CSi Weather…

.TONIGHT…Mostly clear. Lows in the upper 40s. Northwest winds 5 to 10 mph.

.FRIDAY…Sunny. Highs in the mid 70s. Northwest winds around 5 mph.

.FRIDAY NIGHT…Mostly cloudy. Lows in the mid 50s. East winds around 5 mph.

.SATURDAY…Partly sunny. A 20 percent chance of rain showers and

thunderstorms in the afternoon. Highs in the mid 70s. East winds

5 to 10 mph.

.SATURDAY NIGHT…Mostly cloudy. Slight chance of rain showers

and thunderstorms in the evening, then slight chance of rain

showers after midnight. Lows in the mid 50s. Northeast winds

around 5 mph. Chance of precipitation 20 percent.

.SUNDAY…Partly sunny. Chance of rain showers in the morning,

then chance of rain showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon.

Highs in the lower 70s. Chance of precipitation 30 percent.

.SUNDAY NIGHT THROUGH MONDAY NIGHT…Partly cloudy. Lows in the

mid 50s. Highs in the 70s.

.TUESDAY…Mostly sunny. A 20 percent chance of rain showers in

the afternoon. Highs in the mid 70s.

.TUESDAY NIGHT AND WEDNESDAY…Partly cloudy. Lows in the mid

50s. Highs in the upper 70s.

.WEDNESDAY NIGHT…Mostly clear. Lows in the mid 50s.

.THURSDAY…Mostly sunny. Highs in the upper 70s.

 

Friday night through Sunday, chances of showers and thunderstorms

High temperatures should be in the 70s with lows mainly in the low to mid 50s. Only modest warming next week with highs in the 70s to lower 80s.

Off and on chances of showers and a few thunderstorms Tuesday and

Wednesday.

 

Jamestown  (CSi)  Jamestown Public Works informs motorists that beginning on MONDAY, August 7, 2017 – 4th St NE between 13th & 14th Ave NE will be closed to through traffic due to water main replacement.

The closure will continue for approximately 2 weeks.

Motorist should use extreme caution in this area and use alternate routes as necessary.

 

 

Jamestown (CSi)  Jamestown Tourism’s Talking Trail project continues to grow this summer in terms of the number of callers accessing information about and locations of historic sites in Jamestown.

On Thursday’s Wayne Byers Show on CSi Cable 2, Jamestown Tourism Director Searle Swedlund pointed out that since May this year, the system has counted 1,895 calls, mainly at the posted sites.

1,027 “unique” calls, as the calls tracked are counted one time, by phone number.  Those calls may access more than one Talking Trail location.

There are currently 72 historic sites listed with Jamestown locations.

Swedlund noted a slight decrease in dollars collected so far this year from the Restaurant and Lodging Taxes in Jamestown.

So far this year there has been a decrease in Lodging Taxes collected compared to 2016, at a reduction of 12.5 percent.

In 2015 with the state’s oil boom in place, the Restaurant Tax increased by 15 percent.

This year so far the tax is off point-5 percent from the 2016 numbers.

Swedlund added that attendance at Frontier Village and visitors to the National Buffalo Museum continue to be good this summer.

He said that the Mountain Bike Trial kiosk project is progressing.

Earlier this year the Tourism Grant/Executive Board approved funding at $6,550, noting that the kiosks will provide a visible trailhead landmark for two of Jamestown’s signature  trails, Pipestem and Overlook.  The kiosks will direct visitors to other trails, attractions and upcoming events.

 

 

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota may give voter information to a commission looking at election fraud, after all.

The state initially said it would not hand over data requested by President Donald Trump’s commission in June.

Deputy Secretary of State Jim Silrum said the state would answer the commission’s questions about voting procedures but that releasing voter details would violate state law.

Silrum told The Associated Press on Thursday that election officials are giving the request a second look after the commission pledged not to make public individual voters’ information.

He says he expects a decision next week.

