CSi Weather…

.TONIGHT…Chance of rain and snow in the evening, then snow after midnight. Patchy fog after midnight. Snow accumulation around 1 inch. Lows in the lower 30s. East winds around 10 mph. Chance of precipitation 70 percent.

.SATURDAY…Cloudy. Snow in the morning, then chance of rain

possibly mixed with snow in the afternoon. Areas of fog through

the day. Snow accumulation around 1 inch. Storm total around

2 inches.  Chance of precipitation 80 percent.  Highs in the upper 30s. Northeast winds 10 to 15 mph.

.SATURDAY NIGHT…Cloudy with a 40 percent chance of snow. Lows

in the upper 20s. North winds 5 to 10 mph.

.SUNDAY…Mostly cloudy. Highs in the upper 30s. Northeast winds

around 5 mph shifting to the east in the afternoon.

.SUNDAY NIGHT…Mostly cloudy. Lows around 30.

.MONDAY…Cloudy. Slight chance of rain and snow in the morning,

then slight chance of rain in the afternoon. Highs in the lower

40s. Chance of precipitation 20 percent.

.MONDAY NIGHT…Mostly cloudy. Lows in the upper 20s.

.TUESDAY…Mostly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of snow

possibly mixed with rain. Highs in the upper 30s.

.TUESDAY NIGHT…Mostly cloudy. A 20 percent chance of snow in

the evening. Lows in the lower 20s.

.WEDNESDAY…Mostly cloudy. Highs in the lower 30s.

.WEDNESDAY NIGHT…Mostly cloudy. Lows 15 to 20.

.THURSDAY…Partly sunny. Highs in the lower 30s.

 

Precipitation Friday starts out as mainly rain across western North Dakota continuing in the  afternoon, mixing with wet snow in the evening as temperatures cool, and precipitation pushes south and east through central North Dakota.

Storm total snowfall amounts between 2 to 5 inches for most of western and central North Dakota.  1-3 inches in the Jamestown Valley City area.

Rain and snow will slowly begin moving out of western and central

North Dakota on Saturday, before another round of rain and snow begins moving in Sunday evening, switch overing to all snow Sunday night, before switching back to a mix of rain and snow Monday afternoon

Significant snowfall accumulations are not expected with that round of precipitation.

 

Jamestown  (CSi)  The James River Humane Society has implemented a program to humanly and safely trap feral cats, so they may spend the winter on farms.

On Friday’s Wayne Byers Show on CSi Cable 2, board member Jay Nitchke said, live traps have been set up adjacent to the mini mall in Southwest Jamestown, where cats are not hurt when they enter the trap, and then are taken to the Jamestown Humane Society where they are spayed and neutered  and then sent to participating farms, where they become “barn cats,” where they will be sheltered, and fed.

She added that the shelter currently has 16 cats, with a variety of colors and ages, available for adoption.  There are 15 dogs currently available for adoption.

She says the next fundraiser on November 8, at 5-p.m., 7-p.m., will be at the All Vets Club, where spaghetti will be served, with the proceeds going to spay and neutered the shelter animals before adoption.

Tickets available at the door with more information by call the James River Humane Society at 701-252-0747.

Jay reminded pet owners to keep their dogs and cats safe during the upcoming holidays, by not letting them get into plants, which can be poisonous, and be aware of certain foods cats and dogs should not eat, being toxic to them.

The James River Humane Society is located off the I-94 Bloom Exit, open everyday from 9-a.m., to 11:30-a.m., and 5:30-p.m., to 6:30-p.m., or by appointment.  Call 701-252-0747

On line, visit jamesrviverhumanesociety.org

Volunteers, and items for pets along with cleaning supplies are always welcome.

 

Wishek  (WDAY)  A Bismarck man has been identified by the McIntosh County Sheriff’s Office, as the person who drowned, Wednesday, near the Wishek Landfill.

66 year old Dennis Foss, of Bismarck, fell into the pond while taking water samples at the Jahner Landfill.

The Stutsman County ROV team was called to the scene to assist, Wednesday morning, with the underwater search vehicle use to locate Foss’s body which was removed  from the pond.

 

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota’s top election official and the state’s tribal liaison on Friday downplayed any potential difficulty for Native Americans to vote in the state on Election Day.

Tribes unsuccessfully challenged a voter ID law that requires a street address for an identification to be valid. They argued that many people on reservations don’t know their street address and don’t have IDs that list it.

Meeting with reporters at the state Capitol in Bismarck, Indian Affairs Commission Director Scott Davis and Secretary of State Al Jaeger said the state has been working with leaders of the Standing Rock Sioux, Spirit Lake Sioux, Three Affiliated Tribes and the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa to ensure voter ID requirements are met.

Davis, who is a member of the Standing Rock Sioux, said all tribes in recent weeks have been issuing free IDs with residential street addresses to their members. He said all tribes also will provide free transportation to polling places on Tuesday.

“Sometimes change is tough,” Davis said in an interview. “But I really do believe we’re in a really good place now.”

The election includes a race that could help determine control of the U.S. Senate. Republican U.S. Rep. Kevin Cramer is challenging Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, who narrowly won her seat in 2012 with the help of the American Indian vote.

Jaeger said about 112,000 North Dakota residents had already cast ballots by Friday morning. That’s nearly equal to the turnout in the June primary and about half of the turnout in the state’s 2014 midterm election.

Davis said he expected record turnout on the state’s four largest reservations.

