Breaking News:  Jamestown (CSi) — The Jamestown Police Department and the Jamestown City Fire Department were called to McElroy Park, in the horseshoe pit area, in Jamestown Thursday morning.

Police Sgt., Justin Blinsky said police were called to the park shortly before 10-a.m., when a man asked that he speak to police officer at the park.

When the officer arrived, the man arrived in a 2002 P.T. Cruiser car.

After having doused himself with a flammable fluid, the 47 year old man exited the car and approached the officer, who was in his patrol unit, and then ignited the flammable liquid, with a lighter.

Police on scene extinguished the fire, and called the fire department.

The fire department was dispatched to assist with the flammable liquid and varify vehicle safety.

The Jamestown Area Ambulance Service transported the man to Jamestown Regional Medical Center, for evaluation and treatment.

The Jamestown Police Department, the Stutsman County Task Force and the Jamestown City Fire Department responded to the scene.

The man’s name was is not being released, pending notification of family.

His condition was described by Blinsky as critical.

 

CSi Weather…

REST OF TODAY…MOSTLY CLOUDY. HIGHS IN THE UPPER 40S. WEST
WINDS 10 TO 15 MPH.
.TONIGHT…DECREASING CLOUDS. LOWS IN THE UPPER 20S. WEST WINDS
5 TO 10 MPH.
.FRIDAY…MOSTLY SUNNY. A 20 PERCENT CHANCE OF RAIN IN THE
AFTERNOON. HIGHS IN THE MID 40S. SOUTH WINDS 5 TO 10 MPH.
.FRIDAY NIGHT…MOSTLY CLOUDY. SLIGHT CHANCE OF RAIN IN THE
EVENING…THEN SLIGHT CHANCE OF RAIN AND SNOW AFTER MIDNIGHT.
LOWS IN THE LOWER 30S. SOUTH WINDS 5 TO 10 MPH. CHANCE OF
PRECIPITATION 20 PERCENT.
.SATURDAY…PARTLY SUNNY. HIGHS IN THE MID 40S. SOUTHWEST WINDS
AROUND 5 MPH SHIFTING TO THE NORTH IN THE AFTERNOON.
.SATURDAY NIGHT…CLOUDY. CHANCE OF RAIN POSSIBLY MIXED WITH SNOW
IN THE EVENING…THEN CHANCE OF SNOW AFTER MIDNIGHT. LOWS IN THE
UPPER 20S. CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION 30 PERCENT.
.SUNDAY…MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A 20 PERCENT CHANCE OF SNOW. HIGHS
IN THE UPPER 20S.
.SUNDAY NIGHT AND MONDAY…MOSTLY CLOUDY. LOWS AROUND 15. HIGHS
IN THE MID 20S.
.MONDAY NIGHT AND TUESDAY…PARTLY CLOUDY. LOWS 10 TO 15. HIGHS
IN THE UPPER 20S.
.TUESDAY NIGHT AND WEDNESDAY…PARTLY CLOUDY. LOWS 15 TO 20.
HIGHS IN THE MID 30S.

FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY
 
 A STRONG COLD FRONT WILL MOVE ACROSS THE NORTHERN PLAINS SATURDAY
 NIGHT INTO SUNDAY. SOME LIGHT ACCUMULATIONS OF SNOW ARE POSSIBLE.
 
 BEHIND THE FRONT VERY COLD ARCTIC AIR WILL SURGE SOUTH ACROSS
 WEST AND CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA SUNDAY INTO SUNDAY NIGHT…AND WILL REMAIN OVER THE REGION THROUGH MONDAY. HIGHS IN THE TEENS AND 20S…AND LOWS IN THE SINGLE DIGITS ARE EXPECTED. WIND CHILL
 TEMPERATURES BELOW ZERO WILL BE POSSIBLE SUNDAY NIGHT AS WELL.

 

Valley City (CSi) — A man was arrested for driving under the influence and care required Wednesday about 1:30-a.m., after driving a 2002 Pontiac Bonneville into a decorative brick structure in Valley City.

The Valley City Police Department reports that 24 year old Scott Michael Ringsaker was operating the car south on Central Avenue approaching the intersection with 4th Street Southwest, when he went through the intersection, going over the curb, leaving the roadway and continued south, then striking a decorative brick structure near a walkway over the Sheyenne River, toward the VCSU campus.

The structure received significant damage, estimated at over $5,000.

Ringsaker was taken to Mercy Hospital for treatment of minor injuries.

Ringsaker was arrested, and issued citations for driving under the influence and care required, and then released.

 

Jamestown (CSi) With the Jamestown Sanitary Sewer Project, Interstate Engineering reports that starting Friday, November 15, 2013 a section of 12th Ave SE will close for construction. 12th Ave SE will close from 3rd St SE to 5th St SE. Work is expected to last for about one week.

A reminder, the intersection of

1st Street SW and 3rd Avenue SW, near Renaissance Recycling, is closed for construction. A detour is in place and access will be provided for area businesses during this time.

3rd Ave NW is open for about a half block south starting at 3rd St NW.

To enter CSi, customers are reminded to go west on 2nd St SW to 4th Ave SW, go north 1/2 block and enter the CSi parking lot from the west.

With the closing of the 1st Street intersection, the detour to access west of the river is via 2nd Street to 4th Ave, up to 1st Street to use the 1st Street bridge.

A map and project updates are online at jamestownsewerproject.com, accessible on line at CsiNewsNow.com Updates on The Wayne Byers Show on CSi Cable 2.

Questions on the Jamestown sanitary sewer project can be directed to Darrell Hournbuckle with Interstate Engineering at (701) 252-0234.

