped about his plans to deal with the Dakota Access oil pipeline protest.

Republican Doug Burgum said Wednesday in his first news conference since winning the election in record fashion that he doesn’t want to second-guess current Gov. Jack Dalrymple. Burgum says it wouldn’t make sense to offer his ideas on the protest because the situation may be “completely different” when he takes office.

Burgum said he would not “make a political statement” on whether the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers should grant an easement that would allow construction of the pipeline to be completed in North Dakota. He says that process is best left to corps engineers.

Burgum announced that his onetime Microsoft Corp. cohort, Jodi Uecker, would lead his transition team.

FARGO, N.D. (AP) — Voters in Fargo and Cass County have approved extending sales taxes to help pay for a $2.2 billion Red River diversion channel around the Fargo-Moorhead area.

Unofficial returns from Tuesday’s election show the measures got 63 percent approval in the county and 66 percent approval in the city.

Fargo originally passed taxes for flood protection in 2009 and 2012. Cass County first approved a tax in 2010. The taxes will now extend through 2084.

The 30-mile long diversion channel is estimated to be completed by the year 2024, but construction hasn’t started yet.

FARGO, N.D. (AP) — The harvest of late-season crops in North Dakota is winding down.

The Agriculture Department says in its weekly crop report that the corn harvest is 71 percent complete, the sunflower harvest is 75 percent done and the potato harvest is all but wrapped up at 96 percent.

Ninety-three percent of the state’s winter wheat crop has emerged.

The report says ranchers have been busy moving herds off summer and fall pastures and moving hay to winter feeding areas.

Pasture and range conditions in North Dakota are rated 50 percent good to excellent. Stock water supplies are 75 percent adequate to surplus.

BEMIDJI, Minn. (AP) — Longtime Bemidji State University head football coach Jeff Tesch has been fired.

Tesch had been on paid administrative leave since August after allegedly uttering a racial slur during a preseason practice. The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports he was fired Monday.

Tesch released a statement through the union representing him, thanking his players and assistants and the community for its support during his two decades as head coach.

The Bemidji State University Faculty Association says it plans to file a grievance over Tesch’s firing.

Tesch compiled a 126-91 record during his 20-year tenure and was named the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference’s coach of the year in 2006.

Defensive coordinator Brent Bolte took over head coaching duties this season. The team is 7-3.

CLEVELAND (AP) — Clothing and other items celebrating a 2016 Cleveland Indians World Series championship that never happened will be destroyed instead of donated to those in need.

Championship merchandise is produced for both teams when a major title is on the line so items can be immediately sold to the winning team’s fans. The Chicago Cubs defeated the Indians in the Series last week.

ESPN and The Huffington Post report Major League Baseball is asking retailers to give back Indians championship gear so it can be destroyed. MLB had donated clothing to needy countries through the charity World Vision since 2005.

MLB says it has opted to destroy the items this year in order to “protect the team from inaccurate merchandise being available in the general marketplace.”

NEW YORK (AP) — Hillary Clinton says America “is more deeply divided than we thought,” but she is urging her supporters to accept the outcome of the presidential election. In a speech conceding the presidency to Donald Trump, Clinton said, “I still believe in America, and I always will.” Clinton said the campaign has been “one of the greatest honors” of her life. She describes the outcome as “painful,” but says the effort was not about her but “the country we love.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — With Donald Trump vowing to dismantle President Barack Obama’s health care law, a White House spokesman says Obama’s concerned about the 20 million people who gained health insurance after that law took effect. Josh Earnest says the president is also worried that protections may be taken away from Americans who’ve benefited from provisions keeping health insurance companies from discriminating based on pre-existing conditions, or from imposing a lifetime cap on expenses. He says it’s “something Republicans will have to consider moving forward.”

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he has spoken to President-elect Donald Trump and has already received an invitation to meet. He says Trump invited him to meet “at the first opportunity” in a phone call Wednesday. A statement from Netanyahu’s office said the Israeli leader congratulated Trump on his win and said that “the U.S. has no better ally than Israel.” Relations were often tense between Netanyahu and President Barack Obama, mainly over Israel’s policies toward the Palestinians and concerns over the U.S.-led nuclear deal with Iran. Netanyahu and Trump are friendly and ties are expected to improve.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Officials hope to unveil Donald Trump’s repaired star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame as soon possible now that he’s been elected president. The star along a well-traveled block of Hollywood Boulevard remains blocked off and covered in plywood two weeks after a protester took a sledgehammer to it. The man was charged with felony vandalism.

CINCINNATI (AP) — Jurors are deliberating in the Ohio murder trial of a white former police officer who fatally shot an unarmed black man after a traffic stop. A prosecutor told jurors in closing arguments that “the evidence is overwhelming” that Ray Tensing’s shooting of Sam DuBose was unjustified. But a defense lawyer said Tensing was in “sheer terror” when he shot DuBose near campus in July of last year.