CSi Weather…

 

.TONIGHT…Mostly cloudy. Lows 15 to 20. West winds 15 to 25 mph with gusts to around 35 mph.

.SATURDAY…Mostly sunny in the morning then mostly cloudy. A chance of flurries. Highs 15 to 20. Northwest winds 15 to 25 mph.

.SATURDAY NIGHT…Mostly cloudy. Lows zero to 5 below. North

winds 10 to 20 mph.

.SUNDAY…Partly sunny. Highs 5 to 10.

.SUNDAY NIGHT…Mostly cloudy. Lows 5 to 10 below.

.MONDAY…Partly sunny. Highs 10 to 15.

.MONDAY NIGHT…Mostly cloudy. Lows zero to 5 above.

.TUESDAY…Mostly cloudy. A chance of light snow. Highs in the

mid 30s.

.TUESDAY NIGHT…Mostly cloudy. Slight chance of rain and snow in
the evening, then chance of snow after midnight. Lows 15 to 20.
Chance of precipitation 30 percent.

.WEDNESDAY…Partly sunny. Highs 15 to 20.

.WEDNESDAY NIGHT…Mostly cloudy. Lows 5 to 10 below.

.THURSDAY…Partly sunny. Highs zero to 5 above.

.THURSDAY NIGHT…Mostly cloudy. Lows 10 to 15 below.

.FRIDAY…Mostly cloudy. . A 20 percent chance of snow in the
afternoon. Highs 5 to 10.

 

On Saturday with low snow chances spreading through much of the area, notably cooler temperatures expected, with highs returning to below average.

 

Warmer air does a brief return early next week, with temperatures

climbing into the 30s and 40s by Tuesday, with  modest precipitation chances.

A Cold front pushes in Tuesday afternoon brining additional precipitation chances.

Much colder airmass settles over the area behind the front and

remains through the end of the week.

 

 

 

Watford City  (NDHP)  The North Dakota Highway Patrol reports, a 50 year old Oakes man was injured, about 11-p.m., Wednesday on Highway 22,  in a crash 25 miles east of Watford City.

The report says an SUV driven by Myron G. Jepson, of Oakes crashed into a semitrailer  driven by 33 year old Wesley Hofer, of Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Jepson, was operating a 2017 GMC Acadia south in the northbound shoulder of Highway 22.   Jepson turned the SUV into the semitrailer. Both vehicles were damaged.

Hofer was wearing  a seat belt, Jepson was not belted.

Jepson was transported by McKenzie County Ambulance Service to McKenzie County Healthcare Systems for treatment.

Hofer was not injured.

The patrol says Jepson was cited for driving while under the influence of liquor or drugs, driving under suspended license, and care required while driving.

Assisting the Highway Patrol at the scene were, the McKenzie County Sheriff’s Office, and McKenzie Ambulance.

 

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — The chairman of the North Dakota Public Service Commission says he’s running for re-election.

Republican Randy Christmann was elected to the position in 2012 and is seeking a second six-year term.

Christmann, a former state senator, says he favors a balance between energy development and protecting natural resources.

Christmann and his wife, Bethanie, own a cattle ranch west of Hazen.

The three-member commission regulates coal mining, land reclamation, pipelines, electric and gas utilities, grain elevators, telecommunications and auctioneers.

Much of the commission’s work in recent years has involved determining locations for oil and natural gas pipelines, natural gas processing factories, and wind energy projects.

 

MINOT, N.D. (AP) — A Minot woman has been sentenced for stealing about $8,700 from the TJ Maxx store while working there as a cashier.

Twenty-seven-year-old Brittany Haynes was accused of using a scheme involving hundreds of fraudulent returns.

The Minot Daily News reports that she pleaded guilty Thursday to a felony theft charge. She was sentenced to a year of supervised probation and ordered to repay the money. She must also pay $1,100 in court costs.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A crew of utility workers from the Upper Midwest is heading to Puerto Rico to help with the ongoing power restoration efforts following Hurricane Maria.

 

Twenty-five Xcel Energy workers from Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin are travelling to Puerto Rico Monday. They will depart from Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

Xcel Energy says they’ll be working in Caguas, a mountainous and remote region in the southeast. That’s where the storm traveled inland causing significant damage. The crews will work with incident management teams that have partnered with the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority.

Xcel Energy is one of more than 20 electric companies participating in a nationwide mutual assistance response that’s bringing nearly 1,500 additional workers to Puerto Rico. About 40 percent of power customers are without electricity nearly four months after Maria struck.

 

In world and national news…

DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — President Donald Trump is blaming Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer for complicating negotiations over the fate of hundreds of thousands of young immigrants brought to the country illegally as children. Trump tweeted Friday that negotiations over the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program have been made “increasingly difficult by the fact that Cryin’ Chuck Schumer took such a beating over the shutdown that he is unable to act on immigration!”

WASHINGTON (AP) — The New York Times is reporting that President Donald Trump demanded the firing of special counsel Robert Mueller last June. Mueller is leading the investigation into whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia to try to sway voters in the 2016 election. Trump has dismissed the report as “fake news.” Citing four people familiar with the president’s order to fire Mueller, The Times says White House lawyer Don McGahn objected and threatened to resign before Trump eventually backed down.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate’s top Democrat is casting President Donald Trump’s immigration proposal as a “wish list” for immigration opponents. The plan is continuing to draw harsh reviews from Democrats and some conservatives. That’s left its impact on congressional talks uncertain. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is expressing satisfaction that Trump had provided some clarity to his immigration goals. But he says the plan is a wish list for ‘anti-immigration hardliners.’

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — The war people in the United States simply call Vietnam and the Vietnamese refer to as their Resistance War Against America has been over for 40-plus years, yet it lingers in so many ways. That was apparent this week when Defense Secretary Jim Mattis dropped in for a couple of days of defense diplomacy with a former enemy. He visited the office that looks for remains of American servicemen still missing from the conflict. And he received photo ID cards of two Americans who were in the war.

NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump’s proposal for a path to citizenship for nearly 2 million “Dreamer” immigrants is not going over well with some of his supporters. Even though many independents and moderate Republicans back protections for young people who were brought to the country illegally as children, a vocal conservative faction emboldened by Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric will never accept anything seen as “amnesty.”