CSi Weather…

TONIGHT…MOSTLY CLOUDY. LOWS AROUND 10. NORTH WINDS 5 TO
10 MPH.
.FRIDAY…MOSTLY SUNNY. HIGHS IN THE LOWER 20S. NORTHEAST WINDS
AROUND 5 MPH SHIFTING TO THE SOUTHEAST IN THE AFTERNOON.
.FRIDAY NIGHT…INCREASING CLOUDS  20 PERCENT CHANCE OF LIGHT SNOW IN THE VALLEY CITY AREA… LOWS AROUND 10. SOUTH WINDS
5 TO 10 MPH.
.SATURDAY…MOSTLY CLOUDY….A 20 PERCENT CHANCE OF LIGHT SNOW IN THE VALLEY CITY AREA.  HIGHS IN THE LOWER 30S. SOUTH WINDS
5 TO 10 MPH SHIFTING TO THE WEST IN THE AFTERNOON.
.SATURDAY NIGHT…MOSTLY CLOUDY. LOWS 15 TO 20. NORTHWEST WINDS AROUND 5 MPH SHIFTING TO THE EAST AFTER MIDNIGHT.
.SUNDAY…MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A 20 PERCENT CHANCE OF SNOW. HIGHS IN THE LOWER 30S.
.SUNDAY NIGHT…CLOUDY WITH A 40 PERCENT CHANCE OF SNOW. LOWS IN THE LOWER 20S.
.MONDAY…MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A 40 PERCENT CHANCE OF SNOW. HIGHS IN THE UPPER 20S.
.MONDAY NIGHT…MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A 20 PERCENT CHANCE OF SNOW.
LOWS 10 TO 15.
.TUESDAY…PARTLY SUNNY. HIGHS IN THE UPPER 20S.
.TUESDAY NIGHT AND WEDNESDAY…PARTLY CLOUDY. LOWS AROUND 15.
HIGHS AROUND 30.
.WEDNESDAY NIGHT AND THURSDAY…MOSTLY CLOUDY. LOWS AROUND 20.
HIGHS IN THE LOWER 30S.

 FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY
 
 A STORM SYSTEM WILL MOVE FROM THE NORTHERN ROCKIES…TO THE CENTRAL  PLAINS SUNDAY THROUGH MONDAY. THIS WILL BRING A POSSIBILITY OF MIXED  PRECIPITATION TO WESTERN AND CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA SUNDAY NIGHT…AND  SNOW ON MONDAY AND MONDAY NIGHT.

VALLEY CITY, N.D. (AP Feb 28, 2013) – Police in Valley City say two men broke into the American Legion hall, forced their way into a safe and left with cash.
 
     Police Chief Fred Thompson says the men entered the Main Street building late morning Thursday and first checked the register for money. After finding none, they broke into the safe, grabbed cash and left through a back door.
 
     Thompson says the suspects were recorded on video, and it’s possible that someone saw the men shortly before or after the burglary.

 

  DICKINSON, N.D. (AP) – Police in Dickinson say a 59-year-old man was killed Thursday after the pickup truck he was driving struck a school bus head-on.
 
     The North Dakota Highway Patrol has not released the man’s name.
 
     Troopers say the pickup was heading south on Highway 22 about three miles north of Dickinson about 6:37 a.m., crossed the centerline and struck a bus registered to Dickinson Public School.
 
     The school bus driver, 62-year-old Ronald Hendricks, and a passenger in the pickup, 23-year-old Christopher Preston, of Craig, Colo., were taken to a local hospital for treatment.
 
     There were no passengers on the bus.

 

Bismarck, N.D. KCSi-T.V. News) – The North Dakota Highway Patrol reports, that two serious crashes and several close calls on North Dakota roadways have highlighted the need to remind motorists to obey the “Move Over Law” when encountering authorized emergency vehicles and maintenance vehicles.

Since January 1, 2013, two North Dakota Highway Patrol vehicles, with lights activated, have been struck while providing traffic control. These crashes have resulted in several injuries to the troopers and motorists involved.

The Highway Patorl reminds motorists that when vehicles approach an authorized emergency vehicle on a multi-lane highway outside city limits, motorists must move to a lane not adjacent to the emergency vehicle.

This must be done with regard to safety and other traffic. If the motorist cannot move to another lane, the driver must proceed with caution, reduce speed, and maintain a safe speed for road conditions.

