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CSi Weather….
TONIGHT…Mostly clear. Lows in the upper 20s. Northwest winds 5 to 10 mph.
.WEDNESDAY…Sunny. Highs in the lower 50s. West winds around 5 mph.
.WEDNESDAY NIGHT…Clear. Lows in the upper 30s. Southwest winds 5 to 10 mph.
.THURSDAY…Sunny. Highs in the mid 60s. Southwest winds 10 to
15 mph.
.THURSDAY NIGHT…Mostly clear. Lows in the lower 40s.
.FRIDAY…Sunny. Highs in the lower 50s.
.FRIDAY NIGHT…Partly cloudy. Lows in the mid 30s.
.SATURDAY…Sunny. Highs in the mid 40s.
.SATURDAY NIGHT…Partly cloudy. Lows around 30.
.SUNDAY…Mostly sunny. Highs in the lower 50s.
.SUNDAY NIGHT…Mostly clear. Lows in the lower 30s.
.MONDAY…Sunny. Highs around 50.
Warm air advection on Wednesday will lead to afternoon highs ranging from the 50s across the Turtle Mountains and James River Valley to the mid 60s in the western half of the state. Widespread highs in the 60s will spread across most of the state on Thursday.
Thursday night, another Clipper dives southeast out of Canada and a cold front will once bring more brisk northwest winds and cooler temperatures back into the Northern Plains Friday and Saturday. Another temperatures rebound is possible again towards the beginning of next week.
Viewing reminder…
Valley City (CSi) Barnes County Highway Department informs motorists that due to a culvert installation on a section of Barnes County Highway 32 between 112th Avenue Southeast, and North Dakota Highway One, the road will be closed for one day.
No Detour will be provided, motorists need to seek alternate routes.
The closure begins on Wednesday, October 17th, 2018 at 8:30 AM. Work is expected to be completed by 4:00 PM that day.
For more information call the Barnes County Highway Department at 701-845-8508.
Valley City (CSi) The Valley City Commission met in Regular Session Tuesday evening at City Hall. Mayor Carlsrud was not present, Commissioner Magnuson conducted the meeting at the outset until Mayor Carlsrud arrived.
APPROVAL OF CONSENT AGENDA ITEMS:
A Raffle Permit for Valley City Area Chamber of Commerce, Shine
A Parade Application for Valley City Area Chamber of Commerce (Parade of Lights) on Thursday, November 29 at 6:00 PM on Central Avenue
A Special Alcohol Beverage Event Permit for Rotary Wine Tasting at the Barnes County Museum on October 30, 2018 for Dakota Silver & The Liquor Locker.
PUBLIC COMMENTS:
Mary Lee Nielson spoke, giving a report on her attendance at the Lake Agassiz Water meeting.
She said Devils Lake is requesting joining the organization, and pay for its engineering fees.
The organization was formed to bring water from Lake Sakakawea to the eastern part of the state including the Valley City area. Devils Lake officials want one cfs of water to the area from the lake.
ORDINANCES:
Approved The first reading of an Ordinance Repealing and Reenacting Title 10, Stormwater Management. City Attorney Schoenack said no major changes in the Ordinance, under recodification.
RESOLUTION
Approved a Resolution Creating Paving Improvement District No. 118.
Approved a Resolution Amending Rates & Fees for Solid Waste Services.
City Administrator Schelkoph said the rate will go from $20 per ton to zero, for the commercial tree dumps within the city limits.
NEW BUSINESS:
Commissioners received 2018 Annual Foresters Report from City Forester Wagar. He said 71 elm trees were removed in the city, stemming from Dutch Elm Disease, compared to 100 in 2017. He added there is a preventative treatment against the elm bark beetle, that needs to be repeated every four years. He said the cost is about $1-thousand per tree, and is available from Jerry’s Tree Service in Jamestown.
He added ash tree wood and wood piles in the city is being inspected for the Emerald Ash Borer, that is infecting and killing ash trees, in many areas.
Commissioners considered Decision Items for (Project No. SU-2-990(059)) – 5th Avenue Northwest Reconstruction. KLJ reported that at recent public meeting, the majority of residents were not in favor of widening the roadway to 40 feet.
Two options were presented:
Have the roadway one lane at the present width with no parking.
Have the roadway at 34 feet, with parking, on both sides of the roadway with minimum impact on tree removal.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Commissioners voted for the second option, with Commissioner Magnuson voting in opposition.