 

 

FARGO, N.D. (AP) — Supporters of a constitutional amendment to overhaul North Dakota’s government ethics have been told they have a solution in search of a problem and they can’t point to any scandal that would justify the measure. Ellen Chaffee disagrees.

“Scandal is in the eye of the beholder,” said Chaffee, co-chairwoman of North Dakotans for Public Integrity, a bipartisan group sponsoring the initiative. “There are a lot of people who think $37,000 is a lot of money.”

Chaffee was referring to Gov. Doug Burgum’s repayment of costs after he attended this year’s Super Bowl as a guest of a Minneapolis utility. The utility, Xcel Energy, offered perks including tickets to a rock concert, private parties, meals and other events.

Chaffee, a Democrat, and co-chairwoman Dina Butcher, a Republican, believe there have been other such incidents over the years that have gone unreported. They think there should be an independent ethics commission to review those cases. Opponents argue the proposal is poorly worded and there are enough safeguards in place to monitor government, including a new policy recently released by Burgum.

“Most of the things they are purporting to do with the measure are already in state law,” said Republican state Rep. Shannon Roers-Jones, an attorney from West Fargo. She cited regulations on foreign contributions, personal use of campaign funds and reporting requirements for donations.

Burgum’s office unveiled its ethics policy in mid-October, which spokesman Mike Nowatzki said “was in the works at Gov. Burgum’s request well before the Super Bowl” and addresses similar situations “going forward.” The edict covers conflicts of interest, gifts, expenses and political activities involving the governor, lieutenant governor and all governor’s office employees.

Chaffee said she welcomes the move but it “does not meet state government’s serious need for objective, professional ethics guidance and accountability across the board.” Butcher said that while Burgum didn’t do anything illegal he was likely “following previous examples” and “perhaps his predecessors enjoyed those types of things.”

Opponents are worried that the law would hurt people who don’t hold office. Roers-Jones said the “outrageously broad disclosure language” would require invasive reporting from advertisers, subscribers, parishioners and donors.

The American Civil Liberties Union also opposes the measure, saying it is poorly written and risks restricting political speech and advocacy. The Greater North Dakota Chamber, the state’s largest business organization, has worked against the measure. The Chamber said it is too broadly worded and would be difficult to comply with.

The measure would also restrict lobbying, including forcing public officials to wait two years after leaving office to become a lobbyist. Chaffee noted that when she tried to find out about spending by lobbyists, the reports were not available online and she had to pay $118 for hard copies that were sent through the mail.

“The people deserve to know who is spending money to influence their votes and the behavior of their public officials,” Chaffee said. “They have made it too difficult for citizens to access that.”

Dennis Cooley, professor of ethics and philosophy at North Dakota State University, said people complaining about how the measure is written are being “a little bit dishonest” because they are not offering an alternative. The Legislature has rejected several attempts by Democratic lawmakers to establish an ethics commission, including in the last session.

 

In world and national news…

WASHINGTON (AP) — Gender politics have been a defining issue of this election cycle, beginning with the mobilization by many women against the election victory and inauguration of President Donald Trump.

More women than ever before won major party primaries for Congress and governor this year, giving women the chance to significantly increase their numbers in office. They are donating more money to political campaigns, too, and they’re now firmly established as a major force.

Polls suggest Democratic women are very enthusiastic about voting in next Tuesday’s election. But Republican women say they, too, can lay claim to a share of the energy currently percolating, particularly when it comes to the fight over Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation.

 

 

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida is emerging as an epicenter of the nation’s polarizing politics in the final days of the 2018 campaign.

In the closely contested campaign for governor, President Donald Trump and GOP nominee Ron DeSantis have used what has been called racially coded language to slam Democrat Andrew Gillum. That and the race for a key U.S. Senate seat are playing out in communities still recovering from a killer hurricane and a deadly school shooting.

Hot-button issues including guns, race and the environment are unfolding in a deeply personal way.

That’s a sharp change in a state where elections notoriously come down to the wire. Politicians in both parties traditionally focus on winning over moderate voters. Not so in the Trump era, as each side scrambles to mobilize its strongest supporters.

 

 

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. employers added a stellar 250,000 jobs last month and boosted average pay by the most in nearly a decade in an effort to attract and keep workers.

The Labor Department’s monthly jobs report, the last major economic data before the Nov. 6 election, also shows the unemployment rate remained at a five-decade low of 3.7 percent.

The influx of new job-seekers lifted the proportion of Americans with jobs to the highest level since January 2009.

Consumers are the most confident they have been in 18 years and are spending freely and propelling brisk economic growth. The U.S. economy is in its 10th year of expansion, the second-longest such period on record, and October marks the 100th straight month of hiring, a record streak.

 

 

 

 

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s suggestion that soldiers on the southwest border open fire on any rock-throwing migrants captures in a nutshell the risk of using active duty troops for domestic security: They’re not intended to interact with migrants, but some troops will be armed and could be thrust into confrontations.

More than 400 military police are being dispatched to the border as part of a larger operation to support the Customs and Border Protection agency in stopping a caravan of migrants. Trump says a rock thrown by a migrant should be considered “a rifle,” escalating his rhetoric as critics accuse him of stoking immigration fears just days before the midterm elections.

About 3,500 active duty troops are now at staging bases in Texas, Arizona and California. The total deployment will exceed 7,000.

 

NEW YORK (AP) — Authorities say Alec Baldwin has been arrested for allegedly punching someone during a dispute over a New York City parking spot.

Police say the actor was taken into custody just before 2 p.m. Friday in Manhattan’s West Village neighborhood.

A representative for Baldwin did not immediately respond to a message requesting comment.