CSi Weather…

TONIGHT…PARTLY CLOUDY. LOWS 10 TO 15. NORTH WINDS AROUND
10 MPH SHIFTING TO THE EAST AFTER MIDNIGHT.
.SATURDAY…PARTLY SUNNY IN THE MORNING…THEN CLOUDY WITH A
50 PERCENT CHANCE OF SNOW POSSIBLY MIXED WITH SLEET IN THE
AFTERNOON. HIGHS IN THE MID 30S. SOUTHEAST WINDS 5 TO 10 MPH
INCREASING TO AROUND 15 MPH IN THE AFTERNOON.
.SATURDAY NIGHT…CLOUDY. CHANCE OF SNOW POSSIBLY MIXED WITH
SLEET IN THE EVENING…THEN CHANCE OF SNOW AFTER MIDNIGHT. NOT AS COLD. LOWS IN THE UPPER 20S. SOUTH WINDS 10 TO 15 MPH. CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION 50 PERCENT.
.SUNDAY…CLOUDY. SLIGHT CHANCE OF SNOW AND SLEET IN THE
MORNING…THEN CHANCE OF RAIN POSSIBLY MIXED WITH SLEET IN THE
AFTERNOON. HIGHS IN THE UPPER 30S. SOUTH WINDS AROUND 5 MPH
SHIFTING TO THE WEST IN THE AFTERNOON. CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION
40 PERCENT IN THE JAMESTOWN AREA, A 50 PERCENT CHANCE IN THE VALLEY CITY AREA.
.SUNDAY NIGHT…MOSTLY CLOUDY. A 20 PERCENT CHANCE OF RAIN…SNOW AND SLEET IN THE EVENING IN THE JAMESTOWN AREA. LOWS IN THE MID 20S.
.MONDAY…MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH SLIGHT CHANCE OF SNOW. HIGHS IN THE UPPER 30S.
.MONDAY NIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT…PARTLY CLOUDY. LOWS IN THE LOWER 20S. HIGHS IN THE UPPER 30S.
.WEDNESDAY…PARTLY SUNNY. SLIGHT CHANCE OF RAIN…FREEZING
RAIN…SNOW AND SLEET IN THE MORNING…THEN SLIGHT CHANCE OF RAIN IN THE AFTERNOON. HIGHS IN THE LOWER 40S. CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION
20 PERCENT.
.WEDNESDAY NIGHT…DECREASING CLOUDS. LOWS IN THE UPPER 20S.
.THURSDAY…MOSTLY SUNNY. HIGHS IN THE MID 40S.

Valley City, ND KCSi-T.V. News Apr 19, 2013) — The Valley City Commission met in Special Session Friday morning at 7:30, (Apr 19, 2013) at City Hall and approved Resolutions pertaining to declaring a Flood Emergency , and requesting Emergency Flood Assistance.

Mayor Robert Werkhoven said the declaration allows the city to be eligible for federal flood fighting reimbursements and assistance from the Corps of Engineers.

As of Friday, there is no immediate concern of flooding in Valley City.

The City Commission appointed City Commissioner, Mary Lee Nielson, The Public Sponsor Incident Commander, and gave Declaration of Authority to the Incident Commander for this emergency.

The City Commission also approved a Cooperation Agreement between “The United States of America, and the City of Valley City,” for Emergency Flood Assistance.

The City Commission will meet next week with the Corps when new information is available.

The National Weather Service says there is a 50-percent chance that the Sheyenne River in Valley City will reach about 16.9 feet. There is also a 50 percent chance of the Sheyenne rising to 18.2 feet in Lisbon this spring.

The previous flood outlook, placed the Sheyenne River level in Valley City this spring was 12.57 feet.

Army Corps of Engineers, Bald Hill Dam Manager, Rich Schueneman said Valley City is “well positioned,” to handle a Sheyenne River level of 16. 9 feet, or 19.9 feet which has a 25% chance of happening.

He pointed out the previously high river level in Valley City was 20.69 feet in 2009, and 20.66 in 2011.

He added that the snow moisture content as of Friday in the upper basin between Cooperstown and Warwick was between two and a half and three and a half inches. Between Oberon and Maddock the snow moisture content was 4-5 inches.

Schueneman added, Lake Ashtabula has been drawn down to the minimum of 1,257 feet, with flood control storage space available.

Barnes County will follow up with its own Emergency Declaration.

Mayor Werkhoven said Valley City still has HESCO flood control units and some sandbags in storage, adding that flood mitigation occurs when the Sheyenne River in Valley City reaches 17 feet. At that time bridges are protected.

 

Jamestown, ND (KCSi-T.V. News Apr 19, 2013) — The Buffalo City Tourism Foundation Grant Advisory and Executive Board met Friday in monthly session at the CSi Technology Center, at Historic Franklin School in Jamestown.

The board granted requests made by the James River Rodeo in the amount of $1,500, the North Dakota Roughrider Association for the State Rodeo to be held in Jamestown in the amount of $10,000, and $1,500 for the Jamestown Kite Festival.

It was pointed out that under BCTF guidelines, 30% of the grant dollars are to be spend on advertising.