CITY ADMINISTRATOR’S REPORT
David Schelkoph said the remaining smaller tree branches brought down by ice forming on trees last week, will be picked up. The pick up is planned for October 25, and 26.
Anything larger than four inches in diameter will not be picked up by the city, and need to be brought to the Transfer Station, by the property owner.
CITY UPDATES & COMMISSION REPORTS
Police Chief Hatcher, said the Battle of the Badges blood drive at Stoudt-Ross Ford continues on Wednesday from 11:30-a.m., to 6-p.m. The friendly competition is between the police and fire departments with donors indicating which they want to designate, when they give blood.
KLJ reported some project delays in road work due to last week’s snow storm.
Funding for addition permanent flood control work was approved by state officials.
Commissioner Magnuson thanked residents for their patience in dealing with the street projects.
Mayor Carlsrud reported on his participation in the State Water Commission meeting, along with city crews picking up storm related damages last week.
The meeting was shown live on CSi Cable 68, followed by replays.
Jamestown (CSi) At the Spiritwood Energy Park Association Board of Directors meeting, Monday, the board voted to decline authorizing a transfer of land owned by the Jamestown/Stutsman Development Corporation (JSDC) to SEPA ownership in exchange for JSDC increasing ithe current ownership stake of 75 percent in the SEPA industrial park.
The JSDC land is south of the SEPA railroad loop, and is the planned location for the North Dakota Soybean Processors operated plant, currently in a fundraising campaign to move the project forward.
The Spiritwood Energy Park Association (SEPA) is a Great River Energy and Jamestown/Stutsman Development Corporation partnership operating the rail loop used by Dakota Spirit AgEnergy.
SEPA continues in its efforts to locate other businesses in the SEPA business park.
An agreement is in place to transfer the land from JSDC to SEPA at a time when North Dakota Soybean Processors is ready to construct its facility. The SEPA has board voted to indicate that the soybean plant is not at that point.
JSDC and SEPA Chief Operating Officer, Connie Ova, passed along information at the SEPA board meeting from Minnesota Soybean Processors, CEO, Scott Autin that “The plant is progressing, and there seems to be renewed interest by large investors because of the direction the market is going. Basically the market believes soy oil will increase in value over the next two years because of the new demand for renewable diesel.”
Minnesota Soybean Processors is the parent company of North Dakota Soybean Processors,
It was announced in September this year, that construction of the plant is projected to begin in the first quarter of 2019 and the company close its equity drive by the end of 2018.
In other business, the SEPA board moved to authorized its attorney to update language the operating agreement in North Dakota law.
JSDC Business Development Director, Corry Shevlin told the board that no new information has been received from New Energy Blue about the planned plant processing wheat straw and corn stalks into ethanol.
New Energy Blue’s announcement of its plans in September, included locating the plant on land next to Dakota Spirit AgEnergy.
Fargo (Farmers Union Insurance) – FirstLink, which maintains the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline for the state of North Dakota, announced today that Farmers Union Insurance (FUI) has donated $20,000 to help the nonprofit continue its services to North Dakotans who are at risk of suicide.
Cindy Miller, executive director of FirstLink, says, “Research has shown that our services prevent suicide. Because of the increased volume of calls we’re receiving, we need additional staff to support a second phone line and funding to maintain a callback service to at-risk callers. This donation is really a lifeline of sorts for us.”
Miller says calls to their 2-1-1 suicide helpline and national lifeline have increased dramatically in recent years. Suicide related calls in 2016 were 2,512 compared to 6,533 in 2017, and follow-up calls increased from 1,150 in 2016 to 4,810 last year.
Kevin Ressler, FUI chief sales, marketing & branding officer adds, “There aren’t a lot of people who haven’t been affected by suicide, whether it’s a family member or someone in their community. There is a lot of stress right now in farm country. This donation melds the mission of our company and our farm organization. Both are focused on community support. FirstLink is local people helping local people.”
To reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, dial 1-800-273-TALK. Along with providing 24-hour crisis intervention, a FirstLink staff member can direct callers to community resources for emergency safe shelters, support groups, addictions, food assistance, financial housing and utility assistance, disaster assistance, counseling and mental health support.
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Sen. Heidi Heitkamp apologized Tuesday for misidentifying victims of domestic violence, sexual abuse and rape who were listed in a recent North Dakota newspaper ad aimed at her opponent.
