wbPM4CSi Weather…

TONIGHT…CLOUDY. SCATTERED FLURRIES. LOWS 10 TO 15. NORTHWEST

WINDS AROUND 15 MPH.

.THURSDAY…MOSTLY CLOUDY. SCATTERED FLURRIES IN THE MORNING.

HIGHS 15 TO 20. NORTHWEST WINDS AROUND 15 MPH.

.THURSDAY NIGHT…PARTLY CLOUDY. LOWS 10 TO 15. NORTHWEST WINDS

10 TO 15 MPH.

.FRIDAY…MOSTLY SUNNY. HIGHS IN THE UPPER 20S. NORTHWEST WINDS

15 TO 20 MPH.

.FRIDAY NIGHT…INCREASING CLOUDS. LOWS IN THE LOWER 20S.

NORTHWEST WINDS 15 TO 20 MPH.

.SATURDAY…MOSTLY CLOUDY. HIGHS AROUND 30. CHANCE OF

PRECIPITATION 20 PERCENT.

.SATURDAY NIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT…MOSTLY CLOUDY. LOWS IN THE

LOWER 20S. HIGHS AROUND 30.

.MONDAY AND MONDAY NIGHT…MOSTLY CLOUDY. HIGHS IN THE MID 30S.

LOWS IN THE LOWER 20S. CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION 20 PERCENT.

.TUESDAY…PARTLY SUNNY. HIGHS IN THE MID 20S. CHANCE OF

PRECIPITATION 20 PERCENT.

.TUESDAY NIGHT AND WEDNESDAY…MOSTLY CLOUDY. LOWS AROUND 10.

HIGHS 18 TO 25.

 

 

Valley City  (CSi)  The public’s help is still needed as Valley City Police continue with its investigation into a home burglary.  Police Chief Phil Hatcher  says the home was burglarized twice in December of 2016, and remains under investigation.

The residence, in the 700 block of 5th Avenue Northwest was burglarized on December 12th and on December 19th. Several personal household items were taken in the burglary.

Hatcher adds, the police department developing suspects at this time

Hatcher asks anyone with information about this burglary to call the Valley City police at 845-3110.

 

MINOT, N.D. (AP) — A former North Dakota school superintendent serving up to 40 years in prison for sex crimes involving minors wants electronics returned that were seized during the investigation.

Former Sawyer superintendent Charles Soper argued in court Tuesday that the state should return a computer, an iPad and a cellphone to his family, so they can sell or use the devices.

Ward County Deputy State’s Attorney Kelly Dillon argued the computer and iPad both contain child pornography and should be destroyed. The Minot Police Department wants to keep Soper’s cellphone to use as a training tool.

The  judge took the request under advisement.

Soper was accused of sexually abusing three teenage boys and possessing child pornography. He resigned from the school after his arrest in 2015.

 

 

Thief River Falls, MN   The Twin Cities-based snowmobile and ATV manufacturer  Arctic Cat has been sold.

The  Rhode Island-based Textron purchased Arctic Cat for $247 million dollars. Arctic Cat employs 1,600 people at its manufacturing plant in Thief River Falls and has an engine plant in St. Cloud.

Textron builds golf carts and other utility-type vehicles. Its aviation brands include Bell Helicopter, Cessna and Beechcraft.  Arctic Cat was founded in 1960 and was originally based in Thief River Falls.

 

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — President Donald Trump’s executive actions on the Dakota Access and Keystone XL pipelines are aimed at turning the disputed projects into reality, but it’s not clear how quickly that might happen.

Dakota Access is to carry North Dakota oil to Illinois. It’s nearly complete but stalled while the developer and the Army battle in court over permission for the pipeline to cross under the Missouri River in North Dakota.

The Keystone XL project was to bring oil from Canada to Nebraska. Former President Barack Obama halted it in late 2015 for environmental reasons.

Trump’s actions don’t immediately clear the way for construction, and opponents of the projects are likely to fight in court.

Both projects also have been the focus of intense protests, and Trump’s actions might reinvigorate those efforts.

 

 

CANNON BALL, N.D. (AP) — Most of the demonstrators who gathered on the North Dakota plains to oppose the Dakota Access oil pipeline declared victory and departed their snowy protest camp last month.

That was after the Army announced it would halt the project.

Now that President Donald Trump’s administration is pushing to complete the pipeline, the few hundred protesters still living on the wind-whipped prairie must decide what to do — accept the likely defeat and leave, or stay and continue to fight.

Some vow to remain, but Trump’s action seems unlikely to spark a major rejuvenation of the depleted camp of people who dubbed themselves “water protectors.”

Trump on Tuesday ordered the Army Corps of Engineers to reconsider its Dec. 4 decision to stop the construction to allow time for more environmental study.

