wbPM2CSi Weather…

TONIGHT…PARTLY CLOUDY. LOWS AROUND 60. SOUTH WINDS AROUND
5 MPH.
.FRIDAY…SUNNY. HIGHS IN THE MID 80S. SOUTHWEST WINDS 5 TO
10 MPH.
.FRIDAY NIGHT…MOSTLY CLEAR. LOWS AROUND 60. SOUTHWEST WINDS
5 TO 10 MPH.
.SATURDAY…SUNNY. HIGHS AROUND 90. SOUTH WINDS 5 TO 10 MPH.
.SATURDAY NIGHT…MOSTLY CLEAR. LOWS IN THE LOWER 60S.
.SUNDAY…MOSTLY SUNNY. HIGHS IN THE LOWER 90S.
.SUNDAY NIGHT THROUGH MONDAY NIGHT…PARTLY CLOUDY WITH A
20 PERCENT CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. LOWS IN THE LOWER
60S. HIGHS IN THE MID 80S TO LOWER 90S.
.TUESDAY…MOSTLY SUNNY. HIGHS IN THE MID 80S.
.TUESDAY NIGHT AND WEDNESDAY…PARTLY CLOUDY. A 20 PERCENT CHANCE
OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. LOWS IN THE LOWER 60S. HIGHS IN THE
UPPER 80S.

FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY

ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES AND LIMITED PRECIPITATION CHANCES TO
WESTERN AND CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA FRIDAY THROUGH SUNDAY.

TEMPERATURES IN THE 90S WITH BREEZY CONDITIONS COULD CREATE FIRE
WEATHER CONCERNS ACROSS WESTERN NORTH DAKOTA ON SATURDAY.

ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE SUNDAY NIGHT THROUGH
WEDNESDAY.

 

Jamestown  (CSi)  Jamestown City Council committees met Thursday afternoon at City Hall.

POLICE & FIRE COMMITTEE  BUSINESS:

Discussion related to possible asset forfeiture for new gun range.  Police Chief Scott Edinger said the assets come from dollars seized in a drug raid.  He said it amounts to about $75,000.  The property being considered is a gravel pit, north of Border States Paving.

The committee recommends adding the dollar amount to the 2016 city budget as a line item, when the exact amount is known.  The gun range may open in 2016.

The committee considered first reading of an ordinance  to recommend the use of All-Terrain-Vehicles and Utility-Task-Vehicles in the City of Jamestown and was defeated on s 3-2 vote.

Police Chief Edinger said he considers the vehicles safer than motorcycles.

Council Member Buchanan explained his disapproval by saying that most cities in North Dakota disapprove there use on city streets, adding the vehicles are not intended for street use, and cited insurance companies including Progressive mainly insuring the vehicles for off-road use, and sited safety studies.  H pointed out cornering skid issues.  He added that Jamestown residents he has spoken to, are opposed.

PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE:

The committee recommends  postponing the river bank stabilization project until 2016 and move anticipated funding adding $7500 into 2016 budget to repair channel banks at 11th Street NW AND along the Buffalo Scenic Road near the culvert from State of ND lands adjacent to the road. Being late in this year’s construction season, work will start next spring.

The committee recommends  an adjustment submittal to the ND Department of Emergency Services, minus some federal dollars being refunded..

Legal and Finance carryover item from Tuesday’s meeting.

Joint Powers Agreement between the Jamestown Park District and City of Jamestown for the TRAC Facility, will be sent to the City Council without recommendation.  It includes  the effective date of the  sales tax, and the start date of the tax collections.

The committee moves to the council without recommendation,  the request for a liquor license for an establishment to be located on First Avenue, South, between the Maple Mall and The Kitchen Store.

The meeting was shown live on CSi 67, followed by replays.

 

Jamestown (CSi) The seventh annual Community Block Party, a project of the Downtown Jamestown Association and University of Jamestown, is today from 5 to 8 p.m.  from along First Avenue in Jamestown.

