CSi Weather…

.TONIGHT…Mostly clear. Colder. Lows 15 to 20. Northwest winds

5 to 15 mph. Gusts up to 35 mph in the evening.

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

5 to 15 mph.

.SATURDAY NIGHT…Increasing clouds. Lows in the lower 30s. South

winds 10 to 15 mph.

.SUNDAY…Partly sunny. Highs in the lower 50s. West winds 10 to

15 mph shifting to the northwest 15 to 20 mph in the afternoon.

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

.MONDAY AND MONDAY NIGHT…Mostly clear. Highs in the mid 40s.

Lows 18 to 28.

.TUESDAY…Sunny. Highs in the mid 30s.

.TUESDAY NIGHT…Increasing clouds. Lows in the lower 20s.

.WEDNESDAY…Mostly cloudy. Chance of snow in the morning, then

chance of rain in the afternoon. Highs in the lower 40s. Chance

of precipitation 50 percent.

.WEDNESDAY NIGHT…Mostly cloudy. Slight chance of rain and snow

in the evening, then slight chance of snow after midnight. Lows

in the upper 20s. Chance of precipitation 20 percent.

.THURSDAY…Mostly cloudy. Chance of snow possibly mixed with

rain in the morning, then slight chance of rain in the afternoon.

Highs in the lower 40s. Chance of precipitation 30 percent.

 

Jamestown (CSi) – Sad news.   The JC Penney store at the Buffalo Mall in Jamestown is on the list of 138 stores nationwide to close by June 2017.   Other stores to close in ND are located in Dickinson at the Praire Hills Mall and downtown Wahpeton.

The official announcement and closing list  released Friday March 17, 2017 from JC Penney:

As part of a continuing effort to advance sustainable growth and long-term profitability, J. C. Penney Company, Inc. will be closing 138 stores, one supply chain facility in Lakeland, Fla., and relocating one supply chain facility in Buena Park, Calif., to align the Company’s physical store footprint and omnichannel network. Approximately 5,000 positions nationwide will be impacted by the store closures, most of which will occur in June. JCPenney is in the process of identifying relocation opportunities within the Company for esteemed leaders. Additionally, JCPenney will provide outplacement support services for those eligible associates who will be leaving the Company. Most affected stores will begin the liquidation process on April 17.

Other North Dakota JC Penny closures announced are in in Wahpeton and Dickinson.

JC Penny closures in South Dakota at the Palace Mall in Mitchell, Northridge Plaza in Pierre, Watertown Mall n Watertown, and at the Yankton Mall.

Full list of store closures

 

Jamestown  (CSi) The Board of the Jamestown Fine Arts Association, also known as the Arts Center, has accepted the resignation of Executive Director Cyndi Wish, effective Jun 30, 2017.  The resignation was accepted at their March 15th Board meeting.

The news release from The Arts Center’s  Angela Martini says, Wish has served as Executive Director of the center since 2014, following the long-term leadership of former director Taylor Barnes.

It says Wish’s tenure has brought around numerous projects such as the ground breaking and major developments of the Hansen Art’s Park.

Wish  says, “The Arts Center is a truly wonderful. It has been an honor to serve the organization and the community in this capacity. The decision to step down has not been an easy one.”

Wish originally moved to Jamestown from Massachusetts in 2014. She leaves the position on good terms with the center, citing family reasons for her resignation. The board will now begin searching for their next director.

Board President Laurel Haroldson, adds, “We are sorry to see Cyndi go, but look forward to The Arts Center’s continued momentum with the skills and ideas that the next director will bring to the position.”

Wish’s last day will be June 30, 2017. Individuals interested in the opening position can contact the Jamestown Arts Center for a job description and application process.

 

Jamestown  (CSi)  The Jamestown Choralaires in February with community support, traveled to New York City to perform with other choruses in concert.

On Friday’s Wayne Byers Show on CSi Cable 2 Choralaires Director Pam Burkhardt was joined by Choralaires member Mark Sherfy.

