Wayne Byers Show – Evening – Aug 9

CSi Weather…

TONIGHT…SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS IN THE EVENING…THEN NUMEROUS

THUNDERSTORMS AFTER MIDNIGHT. LOWS IN THE LOWER 60S. EAST WINDS

10 TO 15 MPH. CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS 60 PERCENT.

.WEDNESDAY…WIDESPREAD SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. SOME

THUNDERSTORMS MAY BE SEVERE. HIGHS IN THE LOWER 80S. EAST WINDS

10 TO 15 MPH.

.WEDNESDAY NIGHT…MOSTLY CLOUDY. SCATTERED SHOWERS AND

THUNDERSTORMS IN THE EVENING…THEN CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND

THUNDERSTORMS AFTER MIDNIGHT. SOME THUNDERSTORMS MAY BE SEVERE IN

THE EVENING. LOWS IN THE MID 60S. EAST WINDS AROUND 10 MPH

SHIFTING TO THE NORTH AFTER MIDNIGHT. CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION

40 PERCENT IN THE JAMESTOWN AREA, 50 PERCENT IN THE VALLEY CITY AREA.

.THURSDAY…DECREASING CLOUDS. HIGHS IN THE LOWER 80S. NORTHWEST

WINDS 5 TO 10 MPH.

.THURSDAY NIGHT…MOSTLY CLEAR. LOWS AROUND 60. WEST WINDS 5 TO

10 MPH.

.FRIDAY…MOSTLY SUNNY. HIGHS IN THE MID 70S.

.FRIDAY NIGHT…MOSTLY CLEAR. LOWS IN THE MID 50S.

.SATURDAY…MOSTLY SUNNY. HIGHS IN THE MID 70S.

.SATURDAY NIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT…MOSTLY CLEAR. LOWS IN THE

UPPER 50S. HIGHS IN THE UPPER 70S.

.MONDAY…SUNNY. HIGHS IN THE MID 80S.

.MONDAY NIGHT…PARTLY CLOUDY WITH A 20 PERCENT CHANCE OF SHOWERS

AND THUNDERSTORMS. LOWS IN THE LOWER 60S.

.TUESDAY…SUNNY. HIGHS IN THE MID 80S.

 

TUESDAY NIGHT

SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS CAN BE EXPECTED TUESDAY EVENING THROUGH

TUESDAY NIGHT. SOME MAY BE SEVERE WITH LARGE HAIL…DAMAGING WINDS…AND

HEAVY RAINFALL. AN ISOLATED TORNADO IS POSSIBLE ACROSS SOUTHWEST

NORTH DAKOTA TUESDAY EVENING.

AFTER MIDNIGHT  THERE IS ALSO THE POTENTIAL FOR HEAVY RAIN WITH

STRONGER STORMS.

SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT OVER

CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA. SOME THUNDERSTORMS MAY BE SEVERE…MAINLY

ALONG AND EAST OF HIGHWAY 83.

THERE IS A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS MONDAY.

 

 

 

WEDNESDAY THUNDERSTORMS WILL LIKELY BE ONGOING DURING THE DAY

STRONGER STORMS ARE POSSIBLE WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON AND

WEDNESDAY NIGHT WITH SEVERE STORMS POSSIBLE. .

 

Update…

Jamestown (CSi)  Senator John Hoeven Tuesday spoke with Health and Human Services (HHS) Deputy Secretary designee Mary Wakefield to help ensure that Jamestown Regional Medical Center (JRMC) retains its Critical Access Hospital designation from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Following Hoeven’s call Tuesday morning with Wakefield, the number two in charge at HHS, CMS agreed to continue JRMC’s designation.

Recently, the North Dakota Department of Health received notice from CMS’s Denver Regional office that Jamestown Regional Medical Center’s Critical Access status may be revoked due to its close proximity to the State Hospital in Jamestown, which is not a general acute care hospital. Critical Access Hospitals must be located more than 35 miles from another hospital and provide 24/7 emergency care services, as does JRMC.

The State Hospital, however, treats patients with serious mental health illnesses or substance abuse and does not, like JRMC, provide a full range of health care services, notably emergency department services, which CMS requires for Critical Access Hospitals.

Hoeven says, “The State Hospital in Jamestown is clearly not a general service hospital, and doesn’t provide the same range of health care services as JRMC,. I spoke with Secretary Wakefield to help us make sure that JRMC can keep its Critical Access designation and we appreciate her help in getting CMS to agree to maintain the designation. Jamestown Regional Medical Center provides important care to this community, and this designation makes a big difference to the center’s financial reimbursement and strength.”

Senator Heidi Heitkamps adds, “The care provided at Jamestown Regional Medical Center is absolutely essential for folks in and around Jamestown, which is why I pushed for the center to have continued status as a Critical Access hospital.  To make sure JRMC could retain this needed designation, I pressed the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to recognize that the State Hospital in Jamestown doesn’t provide the broad range of services that JRMC does – from day-and-night emergency services, to run of the mill checkups.”

Congressman Kevin Cramer adds, “Critical Access Hospital” is a designation given to certain rural hospitals by CMS to reduce the financial vulnerability of rural hospitals and improve access to healthcare by keeping essential services in rural communities.

 

Jamestown (CSi)   U.S. Senator Heitkamp Tuesday gathered leaders in both Fargo and Jamestown to continue her listening series on the challenges faced by communities across the state in taking on the opioid abuse epidemic that has rapidly spread across the state. Tuesday’s discussions follow yesterday’s listening session in Grand Forks which built on her legislative and on-the-ground work to make sure North Dakota families across the state receive the federal support they need to recover from and prevent opioid addiction.