With Tourism Director Searle Swedlund’s report, he made suggestions, to be approved by the board, concerning additions to the Strategic Plan.

Those included putting out Requests For Proposals to hire an ad agency, to assist in developing strategy, including continuing to image ways to improve the “story of Jamestown and Stutsman County.” Board President Aldon Kollman suggested a rebranding of the name Buffalo City Tourism, to “Tour Jamestown,” to identify the tourism location more specifically.

Swedlund will also explore digital marketing purchases, and strategy, along with a graphics standard/template system, and an assets assessment for the so called “best visitor.”

He will report back to the board at the next meeting.

Swedlund also added an Operational Goal to work with the full BCTF Board to explore the use of grant application and award structure. He also plans to shorten the length of the monthly meeting, now lasting about 3 hours.

He went on record as noting that the Frontier Village Association will host Pioneer Days this summer, without funding requesting of the BCTF.

An operational goal still pending is after a needs assessment to explore the possible relocation of the tourism office. A BCTF representative will be at Tuesday’s (Apr 23, 2013) Jamestown Council Legal and Finance Committee meeting on the topic.

Civic Center Manager, Pam Fosse said the Civic Center is booked almost every weekend between September 1, 2013 and July 1, 2014. She pointed out that due to the winter weather and snow hanging on, the AII Baseball Tournament at Jack Brown Stadium made be in jeopardy with a decision to made next week.

On another topic JSDC CEO Connie Ova said her office is getting calls concerning if the fertilizer plant in West, Texas that recently exploded is the same type of facility that CHS is planning for the Spiritwood Energy Park.

She said the two facilities are different, in that the Texas facility is retail and it also handles different types of fertilizer than is planned to be manufactured locally by CHS.

　

Dollars Committed by Buffalo City Tourism so far in 2013:

$ 6,000 Stutsman County Museum – Staffing

$ 9,500 Ft. Seward – Summer Staffing

$33,546 Frontier Village – Summer Staffing

$11,700 Frontier Village – Horse Care

$ 1,817 Fort Seward – signs & board sealant

$13,682 National Buffalo Museum Staffing

$ 4,000 NBM – White Cloud’s 17th Birthday

$ 8,250 Drag Races

TOTAL COMMITTED: $88,495

BUDGET: $145,000

BALANCE: $56,505

　

　BARNEY, N.D. (AP) – A half dozen fire departments responded to a large grain bin fire a mile east of Barney.
 
Confectionary sunflowers were in the steel bin at the Rusty Mauch farm when it caught fire Friday morning.
 
     Officials say the cause was an overheated bearing in equipment used to unload the seed.
 
     Fire crews from Barney, Mooreton, Wyndmere, Mantador, Great Bend and Wahpeton were called to scene.

 

 FARGO, N.D. (AP) – Fargo police are warning residents about a telephone scam with callers portraying themselves as representing “Publisher’s Clearing House” and telling people they’ve won an $800,000 prize.
 
     The caller asks the supposed winners to provide them with a prepaid credit card in the amount of $100 to $150 in order to facilitate the delivery of the prize. Variations of the scam include an additional prize of a new car or other enticements.
 
     Police say that legitimate lotteries and sweepstakes do not require winners to provide payment in order to receive winnings. 

 

　GRAND FORKS, N.D. (AP) – The University of North Dakota track and field team’s meet in Los Angeles was canceled Thursday when a bomb threat prompted the evacuation of the Cal State-Los Angeles campus.
 
     UND says the team was turned back by police before reaching the campus, but coach Kevin Galbraith says the incident “kind of shook our day.”
 
     The team is competing at different meets in California on Friday and Saturday.

 

WILLISTON, N.D. (AP) – A shootout between Williston police and a man who barricaded himself in a home ended when the man was shot and surrendered.
 
     Officers responded to the home midafternoon Thursday after receiving a call from a woman saying a man had fired a gun inside. The man shot at officers and they returned fire, hitting him twice. No officers or bystanders were hit.
 
     The man eventually left the home on his own, and officers escorted him to a waiting ambulance.
 
59-year-old Ernest Schroeder was medically cleared and then arrested. He was booked in the Williams County Jail on a reckless endangerment charge. Attorney information was not immediately available.

 

  WILLISTON, N.D. (AP) – A man charged with attempted murder in a Williston shooting is now accused of trying to start a riot in the Williams County jail.
 
     Authorities allege Paul Huckstep on March 23 tried to incite a riot by demanding different food, removing his clothes and resisting officers by tying himself to a table, crawling under it and demanding to be Tased.
 
Corrections staff eventually got Huckstep under control and put him in a restraint chair.
 
     The West Fargo man has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder in the May 2012 shooting that left Kenneth Moore, of Boise, Idaho, paralyzed from the chest down. Authorities say the shooting stemmed from a drug dispute.
 
     Huckstep’s attorney did not immediately respond to an Associated Press request for comment Friday.

 

FARGO, N.D. (AP) – Fargo-area officials have mapped out plans for building clay levees and sandbag dikes to protect against what could be record flooding along the Red River and its tributaries.
 