Mark said 29 singers and 27 guests, including two raffle winners went on the trip.

Pam thanked the community for its support and added that over $20,000 was raised from a fundraiser, and 900 raffle tickets were sold, at a cost of $20 each.

She said Paul and Claudia Sharpe of Jamestown won the raffles’s Grand prize, and elected to go on the trip in lieu of the $1,000 in cash.  Other prizes were also awarded.

She added that while in New York City some of the Choralaires members were joined by those from other choruses that performed at Carnegie Hall, in an impromptu  sing on risers that were located in Times Square, to an appreciative crowd that gathered on the street, asking for another sing of the Star Spangled Banner.

Mark pointed out that the upper Midwest, Big Sign this year will be in Staples, Minnesota, with Choralaires members involved.

Marked added that the Jamestown Choralaires will present a dinner concert:  Songs of the Carnegie Cowboys, Friday March 31, 2017 and Saturday April 1st, at 7-p.m., both evenings, at the St. John Academy’s Zebedee Center.

They will be singing western music, old and new, dressed in cowboy attire.

Doors open at 6-p.m.

Tickets are $35, available at Looysen I Care on First Avenue South in Jamestown, Monday through Wednesday 8-a.m., to 5-p.m., Thursday 8-a.m., to 7-p.m., and Friday 8-a.m., to 2-p.m.

The menu is Smoked Beef Brisket, with all the fixins.

 

 

Jamestown (CSi)  The Jamestown Area Chamber of Commerce, City Beautification Committee will hold public educational sessions, explaining the Jamestown residential recycling program, that anticipated to start in July this year.

On Friday’s Wayne Byers Show on CSi Cable 2 , the Chamber’s Executive Director, Becky Thatcher-Keller said on Thursday April 20, 2017 a presentation will be made at 7-p.m., at the University of Jamestown’s Sheldon-Unruh building in room 234.

She added that two informational classes will be held during the Home & Garden Show at the Jamestown Civic Center, and will include examples of the sizes of containers available.

 

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — U.S. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp says President Donald Trump’s call to eliminate subsidized air service to rural communities could hurt three North Dakota cities.

The North Dakota Democrat says the Essential Air Service program makes affordable air travel available in Dickinson, Devils Lake and Jamestown.

The EAS program subsidizes airline flights to 171 communities in the continental U.S. They would otherwise have no air service. Heitkamp says the program helps “keep rural economies vibrant and connected.”

Trump’s proposal is expected to run into opposition in the Senate, where lawmakers from rural states have helped keep the program alive despite several previous attempts by budget-cutters to kill it.

 

Jamestown (CSi) Dairy Queen® Celebrates First Day of Spring With Free Cone Day on March 20, 2017.
Participating locations will collect donations to Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals®

Participating non-mall Dairy Queen®and DQ Grill & Chill® locations throughout the United States will celebrate Free Cone Day on the first day of Spring. Fans will receive a FREE small vanilla soft-serve cone with the signature curl on top (limit one per customer while supplies last).

At participating locations, donations will be collected for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals®, which raises funds to help save and improve the lives of kids treated at 170 children’s hospitals across the U.S. and Canada.

Last year, more than $200,000 was raised during Free Cone Day.
To find a participating location, contact information for Dairy Queen locations can be found at www.DairyQueen.com/locator

 

 

ST. CLOUD, Minn. (AP) — A longtime businessman, philanthropist and civic leader in St. Cloud has died at age 86.

Dan Coborn was the former chairman, president and CEO of the Coborn’s grocery chain. Coburn’s grandfather founded a grocery store in Sauk Rapids, Minn. Dan and his three brothers grew the business to 120 stores in six states.

Minnesota Grocers Association president Jaime Pfuhl says Coborn’s support, participation and innovation in the industry is legendary. Pfuhl says Coborn had an incredible work ethic and passion for the grocery business.

Coborn served on numerous boards and in civic organizations, including CentraCare Health and Friends of the College of Saint Benedict.

