– Wayne Byers Show – Evening – Mar 3

CSi Weather…

.TONIGHT…Partly cloudy. A 20 percent chance of light snow in the evening in the Valley City area.

Lows in the lower 20s. Southeast winds

10 to 15 mph.

.SATURDAY…Mostly sunny. Highs in the lower 40s. Southeast winds

10 to 15 mph.

.SATURDAY NIGHT…Decreasing clouds. Lows in the upper 20s.

Southwest winds 5 to 10 mph.

.SUNDAY…Mostly sunny. Highs around 50. South winds 5 to 10 mph.

.SUNDAY NIGHT…Partly cloudy in the evening, then mostly cloudy

with a 20 percent chance of rain possibly mixed with freezing

rain after midnight. Lows in the lower 30s. Southeast winds 5 to

10 mph.

.MONDAY…Mostly cloudy. Chance of rain possibly mixed with

freezing rain in the morning, then chance of rain possibly mixed

with snow in the afternoon. Highs in the lower 40s. Chance of

precipitation 40 percent.

.MONDAY NIGHT…Decreasing clouds. Lows 15 to 20.

.TUESDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY…Partly cloudy. Highs in the lower

30s. Lows 15 to 20.

.WEDNESDAY NIGHT…Mostly cloudy. Lows around 15.

.THURSDAY…Mostly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of snow. Highs

in the lower 30s.

.THURSDAY NIGHT…Mostly cloudy with a 30 percent chance of snow.

Lows around 15.

.FRIDAY…Mostly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of snow. Highs

in the upper 20s.

Update:

Jamestown (CSi) The Jamestown Area Chamber of Commerce sponsored the District 12 and 29 Legislative Forum held at City Hall on Saturday morning.

Moderated by Pam Phillips legislators in attendance were:

Distric t 12:Senator John Grabinger,Representatives, Bernie Satrom, Jim Grueneich.

District 29: Senator Terry Wanzek Representatives Chet Pollert & Craig Headland.

Topics addressed from audience questions included

Long term plan for foundation Aid for Education

How much in the budget shortfall is due to past tax breaks

Concerns about DOT shop closures, funding cuts

Public Employee PERS increased premiums to those in plan.

Armed First Responders in schools

Renassaince Zone Revisions

State’s minimum wage

Highlights…

Long term plan for foundation Aid for Education:

Grabinger: Being funded lower than previous levels

Pollert: $16 million budgeted to shore up the shortfall

How much in the budget shortfall is due to past tax breaks:

Satrom: Last ten years spending was tripled

Pollert: Dollars spent from oil boom revenues

Wanzek: Since the last session, commodity prices are lower, oil exraction tax revenues are lower. He suggested not to increase taxes during tough economic times.

Concerns about DOT shop closures, funding cuts:

Grabinger is against, saying the plan is flawed

Wanzek: Legislature was unaware in first half of session, and introduced amendment to delay closures, and to make a study.

Headland: Testify when it comes to senate

Public Employee PERS increased premiums to those in plan:

House is looking at a competitive bid process, the changes implemented by the unelected PERS board.

Grabinger: No Need to change

Armed First Responders in schools:

Wanzek: A Gunman in school is a reactive situation, rural schools are isolated, concerning law enforcement response time.

Grabinger: Opposed to the bill

Headland: Voted in favor saying a gunman looks for a gun-free school

Pollert: voted in favor

Satrom: The issue is a local school district option

Grueneich: Wants students protected

Renassaince Zone Revisions: (Eliminate income tax breaks)

Headland: Voted against

Grueneich: Voted in favor, saying the state needs to taken out of that aspect, adding that it will reduce burden on tax payers

Satrom: Voted for change, saying the program should be left to local political subdivisions to address.

Pollert: voted against changes

State’s minimum wage:

Grueneich: The market determines a businesses minimum wages, adding North Dakota has one of the lowest unemployment rates, in the nation.

Satrom: Employers create demand

Grabinger: State’s current minimum wage is too low.

The forum was shown live on CSi 67, with replays on CSi 10, The Replay Channel.

JAMESTOWN, N.D. (AP-CSi) — A fugitive from Kentucky has been arrested in North Dakota.

Authorities say 52-year-old Barry Maiden was apprehended Friday in Jamestown. Maiden is wanted for terroristic threats toward law enforcement. He also faces a weapons and explosives charge.

Jamestown Police Lt. Justin Blinsky says officers were called to assist U.S. marshals in the arrest at a Sourtheast Jamestown residence. Maiden was taken into custody without incident.

Blinsky reported that “Because of the severity of the outstanding warrants for Maiden, we knew he needed to be arrested quickly.”

Police obtained a no-knock warrant and carried out the action with the assistance of the James Valley Special Operations Unit: The Stutsman County Sheriff’s Department, The Barnes County Sheriff’s Department and the North Dakota Highway Patrol.

Roosevelt Elementary School released children to their parents as a safety precaution.

Officials verbally commanded Maiden to exit the home. A female, who purportedly has a relationship with Maiden, exited the home first followed shortly after by Maiden. There was no conflict or struggle.

