wbPM3CSi Weather…

.SUNDAY…MOSTLY SUNNY. HIGHS IN THE LOWER 30S. SOUTH WINDS 5 TO
10 MPH.
.SUNDAY NIGHT…MOSTLY CLOUDY. A 20 PERCENT CHANCE OF SNOW AFTER
MIDNIGHT. LOWS IN THE LOWER 20S. SOUTHEAST WINDS 5 TO 10 MPH.
.MONDAY…CLOUDY WITH A 40 PERCENT CHANCE OF SNOW. HIGHS IN THE
UPPER 20S.
.MONDAY NIGHT…CLOUDY WITH A 30 PERCENT CHANCE OF SNOW. LOWS
15 TO 20.
.TUESDAY…CLOUDY WITH A 20 PERCENT CHANCE OF SNOW. HIGHS IN THE
MID 20S.
.TUESDAY NIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT…MOSTLY CLOUDY. LOWS
AROUND 15. HIGHS IN THE MID 20S.
.CHRISTMAS DAY…MOSTLY CLOUDY. HIGHS AROUND 20.
.THURSDAY NIGHT…MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A 20 PERCENT CHANCE OF SNOW.
LOWS 5 TO 10 ABOVE.
.FRIDAY…MOSTLY CLOUDY. HIGHS 15 TO 20.

FOR THOSE TRAVELING….

THERE IS A CHANCE FOR LIGHT FREEZING DRIZZLE

AND LIGHT SNOW IN WESTERN NORTH DAKOTA. ON SUNDAY THERE IS A

CHANCE OF THAT AGAIN OVER WESTERN NORTH DAKOTA…SPREADING EAST SUNDAY NIGHT.

PERIODIC SNOW CHANCES WILL CONTINUE INTO EARLY NEXT WEEK. BEST

CHANCES WILL BE EARLY NEXT WEEK WHERE SOME ACCUMULATION IS

POSSIBLE.

 

Valley City (CSi) Senator John Hoeven Friday visited with officials at the North Dakota National Guard (NDNG) maintenance center in Valley City to discuss the constraints of the existing facility and review plans for the construction of a new vehicle maintenance, training and administrative facility. Hoeven serves as a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, where he worked to include $10.8 million in the annual military construction funding bill to replace the outdated facility.

Hoeven said, “We depend on our National Guard members in many ways both at home and in our nation’s missions abroad. It is vital that we provide them with the tools and infrastructure they need. We worked hard to make sure this much-needed update was supported.”

The current facility consists of 3,230 square feet, and as the Defense Department noted in its long term construction plan, the facility no longer meets the needs of the National Guard in North Dakota and cannot be expanded.

The new 45,000-square-foot facility will allow Guard units to meet operational readiness and training objectives, provide adequate training areas, administrative space and space for physical fitness, supplies and parking. The new facility will also meet the requirements of Americans with Disabilities Act and Antiterrorism Force Protection guidelines.

 

Jamestown (CSi) The Jamestown City Engineer’s Office reminds resident of changes in the garbage pick up schedule. Please note that due to the Christmas and New Year’s Holiday, there will be NO garbage pick-up on Thursday, December 25, 2014,

Friday, December 26, 2014 OR Thursday, January 1, 2015.

CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY:

Tuesday’s & Wednesday’s routes will be picked up on Tuesday. Thursday & Friday’s routes will be picked-up on Wednesday.

NOTE: The City Baling Facility will be closed to the public at Noon on Wednesday, December 24th and ALL DAY Thursday and Friday, December 25th and 26th. The Baling Facility will re-open to the public for regular service at 8 am on Saturday, December 27th.

NEW YEAR’S DAY HOLIDAY:

Wednesday & Thursday’s routes will be picked up on Wednesday, regular pick-up routes on Friday, January 2, 2015.

The City Baling Facility will be closed on New Years’ Day, Thursday, January 1, 2015, and will be open for regular service on Friday & Saturday, January 2nd & 3rd, 2015.

PLEASE PLACE GARBAGE OUT BY 6:30 A.M. DURING THE HOLIDAY WEEKS!

 

FARGO, N.D. (AP) – A North Dakota man who has admitted to robbing a bank in 2013 has been sentenced to nearly three years in prison.

U.S. Attorney Timothy Purdon says 28-year-old Antoine Williams was also ordered to serve three years of supervised release. The Minot man earlier pleaded guilty to bank robbery.

Authorities say Williams came away with more than $6,200 after handing a threatening note to a teller at Gate City Bank in Carrington on Oct. 24, 2013. He was arrested later the same day after a Carrington citizen phoned police with a description of his vehicle.

He originally pleaded not guilty, but changed his plea months after a judge ruled him competent to stand trial following a hearing in July.
 

FARGO, N.D. (AP) – A Fort Totten man serving nine years in prison for beating two boys and setting fire to their bedroom in Fargo has lost an appeal to the state Supreme Court.