A funeral service is scheduled at noon Monday at at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Sartell.

 

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A judge has combined lawsuits filed by four Sioux tribes against the Dakota Access pipeline.

The move by U.S. District Judge James Boasberg in Washington, D.C., streamlines the drawn-out legal battle over the $3.8 billion project to move North Dakota oil to Illinois.

The Standing Rock and Cheyenne River tribes teamed up in the main lawsuit last summer. The Yankton and Oglala tribes also have sued.

The four tribes make essentially the same claims. They say the pipeline threatens cultural sites and the Missouri River, from which they get water.

The pipeline could be operating next week. An appeals court may rule this weekend on a tribal request to stop any oil from flowing until it resolves an appeal of Boasberg’s recent decision to not stop final pipeline construction.

 

MEDORA, N.D. (AP) — Billings County officials are considering a location to build a bridge across the Little Missouri River north of Medora.

The Bismarck Tribune reports that engineers recommended the Billings County Commission choose a location about 16 miles north of Medora based on an environmental impact study. KLJ Engineers, hired to conduct the study, will release its finding in about two months.

The project would span over the river and cut through a family’s ranch operation on the west side of the river.

Sandy Short, the family’s spokeswoman, says the family has always accommodated the oil industry, but will defend the Badlands against any bridges and roads.

Since 2012, study work for the second attempt to find a location for the project has cost $1.6 million.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska has asked to drop a 10-state lawsuit it led challenging the Obama administration’s guidance on locker room and bathroom use by transgender students.The Lincoln Journal Star reports that the Nebraska attorney general’s office filed the request in a motion Thursday. Chief Deputy Attorney General David Bydalek says the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education withdrew the guidance last month.

The Obama administration’s guidance had directed schools to allow transgender students to use restrooms and locker rooms according to their expressed gender. Those who didn’t would have risked a loss of federal funding.

Nebraska filed the challenge in July. It was joined by Arkansas, Kansas, Michigan, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota and Wyoming.
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota’s Democratic U.S. senator says President Donald Trump’s budget proposal would hurt North Dakota and other parts of rural America.

Heidi Heitkamp says the $1.15 trillion budget that Trump unveiled Thursday would cut funding for agriculture and rural development programs. She says it also jeopardizes permanent flood protection projects in Fargo and Minot.

Trump’s budget is a far-reaching overhaul of federal government spending that slashes many domestic programs to finance a significant increase in the military and make a down payment on a U.S.-Mexico border wall.

Trump says it makes the safety of people a priority, and “puts America first.”

U.S. Sen. John Hoeven says he supports more funding for the military and defense. But the North Dakota Republican says support also must be maintained for farmers and ranchers.

 

In world and national news….

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have wrapped up their talks at the White House. During a news conference, Trump said he told Merkel that he has “strong support” for NATO but that allies “must pay what they owe.” The president has long complained that the U.S. shoulders too much of the burden of the cost of the alliance.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says he expects the House Republican health plan will be passed “substantially pretty quickly.” Speaking at a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Friday, Trump called it a “great plan” and said it is “getting more and more popular with the Republican base, the conservative base and with people generally.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — Votes on the Republican health care bill are planned in the House for next Thursday. President Donald Trump and some House conservatives have agreed to changes in hopes of easing deep party divisions over the overhaul plan. But other conservatives have expressed their continued opposition.

DETROIT (AP) — A man charged with attempted murder in the shooting of two Detroit police officers has also been identified as the “prime suspect” in the fatal shooting of another officer in November. Police say DNA links Raymond Durham to Sgt. Collin Rose, who was killed while on patrol for the Wayne State University police department.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Less than three months into Philadelphia’s new tax on sweetened drinks, beverage makers say the measure is hurting sales so much they need to cut jobs. City officials say it’s a ploy to get the tax struck down. Some supermarkets opposed to the tax are making a statement by printing out the added cost on receipts and store shelves.