 

 BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – The North Dakota Insurance Department says it needs more time to study a change to the federal health law and how it will affect the state.
 
     President Barack Obama announced Thursday that health insurance companies can continue to sell policies canceled under the Affordable Care Act for at least one more year to existing customers. The president’s revision is in response to criticism from people who had cancellations or big changes to their insurance policies based on the new law. 
 
     State Insurance Commissioner Adam Hamm announced last week that nearly 36,000 North Dakotans would have their insurance policies canceled under the new health care law.
 
     State Insurance Department spokeswoman Andrea Fonkert says the agency is studying the revision “and its potential impact on policy holders and the health insurance market.”

 

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – The federal government is taking steps to address an increase in drug-related crimes in the oil patch of western North Dakota and eastern Montana.
 
     Director of National Drug Control Policy R. Gil Kerlikowske (kur-lih-KOW’-skee) says in a letter to Sen. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota that Williams County is being designated a part of the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Program, paving the way for more federal help.
 
     The Drug Enforcement Agency also has assigned a special agent to Bismarck.
 
     Kerlikowske visited North Dakota and Montana in July with Heitkamp and Sen. Jon Tester of Montana.

 

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – North Dakota and the continent of Australia claim the world’s biggest caches of proven lignite reserves. And industry groups in the state and the country have agreed to share information on how to reduce emissions and increase efficiencies at factories that use the plentiful but low-grade coal.
 
     The Lignite Energy Council says it has formed a partnership with Melbourne-based Brown Coal Innovation Australia.
 
     Lignite Energy Council spokesman Steve Van Dyke says the goal is to “keep lignite a vital energy fuel for the future.”
 
     Van Dyke says there are no large-scale lignite factories that have successfully developed efficient devices to capture carbon dioxide emissions that are blamed for global warming.
 
     He says lignite industries in the U.S. and Australia are actively developing low-emission, low-cost technologies that could be shared.

 

 BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – The federal government has revised its estimates of North Dakota wheat production, though the changes are small.
 
     The Agriculture Department in late October re-contacted farmers who still had crop in the field when surveys were done for the annual late-September small grains summary.
 
     Spring wheat production in the state is now estimated at 235.3 million bushels, up 2.5 million bushels from the Sept. 30 report. North Dakota durum wheat production is estimated at 29.6 million bushels, up 385,000 bushels from the Sept. 30 report. North Dakota leads the nation in the production of both types of wheat.
 
     Total wheat production in the state is estimated at 274 million bushels, up 1 percent from the Sept. 30 report.
 
     Barley and oat production estimates are unchanged.

 

 MINOT, N.D. (AP) – Voters in five northern North Dakota school districts will be deciding the fates of multimillion-dollar bond issues in coming weeks.
 
Kenmare residents will decide Tuesday whether to approve a $14 million bond issue for an elementary school addition and a second gymnasium.
 
     On Dec. 3, Westhope residents will vote on a $4.3 million proposal for various school renovations, and South Prairie voters will decide the fate of a proposed $12 million high school.
 
     Minot residents will decide Dec. 10 whether to approve a $125 million bond issue for several projects including a new elementary school and a second high school.
 
     And early next year, voters in the Nedrose district will decide whether to approve $18 million for a new middle school and high school.

 

 SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) – Sanford Health officials hope a trip to China will help the Dakotas-based health network firm up plans for a clinic there.
 
     Sanford is planning a children’s clinic in Kunming, a city of 6 million people near China’s border with Vietnam. Senior Executive Vice President Dave Link tells the Argus Leader the nine-member Sanford delegation will work on final details with partners in China.
 
     The group is leaving Thursday.
 
     Sanford in the past four years has opened children’s clinics in Oklahoma, California and Oregon, along with regular clinics in the African nation of Ghana. Officials have been working on a move into China for more than a year.
 
     Sanford is based in Sioux Falls, S.D., and Fargo N.D. It bills itself as the nation’s largest not-for-profit rural health care provider.

 

In world and national news…

WASHINGTON (AP) – “We fumbled the rollout.” President Barack Obama used those words Thursday as he took responsibility for the launch of his health care program. Obama promised to work to regain the trust of the American people — on the health care law and “on a whole range of these issues in general.”
 
     WASHINGTON (AP) – It’s not clear what Thusday’s announcement from President Barack Obama on the health care law will mean to the millions of people who’ve already had their plans canceled. Obama said insurance companies will have the option of continuing to offer plans that would otherwise be canceled — an option that will be good for just one year. But a trade group for the health insurance industry says the offer comes too late, since companies have already set rates for next year based on the assumption that people would be switching to the new insurance markets.
 
     WASHINGTON (AP) – FBI Director James Comey (KOH’-mee) has told senators he is not opposed to survivors of the 2012 attack on the diplomatic mission in Benghazi speaking to Congress. Comey’s position on the politically charged issue is not the same as the State Department’s. The State Department has said congressional interviews with the survivors could jeopardize the Justice Department’s criminal case against the attackers.

 
     TACLOBAN, Philippines (AP) – Workers in the Philippines have lowered scores of unidentified bodies into a mass grave the size of an Olympic swimming pool. It’s the first mass burial to take place in the city that was shattered by last week’s typhoon. Six days after the disaster, some progress is being made in providing food, water and medical aid to the half-million people who were displaced by the storm. 
 
     DUNEDIN, Fla. (AP) – Residents of several Florida homes have been evacuated because of a possible sinkhole that opened in a backyard in Pinellas County. The Tampa Bay Times says the ground is so unstable that two homes will have to be demolished. The property is in Dunedin (duhn-EE’-dihn), about 20 miles north of St. Petersburg.