Wayne Byers Show – Evening – Dec 22

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — The head of the North Dakota Legislature’s research arm says the number of bills filed before the start of the session is below average.

Legislative Council director Jim Smith says there are 260 bills and three resolutions filed ahead of the Legislature’s Jan. 3 start.

Smith says the number of pre-filed legislative measures has averaged about 395 since 1981. A total of 254 legislative measures were filed before the start of the 2013 Legislature.

Senate Minority Leader Joan Heckaman says the meager number of measures may be due in part to the big number of new legislators who are still learning the ropes.

Smith says there are 35 new lawmakers, which is about twice the normal average to begin a session and the most since 1991 when there were 51.

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — The North Dakota Department of Transportation has completed additional testing of a bridge damaged during protests of the Dakota Access oil pipeline.

The department said its testing was completed Thursday with help from the Highway Patrol, the Morton County Sheriff’s Department, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. There’s no timetable for reopening the span.

Core samples were taken from the bridge and will be sent to an out-of-state lab specializing in evaluating concrete cores exposed to high temperatures. Results could take up to a month.

The Blackwater Bridge north of Cannon Ball has been closed since October, when protesters blocked it with burning vehicles. The bridge has been the site of several clashes between protesters and police.

Protesters worry about the pipeline’s effects on drinking water and on Native American artifacts.

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — The last remaining opposition fighters and civilians have evacuated Aleppo and the Syrian city is back under government control. Western Aleppo erupted in celebratory gunfire at the announcement that the four-year rebel hold had come to an end. The Syrian government’s recapture of Aleppo is a major turning point in the Syrian civil war.

MOSCOW (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin both want the same thing for each of their countries: more nuclear weapons. Putin Thursday told an annual meeting of defense chiefs that strengthening Russia’s nuclear arsenal should be a chief objective for 2017. Trump is echoing that sentiment in a tweet — saying the United States must “greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability.” His comments come a day after a meeting with incoming White House national security adviser Michael Flynn.

MOSCOW (AP) — A U.S.-based Muslim cleric who’s been accused of involvement in the assassination of a Russian envoy to Turkey is rejecting the accusation. The Turkish president has said Fethullah Gulen’s movement had links to the gunman. Russian and Turkish officials continue investigate the assassination of Ambassador Andrei Karlov. He was killed Monday by an off-duty policeman who appeared to be angered at Russia’s role in the Syrian conflict.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration could be making it harder for President-elect Donald Trump to create a registration system for Muslims. The White House says it’s officially scrapping a post-9/11 requirement for immigrant men from predominantly Muslim countries to register with the federal government. The U.S. hasn’t used the program since 2011, but a top immigration adviser to President-elect Donald Trump had spoken of renewing it.

BERLIN (AP) — A Christmas market that was ripped apart by the truck attack in Berlin has reopened with increased security measures. It’s a sign of resilience — but the mood is certainly more somber at the site. Concrete blocks have been placed along sidewalks and the bright lights and party music have been shut off. Police are still searching for the Tunisian man they say was behind Monday’s attack. Anis Amir’s family is urging him to turn himself in.