CSi Weather…

.TONIGHT…Clear. Lows in the mid 50s. Southwest winds 5 to 10 mph shifting to the west after midnight.

.THURSDAY…Sunny. Highs in the upper 60s. Northwest winds 15 to 20 mph.

.THURSDAY NIGHT…Mostly clear. Lows in the upper 40s. Northwest

winds around 10 mph.

.FRIDAY…Mostly sunny. Highs in the upper 60s. Light winds

becoming northeast up to 5 mph in the afternoon.

.FRIDAY NIGHT…Mostly cloudy. Lows in the lower 50s.

.SATURDAY…Mostly sunny. Highs in the upper 60s.

.SATURDAY NIGHT…Partly cloudy. Lows in the lower 50s.

.SUNDAY…Mostly sunny. Highs in the mid 70s.

.SUNDAY NIGHT…Partly cloudy. Lows in the upper 50s.

.LABOR DAY…Mostly sunny. Highs in the upper 70s.

.MONDAY NIGHT…Partly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of rain

showers and thunderstorms. Lows in the mid 50s.

.TUESDAY…Mostly sunny. A 20 percent chance of rain showers and

thunderstorms in the morning. Highs in the upper 60s.

 

Friday and into Saturday high temperatures below normal in the 60s and lower 70s.

Dry weather across the region Sunday into Labor Day Monday

With temperatures may briefly return to more summer-like values in the 70s and 80.

 

Valley City  (VCPD)  Valley City Police is asking for the public’s assistance in locating a Valley City man.

(Facebook.com photo)

On Wednesday, authorities said, 40 year old Mark Davies, has been missing since Friday, August 23, 2019.

Police Chief Phil Hatcher says a report from Davies’s family said the last time friends or family members heard from him was on August 23 in Kathryn.

Hatcher says his disappearance is suspicious, because family members told police Davie’s is always with his dog.  However, this time he left his home without his dog.

Valley News Live reports a neighbor says the last text they got from him was around midnight, saying he was leaving Kathryn’s Bar and heading home.

Davies drives a 1999 Black Tahoe, North Dakota License Plate: 327 CCM.

The search, including with airplane assistance, continues, along with the investigation, by authorities.

Anyone with information is asked to call  Valley City police at 701-845-3110.

Update:

Jamestown  (CSi)  The hearing regarding if the temporary restraining  order by North Dakota Soybean Processors against the Spiritwood Energy Park (SEPA)   will be continued at 10 a.m. Thursday, September 12, 2019 in East Central District Court in Fargo.

The temporary restraining order was  requested by North Dakota Soybean Processors against the Spiritwood Energy Park Association.

The SEPA Board of Directors had nullified its agreement with North Dakota Soybean Processors, noting delays in the start of the construction of the plant.

North Dakota Soybean Processors sought and received a temporary restraining order prohibiting SEPA from nullifying the agreement.

 

Jamestown (CSi)  On Wednesday’s (Aug 28, 2019)  Wayne Byers Show on CSi Cable 2, a family member who has joined the eyecare staff at Looysen I Care on First Avenue South in Downtown Jamestown spoke about the newly remodeling and expanded building, and the topics of cataract surgery, blue light effects, plus dry eyes.

Dr. Alex Looysen, joined the staff as the second doctor at Looysen I care joining his dad, Dr. Steve Looysen.

In addition to receiving his degree, as an optometrist,  Alex has previous experience in the eye care field, before returning to Jamestown, starting his Jamestown practice on July first this year.

Alex talked about the recently remodeled and expanded Looysen I Care building and facility on First Avenue South.  In addition to a recent Jamestown Area Chamber of Commerce Ribbon Cutting there, a public open house will be held on September 27 this year, where examples of new eye glass frames will be shown.

He added that the hours in Jamestown and Valley City’s office have been expanded, with Alex’s addition to the practice.  In Jamestown the phone number is 701-252-EYES, in Valley City 701-845-4444.

