Recreational Marijuana – North Dakota.

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — An effort to gather enough signatures to place a question about legalizing recreational marijuana on the ballot in North Dakota has fallen short. Organizers failed to turn in at least 31,164 valid signatures to the secretary of state by Saturday to put the question to voters. Sponsoring committee member Dustin Peyer, of Driscoll, told the Bismarck Tribune the group has gathered 19,500 signatures in its one-year time limit. Peyer said the signature threshold is a lot to accomplish by unpaid volunteers. A similar effort failed in 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic hampered the group’s signature-gathering.

BODIES FOUND-MINNESOTA

Minnesota police: Poison gas that killed 7 came from furnace

MOORHEAD, Minn. (AP) — Authorities say a furnace was the source of carbon monoxide that killed seven members of an immigrant family from Honduras living in Minnesota. Police in Moorhead have said blood samples from the victims showed a lethal level of carbon monoxide, but further testing was needed to determine whether the source was the furnace or a van parked in an attached garage. The Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s Office has found that the poison gas could not have come from a combustion engine. Investigators found a carbon monoxide detector in the garage had been replaced with a smoke-only detector. Technicians initially found no defect in the furnace that would have sent carbon monoxide into the home.

TOW TRUCK CRASH-FATALITY

Woman who died in Cass County tow truck crash identified

TOWER CITY, N.D. (AP) — The North Dakota Highway Patrol has identified the woman who died when an SUV crashed into an unoccupied tow truck left on the interstate in Cass County. The crash about 9 p.m. Saturday also critically injured two children, ages 9 and 14, and seriously wounded the SUV driver. The patrol says 43-year-old Kelli Hagerott was killed and the driver, 42-year-old Timothy Hagerott, was taken to a Fargo hospital along with the two children. Authorities say the tow truck had a mechanical issue and was left on Interstate 94 near Tower City. The patrol says the tow truck driver got a ride from the scene and left his truck.

FOUR SLAIN-NORTH DAKOTA-APPEAL

Man convicted in quadruple slaying to appeal verdict in case

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A man sentenced to life in prison for the gruesome killings of four people at a Mandan business plans to appeal his conviction. A notice of appeal filed Thursday by 47-year-old Chad Isaak says Isaak is questioning whether the evidence in the case was sufficient to support his conviction. A jury in August found Isaak guilty of killing RJR Maintenance and Management co-owner Robert Fakler and employees Adam Fuehrer, Bill Cobb, and his wife, Lois Cobb.  The four were shot and stabbed on April 1, 2019, inside the property management company’s building in Mandan. Investigators say the victims were stabbed more than 100 times, total.

 

DAKOTA ACCESS PIPELINE

Judge refuses to delay release of disputed DAPL documents

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A state judge has refused to delay the release of thousands of documents related to security during the construction in North Dakota of the heavily protested Dakota Access Pipeline. South Central District Judge Cynthia Feland in late December ruled that the documents are public. Attorneys for pipeline developer Energy Transfer asked Feland to put on hold disclosure of the records as it appeals to the state Supreme Court. Feland on Friday gave Energy Transfer the go-ahead to appeal, but she rejected the request to delay release of the records.