Wayne Byers Show – Morning – Nov 10

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota’s labor commissioner is returning to the state attorney general’s office.

Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem has appointed Troy Seibel (SY’-buhl) as chief deputy attorney general, effective Dec. 1.

Seibel will succeed Thomas Trenbeath, who’s retiring as chief deputy after ten years with the attorney general’s office.

Seibel has served as labor commissioner since Gov. Jack Dalrymple appointed him in September 2014. Before that, he was an assistant attorney general.

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota congressman Kevin Cramer says a position in President-Elect Donald Trump’s administration is not his preference.

The Republican lawmaker whom Trump has leaned on for energy policy advice and who helped write Trump’s “America first” energy plan says a position in Trump’s administration “may or may not be” in the realm of possibility.

But Cramer says his preference is to “have a friend in the White House who will sign bills I put on his desk, not veto them.”

Cramer says he hopes to maximize his ties to Trump “to the benefit of my state.”

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota voters’ overwhelming approval measure that allows the use of marijuana as medicine was an unexpected victory — even for the initiative’s backers.

The initiative approved Tuesday makes it legal for North Dakota residents who suffer from one of several debilitating illnesses to use marijuana with a doctor’s permission and possess up to 3 ounces of marijuana for medical purposes.

North Dakota’s Health Department estimates medical marijuana will cost the state more than $3.5 million a year and a small army of workers to regulate.

Spokeswoman Arvy Smith says the agency was scrambling Wednesday “seeking guidance on how to move forward.”
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.

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — The North Dakota congressman who helped write Donald Trump’s pro-oil energy plan says Trump’s presidency might aid completion of the Dakota Access pipeline, should the dispute over the project linger.U.S. Rep. Kevin Cramer thinks the matter will be resolved before Trump takes office in January.

If it isn’t, Cramer said Wednesday that Trump has made it clear he wants to rebuild the country’s energy infrastructure.

The Standing Rock Sioux fears the $3.8 billion pipeline from North Dakota to Illinois will harm drinking water and cultural sites. Chairman Dave Archambault is calling on President Barack Obama to stop the project before leaving office.

Energy Transfer Partners says the pipeline is complete except for under Lake Oahe in North Dakota. That was held up as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reviews its permitting.

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.

ATLANTA (AP) — The former home of the 1996 Summer Olympics and the Atlanta Braves is getting a new tenant.

Georgia State has received approval to purchase Turner Field for $22.8 million, clearing the way to convert it into a college football stadium. The Panthers plan to move into the stadium next season after playing at the much larger Georgia Dome since the program was launched in 2010.

sNEW YORK (AP) — Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez was voted the NL comeback player of the year by his peers in the annual Players Choice Awards of the Major League Baseball Players Association. Fernandez returned from Tommy John surgery to go 16-8 with a 2.86 ERA this year before he and two friends were killed in a boating accident in September.

Baltimore slugger Mark Trumbo is the AL Comeback Player of the year after leading the majors with 47 home runs after slugging just 13 in 2015.

Houston second baseman Jose Altuve (al-TOO-vay) was voted player of the year and the AL’s outstanding player. Second baseman Daniel Murphy was selected the NL’s outstanding player in his first season with Washington.

Major league ERA leader Kyle Hendricks of the Cubs was the NL’s outstanding pitcher, and Rick Porcello won the AL award in his second season with the Red Sox.

Tigers pitcher Michael Fulmer was the AL’s top rookie, and Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager the top NL rookie.
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred does not think Donald Trump’s election as president will slow the sport’s plans to stage more events in Latin America

Expanding international play has been one of Manfred’s goals since succeeding Bud Selig as commissioner in January 2015.

Trump made negative comments about Mexico during his campaign and promised to build a wall between it and the United States to control illegal immigration.
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — A person familiar with the decision tells The Associated Press that the baseball players’ union has fired arbitrator Fredric Horowitz.

The players’ association made the decision after Horowitz ruled against it in an injury assignment case involving Dodgers pitcher Charlie Culberson.

UNDATED (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump will be visiting the White House today to talk transition with President Barack Obama. Trump and his senior team yesterday began the task of picking a Cabinet and tapping hundreds of appointees to senior roles in key departments. Meanwhile, people upset with the outcome of the election have been taking to the streets to protest across the country. The protests have mostly been peaceful, but City News Service reports that 13 people in Los Angeles were arrested as officers in full riot gear tried to break up several hundred people blocking U.S. 101, one of the city’s busiest freeways.

CANONSBURG, Pa. (AP) — Two police officers have been shot in western Pennsylvania and the search is underway for the gunman. The shooting happened early this morning in Canonsburg, 20 miles southwest of Pittsburgh. Canonsburg’s mayor told radio station WJPA that the two officers had been shot, but he did not know their conditions or the circumstances of the shooting.

SEATTLE (AP) — Police in Seattle are still searching for a gunman who shot and wounded five people outside a 7-Eleven near a busy bus stop in Seattle. Police say following an argument last night, a person walked away, but then fired a gun into a crowd, striking four men and a woman. A spokeswoman at Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center says all five people wounded are improving.

LONDON (AP) — An Israeli Cabinet minister is calling for a renewed wave of settlement construction now that President-elect Donald Trump is signaling an end to longstanding White House opposition to the settlements. Israeli Science Minister Ofir Akunis tells Army Radio that, “We need to think how we move forward now when the administration in Washington, the Trump administration and his advisers, are saying that there is no place for a Palestinian state.”

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti hasn’t said whether he’ll sign a new ban on sleeping in vehicles near homes, parks and schools. City lawmakers approved the nighttime ban that would allow sleeping in cars only in certain industrial or commercial districts. A 1983 law that outlawed vehicle dwelling citywide was struck down by a federal appeals court.