     Police will begin escorting flatbed trucks with sandbags into Fargo neighborhoods on Tuesday. Area high school students will begin placing the bags on Thursday.
 
     Sandbagging in outlying areas of the city is scheduled to begin Monday.
 
     The National Weather Service gives the river a 40 percent chance of topping the 2009 record of nearly 41 feet, which was the first of three straight major floods in the area.
 
     Fargo and neighboring Moorhead, Minn., have made improvements to protect most residents to 38 feet, but hundreds of homes need sandbagging beyond that.
 
     Moorhead is holding neighborhood meetings Monday to outline its flood-fighting plans.

 

 WASHINGTON (AP) – As Heidi Heitkamp eked out a narrow win in last year’s North Dakota Senate race, there was one topic that rarely came up: gun rights.
 
     But now that Heitkamp is a freshman U.S. senator in Washington, the issue has become a defining one.
 
     Heitkamp joined three fellow Democrats and a majority of Republicans this week in opposing legislation in the Senate that would have expanded federal background checks for gun purchases.
 
     Her opposition stood out because Heitkamp was the only Democrat not up for re-election in 2014 to vote against the measure. And in doing so, she shook off persistent pressure from her party’s liberal base, fellow Democratic senators and the White House.
 
     Heitkamp says her vote was about standing firm for the Second Amendment rights of North Dakota residents.

 

 STANLEY, N.D. (AP) – Inspections of Stanley’s City Hall have concluded that the century-old building sits on gasoline-contaminated soil, contains black mold, asbestos and lead paint, and has a bad ventilation system.
 
City Building Inspector Denis Kesterson says the building that once was a gas station and car dealership is dangerous. He’s recommending it be repaired, abandoned or demolished.
 
     City officials are debating whether to build a new city hall under a public-private partnership. Private investors would finance construction, lease the building to the city and give the city the option to buy it at some point. Cost estimates range from $4 million to $8 million.

 

WASHBURN, N.D. (AP) – Demolition work has begun on the historic McLean County Courthouse in Washburn.
 
     The century-old building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, but officials say it is bat-infested and has health concerns. Voters in 2010 approved construction of a new courthouse that is now in use.
 
  Crews with a wrecking ball began demolishing the old courthouse this week – a few weeks later than planned because of unfavorable weather.

 

 BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – Memorial services have been scheduled for former longtime North Dakota State Auditor Bob Peterson.
 
     Services will be held at 10 a.m. Monday at the Baptist Home in Bismarck and at 2 p.m. Monday at Lutheran Church of the Cross in Bismarck. Parkway Funeral Service says a military burial will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday at the North Dakota Veterans Cemetery south of Mandan.
 
     Peterson died at the Baptist home Wednesday at the age of 84 after battling cancer. He served as state auditor nearly a quarter century – from 1973-1996. He also served in the state House of Representatives from 1967-1972.

 

In world and national news…

 WATERTOWN, Mass. (AP) – The transit police officer who authorities say was severely wounded overnight by the Boston Marathon bombing suspects is out of surgery and has been stabilized. A transit agency spokesman says Officer Richard Donohue remains in critical condition. One of the bombing suspects was killed during a violent chase. The other remains at large.
 
     HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) – Connecticut State Police say they received information from investigators in Boston that the at-large suspect in the marathon bombing could be traveling in a green Honda Civic. Authorities in Connecticut urged people earlier Friday to be on the lookout for a gray Honda CRV, but it later emerged that vehicle had been recovered in Boston. Nineteen-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (joh-KHAR’ tsahr-NEYE’-ehv) is the target of a massive manhunt. His brother Tamerlan was also identified as a suspect in Monday’s twin bombings and was killed in a night of violent clashes with police.
 
     DARTMOUTH, Mass. (AP) – Students at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth tell The Associated Press that Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (joh-KHAR’ tsahr-NEYE’-ehv) was on campus this week after the bombings. Tsarnaev is a student at the school, about an hour’s drive south of Boston. Students say he lived on the third floor of a campus dormitory. One student who lives on the same floor, tells the AP he saw him in the dorm hallway this week and Tsarnaev was calm. Authorities are swarming the campus. The school was evacuated Friday morning amid a manhunt for Tsarnaev. FBI and SWAT teams have been seen on the campus.

 
     WEST, Texas (AP) – Officials haven’t yet publicly identified the 12 people whose bodies have been found in the remnants of a tiny Texas farm town in the aftermath of an explosion at a fertilizer plant. But the victims are believed to include a small group of firefighters and other first-responders who had headed toward the plant to fight a fire that apparently touched off the explosion Wednesday evening.
 
     DENVER (AP) – As tens of thousands of people gather to celebrate and smoke marijuana in Denver, police will be out in full force. But it’s not the pot smoking they’re concerned about at tomorrow’s yearly event, billed as the nation’s largest April 20th celebration. Instead, police say they’re focused on crowd security in light of attacks that killed three at the finish line of the Boston Marathon. Organizers say the event – which drew 50,000 people last year – could bring a record 80,000 this year. That’s because it’s the first celebration since Colorado and Washington state voted to make pot legal for recreational use.