Lyndon Greybear pleaded guilty in October 2012 to aggravated assault and endangering by fire in the November 2011 incident that involved his cousin’s 4- and 6-year-old children. Greybear appealed his conviction, but Supreme Court justices rejected his arguments of poor attorney help and prosecutor misconduct.

Attorneys said Greybear was drunk and suffered a psychotic episode when he beat the children, urinated on them, grabbed them by the throat and threw them in a closet before setting afire the bedroom and the pants of one of the boys.

Both boys were injured and hospitalized for a time.

 

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – U.S. farmers this year produced a bountiful crop of dry beans.

This year’s crop of beans such as kidneys, navies, garbanzos and pintos totaled nearly 28.7 million hundredweight, up 17 percent from 2013. The increase was even more pronounced in North Dakota and Minnesota, which produce about 40 percent of the nation’s crop.

Officials say there was a big jump in bean acres prompted by projected lower prices for soybeans last spring when farmers were making planting decisions.

The large crop could push down market prices for farmers. It could do the same for prices in the grocery store – but officials say any potential cost reductions for consumers might be gobbled up by shipping problems in the Northern Plains caused by a shortage of rail cars.

 

FRYBURG, N.D. (AP) – The zoning board in Billings County has tabled a decision on a proposed hotel for oil workers in Fryburg.

Morgan Chase Management wants to build two three-story wings onto the town’s old school, with rooms for 238 workers. The $11.3 million project has been scaled down from an earlier rejected proposal for a four-story hotel with room for 318 workers.

Some residents in the town of 20 people favor development in the community, but others worry about noise and traffic problems.  Zoning officials on Thursday tabled making a recommendation to the County Commission, citing the need to gather more information.

The zoning board meets again in January.

 

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – Members of the North Dakota Holstein Association want the state to exempt Canadian dairy cattle from a branding requirement, relying instead on other forms of identification.

Canadian cattle shipped into North Dakota are required to be branded with the letters CAN, as part of an effort to stop the spread of diseases. The Holstein Association says the brand lowers the show value of the animals, and members have asked the state Board of Animal Health to waive the brand requirement for registered dairy cattle.

The  cows have other markers indicating their country of origin, such as a radio-frequency identification tag and an ear tattoo.

Board members say they’re worried about setting a dangerous precedent. They’ll decide on the request later.

 

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – Three dozen students are graduating from United Tribes Technical College.

The school scheduled its fall graduation ceremony on Friday at the Lewis Goodhouse Wellness Center on the campus in Bismarck.

The school is run by American Indian tribes in North Dakota, but students come from tribes around the country.

 

In sports…

Blue Jay Girls Hockey vs. Grand Forks tomorrow (Saturday, December 20th) will begin @ 12:00 PM instead of the originally scheduled 1:00 PM.

 

In world and national news…

WASHINGTON (AP) – Now that the FBI has determined that North Korea carried out the hacking attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment, President Barack Obama says the U.S. will respond “proportionally.” Obama told reporters at a year-end news conference Friday that the attack “caused a lot of damage.” As for the decision by Sony to cancel its Christmas release of the satirical film “The Interview,” Obama calls that decision “a mistake.” He says we can’t have a society in which “some dictator some place can start imposing censorship in the United States.”

WASHINGTON (AP) – President Barack Obama is listing the new diplomatic opening with Cuba among the successes of 2014. Looking back on the year, Obama also highlights lower unemployment and a rising number of Americans covered by health insurance. And he says he’s “energized” going into the new year — even though he will now be dealing with both a House and Senate controlled by Republicans.

WASHINGTON (AP) – As Republicans prepare to make a new push for approval of the Keystone X-L pipeline in the new year, President Barack Obama is downplaying the benefits of building the pipeline from Canada. He told reporters Friday that it wouldn’t lower gasoline prices. And he argued that more jobs would be created by repairing the nation’s infrastructure. Obama says the pipeline would mainly benefit Canadian oil companies that need to get Canadian oil to the Gulf of Mexico.

ST. LOUIS (AP) – The St. Louis County prosecutor who convened the grand jury that investigated the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown says some witnesses before the panel obviously lied under oath. Bob McCulloch spoke Friday to a St. Louis radio station, in his first interview since his announcement last month that the grand jury wouldn’t indict Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson. McCulloch referred to one woman who backed up the officer’s account of the shooting with details that were clearly pulled from a newspaper story.

DENVER (AP) – Some family members of victims of the Colorado theater shooting are outraged that the parents of suspect James Holmes are pleading for him to be spared the death penalty, just weeks before his trial is set to begin. In a statement Friday, Robert and Arlene Holmes said their son is mentally ill, and they don’t want him to be executed. But a woman whose husband was among the 12 people who died in the attack is calling the statement comical. And Melisa Cowden says she doubts that Holmes is mentally ill.