Col. Jim Prochniak, says,”The purpose of this law is to ensure safety for all emergency and maintenance personnel working along our state’s roads. We urge citizens to obey this important law to provide a safe environment for all those involved.”

Failure to comply with the Move Over Law may result in a $50 fine and two points assessed to their driving record.

 

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – North Dakota’s top budget official says the oil-rich state is “very well-positioned” to weather looming federal spending cuts – if it has to do so.
 
     Budget director Pam Sharp says North Dakota might lose about $20 million in federal funding in fiscal 2013 if President Barack Obama and Republican lawmakers don’t reach an agreement by Friday.
 
     Oil has helped North Dakota bank about $1.6 billion in reserves. Sharp says the state is collecting more than $200 million monthly in gross oil revenue alone. That’s about 10 times the amount the state could lose this year if the cuts kick in.
 
     Sharp says the lost federal funds “wouldn’t be that difficult to deal with.” But she says the Legislature would have to make the decision to make up the shortfall.

 

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – The U.S. Agriculture Department says preliminary spring wheat prices in North Dakota are down 70 percent in February from the previous month.
 
     The North Dakota office of the National Agriculture Statistics Service says the price in February was $7.60 a bushel. Durum wheat, at $7.70 a bushel, decreased 32 cents from January, and winter wheat, at $7.65 a bushel, decreased 16 cents over the month.
 
     The preliminary all sunflower price, at $24.40 per hundredweight, is down $2 from last month.
 
     The Ag Department says soybeans, at $13.70 per bushel, decreased 10 cents from last month.
 
     Corn increased a penny from the previous month to $6.50 per bushel.

 

 FORT TOTTEN, N.D. (AP) – A top Bureau of Indian Affairs official says the agency is making progress in addressing child abuse and neglect on the Spirit Lake Reservation in North Dakota.
 
     But Larry Roberts also says looming federal budget cuts could jeopardize funding for social services and law enforcement across Indian Country.
 
     Roberts is a deputy assistant secretary with the Interior Department. He was one of the federal officials who met with reservation residents Wednesday for a discussion about what the BIA has done since taking over child protection services last fall. That happened after criticism that the tribe had failed to protect vulnerable children.
 
     Some residents and officials say not much has changed in the past five months. But U.S. Attorney Timothy Purdon says every alleged crime against a child is getting investigated.

 

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – The North Dakota Senate has approved just under $124 million for a new University of North Dakota medical school.
 
     The Grand Forks Herald reports that the proposed expansion of the medical school is being driven by concerns that the state’s growing population of senior citizens and oil patch workers will worsen a shortage a health care workers.
 
     The state House must also approve the funding.
 
     UND’s existing medical school is 60 years old. The university unsuccessfully sought $29 million for an expansion during the 2011 Legislature.

 

In world and national news…

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy (AP) – The papacy of Benedict XVI is officially over. His eight-year pontificate came to an end shortly after 8 p.m. local time when the Swiss Guards standing at attention in Castel Gandolfo shut the gates of the palazzo. Before leaving the Vatican, Benedict gave a speech to cardinals, pledging his “unconditional reverence and obedience” to his successor.  He is the first pope in 600 years to resign.
 
     WASHINGTON (AP) – The White House isn’t saying if President Barack Obama will weigh in on a Supreme Court gay marriage case before Thursday’s deadline. Gay rights supporters are pressing the administration to file a friend-of-the court brief urging the justices to overturn California’s gay marriage ban. Obama isn’t required to file a brief, though he raised expectations in his second inaugural address when he declared gays and lesbians must be “treated like anyone else under the law.”
 
     LAS VEGAS (AP) – Las Vegas police say they have talked to all three women who were in an SUV with a man accused of firing shots that triggered a fiery, fatal crash on the Las Vegas strip. Ammar Harris is the subject of a multi-state manhunt following the Feb. 21, 2013 gunfire that left three dead including an aspiring rapper.
 
     NEW YORK (AP) – A man charged with killing and dismembering his mother appeared in court Thursday dressed in a garbage bag and said he’d done nothing wrong. According to a criminal complaint, Bashid McLean stabbed Tanya Byrd and then cut up her body with help from another man.
 
     CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) – Venezuela’s vice president says President Hugo Chavez (OO’-goh CHAH’-vez) is fighting for his life while he continues to undergo treatment after cancer surgery. Chavez hasn’t spoken publicly since before his latest cancer operation in Cuba on Dec. 11.  Chavez returned to Venezuela last month and has been undergoing more treatment at a military hospital in Caracas.