Wayne Byers Show – Evening – Jul 26

JAMESTOWN, N.D. (AP) — A Fargo man is facing felony charges stemming from a crash that took the life of a Belcourt teen earlier this month.

Authorities say 54-year-old Wilmer Duane Nadeau was eastbound on I-94 July 18 when he entered the median and rolled east of Jamestown. A 17-year-old passenger, Daniel Short, was ejected from the vehicle and died on the scene.

Nadeau was initially arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence. It was later discovered that the vehicle involved was stolen from a rural residence in Spiritwood.

Nadeau was initially charged with misdemeanor DUI. He’s now been charged with five felonies including two counts of criminal conspiracy, two counts of unauthorized use of a vehicle and one count of child neglect. It was not immediately clear if Nadeau has an attorney.

GRAFTON, N.D. (AP) — A Langdon man injured in a vehicle crash a week ago has died of his injuries.

The Highway Patrol says 56-year-old Michael Kubal was driving a truck with a utility trailer on U.S. Highway 81 on July 18 when it was rear-ended by another truck on the south end of Grafton and overturned.

The patrol says Kubal and a passenger were taken to a Grafton hospital for treatment, and Kubal died on Tuesday.

The Cavalier man driving the other truck was charged with driving under the influence.

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota regulators have approved a $150 million expansion of a natural gas processing plant in McKenzie County.

The Wild Basin Gas Plant is in the most prolific part of the Bakken oil patch in northwestern North Dakota. It currently can process about 80 million cubic feet of natural gas per day. The project will expand that to 280 million cubic feet daily.

It will be the largest natural gas processing complex in the state. Public Service Commission Chairman Randy Christmann says it’s “one of the biggest steps ever taken in North Dakota to decrease flaring” of excess natural gas.

The three-member PSC on Wednesday approved the project planned by Oasis Midstream Services about 6 miles northeast of Watford City.

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A special commissioner appointed by the governor has recommended that suspended McKenzie County Sheriff Gary Schwartzenberger be allowed to return to his post.

Karen Klein says in her recommendation to Gov. Doug Burgum that the state hasn’t provided enough evidence for Schwartzenberger’s removal. Burgum ultimately will decide if Schwartzenberger loses his job permanently.

Schwartzenberger is accused of bullying, retaliation and misusing a county credit card. He’s scheduled for trial in September on a misdemeanor charge.

Schwartzenberger was suspended from his sheriff’s position last November by then-Gov. Jack Dalrymple.

A spokesman for Burgum says there’s no timetable for a decision on whether Schwartzenberger be allowed to return to his duties.

FARGO, N.D. (AP) — One of the largest private construction projects in the Dakotas is open for business.Sanford Health has opened a $494 million hospital in Fargo. Sanford Medical Center in North Dakota’s largest city has 284 beds, 28 operating rooms and 51 emergency bays.

The new 1 million-square-foot hospital is North Dakota’s largest medical center and includes an adult and pediatric trauma center, birth center and Children’s Hospital. The facility opened Tuesday after five years of construction.

Sanford’s downtown surgery center, Roger Maris Cancer Center and other clinics across the metro area will stay open.

Sanford Health is based in Fargo and Sioux Falls, South Dakota. It bills itself as one of the largest health systems in the nation, with 45 hospitals and nearly 300 clinics in nine states and four countries.

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A group that wants to repeal longstanding Sunday business restrictions in North Dakota is a step closer to bringing the matter to a public vote.Secretary of State Al Jaeger (JAY’-gur) has approved for circulation a petition for a ballot initiative to end the state’s so-called blue laws.

The petition will need signatures from about 13,500 North Dakotans to put it to a statewide vote next year.

The National Conference of State Legislatures says about a dozen states have some form of Sunday sales laws, but only North Dakota prohibits shopping on Sunday morning. The Legislature has defeated several measures over the years to end that prohibition.

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota’s state education and agriculture departments are teaming up to encourage schools and child care centers to serve more food that’s produced in the state.The Department of Public Instruction is using a $75,000 federal grant to promote locally produced food. It will fund promotions, technical assistance and school activities.

State Superintendent Kirsten Baesler and state Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring say farm-to-school programs help improve students’ eating habits while also giving a boost to farmers and food processors in the state.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is accusing a Republican senator of disappointing the country by opposing the GOP effort to demolish the Obama health care law. His Twitter attack on Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski came after initial votes demonstrated the party will be hard pressed to make any sweeping changes in that statute. Senators planned to vote Wednesday on a Republican amendment repealing much of President Barack Obama’s law and giving Congress two years to concoct a replacement.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Tammy Duckworth, a double amputee veteran of the Iraq War, is slamming President Donald Trump’s ban on transgender Americans serving in the military. Duckworth said in a statement Wednesday that when her Black Hawk helicopter was shot down, she didn’t care “if the American troops risking their lives to help save me were gay, straight, transgender or anything else.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Thousands of Palestinian Muslims have been praying in the streets of Jerusalem every evening, creating a new, surprisingly effective form of protest in their long conflict with Israel. Since the crisis over the city’s most contested shrine erupted more than a week ago, they have set up neat rows of prayer rugs after sundown, kneeling and bowing on hard asphalt in the set rituals of worship. The evocative scenes reflect a newfound unity among Jerusalem’s leaderless Palestinians.

LONDON (AP) — A judge in London says critically ill baby Charlie Gard will be transferred to a hospice to die unless his family and the hospital treating him agree on an end-of-life plan by noon on Thursday. Judge Nicholas Francis says “it is in Charlie’s best interests to be moved to a hospice and for him at that point to be moved to a palliative care regime only.” Charlie’s mother, Connie Yates, left a courtroom in distress before the judge made his ruling.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A package of new financial sanctions against Russia, Iran and North Korea has a hit a snag in the Senate where the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee is objecting to the House’s decision to include penalties targeting Pyongyang. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., told reporters he preferred to keep the North Korea sanctions in a separate bill that would be carefully considered by the Senate. The hurdle may prevent the measure’s passage before Congress takes its August recess.