{"id":244189,"date":"2022-02-12T10:40:01","date_gmt":"2022-02-12T16:40:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/?p=244189"},"modified":"2022-02-14T09:22:15","modified_gmt":"2022-02-14T15:22:15","slug":"latest-nd-news-from-ap-sat-am-feb-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/?p=244189","title":{"rendered":"Latest ND News from AP \u2013 Sat AM Feb 12"},"content":{"rendered":"

HOT TUB-CHARGES:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Another Highway Patrol officer charged in hot tub party . .<\/p>\n

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) \u2014 Another North Dakota Highway Patrol officer has been charged with misdemeanor sexual assault in connection with hot tub parties in 2020. The Bismarck Tribune reported Thursday that 40-year-old Travis Skar has been accused of inappropriately touching a woman in a hot tub during a party in the summer of 2020. \u00a0Former patrol officer Steven Johnson faces a misdemeanor sexual assault charge stemming from another hot tub party in December 2020. \u00a0A woman accused him of inappropriately touching her at the party. Johnson was fired in November 2021. His attorney called the charges an act of revenge by someone with a vendetta. Court documents don’t list an attorney for Skar.<\/p>\n

WINTER WEATHER-MIDWEST<\/strong><\/p>\n

Near zero visibility closing interstates, highways<\/p>\n

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) \u2014 Strong winds are whipping up blizzard-like conditions and closing sections of interstates and highways in North Dakota and Minnesota. The North Dakota Department of Transportation closed Interstate 29 from Canada to the South Dakota border because of near-zero visibility and icy conditions, but later reopened a section from Fargo to Grand Fork. Travel is also prohibited on Highway 13 from Interstate 29 to Wahpeton. In Minnesota, the State Patrol advised no travel in northwestern Minnesota due to near whiteout conditions. Interstate 94 between Moorhead and Fergus Falls was closed along with sections of seven highways. The National Weather Service posted a blizzard warning Friday for eastern North Dakota and western Minnesota.<\/p>\n

COAL PLANT SALE<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sale of largest coal plant in North Dakota reapproved<\/p>\n

MAPLE GROVE, Minn. (AP) \u2014 Great River Energy\u2019s cooperatives have once again approved the sale of the company\u2019s Coal Creek power plant in North Dakota and an accompanying power line, despite opposition from its largest member. The sale of Coal Creek, near Underwood, North Dakota, was initially approved last June with 27 member co-ops voting in favor and Connexus Energy, of Ramsey, Minnesota, voting against it. The sale had to be reconsidered after some terms of the contract with Rainbow Energy Marketing, of Bismarck, North Dakota, were changed following last year\u2019s vote. Connexus contends the sale won’t generate the savings originally expected, nor would it cut greenhouse gas emissions since the coal plant would remain open.<\/p>\n

WRONGFUL DEATH LAWSUIT<\/strong><\/p>\n

BIA officer dismissed from wrongful death lawsuit in ND<\/p>\n

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) \u2014 One of two Bureau of Indian Affairs officers has been dismissed from a federal wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of a man who was fatally shot on the Standing Rock Reservation in 2017. A federal judge has signed an order dismissing Gary Sandland Jr. from the lawsuit filed by the family of George \u201cRyan\u201d Gipp Jr. The family claims Gipp was unarmed and obeyed instructions when officers used a Taser on him and shot him as he stumbled into a road ditch near Fort Yates. Sandland maintained he didn\u2019t use his stun gun or his firearm, according to a document filed jointly by attorneys for Gipp\u2019s family, the BIA and the officers.<\/p>\n

POLICE FIGHT-DEATH LAWSUIT<\/strong><\/p>\n

Family of man who died after traffic stop sues city, police<\/p>\n

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) \u2014 The family of a Mandan man who died after a traffic stop two years ago has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city and several police officers. The federal lawsuit was filed Tuesday on the second anniversary of John \u201cErnie\u201d Prudente\u2019s death. The suit seeks unspecified money damages. Police stopped Prudente on Feb. 8, 2020 but Prudente drove off. When police caught up with Prudente, he started fighting with the officers and was handcuffed. He became unresponsive and died at a hospital. An autopsy found Prudente died of \u201cexcited delirium\u201d as a result of methamphetamine use and underlying conditions.<\/p>\n

HYDROGEN PROJECT-TRIBES<\/strong><\/p>\n

North Dakota tribe to supply natural gas to hydrogen plant<\/p>\n

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) \u2014 Natural gas that\u2019s being burned off and wasted as a byproduct of oil production on an American Indian reservation in North Dakota will be used as a feedstock for a proposed plant to produce carbon-free hydrogen. Bakken Energy and Mitsubishi Power Americas announced the deal Wednesday with the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation to be the natural gas supplier for its Great Plains Hydrogen Hub in western North Dakota. The $2 billion project was announced in June to produce clean hydrogen. Gov. Doug Burgum has hailed the project a key part of the state\u2019s plan to become carbon neutral by 2030.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HOT TUB-CHARGES:\u00a0 Another Highway Patrol officer charged in hot tub party . . BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) \u2014 Another North Dakota Highway Patrol officer has been charged with misdemeanor sexual assault in connection with hot tub parties in 2020. The Bismarck Tribune reported Thursday that 40-year-old Travis Skar has been accused […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":243482,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-244189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-state"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=244189"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244189\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":244200,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244189\/revisions\/244200"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/243482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=244189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=244189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=244189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}