More than 15 states denied the request at first. At least five of them are considering complying. New York is the only state that initially said no that now plans to deliver the data.

 

MINOT, N.D. (AP) — A Minot man has pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting a 14-year-old runaway girl while working as a hotel clerk.

Authorities say the girl had run away from the Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch and went to the Astoria Hotel last Halloween to use the internet. Twenty-four-year-old Mohammed Siddiqui allegedly offered to let her stay in a vacant room and then sexually assaulted her.

The Minot Daily News reports Siddiqui is scheduled for trial Sept. 12. He could face up to life in prison if convicted.

 

BISMARCK , N.D. (AP) — Drought conditions in North Dakota haven’t changed much over the past week.

The latest U.S. Drought Monitor map shows 82 percent of the state in some stage of drought, up slightly from 79 percent last week.

Most of central and western North Dakota remains in extreme or exceptional drought, the two worst categories.

Gov. Doug Burgum and Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring are hosting a public drought meeting in Mott on Monday.

The federal government has declared numerous North Dakota counties to be disaster areas, and Burgum last week also declared a drought disaster. That has opened to door to various forms of aid, such as emergency loans and haying and grazing of conservation land.

North Dakota Farmers Union on Thursday called for federal disaster payments for drought-impacted farmers and ranchers.

 

 

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota has been paid for its help policing protests in North Dakota against the Dakota Access oil pipeline.

South Dakota Highway Patrol troopers racked up 8,800 hours during the protests. Spokesman Tony Mangan tells the Argus Leader that the agency has been reimbursed $518,000 for hours and mileage.

American Indian tribes and environmental groups protested the pipeline because they fear environmental harm, a claim Texas-based pipeline developer Energy Transfer Partners rejects. There were 761 arrests in North Dakota between August and February.

The $3.8 billion pipeline began moving North Dakota oil to a distribution point in Illinois last month.

 

In world and national news…

TAUNTON, Mass. (AP) —  A Massachusetts woman who sent her boyfriend dozens of text messages urging him to kill himself has been sentenced to 15 months in jail on a manslaughter charge.

Michelle Carter was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in June by a judge who said she caused the death of 18-year-old Conrad Roy III when she told him to “get back in” his truck as it was filling with carbon monoxide.

Juvenile Court Judge Lawrence Moniz also sentenced Carter on Thursday to five years of probation.

Carter was 17 when Roy died in 2014.

During Carter’s trial, her lawyer argued that Roy was determined to kill himself and nothing Carter did could change that.

Carter faced a maximum sentence of 20 years.

 

WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Jeff Sessions is again cracking down on so-called sanctuary cities. This time, he’s threatening to keep federal crime-fighting resources from cities ravaged by violence if they don’t cooperate with federal immigration authorities. The Justice Department sent letters to Baltimore, Albuquerque, New Mexixo, and Stockton and San Bernardino in California, telling them they will be ineligible for a new program if they don’t step up to help.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s powerful constituent assembly will now convene Friday, a day later than planned. The announcement from President Nicolas Maduro comes after a voting software company reported that the official turnout figures for the election of the assembly were manipulated. Maduro is standing by the official count, and he claims that more people would have voted if they hadn’t been blocked by protesters. The body will have the power to rewrite the country’s constitution.

WASHINGTON (AP) — New fossils help scientists discover a prehistoric bizarre sea worm with 50 spines on its faceless head. Only 4 inches long, it swam the seas long before dinosaurs roamed the Earth. The discovery offers a glimpse into the Cambrian explosion of life on Earth. The research was published in Thursday’s journal Current Biology.

LONDON (AP) — A new documentary about Princess Diana has ignited controversy in Britain, with producers saying it offers insights into the strains of royal life and critics saying it’s pure exploitation. Friends of the late princess have slammed a British broadcaster’s decision to air private recordings in which she speaks frankly about her unhappy marriage to Prince Charles. But former bodyguard Ken Wharfe says Diana would “love” that the recordings are being broadcast in Britain for the first time.