It’s anticipated that over 3,000 people will be downtown, with 108 boths lined up as local businesses and organization will have booths, showcasing their services.

More students are expected for the block party this year partly because there is no football game scheduled for Thursday night. 300 new students are at UJ this fall.

First Avenue from the railroad tracks south to 3rd Street Southwest/Southeast is closed starting at 9 a.m. to clear out vehicles. After 1 p.m. booth vendors  come in from the 3rd Street side, get their booth space assignments, and set up their booths.

The event also brings together the University of Jamestown students, highlighting freshman, with the community, including business owners, who may be perspective employers.

Many students will also volunteer for churches, the James River Humane Society and other organizations.

The first-year students are required to attend as part of orientation and wear matching orange T-shirts, and at the same time encourages the citizens of Jamestown to come out and it’s fun and it’s free.

The students will be coming down the 5th Avenue hill about 6-p.m., to join in the block party.

There will also be free refreshments and some local vendors will sell food, adding that the public is encouraged to bring their own chairs.

There will be inflatable air games and activities, prizes and giveaways.

The Block Party co-chairs are Gary Van Zinderen, UJ dean of students, and Erin Paulson of the Downtown Jamestown Association, a financial adviser with Edward Jones.

 

Jamestown (CSi) Traffic detours will remain in place through the weekend in Jamestown..

Traffic traveling down 5th Avenue, hospital hill, will detour around work to replace a barrel-shaped catch basin under the street. The catch basin, part of the storm-sewer system, that recently collapsed.

The concrete needs to cure before the detour is removed which could happen on Monday.

Travelers using 2nd Street Northeast, the east-and-west street over the viaduct, are also detouring after a old manhole collapsed.

The detour around that project will also remain up through the weekend and may come down Monday, weather permitting.

Work on a third emergency project in the 200 block of 6th Avenue Northeast was completed earlier this week.

Meanwhile, the planned work is expected to begin on chip sealing and other pavement repairs in northwest Jamestown next week. This work is part of a routine maintenance cycle for street work in Jamestown. Homeowners in that area will be advised as to when the work is scheduled and will be required to have vehicles off the street.

 

Jamestown  (CSi)  The 51st Annual Jamestown Fine Arts Association Art Show opens Saturday, August 29, 2015 with a reception at the Arts Center from 1 to 3 p.m.

Jamestown Arts Center’s 51st JFAA Annual Exhibit Preview

At 1:15 p.m. Saturday the awards will be given by the judges. There is a $100 cash prize for best in show, the piece the judges determine to be the best of all in the exhibits. The winner in each category receives $50, and the people’s choice winner will receive $50.

The art work will remain on exhibit at the Arts Center through October 3rd.

There are 39 artists with 77 pieces on display.

Each artist may select up to three pieces to be be part of the show and exhibit if those pieces are ready for display, being framed or is ready to be hung on a wall.

The JFAA Art Show is also a juried show, as a judge or judges will review each piece before the show opens. The two judges, are from the art faculty from Valley City State University, Armando Ramos and Karri Dieken. Ramos did his undergraduate studies at the Kansas City Art Institute and his graduate studies at Montana State University. He has been an artist in residence at art centers in California and Vermont.

 

MAKOTI, N.D. (AP) – A Plaza woman is dead after a two-vehicle collision on a Ward County gravel road.

The Highway Patrol says the 26-year-old woman was driving a car that was struck by an oncoming pickup truck that lost control while passing two vehicles.

The 33-year-old New Town woman driving the pickup was taken to a Minot hospital with undisclosed injuries after the crash shortly before 4:30 p.m. Wednesday.

 

FARGO, N.D. (AP) – Two North Dakota State University students got a scare when armed police officers mistook their telescope for a rifle.

Levi Joraanstad and Colin Waldera were setting up the telescope Monday night behind their apartment’s garage when they were blinded by a bright light and told to stop moving. Because they couldn’t see who was shining the light, they thought it was a joke.