Also on our show, Alex talked about recent developments in cataract surgery, and that in addition to the about 10-minute surgery, removing the cataract, vision is also improved.  He added that those 50 years old and over, are prone to cataracts due to the aging process, along with those with diabetes.  Cataracts cause the vision to become cloudy, and create halos around bright objects.

He added those who view computers for several hours each day, should explore a lense  filter for their eye glasses which filters out the LED screen’s blue light, to see the screen more clearly, and protect the eyes.

He said that can lead to having “dry eyes,” where the eye does not produce enough lubrication, for which eye drops are available to alleviate the symptoms, and to check with eye care professionals, the eye drop that is right for you.

 

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota ended its two-year budget cycle in June with about $250 million more than expected due to strong crude oil prices and better-than-anticipated earnings from the state’s oil tax savings account.

Budget director Joe Morrissette told a panel of legislators Wednesday that the state’s current budget cycle that began July 1 already is running more than $42 million ahead of projections.

Morrissette says the state’s previous budget assumed earnings of $300 million from the state’s voter-approved Legacy Fund. He says the fund currently holds about $6.8 billion and had earnings of $455 million the last budget cycle.

The current budget represents about $4.9 billion in state general fund spending. General fund spending is up about 12.5% from what was approved by lawmakers two years ago.

 

FARGO, N.D. (AP) — The group managing a Red River diversion project around the Fargo and Moorhead, Minnesota metropolitan area has signed an agreement to help a nearby city with costs for infrastructure that will be needed when the channel is built.

The Fargo-Moorhead Diversion Authority announced Wednesday that it has approved a deal with the city of Horace, located southwest of Fargo, to provide up to $5 million.

Horace is one of the areas most affected by an updated design that was needed in order to receive a permit from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. The new plan reduces the impact to Minnesota.

The diversion authority continues to deal with other legal challenges to the $2.8 billion project. The Buffalo-Red River Watershed District recently denied a permit and is contesting the DNR permit.

 

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — The North Dakota Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments next month on an appeal by a former sheriff’s deputy imprisoned for stealing drugs.

Kerry Komrosky argues evidence was gathered illegally at his home and that it should have been suppressed.

The Bismarck Tribune says the 32-year-old deputy worked for the Burleigh County Sheriff’s Department and had been assigned to the Metro Area Narcotics Task Force before he was charged with theft of methamphetamine and cocaine in April 2018. The state said the drugs were from task force cases.

Komrosky pleaded guilty to amended charges and was sentenced to more than 3 years behind bars.

Defense attorney Michael Hoffman said after sentencing in January that he would appeal an order denying suppression of evidence and withdraw the conditional plea.

 

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A Houston company has been found guilty and ordered to pay $2.1 million in fines and restitution in the 2014 death of an Alabama man who died in an explosion while working western North Dakota’s oil patch.

C&J Well Services, formerly known as Nabors Completion and Production Services, pleaded guilty Wednesday of violating safety regulations and causing the death of 28-year-old Marine veteran Dustin Payne, of Hazel Green, Alabama.

Authorities say Payne was welding inside a tank that had not been properly cleaned and vented. The welding equipment ignited vapors, causing an explosion.

U.S. District Judge Daniel Hovland ordered the company to pay $1.6 million to Payne’s estate as well as a $500,000 fine.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration in 2015 fined the company more than $97,000.

 

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — New election equipment to replace machines that have on occasion failed is being rolled out in North Dakota.

The Legislature budgeted about $8 million this year to meet $3 million in federal funds for the new election equipment statewide to replace 15-year-old machines. A survey of county auditors by the North Dakota Association of Counties this year showed 27 ballot scanners that failed in 16 counties in the 2018 primary and general elections.

State election officials received more than 900 machines and devices last month and began testing them. Now they’re ready for delivery to counties.

The Bismarck Tribune says Burleigh County this week received 50 new ballot scanners and 50 accessibility devices for voters who may have trouble marking ballots, as well as a central scanner for tabulating absentee ballots.