The Democrat, who is facing a tough race for re-election, said in a statement that she had recently learned that several of the women named in the ad either hadn’t authorized it or are not survivors of abuse.
“This was incompetent. It was wrong. It should have never happened,” Heitkamp told Rob Port, a conservative blogger and frequent Heitkamp critic on his radio talk show Tuesday. “It was a very flagrant error of the campaign and I own it.”
The flap over the newspaper ad comes at a sensitive time for Heitkamp, who has been trying to explain to voters why she opposed confirming Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. The vote has emboldened Republican challenger Kevin Cramer in his effort to label the incumbent as too liberal for the conservative state.
Heitkamp, who was clearly emotional on the talk show, apologized several times for the ad, which she said she hadn’t seen before publication. She said she was reaching out to those affected by it but would understand if they didn’t want to talk to her.
The ad that ran Sunday in several North Dakota newspapers was an open letter to Cramer, criticizing comments he made on Kavanaugh’s confirmation . It was signed by more than 125 people, though some just listed their initials.
Heitkamp said she was investigating how her campaign obtained the names. She said they may have come from a “Facebook feed” that was forwarded to the campaign.
“I think the victims deserved an explanation on how this happened,” she said.
Several women listed in ad criticized Heitkamp on social media for listing their names.
Lexi Zhorela told The Associated Press that she learned of the ad Monday night
“I’m furious,” the 24-year-old hairdresser and single mother from Bismarck said. “I know I’m not the only woman hurt by this.”
Zhorela said she was listed in the ad because she had been tagged by a friend in a Facebook post who knew she had been the victim of sexual assault.
“I have only shared my story with a couple of people in confidence,” she said. “I didn’t want it blasted for the world to see.”
Zhorela said she had intended to vote for Heitkamp in November but will “definitely not now.”
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp continues to hold a fundraising advantage over Rep. Kevin Cramer, her Republican challenger. Heitkamp’s campaign last week released partial figures ahead of the Federal Election Commission’s Monday deadline. Heitkamp says she raised more than $3.8 million in the third quarter for her re-election bid, and has $3.2 million cash on hand. Cramer’s campaign filings show he raised $1.7 million for the quarter, and has about $1.2 million cash on hand.
MANDAN, N.D. (AP) — Mandan police aren’t releasing the name of a man injured in an officer-involved shooting because they’re unsure whether he will try to invoke crime-victim rights under the North Dakota Constitution.
Mandan Police Deputy Chief Lori Flaten told the Bismarck Tribune that an officer shot the man shortly after police were trying to arrest him on warrants on Oct. 9. Flaten said the man was hospitalized.
Flaten said she didn’t know the man’s medical condition or details about the shooting, including whether the man was armed or if he would be charged in connection to the incident.
The police department doesn’t want to overstep Marsy’s Law, a voter-approved initiative that inserted crime-victim rights into the state Constitution. Among other things, the law expanded the privacy rights of crime victims and their families.
The officer involved in the Oct. 9 shooting has already invoked Marsy’s Law rights. The officer is on administrative leave while the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation investigates the shooting.
Flaten said the police department may seek legal counsel to decide whether to eventually release the officer’s name.
North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem has issued guidance stating that nothing shields the names of crime victims who invoke Marsy’s Law. But he said other state laws protect the names of victims of domestic violence, sexual offenses and human trafficking.
Hoehn admitted helping to cover up the crime, but said he knew nothing of the murder plot.
Judge Tom Olson scheduled sentencing for 11 a.m. on Oct. 29. Hoehn faces maximum penalties of 20 years in prison on the kidnapping charge and one year for lying to authorities.
STANTON, N.D. (AP) — Hundreds of mail-in ballots in Mercer County will have to be recast following a logistical error.
County Auditor Shana Brost tells The Bismarck Tribune that an independent candidate for U.S. House was inadvertently left off the ballots.
About 800 people had already sent in their votes before the error was discovered Friday.
Nearly 8,000 ballots are being reprinted. Brost says the new ballots are expected to be mailed by late in the week.
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota’s State Historical Society has agreed to repair a hole in a sandstone wall that caused an uproar in the tourist town of Medora at the doorstep of Theodore Roosevelt National Park.
The state agency in April paid a contractor more than $66,000 to cut a 10-foot entrance in the wall surrounding the quarter-acre De Mores Memorial Park, which is being considered for the National Register of Historic Places. The downtown park includes a bronze statue of French nobleman Marquis de Mores, a larger-than-life businessman in the storied history of the small town built with a distinct Old West atmosphere in the western Badlands.