Authorities say an officer patrolling the area had spotted the two, and thought Joraanstad’s dark-colored sweater with white lettering on the back looked like a tactical vest and that he might be carrying a rifle. He called for backup and officers confronted the students.

Police say the students were never in danger and that it was a situation of “better safe than sorry.”

 

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – An award-winning documentary about a white supremacist’s failed takeover of Leith will be shown in North Dakota theaters next month.

“Welcome to Leith” by New York filmmakers Michael Nichols and Christopher Walker chronicles the saga of Leith and its clash with Craig Cobb. It’s played at film festivals around the world and landed a deal with a New York-based film distributor.

First Run Features calls the film “carefully crafted, timely and highly provocative.”

Nichols says that with recent incidents such as the shooting at a Charleston, South Carolina, church that killed nine, people are paying more attention to “domestic extremism.”

The film will begin a seven-day run of evening showings at Bismarck’s Grand Theatres Sept. 25. There will be a matinee showing at the Mott Playhouse Theatre Sept. 26.

 

MINOT, N.D. (AP) – A man charged in a shooting at a Minot restaurant pleaded guilty earlier this year to an aggravated assault charge. Twenty-nine-year-old Justin Walker faces reckless endangerment and weapons charged in the Sunday shooting inside and outside an Applebee’s. Walker is on probation for an April incident in which police say he knocked another man unconscious.

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – Federal prosecutors say the sentence for a man convicted by a North Dakota jury for leading a Jamaican lottery scam should reflect the “severe mental anguish” he caused his victims. Authorities say Sanjay Williams was a “lead broker” who bought and sold “sucker lists” of potential victims. He was found guilty in May of conspiracy, wire fraud and money laundering. Williams faces up to 40 years in prison.

MINOT, N.D. (AP) – The effort to remove debris from the chronically flooded Rice Lake is moving head, but it’s costing Ward County a lot more in engineering fees than first anticipated. HDR Engineering of Bismarck is administering the cleanup and applying for federal disaster funding. The company was promised $50,000, but said this week it needs another $75,000.

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) – U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says his agency plans to spend more than $200 million over the next three years on programs to protect greater sage grouse. Vilsack says he wants to almost double protected habitat for the chicken-sized bird to 8 million acres across the West. A formal announcement was planned Thursday.

 

In sports…

FARGO, N.D. (AP) – North Dakota State says it will start providing stipends to scholarship athletes in all 16 sports beginning next year with a goal of paying the full cost of attending college.

Officials with the school that has won four straight Football Championship Subdivision titles say the anticipated additional cost will be up to $3,400 per full scholarship.

The proposal to help players with miscellaneous expenses originated with the most powerful conferences at the Football Bowl Subdivision level. Those schools approved the legislation in January.

NDSU officials say they believe that Liberty University is the only other mid-major offering cost of attendance scholarships for all sports.

An NCAA spokeswoman did not immediately return a phone message left Thursday.

 

Bismarck (CSi) – U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp has  announced four expanded fishing opportunities in the Devils Lake Wetland Management District of North Dakota.

As a result of a final rule from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, sport fishing will be allowed immediately in Ardoch National Wildlife Refuge, the Lake Alice National Wildlife Refuge, the Rose Lake National Wildlife Refuge, and the Silver Lake National Wildlife Refuge.

“North Dakota is blessed with beautiful lakes and wetlands, and this announcement will open up more of our outdoor treasures to sportsmen,” said Heitkamp, Senate Vice-Chair of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus. “Fishing and hunting are proud traditions in our state. Expanding opportunities for summer anglers and winter ice fishers will make it easier for everyone to take advantage of North Dakota’s public lands, and will be an economic boon to communities in surrounding areas. I’ll keep fighting to make our public lands truly public and available for our hunters and anglers by working to pass our Bipartisan Sportsmen’s Act.”

