Wayne Byers Show – Evening – Feb 1

 

Jamestown (CSi)  Meeting in Special Session Thursday evening at City Hall, the Jamestown City Council concerning hiring Sarah Helleckson, as the new City administrator.

Council Member Phillips was not present.

At Thursday’s meeting, the Council considered approval of the contract.

Council Member Buchanan asked if she would be a Civil Service employee.

Deputy Auditor Jay Sveum said she would be a contract employee, with step salary increases consistent with the city’s civil service employees.

Buchanan added that he’s pleased that Helleckson accepted the position and that she will do a good job.

The Council voted unanimously to approve her hiring.

Helleckson’s starting date is February 20, 2018.

She has been the solid waste coordinator for the city of Plymouth, Minnesota, who previously withdrew her candidacy, and was re-contacted by the search committee, to come in for an interview.

Other finalists included:

Chris Schilken, loan manager and lender at Prairie Federal Credit Union in Minot, and Aaron Mitchell, finance director for the City of West Fargo were previously interviewed.

The committee initially selected Shilken, however, following negotiations, the offer was withdrawn, and further discussions terminated.

City Administrator Jeff Fuchs informed the city last year that he was retiring on December 31, 2017.

However, as the search continued, the City Council offered Fuchs the opportunity to stay on past that date and until his successor was chosen on a part-time basis using a combination of his unused vacation pay and other pay arrangements, which he accepted.

Fuchs will work with his successor through the transition process.

Fuchs says he plans fully retire by March 31st this year.

The meeting was shown live on CSi 67.

 

 

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A group aiming to repeal the North Dakota’s longstanding Sunday business restrictions is changing tactics.

The Bismarck Tribune reports that the group will shift from collecting signatures for an initiated measure to pushing for reintroduction of a bill next year to remove the so-called blue laws that ban retail shopping before noon on Sundays.

Proponents needed to collect about 13,450 signatures to force a vote.

Organizer Brandon Medenwald says only about 5,000 signatures were gathered.

Medenwald is a Democrat and a business owner in Fargo. He announced this week he was seeking a House seat in his district.

The Republican-led Legislature has defeated several measures over the years to end the Sunday morning shopping prohibition, most recently last year when it was defeated by the Senate.

 

 

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring (GOHR’-ing) is running for re-election.

The 52-year-old Republican was appointed to the job in 2009 by former Gov. John Hoeven when Democrat Roger Johnson resigned to make a successful run for the presidency of the National Farmers Union, based in Washington, D.C. Before that, Goehring ran twice against Johnson and lost both times.

Goehring defeated Democratic challengers Merle Boucher in 2010 and Ryan Taylor in 2014.

Democrats so far have no announced challenger this year.

Besides promoting agricultural interests and markets for farm products, the commissioner also sits on the state Industrial Commission, which regulates North Dakota’s oil industry.

Goehring says he also still farms and ranches near the rural community of Menoken, about 15 miles west of Bismarck.

 

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota is seeing a rise in the use of Airbnb, an online service that connects people offering private homes or rooms to renters looking for short-term stays.

The state’s guest arrivals on the service increased by 158 percent in 2017 from the previous year, with most activity seen in Fargo and Bismarck. North Dakota’s Airbnb hosts made nearly $670,000 in supplemental income last year.

Bismarck couple Leah and Nick Walker tells the Bismarck Tribune they started offering their residence for rent on Airbnb in May. Leah Walker says many of their visitors choose Airbnb over hotels because it’s less expensive and has more amenities, including larger bathrooms and a kitchen.

About 16 percent of North Dakota hosts are 60 years or older and 52 percent are women.

 

 

MINOT, N.D. (AP) — A Garrison man has been sentenced to time served and three years of probation for punching a Ward County sheriff’s deputy in the head.

Forty-four-year-old Archie Hopkins was accused of striking the deputy in March 2017 after the officer had taken off Hopkins’ handcuffs.

The Minot Daily News reports Hopkins pleaded guilty Wednesday to felony simple assault on a peace officer. Judge Richard Hagar sentenced him to a year in prison with all of the time suspended except the 81 days he’d already served.

Hopkins also must pay $1,100 in court costs.

 

In sports…

Jamestown  (CSi) The Jamestown Civic Center hosts the 2018 North Dakota Class B District 5 Girls Basketball Tournament beginning Friday, February 9, continuing Saturday, February 10 and Monday, February 12.

Opening round Friday, February 9^:

4:30 p.m.

No. 4 Oakes (3-3) vs. No.5 Ellendale (2-4).

6-p.m.

