wbPM4CSi Weather…

TONIGHT…CLOUDY. SLIGHT CHANCE OF LIGHT FREEZING RAIN AND SNOW

IN THE EVENING…THEN SLIGHT CHANCE OF SNOW AFTER MIDNIGHT. AREAS

OF FOG THROUGH THE NIGHT. LOWS IN THE LOWER 20S. NORTH WINDS 5 TO

10 MPH. CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION 20 PERCENT.

.FRIDAY…MOSTLY CLOUDY. AREAS OF FOG IN THE MORNING. HIGHS IN

THE MID 20S. NORTHWEST WINDS AROUND 5 MPH.

.FRIDAY NIGHT…MOSTLY CLOUDY. LOWS 15 TO 20. SOUTH WINDS 5 TO

10 MPH.

.SATURDAY…PARTLY SUNNY. HIGHS IN THE LOWER 30S. SOUTH WINDS

5 TO 10 MPH.

.SATURDAY NIGHT…MOSTLY CLOUDY. LOWS IN THE MID 20S. SOUTHWEST

WINDS AROUND 10 MPH.

.SUNDAY AND SUNDAY NIGHT…MOSTLY CLOUDY. HIGHS IN THE LOWER 30S.

LOWS IN THE LOWER 20S.

.MONDAY AND MONDAY NIGHT…MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A 30 PERCENT CHANCE

OF SNOW. HIGHS IN THE LOWER 30S. LOWS AROUND 20.

.TUESDAY…MOSTLY CLOUDY. A 40 PERCENT CHANCE OF SNOW IN THE

MORNING. HIGHS 15 TO 20.

.TUESDAY NIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY…MOSTLY CLOUDY. LOWS 5 TO

10 ABOVE. HIGHS AROUND 15.

 

AREAS OF FREEZING DRIZZLE AND LIGHT SNOW CAN BE EXPECTED THURSDAY  AFTERNOON AND EVENING ACROSS NORTHWESTERN…CENTRAL…AND EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA. THIS MAY ADD TO THE SLICK SPOTS ON DRIVING SURFACES AND WALKWAYS THAT ARE ALREADY IN PLACE FROM THE SNOW THAT FELL OVER MUCH OF THE AREA THE PAST FEW DAYS.

THE FREEZING DRIZZLE IS EXPECTED TO GRADUALLY DISSIPATE LATER THURSDAY NIGHT.

AREAS OF FOG WILL DEVELOP OVER THE SNOW COVERED AREAS THURSDAY NIGHT AND VISIBILITIES MAY BE REDUCED BELOW 1 MILE. THE FOG WILL ALSO DEPOSIT AN ICE COATING MAKING ROADS SLIPPERY.

.FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY

A SURGE OF ARCTIC AIR IS FORECAST TO MOVE INTO THE NORTHERN PLAINS EARLY NEXT WEEK…CURRENTLY EXPECTED MONDAY NIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY. CURRENT FORECAST HAS HIGH TEMPERATURES IN THE SINGLE DIGITS ABOVE TO MID TEENS…LOWS BELOW ZERO…AND NIGHTTIME AND MORNING WIND CHILL TEMPERATURES 15 BELOW TO 25 BELOW ZERO. STAY TUNED FOR UPDATES.

ACCUMULATING SNOW IS POSSIBLE SUNDAY NIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY.

 

Jamestown  (CSi)   SAFE Shelter in  Jamestown, in cooperation with the Anne Carlsen Center has announced a new project to provide short-term housing for victims of domestic and sexual violence.

Safe Shelter,  Executive Director, Lynne Talley says while financial and construction details are not available, a sizeable gift from Mary Newman and a contribution of land from the Anne Carlsen Center will make “Mary’s Place” a reality.

The plan is to construct a building with three apartments for short-term emergency shelter.  It will allow survivors and their children to avoid communal living in larger shelters, which Tally says are currently filled to capacity across the state.  The facility will allow for a stay of up to four months while survivors plan their next step and wait for affordable housing.

Tally adds, Safe Shelter has been able to help locate safe, affordable housing fairly quickly for many years.  But currently, finding affordable housing has become increasing difficult, with waits of three to six months.  Tally says Stutsman County Housing Authority was forced to stop taking applications beginning December 1 because of a lack of funding from the federal Housing and Urban Development agency.

Mary Newman is providing the lead gift for the project.  She and her late husband, Harold Newman, raised their family in Jamestown while building the highly successful Newman Signs.  Mary Newman has supported domestic violence projects in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota and Grand Forks, North Dakota, prior to Thursday’s announcement.

 

FARGO, N.D. (AP) — Some military veterans are taking issue with other veterans’ plans to join a protest against the four-state, $3.8 billion Dakota Access pipeline in North Dakota.

North Dakota Veterans Coordinating Council president Russ Stabler says his organization is trying to discourage the 2,000 veterans with “Veterans Stand for Standing Rock” from going to the encampment starting Sunday.

Stabler says his group supports anyone who wants to protest peacefully, but believes the pipeline demonstrations have not been conducted in “the military manner in which our veterans behave.”

The Morton County Sheriff’s Department also released a video that features a veteran who is critical of the group.

The veterans’ group says they’re going to defend protesters against “assault and intimidation at the hands of the militarized police force” and pipeline security.

 

MINOT, N.D. (AP) — Police in Minot are investigating a stabbing at an apartment.

Officers say they were called to the apartment about 6 p.m. Wednesday and found a female victim on the ground next to the apartment. Authorities say the woman was able to tell officers that she had been stabbed. The woman had a wound to her torso.

Officers went into the apartment and arrested a 41-year-old woman on a possible charge of aggravated assault-domestic violence.

The woman was taken to Trinity Hospital and is expected to survive.