Heitkamp has long been a champion of creating opportunities for North Dakota’s hunters and fishermen. In February, she helped introduce bipartisan legislation to provide opportunities for and expand access to public lands for hunting, fishing, and recreational shooting activities in North Dakota and throughout the country. The Bipartisan Sportsmen’s Act contains several legislative provisions important to North Dakota’s hunters, anglers, and recreational shooters, which would:

  • Make public lands public – Requires 1.5 percent of annual Land and Water Conservation Fund funding be made available to secure recreational public access to existing federal lands that have restricted access to hunting, fishing, and other recreational activities.
  • Provide better access on public lands – This bill would require federal land management agencies to identify public lands without public access routes, and create a plan to provide access routes to lands that have significant potential for recreational use. The bill would also help counties and states better manage primary access routes on public lands.

 

  • Enable more shooting ranges on federal lands for hunting target practice – This bill improves states’ abilities to create and maintain shooting ranges on federal and non-federal lands. It also encourages improved coordination between federal land agencies and state and local authorities to maintain these shooting ranges. North Dakota has several public shooting ranges, and this provision would make it easier for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department to expand or re-open shooting ranges, like the one in Watford City, which face challenges or closure due to population growth.

 

  • Allow bows to be transported through national parks – This provision would enable bows to be transported across U.S. National Parks. Currently, firearms can be carried across national parks but bows cannot be transported, presenting an unnecessary barrier for hunters who want to cross these lands.

 

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – North Dakota’s Game and Fish Department over the past two years has stocked more than 20 million walleye fingerlings in lakes in the state. Fisheries Chief Greg Power says about 10.4 million walleye were stocked in 2014. This year’s total was about 10 million. But the 5.3 million fingerlings stocked into smaller water bodies was a new high.

 

In world and national news…

MONETA, Va. (AP) – The husband of the surviving victim of  Wednesday’s on-air shooting in Virginia says she’s doing better. Tim Gardner was interviewed today on the “Mornin”‘ show on WDBJ-TV in Roanoke — the same station on which a live interview with his wife Vicki ended in deadly gunfire Wednesday. Tim Gardner says his wife is now in fair condition. He was interviewed near a memorial to the victims, by a reporter from a sister station in Missouri who came to Virginia to help the station’s grieving staff members.

NEW YORK (AP) – Stocks Thursday contined their recovery from a sharp sell-off. Investors are encouraged today by a surge in Chinese stocks — and by a report showing that the U.S. economy expanded in the second quarter at a much faster pace than had been previously estimated. The Dow has been about 200 points higher in morning trading.

MOREHEAD, Ky. (AP) – Even though a federal appeals court has upheld an order requiring the county clerk in Kentucky’s Rowan County to issue same-sex marriage licenses, the clerk’s office is still refusing to do so. Two men who sought a marriage license were turned away Thursday for a third time. Clerk Kim Davis, citing her Christian belief against gay marriages, has declared she would refuse license to all couples, gay or straight.

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Pentagon says the two Americans who were killed Wednesday in Afghanistan in an apparent insider attack by Afghan soldiers were Air Force special operations troops. They are identified as Capt. Matthew Roland of Lexington, Kentucky, and Staff Sgt. Forrest Sibley of Pensacola, Florida. The attack was carried out at a military base in southern Afghanistan’s Helmand province. Early reports said three other Americans were wounded. Officials now say the attackers were wounded in an exchange of gunfire but survived.

PLAINS, Ga. (AP) – Members of a small Baptist church in southwest Georgia where former President Jimmy Carter frequently teaches Sunday school lessons are putting a limit on the number of people who can attend. Starting this Sunday, seats in the church will be limited to 400 people. Carter’s recent disclosure that he’s being treated for cancer that spread to his brain drew more than 700 people to the church on Sunday. The 90-year-old Carter taught two classes and took photos. Organizers say that was a strain on him.