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Jamestown (CSi) Beginning TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2014 THRU FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2014, the 1st Avenue Railroad Crossing will be closed from 2nd St North to 1st St South for Railroad Crossing Repairs.

A detour route will be in place.

Please use alternative routes if possible.

Motorists’ should use EXTREME caution in and around this area.

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – North Dakota’s oil wealth-fueled general fund surplus continues to grow.

The Office of Management and Budget released updated revenue projections for the 2013-2015 biennium Friday.

Officials estimate the surplus will be at $614 million when the two-year budget cycle ends on June 30, 2015. The projection is significantly more than the surplus of $457 million projected in February.

The office also released its preliminary revenue forecast for the 2015-2017 biennium. Revenues are projected to total $5.17 billion, about $293 million over the revised 2013-2015 forecast of $4.88 billion.

The final revenue forecast for the 2015-17 budget cycle will come in November, with the governor’s budget address to follow in December during the organizational session for the 2015 Legislature.

 

DEVILS LAKE, N.D. (AP) – A former correctional officer accused of having sexual contact with an inmate at the Lake Region Law Enforcement Center in Devils Lake has pleaded not guilty.

Twenty-three-year-old Jonathan Defoe faces a felony sexual assault charge in connection with the alleged incident with a female inmate July 3. He could face up to five years in prison if convicted.

Ramey County State’s Attorney Lonnie Olson tells KZZY radio that Defoe entered his plea in state court on Thursday. Defoe remains free on bond. His trial date has not been set.

 

FARGO, N.D. (AP) – A judge says a Wisconsin man convicted in a child pornography case in North Dakota must pay $3,250 to one of the victims.

U.S. Attorney Timothy Purdon says it’s the first time restitution has been ordered in a federal child pornography case in North Dakota. He says it’s the result of a new guidelines stemming from a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

Fifty-eight-year-old Robert Evans, of Waukesha, Wisconsin, was found guilty in October 2013 on 14 counts of possession of child pornography. He was sentenced earlier this year to 10 years in prison.

The victim submitted a claim for losses after Evans was convicted.

The Supreme Court ruling in April held that possessors of child pornography may be held liable for a victim’s losses caused by trade of images.

 

Bismarck (CSi) Thursday last week, the North Dakota Highway Patrol, along with the Fargo Police Department and Cass County Sheriff’s Office, conducted a sobriety checkpoint in Fargo on the I-94westbound off-ramp of the University Drive Exit 351. The checkpoint was conducted from 10:45 p.m. on August 28 until 2:30 a.m. this morning. A total of 242 vehicles passed through the checkpoint and 24 drivers were tested for impairment.

Officers at the checkpoint made the following arrests:

  • 3 – DUI (misdemeanors)
  • 3 – possession of marijuana (misdemeanors)
  • 2 – possession of amphetamines (felonies)
  • 2 – driving under suspension
  • 1 – open container
  • 1 – unlawful possession of marijuana paraphernalia (misdemeanor)
  • 1 – unlawful possession of methamphetamine paraphernalia (felony)

The purpose of sobriety checkpoints is to deter and detect impaired drivers. Typically, fifty percent of fatal crashes in North Dakota are alcohol-related each year.

 

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Prosecutors have charged a former Wisconsin sheriff’s deputy with killing his wife and sister-in-law last week.

Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne filed two charges of first-degree intentional homicide against Andrew Steele on Friday. Steele would face mandatory life in prison if convicted. A court commissioner set bail at $1 million.

Steele’s attorney said her client respects the criminal justice system and will work within it to see the case to its conclusion.

Detectives believe Steele killed his wife, Ashlee Steele, and his sister-in-law, Kacee Tollefsbol, of Lake Elmo, Minnesota, in the Steeles’ home in Fitchburg, a Madison suburb, on Aug. 22.

Steele resigned from the Dane County Sheriff’s Department in June after he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, better known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease.

 

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – Basin Electric Power Cooperative is scouting for land in Emmons County for a possible power plant fueled by natural gas.

The  co-op met with the County Commission on Tuesday to talk about its plans. Spokesman Curt Pearson emphasized that plans are preliminary and no decisions have been made.

The site would require 100 acres. Pearson says the idea is for a plant with two turbines fueled by natural gas and a third powered by steam generated from the first two turbines. He says the facility would be twice as large as the co-op’s Deer Creek Station in South Dakota.

Pearson says the permitting process alone would take two years. Construction of what could easily be a $600 million plant wouldn’t start until at least 2017.

 

In sports…

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – North Dakota’s deer bow-hunting season has opened, and the deer gun season is only about two months away.

The deer archery season opened at noon Friday and runs through Jan. 4. The state Game and Fish Department is reminding hunters to follow all regulations when using tree stands in public hunting areas.

North Dakota’s deer gun season opens at noon on Nov. 7 and runs through Nov. 23. The muzzleloader season opens at noon on Nov. 28 and runs through Dec. 14.

 

In world and national news…

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) – In the aftermath of seven weeks of fighting between Israel and Hamas, there are few signs of unity in what was supposed to be a Palestinian unity government. Friday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is blaming Hamas for extending the fighting with Israel in the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, Israel’s prime minister says the end of the fighting could bring a resumption of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian government headed by Abbas.

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Pentagon says U.S. military operations in Iraq, including surveillance flights and airstrikes, have cost about $560 million since mid-June. The figures were released by a Pentagon spokesman even as U.S. Central Command announced four additional airstrikes. That brings the total to 110 since the strikes began three weeks ago. U.S. warplanes are continuing to pound the Mosul Dam area, long after U.S. officials said Kurdish and Iraqi forces had regained control of it. The Pentagon says it’s because the Islamic State group “keeps wanting to take it back.”

BOSTON (AP) – Military officials in Massachusetts say the pilot who died in the crash of an F-15 jet this week in the remote Virginia mountains was a decorated combat veteran with 17 years of experience flying the planes. Lt. Col. Morris Fontenot joined the Massachusetts Air National Guard in February. He’d been flying the single-seat plane to New Orleans for a radar system upgrade when he crashed Wednesday after reporting an in-flight emergency.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) – Lawyers for the wife of former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell are telling jurors in her corruption trial that her interactions with a businessman who showered her with gifts may have been “tacky” but they are not illegal. Jurors heard closing arguments Friday in the trial of Bob and Maureen McDonnell. They’re accused of taking more than $165,000 in loans and gifts from the businessman in exchange for using the governor’s office to promote a health supplement he manufactured.

NEW YORK (AP) – They can live at the same address, but they can’t use the same entrance as their wealthier neighbors. That’s the situation facing tenants in the affordable apartments that will be part of a luxury New York skyscraper. There’s been an outcry over residential developments that get government incentives to include affordable housing, but then provide separate amenities and even separate entrances for higher-paying residents. Now, officials say the plans for One West End Avenue have changed. There will still be separate entrances — but the residents of the affordable apartments will be able to join the owners of the high-priced co-ops in a courtyard and on the roof deck with a river view. And they’ll get their own stylish lobby, facing a park.