 

Washington DC  (CSi) – U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp Thursday issued the following statement regarding her meeting on Friday afternoon with President-elect Donald Trump.

“I appreciate the president-elect inviting me for a meeting,” said Heitkamp. “Every single day, my work is motivated first and foremost by how I can be most helpful to the people of North Dakota. They are my driving force and have been throughout my career in public service. Whatever job I do, I hope to work with the president-elect and all of my colleagues in Congress on both sides of the aisle to best support my state.”

Sources indicate that President-elect Trump is considering  Heitkamp for either the interior or energy secretary positions in his Cabinet, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters News Agency on Thursday.

Trump requested the meeting with Heitkamp.

The senator’s office was not immediately available for comment.

The Associated Press reports, that Donald Trump’s transition team confirmed that the incoming president will meet on Friday with  Heitkamp  a Democrat up for re-election in 2018.

Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence plan to talk with Heitkamp at Trump Tower in New York. Trump won Heitkamp’s home state with an overwhelming majority in the presidential election.

Trump spokesman Jason Miller says Heitkamp “comes very highly recommended, very highly qualified as a proven leader and would be an asset in any role or capacity.”

 

FARGO, N.D. (AP) — Speculation that Sen. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota could be offered a job in President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet comes as bittersweet news to a beleaguered state Democratic Party.

Heitkamp is scheduled to meet Trump Friday in New York City. She says she has received no details about the meeting.

Democrats in North Dakota have no elected state officials and are overwhelmed in the Legislature. Party leaders say a Heitkamp re-election campaign for senator would give the party a needed boost.

Should Heitkamp join the Trump administration, Democrats still have some hope because the state’s governor no longer has the authority to pick a replacement. Thanks to a Republican-sponsored bill passed during the last session, lawmakers changed the procedure to allow for a special election to fill vacancies for U.S. senators.

 

FARGO, N.D. (AP) — The life prison sentence given to a man convicted in the 1995 murder of a West Fargo woman will be reviewed next week.

A post-conviction relief hearing is scheduled for Barry Garcia in Cass County District Court.

Garcia was 16 years old when he was convicted in the fatal shooting of 50-year-old Cheryl Tendeland while she, her husband and a friend were sitting in a car. He was sentenced to life without parole after being tried an adult.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that people who committed murder before turning 18 could not automatically receive life sentences without the possibility of parole. State’s Attorney Birch Burdick says he expects Garcia’s lawyer to argue for a more lenient sentence.

Garcia is in federal prison in California and will appear at the hearing by telephone.

 

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Slawson Exploration Company Inc. has agreed to settle alleged Clean Air Act violations in North Dakota.

The Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced the settlement Thursday. As part of the settlement, Slawson Exploration agreed to pay a $2.1 million civil penalty.

The settlement resolves claims that Slawson Exploration failed to adequately design, operate and maintain vapor control systems on its storage tanks at about 170 oil and natural gas well pads in North Dakota, resulting in emissions of volatile organic compounds — a key component in forming smog or ground-level ozone.

The Denver-based company agreed to improve emission control systems on its oil storage facilities in the Williston Basin.

Slawson Exploration president Todd Slawson says the company takes public health and environmental protection “very seriously.”

 

In sports…

Sioux City, IA (CSi)  The Jamestown Jimmies volleyball team was defeated Thursday to Union, Kentucky, 3-1. (13-25, 27-25, 25-22, 25-20)

Union was unranked in the NAIA National Volleyball Tournament, in Sioux City, Iowa.

The Jimmies face Union again tonight at 10 p.m. in a tie-breaking one-set match,with the first team to 25 points winning.

The winner of that match  faces Missouri Baptist in another 1-set, 25-point match.

The winner advances to the 16-team, single-elimination tournament starting Friday.

 

In world and national news…

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana is offering Carrier $7 million in incentives to keep some jobs in Indiana that the company had planned to shift to Mexico. A company spokesman says the offer was made to the air conditioning and furnace maker after negotiations with President-elect Donald Trump. He and Vice President-elect Mike Pence are announcing the deal today in Indianapolis. The Associated Press previously reported the deal will involve keeping about 800 union positions in Indianapolis that were to be outsourced. Trump made Carrier’s plans to shutter the Indianapolis plant a central issue of his campaign.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee says he’ll wait until Donald Trump becomes president before looking at potential conflicts of interest involving Trump’s business empire. Republican Jason Chaffetz (CHAY’-fits) of Utah says it’s too early for lawmakers to look into Trump’s financial ties with foreign businesses and governments, or to deal with other questions. Democrats have called for investigations into Trump’s holdings, as well as his lease with the federal government for a luxury hotel near the White House.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has unanimously approved legislation to renew a law letting the government impose sanctions on companies for doing business with Iran. The House already approved the extension of the law, which is decades old. The bill now goes to President Barack Obama. He’s expected to sign it. Lawmakers say it allows the U.S. to punish Iran should Iran fail to live up to the terms of the landmark nuclear deal.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is renewing the agency’s call for seat belts on school buses in the aftermath of a crash in Chattanooga that killed six students. Administrator Mark Rosekind (ROHZ’-kynd) said at a transportation safety conference in Washington Thursday that while school buses remain the safest way for children to get to and from school, there are ways to make them safer. He noted that the bus that crashed in Tennessee was not equipped with seat belts.

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand (AP) — Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon, is recuperating at a New Zealand hospital after being evacuated from the South Pole. Aldrin, who’s 86, was visiting Antarctica as a tourist when he fell ill. He was flown to Christchurch from McMurdo Station, a U.S. research center on the Antarctic coast. The tour company says Aldrin has fluid in his lungs, but is responding well to antibiotics and in stable condition. He’ll remain hospitalized overnight for observation. Aldrin and Neil Armstrong became the first men on the moon, on July 20, 1969.