 

FARGO, N.D. (AP) — A man authorities say fatally stabbed another man and injured his nephew on the Spirit Lake Reservation last spring has been sentenced to life in prison.

Thirty-six-year-old Dallas Thundershield was accused of killing Richard Demarce Sr. and injuring Elvis Demarce in an April 2016 fight that began while the three were driving around with Thundershield’s girlfriend.

A jury in October convicted Thundershield of second-degree murder and three assault-related charges, including assault of his girlfriend at a Hamar residence.

He was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Fargo on Tuesday. Judge Ralph Erickson also ordered him to pay $150,000 in restitution.

 

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The man who admitted last year to killing 11-year-old Jacob Wetterling in 1989 in central Minnesota is serving his sentence at a federal prison outside Boston.

Fifty-three-year-old Danny Heinrich is listed as an inmate at the Federal Medical Center Devens in Ayer, Massachusetts. His release date is listed as March 28, 2033.

Last year, Heinrich was sentenced to 20 years in prison for child pornography. As part of a plea deal, he confessed to kidnapping, molesting and killing Jacob, though he was not charged in the boy’s murder.

The confession ended a mystery that haunted Minnesota for nearly three decades.

Jacob’s abduction gained national attention and led to changes in sex offender registry laws.

 

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — With 455 cases of influenza statewide, some North Dakota hospitals are restricting visitors.

The Bismarck Tribune reports that nearly 18 percent of the flu cases are in the Bismarck-Mandan area.

Due to the high volume of flu cases Sanford Medical Center and CHI St. Alexius in Bismarck began restricting its visitors on Tuesday.

Bismarck-Burleigh Health Director Renae Moch is urging local residents to disinfect surfaces they frequently touch at home, work and school. He advises to get a flu shot, wash hands with soap and water frequently and stay home when sick.

According to Moch, a possible reason for the spread of the virus in the area could be that influenza survives better in cold and drier climates.

 

In world and national news…

NEW YORK (AP) — Actress Mary Tyler Moore has died at the age of 80. Word of her death comes from her publicist. Moore starred in two of TV’s best-loved sitcoms — first gaining fame in the 1960s as the frazzled wife Laura Petrie on “The Dick Van Dyke Show.” In the 1970s, she created one of TV’s first career-woman sitcom heroines on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” She won seven Emmy awards over the years. She also was nominated for an Oscar for her 1980 portrayal of an affluent mother whose son is accidentally killed in “Ordinary People.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has signed two executive orders in keeping with campaign promises to boost border security and crack down on immigrants living in the U.S. illegally. The executive orders jumpstart construction of a U.S.-Mexico border wall, one of his signature campaign promises, and strip funding for so-called sanctuary cities, which don’t arrest or detain immigrants living in the U.S. illegally. The president signed the two orders during a ceremony at the Department of Homeland Security after honoring the department’s newly confirmed secretary, retired Gen. John Kelly.

WASHINGTON (AP) — His spokesman says President Donald Trump plans to open an investigation into voter fraud “to understand where the problem exists, how deep it goes.” Trump’s tweets today calling for the investigation revisited unsubstantiated claims he’s made repeatedly about a rigged voting system. Press secretary Sean Spicer did not provide many details as to what the probe would look like, calling it at one point “a task force.” There is no evidence of widespread voter fraud occurring in November’s election.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has selected Washington attorney Stefan Passantino as his White House ethics counselor. The White House announcement came on the same day that the Trump Organization said it had hired a compliance officer and ethics adviser of its own. The White House ethics counselor would be beholden to the American public, unlike the Trump Organization attorneys, who report only to the privately held company.

HOUSTON (AP) — A spokesman says former President George H.W. Bush could be sent home over the weekend after being hospitalized in Houston for pneumonia. Spokesman Jim McGrath says Bush is experiencing a lingering cough, but his lungs are clearing. The nation’s 41st president was admitted to Houston Methodist Hospital on Jan. 14 for breathing difficulties. He later was moved to intensive care when doctors inserted a breathing tube. Bush was moved from the ICU Monday. Former first lady Barbara Bush spent five days at the same hospital for treatment of bronchitis.

ALBANY, Ga. (AP) — Crews are searching for a Georgia toddler whose parents reported him missing after a deadly tornado demolished their mobile home. Authorities in Albany say the mother of 2-year-old Detrez Green told them the boy slipped away from her Sunday afternoon just before a tornado sent an oak tree crashing onto their home. Search crews looked for the child for a third day on Wednesday. An outbreak of tornadoes and thunderstorms Saturday and Sunday killed at least 20 people in the Southeast, including 15 in southwest Georgia.