Wayne Byers Show – Morning – Jan 5

VALLEY CITY, N.D. (AP) — The North Dakota Department of Corrections has found a number of deficiencies at the Barnes County Correctional Center.

The inspection last month found a lack of training for jail employees and concerns about security and cleanliness.

According to the state report, inmates are using broomsticks or unscrewing light bulbs to turn off the lights. Inmates are placing sheets or towels over cast-iron radiators because their cells are so warm.

The state found the jail, which serves several counties, was not in compliance with 43 recommended standards.

Sheriff Randy McClaflin says  the building is more than a century old and likely would require expensive asbestos removal. He says county commissioners eventually will have to consider remodeling the jail or building a new one.

The state plans a follow-up inspection.

MINOT, N.D. (AP) — A man accused of shooting two people outside a Minot bar and firing into a crowd with a semi-automatic rifle wants to change his plea.

26-year-old Steven Stewart has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and reckless endangerment for the October 2016 shooting. He had been scheduled for trial later this month.

Authorities say Stewart shot one man in the parking lot of the Sports on Tap bar after they had argued earlier in the evening. A bystander was also shot by Stewart. Both of the victims survived.

Stewart fled following the shooting and was captured in Las Vegas last March.

Stewart faces several unrelated charges, including delivery of cocaine and methamphetamine, fleeing from a police officer, lying to an officer and driving under suspension.

MINOT, N.D. (AP) — Police say an arrest has been made for a break-in and fire at a restaurant in Minot.

Police and firefighters responded to a report of smoke at the Gourmet Chef about 1:30 a.m. Thursday. Officers found evidence of a burglary, damage to the property and a small fire.

Authorities say a man was found in the area rummaging through a vehicle in parking garage. The 23-year-old New Town man was arrested for the crimes at Gourmet Chef and for breaking into the vehicle. He’s being held in the Ward County Jail.

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Prosecutors allege the last suspect fighting charges in what’s believed to be the first large-scale Jamaican lottery scam tried in U.S. courts funneled money between the two countries through her airline job.

They also say Melinda Bulgin, of Providence, Rhode Island, received legal training at university, contradicting her assertion that she was confused about her legal rights when questioned by authorities.

The government is opposing Bulgin’s effort to have statements from interrogations in Jamaica and Rhode Island in 2015 disallowed at her September trial. Bulgin maintains her constitutional rights were violated. A hearing is scheduled Jan. 22.

Authorities say at least 90 Americans lost a total of more than $5.7 million to the scam. Twenty-seven people were charged. All but Bulgin have pleaded guilty or been convicted.

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Sears Holdings Corp. is closing more than 100 stores around the country, including the Sears in Bismarck and the Kmart in Devils Lake.

The company says employees at 64 Kmart stores and 39 Sears stores were notified Thursday that it was closing the stores between early March and early April. Company officials say liquidation sales could start as early as late next week.

The Sears in Rapid City, South Dakota will also close.

The company says it’s closing unprofitable stores as it transforms its business model. Affected employees will be given severance and the opportunity to apply for open positions at other stores.

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota National Guard soldiers who served nearly a year in Afghanistan are being honored.

A formal welcome-home ceremony is scheduled Friday for about 60 members of the 136th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion. The unit returned to North Dakota in November.

The 136th used to be based in Devils Lake but was recently relocated to Bismarck. The welcome-home ceremony is 6:30 p.m. Friday at the Raymond J. Bohn Armory in Bismarck.

ABERDEEN, S.D. (AP) — The boards of two large agriculture co-ops in the Dakotas that are merging have come up with a new name.

When North Central Farmers Elevator and Wheat Growers join forces on Feb. 1, the organization will be known as Agtegra.

Members of the two co-ops voted last September to merge. North Central has about 2,400 members in South Dakota and North Dakota, while Wheat Growers has 5,100 members in the two states.