Together with Cass and Stutsman County area public health professionals, law enforcement officials, treatment specialists, and educators in Fargo and Jamestown, Heitkamp discussed which policies and practices have been most effective in beating addiction and overcoming abuse for individual and families in those communities, as well as ways to expand those efforts across the state. Leaders also spoke with Heitkamp about the need for better federal support to help each community address a severe lack of resources for law enforcement and treatment professionals and programs. Heitkamp underscored how her bill, which she unveiled during a discussion with Bismarck leaders in May, would make sure the federal government is treating opioid abuse as the national public health and law enforcement crisis that it is by making available the appropriate education, prevention, and treatment resources communities need to recover and fight back.

Across North Dakota, opioid-induced fatalities increased by 125 percent from 2013 to 2014 alone according to the Centers for Disease Control.
Heitkamp says, “Across our state, too many lives and families have been ripped apart by opioid addiction and abuse – and to really fight this problem head-on, we need all hands on deck.  That’s why I gathered leaders and experts from across the treatment and enforcement spectrum in Fargo and Jamestown today to make sure our communities are mounting the best possible defense across the state. And that means tackling opioid abuse by strengthening law enforcement, expanding best recovery practices, and identifying holes that still exist in our community infrastructure. In the Senate, I’ve been working to achieve the real results families need – and helping pass legislation to expand existing tools was a good step, but it’s not enough. North Dakotans I spoke with who on the front lines of this crisis in Fargo and Jamestown know we need the new, robust resources my bill would help provide, and I’ll keep working to bring all sides together to deliver the support our communities desperately need.”

Just last week, Heitkamp joined Fargo’s City Commission for a meeting on a strategic response to the growing opioid addiction and abuse in the community. During a roundtable discussion in Bismarck in May, Heitkamp announced her Budgeting for Opioid Addiction Treatment (LifeBOAT) Act to provide communities with the resource funding they need to take on the opioid crisis by establishing a one-cent fee – with certain exceptions – on each milligram of active opioid ingredient in prescription pain pills.

Across the country, 47,000 Americans lost their lives to the opioid and heroin abuse crisis in 2014. Since fighting North Dakota’s methamphetamine crisis as the state’s attorney general in the 1990s, Heitkamp has been working to stem the tide of addiction, abuse and illegal drug trafficking. On the federal level, Heitkamp has been working to address this issue by:

• Securing expanded tools to help tackle opioid addiction and abuse: This spring, Heitkamp fought for and helped pass bipartisan legislation in the U.S. Senate which the president has since signed into law to broaden tools available to law enforcement, first responders, and state prescription drug monitoring programs to address the national heroin and opioid abuse crisis. The bill also included legislation Heitkamp introduced which would close loopholes in our federal drug laws to stop foreign drug traffickers before their products reach our borders.

• Bringing federal anti-drug crime leaders and resources to North Dakota: Heitkamp brought both current and former White House Office of National Drug Control Policy’s (ONDCP) directors to North Dakota – securing a national focus and strong resources to the state to help fight drug crime as a result.
• Convening statewide leaders to comprehensively battle drug crime and abuse: Heitkamp convened statewide experts and leaders to combat drug crime and abuse to serve on the growing task force of her Strong & Safe Communities initiative, which she initially launched in September 2014 in response to the state’s energy boom.
• Engaging statewide leaders on the front lines of North Dakota’s opioid addiction crisis: Heitkamp met with facility leaders, medical staff, and tribal leaders during her visits to MHA Nation’s Circle of Life Drug Treatment Center in May and Mercy Hospital in Devils Lake in March where she heard about the unique challenges they face in treating skyrocketing cases of heroin, methamphetamine, and opioid abuse on rural and tribal lands – often due to a lack in the types of recovery resources her bill works to provide.

Valley City  (CSi-Wes Anderson BCHS) Thanks to the efforts of Jay Cink, owner of the Duck Inn Lounge in Marion, the Ashley Lions Club has donated $1000 to the Barnes County Historical Society for the purpose of raising the level of the 2^nd floor balcony railing from 36 inches to 42 inches to be in compliance with modern building code and safety requirements by their insurance company.

The Fair Store building was built in 1957 and codes were different at that time.  The funding from the Ashley Lions Club will be used to purchase necessary materials and the labor to install this additional height will be donated by Howard Langemo, Don Schaack, Jerry Langemo and Mylo Falstad.

 

Update…

DEVILS LAKE, N.D. (AP) — A Warwick-area man is accused of possessing about $55,000 worth of stolen property.

Sixty-year-old Craig Estenson faces three felony charges and a misdemeanor count that together could land him in prison for up to 31 years if he’s convicted.

It wasn’t immediately clear who is representing Estenson in the case. Estenson is free on $20,000 bond while he awaits his initial court appearance Aug. 22.

Benson County Sheriff Steve Rohrer tells KZZY radio that authorities recovered various items from Estenson’s property that are believed to be stolen, including vehicles, construction equipment and snowmobiles.

Rohrer says multiple law enforcement agencies are involved in the investigation, which is continuing.

 

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota’s State Health Council has ratified rules the panel approved a year ago to allow elevated levels of oilfield radioactive waste to be dumped at some landfills.

The 11-member panel voted to reapprove the rules Tuesday.

Environmental groups had alleged the August 2015 meeting was held illegally. Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem had issued an opinion in March saying the council violated state law by not providing adequate notice of the meeting.

The North Dakota Energy Industry Waste Coalition and the Dakota Resource Council also are suing in state court over the new rules. They want a judge to void the rules allowing certain landfills to accept waste with higher levels of radioactivity

 

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