Maiden is currently being held in the Stutsman County Correctional Center Jamestown until he can be extradited to Kentucky to face charges.

State Senator Larry Robinson and State Representative’s Dwight Kiefert and Daniel Johnston will provide updates with the ongoing North Dakota Legislative session and answer questions from the audience.

The Forum is being coordinator by the Valley City Area Chamber of Commerce.

The Forum is expected to conclude by 11-a.m.

Remaining Planned Schedule:

March 4th – Valley City – Hi-Liner Activity Center

Mach 11th – Enderlin – City Hall

March 18th – Litchville (Location to be announced)

March 25 – Lisbon – Lisbon Public Schools Commons

April 1 – Valley City- VCSU Student Center, Skoal Room

April 8 – Enderlin – City Hall

April 15 – Valley City – Valley City Eagles Club

All forums will begin at 9:00 a.m. and conclude at 11:00 a.m.

St. Paul (CSi) – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, is currently lowering its reservoir elevations.

The Corps is currently lowering the elevation of Lake Ashtabula, north of Valley City. The current level is 1,259.5 feet, which is 6.5 feet below the summer operating level. Based on snow measurements around the area, the Corps plans to lower the lake elevation to 1,257 feet by the end of March.

Elsewhere…

The Corps is currently lowering its reservoir elevations within the Red River of the North Basin. The drawdowns are in preparation for the spring runoff within the region.

Homme Dam, near Park River, North Dakota, is currently at elevation 1,077 feet, which is 3 feet below summer the summer operating level. The Corps will begin lowering the lake level to the maximum drawdown elevation of 1,064 feet based on current snow measurements within the basin. The drawdown is scheduled to begin within the next two weeks. The timing will be based on the weather.

The Corps does not plan to lower either Lake Traverse, west of Wheaton, Minnesota, or Orwell Reservoir, southwest of Fergus Falls, Minnesota, at this time due to a lack of moisture within these basins. If conditions change, Corps water management officials may reconsider the decision.

For more information, see www.mvp.usace.army.mil.

Bismarck (CSi) Sixty-two cases of the flu in Stutsman County were reported to the North Dakota Department of Health for the week of February 18th, with numbers expected to rise.

JRMC, RN, Nikki Mack says, “We are seeing an increase of patients in the emergency department with flu- like symptoms. That means the virus is active and in the community.”

Mack adds that although the flu is active in the community, there are steps you can take to prevent catching and spreading the virus.

Mack points out that “Hand washing is so important in the prevention of flu, make sure you are washing your hands frequently and properly.”

Other ways to prevent spreading the illness are: Frequent hand washing, the current flu vaccination, and avoiding contact with sick people.

The 2016-2017 flu vaccination protects against the four strands of viruses that research suggests will be most common that year.

Some of the flu symptoms can be fever, runny/stuffy nose, headaches, fever, chill, body aches, cough or fatigue. If you feel any of those symptoms, stay home and rest.

She adds, seek immediate medical attention for your child if they are showing any of the following symptoms: Trouble breathing or fast breathing, bluish skin color, fever with a rash, signs of dehydration. Some additional symptoms to watch for in adults are: Sudden dizziness, confusion, severe vomiting and difficulty breathing.

JRMC Emergency Department Manager Sheila Krapp, says, “The elderly and infants are particularly vulnerable to the flu, and this year’s strain is no different. Our ED was flooded with flu patients the last two weekends.”

Krapp encourages people who have the flu to stay home and not spread the virus.

An evening with friends made the difference in the life of a cancer patient.

Jamestown (CSi) Jamestown Regional Medical Center’s Auxiliary’s recent, first ever Ladies Night raised more than $2,000, benefiting the upcoming JRMC Cancer Center.

An evening with friends made the difference in the life of a cancer patient.

Auxiliary member and former Gift Shoppe manager, Carol Lawrence says, “Battling cancer is a community effort.” JRMC is creating a cancer center with eight infusion rooms. The center would be the only one of its kind within 90 miles. At any given time, more than 100 Stutsman County residents are traveling more than 100 miles for chemotherapy care. JRMC’s Foundation hopes to raise $1.5 million for the JRMC Cancer Center.

JRMC Auxiliary consists of more than 40 volunteers. Since fundraising for the Journey to Oncology campaign began, the Auxiliary has raised more than $40,000, meeting the first Monday of each month.

If interested in volunteer opportunities, call (701) 952-4809. For more information about Ladies Night, e-mail tiffany.wilkerson@jrmcnd.com.

MINOT, N.D. (AP) — A Minot man is accused of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old boy with developmental disabilities.

Fifty-three-year-old Darrell Vernon Midkiff made an initial appearance in district court in Minot Thursday. Midkiff denies assaulting the boy.

The Minot Daily News reports a probable cause document accuses the defendant of assaulting the child when the boy was playing at Midkiff’s trailer with his grandson earlier this week.

The document says Midkiff’s son came home and discovered the assault. Authorities say the boy is mentally disabled and has autism.

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — An advisory group of North Dakota lawmakers, state officials and business leaders is recommending lower projections for tax collections when crafting the next state spending plan.

