CSi Weather…

…SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IN EFFECT UNTIL 1-A.M CDT SAYURDAY

.TONIGHT…Mostly cloudy with a 40 percent chance of showers and

thunderstorms in the evening, in the Jamestown area, 50 percent in the Valley City area,  then mostly clear after midnight.

Some thunderstorms may be severe. Lows in the lower 60s. West

winds 5 to 10 mph.

.SATURDAY…Sunny. Highs in the mid 80s. West winds 10 to 15 mph

increasing to northwest 20 to 25 mph in the afternoon.

.SATURDAY NIGHT…Mostly clear. Lows in the upper 50s. Northwest

winds 5 to 10 mph. Gusts up to 30 mph in the evening.

.SUNDAY…Sunny. Highs in the upper 70s. North winds 5 to 10 mph.

.SUNDAY NIGHT…Clear. Lows in the upper 50s. East winds around

5 mph shifting to the southeast after midnight.

.MONDAY…Sunny. Highs in the upper 80s.

.MONDAY NIGHT…Partly cloudy with a 30 percent chance of showers

and thunderstorms. Lows in the lower 60s.

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

80s. Lows around 60.

.WEDNESDAY NIGHT…Mostly cloudy in the evening, then partly

cloudy with a 20 percent chance of rain showers and thunderstorms

after midnight. Lows in the upper 50s.

.THURSDAY…Mostly sunny. A 20 percent chance of rain showers and

thunderstorms in the morning. Highs in the lower 80s.

.THURSDAY NIGHT…Partly cloudy. Lows in the upper 50s.

.FRIDAY…Sunny. Highs in the mid 80s.

 

Scattered severe thunderstorms are expected Friday afternoon and

evening across central North Dakota, generally along and east of

US Highway 83 and south of Lake Sakakawea.

Large, destructive hail to 2 inches in diameter or greater, damaging winds to 75 mph, and a tornado or two are possible.

 

 

Jamestown  (CSi)  Dairy Queen will be holding their 12th Annual Miracle Treat Day to benefit the Children’s Miracle Network Hospital, on Thursday July 27, 2017.

During the day, participating Dairy Queen’s will donate one dollar or more from every Blizzard Treat sold that will support the network. Donations will stay local to help local kids. In 2016, over $4 million was raised on Miracle Treat Day alone.

The Dairy Queen system is celebrating a 33 year-old partnership with Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, during which time local restaurants have raised more than $125 million for local hospitals.

Dairy Queen Jamestown has also helped the cause. In 2016, more than 548 kids in Stutsman County benefited from the Children’s Miracle Network. Jamestown Dairy Queen raised more than $2,700 in one single day that stayed local to help those kids.

In Valley City Dairy Queen is located at  909 Central Ave. N.

In total, $111,000 were raised last year in North Dakota and Minnesota during the treat day.

 

Update…

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Police say a standoff involving tactical officers ended when the man took his own life in a Bismarck apartment where he was holed up.

Metro Area Narcotics Task Force officers were executing a federal homeland security warrant Thursday about noon when police learned the man in a lower-level apartment was armed and refused to come out.

West Dakota SWAT officers and a crisis negotiating team were called. About three hours later, police used gas to force the man out of the apartment. Robots were used to try to make contact.

The SWAT team entered the apartment shortly before 4 p.m. and found 32-year-old Steven Vance dead of a self-inflicted gunshot.

 

MINOT, N.D. (AP) — A judge is refusing to lower the $1 million bond for a North Dakota woman accused of helping her husband plan and cover up the killing of his ex-wife, citing community safety.

Cynthia Wilder was arrested in May and charged with conspiracy to commit murder in the 2015 death of Angila Wilder. The 26-year-old is also charged for helping her husband, Richie Wilder, in his attempted escape from the Ward County Jail in August 2016.

Cynthia Wilder’s defense attorney had requested that Judge Stacy Louser lower the bond to $50,000 cash or corporate surety. But Louser said given the seriousness of the charges, she wasn’t inclined to lower or modify bond conditions.

A preliminary hearing for Wilder has been scheduled for Aug. 15.

 

WASHINGTON (AP) — Hiring rose last month in 14 U.S. states, and the unemployment rate fell to record lows in two states.

The Labor Department says that unemployment rates fell in 10 states and rose in only 2. Rates were stable in the other 38 states.

The figures suggest that June’s healthy job gains were widely spread across the country. Fourteen states reported major hiring increases, including Nevada, Iowa and Georgia.