No.2 Edgeley-Kulm-Montpelier (5-1) takes on  No.7 Midkota (0-6).

7:30-p.m.

No.3 Carrington (4-2) vs. No.6 Barnes County North (1-5)

Saturday

6-p.m.

Regular Season Champion No.1 LaMoure-Litchville/Marion (6-0) having the first round bye plays  the winner of Oakes/Ellendale.

Monday

7:30-p.m.

Championship game, teams TBD

 

In world and national news…

 

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The chief of the Los Angeles school police department says preliminary information indicates that the female suspect in the Los Angeles middle school shooting is 12 years old.

Television news footage showed officers leading a girl with dark hair away in handcuffs following the shooting Thursday in a classroom at Castro Middle School. Two students were shot and wounded.

The school has about 365 students in grades 6 through 8 and most are Hispanic and many from low-income families.

The Los Angeles Times says at an event last month where good attendance certificates were presented, Principal Erick Mitchell said the campus is becoming a destination for families who want a smaller school setting. He said Castro emphasizes long-term goals such as college and career, and that has improved student behavior.

 

CROZET, Va. (AP) — Drivers who regularly pass over a Virginia railroad crossing where a train carrying Republican lawmakers slammed into a garbage truck say the crossing arms appeared to be malfunctioning the day before the deadly crash.

Jane Rogers told The Associated Press on Thursday that she crosses the intersection almost every day. She says she got stuck there Tuesday because the arms were lowered even though no train was coming.

Crozet resident Gene Locke told AP he had the same problem Tuesday.

A 28-year-old passenger on the truck was killed Wednesday, and at least two other people in the truck were reported seriously hurt. No serious injuries were reported aboard the chartered Amtrak train.

Albemarle County Board of Supervisors chairwoman Ann Mallek says she has not had anyone reach out to her in 10 years about the crossing. But she says it’s tricky to drive across because the road crosses the track at an incline and visibility is poor.

 

WASHINGTON (AP) — White House officials say President Donald Trump will clear the way for the publication of a controversial GOP-authored memo, despite objections from the FBI.

The memo was prepared by Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee and is said to allege misconduct by the FBI in its investigation of potential ties between Russia and Trump’s 2016 campaign.

Trump’s own Justice Department and Democrats furiously lobbied Trump to stop the release, saying it could harm national security and mislead the public.

 

 

 

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, West Virginia (AP) — President Donald Trump says Republicans are coming off one of “the greatest years in the history of a party.”

Trump is speaking to the House and Senate Republicans’ annual legislative retreat at the luxury Greenbrier Resort.

Trump is taking a victory lap, stressing the newly enacted tax overhaul and efforts to reduce regulations.

The president adds that Republican Speaker Paul Ryan recently told him that “he’s never seen the Republican party so united.”

He’s also attacking Democrats for not supporting his agenda. Trump says that during his State of the Union address they “sat there stone cold, no smile, no applause.”

He suggests Democrats would prefer to see Republicans fail than see the country thrive.

 

 

 

 

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration says Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government may be developing new, more sophisticated chemical weapons.

U.S. officials say the characteristics of recent alleged attacks suggest Syria is producing chemical weapons despite a 2013 deal to destroy its program. The officials say it’s “highly likely” that Syria kept a stockpile of weapons.

The officials also say Syria may be making new kinds of weapons, either to improve their military capability or to escape international accountability.

 

 

MERIDIAN TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — A victim of sports doctor Larry Nassar has accepted a public apology from a police department near Lansing, Michigan, nearly 14 years after officers took a complaint from her but didn’t seek criminal charges.

Brianne Randall-Gay says the remorse by Meridian Township police eases her pain but doesn’t erase it.

Township officials held a news conference Thursday. Randall-Gay participated by video from Washington state.

In 2004, Randall-Gay was 17 years old when she visited Nassar for a back problem. She told police that he molested her with his hands. The case was closed after Nassar told police that he had performed a legitimate procedure.

The township says an outside expert should have been consulted. Nassar has been sentenced to 40 to 175 years after pleading guilty to assaulting others.

 

 

 

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says the ratings for his first State of the Union address this week are “the highest number in history,” but that is not true.

Nielsen reports that about 45.6 million tuned in to watch Trump Tuesday night. That’s below viewership for President Barack Obama’s first State of the Union, which was about 48 million, and Trump’s own joint address to Congress last year.

It also trails the 46.8 million viewers who tuned into President Bill Clinton’s first State of the Union speech, and the 51.7 million who watched President George W. Bush’s 2002 address.

Trump falsely argued last year that his inauguration was the most well-attended one ever.