 

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota agricultural officials say there’s help available for the millions of dollars in crop damage caused by blackbirds each year.

Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring says the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Wildlife Services program loans nonlethal management equipment to farmers to help disperse blackbirds that attack sunflower and grain crops.

The USDA says of eight states with significant sunflower acreage that were surveyed, North Dakota ranked first in bird damage to confectionery and oilseed sunflowers. The study found the eight states lose a total of $29.5 million annually from bird damage to sunflowers.

Update…

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe has filed a motion to intervene on a proposed expansion of the Dakota Access pipeline.

The tribe, which led original opposition to the pipeline, petitioned for status as an intervenor Wednesday in the case before the Public Service Commission.

Texas-based Energy Transfer wants to double the capacity of the line to as much as 1.1 million barrels daily. The pipeline has been moving North Dakota oil through to a shipping point in Illinois since 2017.

A hearing is set for Nov. 13 in Linton on the proposed expansion.

Standing Rock attorney Timothy Purdon says if the tribe is granted intervenor status, it would allow the tribe to cross-examine the company and call witnesses.

 

In world and national news…

LONDON (AP) — Ireland’s foreign minister says it’s too late to renegotiate Britain’s departure deal from the European Union.

Foreign Minister Simon Coveney on Wednesday reiterated Ireland’s opposition to the EU renegotiating the Brexit agreement approved by former U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May.

Coveney said there wouldn’t be enough time before Britain’s Oct. 31 departure deadline “even if we wanted to” reopen the negotiations. He estimated working out a new deal and getting it approved by EU leaders and British lawmakers “would need six or eight weeks.”

However, Coveney says Ireland is ready to study alternatives to a post-Brexit “backstop” aimed at avoiding a new border between the EU’s Ireland and U.K.’s Northern Ireland.

He noted the importance of keeping the peace on an “island that has a tragic and violent history.”

The U.K.’s new prime minister, Boris Johnson, opposes the backstop provisions in his predecessor’s deal, which failed to gain parliamentary approval.

Coveney said any alternative Irish border arrangements “have got to do the same job as the backstop.”

 

 

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson of Georgia says he’ll retire at the end of 2019, citing what he calls “health challenges.”

The 74-year-old lawmaker says he’ll be leaving the job he loves because health issues are “taking their toll” on his work, family and staff.

The three-term senator was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2013 and suffered a fall in July, according to his office.

Isakson had surgery in Georgia to remove a growth on a kidney.

He plans to return to Washington when the Senate resumes next month.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, will appoint someone to fill the seat when Isakson steps down in December.

That’ll set up a rare situation in November 2020 when both of Georgia’s Senate seats will be on the ballot.

 

 

NEW YORK (AP) — A fossil from Ethiopia is showing scientists a face from millions of years back in our evolutionary history.

The discovery, some 3.8 million years old, is from a species that is considered an ancestor of “Lucy,” the famous Ethiopian partial skeleton.

This ancestral species is a group of creatures that preceded our own branch of the family tree. Scientists have long known the species existed, but they had only remains of jaws and teeth from above the neck. The newly found fossil reveals much of the face and skull. It was reported Wednesday in the journal Nature.

One expert says the discovery helps fill a critical gap in information on evolution.

 

 

NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico (AP) — A Trump administration program forcing asylum seekers to wait in Mexico has evolved into a sweeping rejection of all forms of migrants.

Both countries are quietly working to keep people out of the U.S. despite threats to the migrants’ safety. The results serve the goals of both governments, which have targeted unauthorized migration at the behest of President Donald Trump. The president threatened Mexico with potentially crippling tariffs earlier this year to force action.

Some people sent to wait in the Mexican border cities of Nuevo Laredo and Matamoros say they never requested asylum.

Others say they were never asked if they feared persecution in Mexico, despite U.S. government rules that say migrants should not be sent there if they face that risk.