North Dakota’s unemployment rate fell to 2.3 percent, a record low for the state dating back to 1976 and tying for lowest in the nation with Colorado. Tennessee’s rate of 3.6 percent is also a record low for that state.

 

 

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem says North Dakota’s crime rate per capita last year dropped 0.5 percent from 2015, despite a spike in the number of drug arrests.

The data from the annual crime report was released Friday and provides statistics for crimes ranging from murder to car thefts.

Stenehjem says arrests for drug offenses increased 11 percent last year, to 4,866.

Data show aggravated assaults were down 4.5 percent last year. Aggravated assaults are felony crimes involving fights in which the victims are seriously injured.

The report says there were 5,406 drunken driving arrests last year, down from 6,229 in 2015. Stenehjem says it was the lowest number of drunken driving arrests since 2003.

There were 17 murders in North Dakota last year, down from 21 in 2015.

 

 

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota regulators have approved a plan by the developer of the Dakota Access pipeline to replace trees removed during construction.

But the permission won’t impact an upcoming decision on whether Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners is fined for removing too many.

ETP is replacing two trees for every one removed. A spokeswoman says the work has been stalled by drought and won’t be completed for another year. A landowner group also is trying to address concerns with the company.

The Public Service Commission has scheduled a hearing next month on whether too many trees were removed.

Commissioner Julie Fedorchak says the replacement plan isn’t part of the discussion, nor will the company’s planting of two trees for every one removed be a possible mitigating factor in any decision on fines.

 

In sports…

Jamestown (CSi)    The United Way of Stutsman County is hosting its second annual 18-hole Four Person Golf Scramble Saturday August 19, 2017 at the Jamestown Country Club.

 

Registration is at 11:00 a.m. followed by a shotgun start at 12:00 p.m. A hamburger bar will be available for additional purchase during the hour prior to the start.

 

Early registration fee is $200 per team before August 1st or $220 per team after.

 

Corporate hole sponsorships are available for $500 and includes a 4-person team. The registration deadline is August 15.

 

Register by calling the United Way at 701-952-8929.

 

The United Way of Stutsman County will be supporting the following agencies during this year’s fundraising campaign: Alano Society, Boy Scouts – Northern Lights, Camp Rokiwan, Child Care Aware, Community Corrections, Girl Scouts – Dakota Horizons, Imagination Library, James River Transit, MOST/21st Cen. After School, PATH, Safe Shelter, Salvation Army, SANE/SART, Senior Companion Program, and The Arts Center.

 

The United Way of Stutsman County is part of United Way Worldwide. Its mission is to improve lives by mobilizing the caring power of communities around the world to advance the common good. The current impact model emphasizes that 99% of all funds raised stays within in Stutsman County.

 

In world and national news…

WASHINGTON (AP) — Outgoing press Secretary Sean Spicer says that he resigned from his position to give incoming communications director Anthony Scaramucci a fresh start. Spicer says during a brief phone conversation with The Associated Press following his announced departure that, “we’re at the point where” the president “could benefit from a clean slate.” He says he felt it would be best for Scaramucci to be able to build his own operation “and chart a new way forward.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department says Americans who seek to travel to North Korea will need a “special validation passport” after a ban on U.S. citizens traveling there takes effect. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert says those validations may be granted for “certain limited humanitarian or other purposes.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. John McCain’s treatment for brain cancer could keep him out of Washington for weeks, perhaps months, and yet it’s unlikely anyone will challenge his extended leave. Congress has a long tradition in which no one questions ailing lawmakers taking time to recover. For starters, it’s just poor form. And, frankly, it’s up to the stricken member of Congress and their doctors to decide when _ or even if _ they return to work. Some have recuperated away from the Capitol for a year or more.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Egypt has called for an immediate halt to the violence underway around a holy site in Jerusalem, urging Israel to show respect for Muslim sacred sites and accusing it of fomenting tensions. A Foreign Ministry statement expresses concern over the clashes underway in Jerusalem on Friday and condemns Israel for the civilian deaths and what it describes as “excessive use of force.”

KOS, Greece (AP) — A powerful earthquake shook resorts in Greece and Turkey, killing two tourists in the Greek island of Kos and injuring nearly 500 other people across the Aegean Sea region. The U.S. Geological survey measured the quake as magnitude 6.7, with Greek and Turkish estimates a fraction lower. Only a few miles apart, Kos and the Turkish resort of Bodrum were hit hours before dawn by the shallow undersea quake that caused a two-foot (0.6-meter) sea swell and havoc among residents and vacationers.