Bottineau 78, Mohall-Lansford-Sherwood 75

Bowman County 60, Harding County, S.D. 56

Des Lacs-Burlington 59, Rugby 58

Drake/Anamoose 49, Surrey 44

Kenmare 76, Westhope-Newburg 66

Mandan 97, Bismarck St. Mary’s 61

Minot Bishop Ryan 91, Towner-Granville-Upham 33

New Salem-Almont 47, Grant County 32

New Town 72, North Shore – Plaza 55

New Town 72, Lewis and Clark 55

Trenton 67, Tioga 43

Velva/Sawyer 64, Nedrose 25

Benson County 51, Devils Lake JV 47

Four Winds/Minnewauken 82, Lakota 52

North Star 59, Dakota Prairie 41

Rolette-Wolford 47, Larimore 42

Beach 86, Mandaree 64

Benson County 46, Warwick 31

Bismarck St. Mary’s 61, Mandan 49

Bowman County 61, Richardton-Taylor 26

Carrington 53, Ellendale 30

Center-Stanton 59, Solen 54

Divide County 47, Ray 34

Drayton/Valley-Edinburg 46, May Port CG 38

Fargo Oak Grove Lutheran 58, Richland 16

Finley-Sharon/Hope-Page 53, Griggs County Central 27

Flasher 50, Wilton-Wing 49

Fordville Lankin-Park River 58, Hatton-Northwood 38

Harvey-Wells County 58, Midkota 31

Heart River 52, Harding County, S.D. 21

Hettinger/Scranton 60, Glen Ullin-Hebron 45

Hillsboro/Central Valley 63, Cavalier 31

Kindred 61, Lisbon 56, OT

Langdon-Edmore-Munich 78, Rolla 28

Lewis and Clark-Berthold 69, Max 29

New England 67, Mott-Regent 41

New Town 83, North Shore – Plaza 28

Northern Cass 56, Sargent Central 48, 2OT

Park River/Fordville Lankin 58, Hatton-Northwood 38

Thompson 65, North Border 28

Trenton 66, Tioga 33

Underwood 50, Linton-HMB 46

Wyndmere-Lidgerwood 65, Hankinson 63, OT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A person familiar with the matter says President Donald Trump directed his White House counsel to tell Attorney General Jeff Sessions to not recuse himself from the Justice Department’s investigation into potential ties between Russia and the Trump campaign. The person says the conversation between Don McGahn and Sessions occurred on the president’s orders and just before the attorney general announced he would step aside from the inquiry. Two other people confirmed details of the conversation.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A Japanese government spokesman says his country will “take all steps necessary,” including cooperating with China and Russia, to step up pressure on North Korea so it will give up its nuclear weapons and missile development policies. South Korea’s Unification Ministry said earlier that the North has accepted Seoul’s offer to hold talks on how to cooperate on next month’s Winter Olympics and how to improve overall ties.

BOSTON (AP) — A day after a massive winter storm slammed the East Coast with heavy snow, hurricane-force winds and coastal flooding, forecasters are predicting record-breaking cold air and strong winds. Brian Hurley, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland, says, “This is chilly, chilly stuff.” The arctic blast could make temperatures feel as low as minus 15 degrees from Philadelphia to Boston on Friday.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The Islamic State group has declared support for the anti-government protests in Iran. In its latest weekly publication, Al Nabaa, the extremists say the protests are a “revolution against the regime” and an uprising against Wilayat al-Faqih, or Iran’s system of governance by clerics. Friday’s statement also says the messages sent through the protesters to their rulers are “highly important” and that they should continue.

BEIRUT (AP) — Anti-government protests in Iran have mostly focused on economic issues but demonstrators have also chanted against Iran’s military involvement in neighboring Syria. Iran’s theocratic leadership has cast the involvement as a religious war for Shiite Islam and a defense of Damascus from Sunni jihadis. But the protesters denounce the government’s policy of sending young Iranians to fight and die in Syria and spending billions of dollars on the military instead of working to provide jobs in Iran.