Civilian Conservation Corps workers built the wall during the Great Depression with locally mined stone. The hole was cut at the request of the Theodore Roosevelt Medora Foundation, a nonprofit that promotes the community and wanted a second entrance to the park to allow for easier access for food and beverage carts serving events there.
City officials said the work was done without their knowledge or a city permit, and they threatened a lawsuit against the state. Residents in the town of 100 people who think the opening in the wall damages the historical integrity of the park submitted a petition with 38 signatures to the Historical Society asking for the wall to be restored.
The society board voted unanimously Friday to do just that, after a public meeting held in Medora.
In sports…
EAGAN, Minn. (AP) — The Minnesota Vikings have placed cornerback Mike Hughes on injured reserve, following the ACL injury to the rookie’s left knee that will keep him out for the remainder of the season.
The Vikings re-signed defensive tackle David Parry on Tuesday to take the open roster spot, increasing their depth on the interior. Rookie Jalyn Holmes has worked primarily at defensive tackle, but he has taken turns at defensive end with backup Tashawn Bower sidelined the past two games and starter Everson Griffen out for the past four games.
Parry played in the first two games and had a sack against Green Bay. He was cut in favor of defensive tackle Tom Johnson on Sept. 19.
In world and national news…
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The DNA test that Sen. Elizabeth Warren used to try to rebut the ridicule of President Donald Trump angered some Native Americans, who complained that the genetic analysis cheapens the identities of tribal members with deeper ties to the Indian past.
Warren was born in Oklahoma, which is home to 39 tribes and where more than 7 percent of the population identifies as Native American, one of the highest proportions in the nation.
But she’s not a member of any tribe, and many Indians take exception to anyone who claims to be part Indian without being enrolled in a tribe, especially for political purposes.
“It adds fuel to that misconception that I can go out, get a DNA test and then, boom, that’s all I really need,” said Brandon Scott, a Cherokee Nation citizen and the executive editor of tribe’s newspaper, the Cherokee Phoenix. “But the facts of the matter are you need a lot more than that.”
ISTANBUL (AP) — The U.N. special investigator on torture says if Turkey and Saudi Arabia can’t conduct “a credible and objective investigation” into the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi then there may be a need for international involvement.
Nils Melzer told a news conference at U.N. headquarters in New York that “we should give the involved states time, and under proper scrutiny, to come to a conclusion that they want to address this problem.”
But Melzer said if at a later stage “we can see that one of the involved states does not fulfill its international obligations in regard to being cooperative in investigating this case, then obviously it might be an occasion where I could intervene also publicly and call on the involved states to fulfill their obligations.”
Jens Modvig, chair of the committee that monitors implementation of the U.N. convention against torture, said both Saudi Arabia and Turkey have ratified it.
He said the committee considered a report from Saudi Arabia in 2016, and that one concern it raised “is whether human rights defenders and journalists can operate freely or whether they risk scrutiny or reprisals for their legitimate actions.”
Modvig said the committee follows up on recommendations but he couldn’t say whether it would look into the Khashoggi case.
PANAMA CITY, Fla. (AP) — Officials say 16 people died in Florida because of Hurricane Michael, doubling the numbers of deaths in the state The Associated Press had previously attributed to last week’s storm.
Florida officials announced the state’s updated death toll Tuesday. State officials did not provide details of how the victims’ deaths were storm-related and the AP was not immediately able to confirm those details.
Officials say 12 of the deaths occurred in Bay County, a seaside county which took a direct hit from the storm.
The AP’s tally also includes 10 deaths in Virginia, Georgia and North Carolina.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is insulting the physical appearance of porn actress Stormy Daniels, calling her “Horseface” in a tweet about a recent legal ruling.
A federal judge dismissed Daniels’ defamation lawsuit against Trump.
Daniels alleges she had an affair with Trump in 2006 and sued him in April. The defamation lawsuit came after Trump tweeted about a composite sketch of a man Daniels says threatened her in 2011 to keep quiet about an alleged affair. He called it a “total con job.”
The judge on Monday said Trump’s tweet was a “hyperbolic statement” protected under the First Amendment.
Trump tweeted: “Great, now I can go after Horseface and her 3rd rate lawyer.”
Daniels’ attorney Michael Avenatti called Trump’s comments “outrageous.”
Trump has a history of derogatory comments about women’s appearances.
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