State Budget Director Pam Sharp told the panel Friday that tax collections already are more than $50 million lower than what was expected so far this year. The deficit was based on a previous revenue forecast done in November.

A dramatic drop in North Dakota tax collections due to depressed oil and farm commodity prices has had North Dakota scrambling to make up for potential shortfalls to the state treasury.

The recommendations by the group will be used to craft a new forecast expected next week by budget analysts. The Legislature has idled major spending bills until the new economic assumptions are released.

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A United Nations official who visited North Dakota in the wake of months of protests over the Dakota Access pipeline believes the concerns and rights of Native Americans haven’t been adequately addressed.

Victoria Tauli-Corpuz is the U.N. special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples. She believes authorities used unnecessary force against protesters, that the Standing Rock Sioux tribe wasn’t properly consulted, and that the issue of trash left by protesters has been overblown.

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum says the state has respected legal protests. He says it focused on maintaining peace and protecting the environment. He says his administration is restoring relations with the Standing Rock Sioux.

Tauli-Corpuz will make a report in September to the U.N. Human Rights Council. It will have no force of law.

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — U.S. and tribal officials are opposing an effort by the developer of the $3.8 billion Dakota Access oil pipeline to keep some information shielded from the public while a court battle over the project continues.

Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners last month asked a judge to shield details such as spill response plans and pipeline features that could be targeted by anti-pipeline activists.

ETP is a defendant along with the Army Corps of Engineers in a lawsuit filed by the Standing Rock and Cheyenne River Sioux. The tribes say the pipeline threatens water, sacred sites and their religion.

The tribes maintain the information at issue is of public interest and undermines ETP’s legal case.

The Corps says only a limited amount of the information warrants protection.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — A health care system headquartered in the Dakotas is partnering with a children’s hospital in Florida to sequence the genes of nearly 1,000 Latino and Hispanic people to better understand the health needs of those populations.

Philanthropist Denny Sanford and Sanford Health have given $7 million to the Nicklaus Children’s Hospital initiative in Miami. The hospital is named for Jack Nicklaus. The golfing great says he recently approached his friend, Denny Sanford, and asked for help with the genomic medicine project.

The sequencing project will make it easier to determine whether a person is predisposed to a certain disease, or how they might respond to a particular medicine. The initiative will help build a database of common genomes and identify genetic patterns among Hispanic and Latino populations.

In sports…

Class B Girls’ Basketball State Tournament, Grand Forks

Park River Fordville Lankin 43 Edgeley Kulm Montpelier 29

EKM play for 7th place Saturday, the Aggies play for 5th place.

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — The Bismarck area is preparing to host a Special Olympics event that’s expected to draw more than 700 participants this summer.

The 2017 Special Olympics North America Softball Championship is anticipated to bring about 1,000 visitors to the community in August.

The event was announced during the Bismarck-Mandan Convention and Visitors Bureau’s annual meeting.

Craig Pippert with Special Olympics North America says 32 teams from the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean are expected to compete.

Kathleen Meagher is president of Special Olympics North Dakota. She says the event will help make “Bismarck-Mandan a more inclusive community than it already is.”

Convention bureau CEO Sheri Grossman says meetings and events brought $31.2 million of spending to the community in 2016.

In world and national news…

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen is signaling that the Fed will likely resume raising interest rates later this month to reflect a strengthening job market and inflation edging toward the central bank’s 2 percent target rate. Yellen also says in a speech in Chicago that the Fed expects steady economic improvement to justify additional rate increases. While not specifying how many rate hikes could occur this year, Yellen notes that Fed officials in December had estimated that there would be three this year.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Pentagon spokesman says the U.S. has conducted more than 30 airstrikes this week in Yemen aimed at an al-Qaida affiliate seen as intent on attacking the United States. Navy Capt. Jeff Davis told reporters today that U.S. warplanes over the past two days have targeted members of the group known as al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, as well as the group’s infrastructure, fighting positions and heavy weapons.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States says basic freedoms of expression and free association are on the decline around the world, making it harder for opposition groups and human rights activists to organize. That’s the conclusion of the State Department’s annual human rights report released Friday. The report says there are growing crackdowns on the media and internet freedom and suppression of political opposition groups. It says “civil society” groups that represent different sectors of a population have less room to operate. Human rights groups and some lawmakers are criticizing Secretary of State Rex Tillerson for declining to speak publicly about the report or to promote it.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — The U.S. Justice Department says it’s halting a review and reform process of the Memphis Police Department. In October, Justice Department officials launched the comprehensive review of Memphis police after citizens criticized the department’s use of deadly force and its treatment of the black community. Friday, the department said it won’t proceed with the collaborative reform process, and that it has made other technical assistance and training resources available to Memphis police. The review began after an announcement in September that federal officials found insufficient evidence to file civil rights charges in the July 2015 shooting of a black man by a white officer.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A Missouri police official says the man accused of threatening eight Jewish institutions and the Anti-Defamation League will also be questioned about the desecration of a Jewish cemetery. Authorities say 31-year-old Juan Thompson made the threats in an effort to harass and vilify his former girlfriend. They say some of the threats against the institutions were made in the woman’s name.