Wayne Byers Show – Evening – Dec 5

CSi Weather…

WIND CHILL ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL 1 PM CST SATURDAY…

A WIND CHILL ADVISORY MEANS THE COMBINATION OF WIND AND VERY COLD
 AIR WILL CREATE LOW WIND CHILLS. THIS WILL RESULT IN FROST BITE
 AND LEAD TO HYPOTHERMIA IF PRECAUTIONS ARE NOT TAKEN.

 …WIND CHILL ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL 1 PM CST SATURDAY…
.LATE THIS AFTERNOON…SUNNY. PATCHY BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW.
WIND CHILLS AROUND 30 BELOW. NORTHWEST WINDS AROUND 20 MPH.
.TONIGHT…PARTLY CLOUDY. LOWS AROUND 15 BELOW. NORTHWEST WINDS
AROUND 15 MPH. LOWEST WIND CHILLS AROUND 35 BELOW AFTER MIDNIGHT.
.FRIDAY…MOSTLY SUNNY. HIGHS AROUND 5 BELOW. NORTHWEST WINDS
10 TO 15 MPH. WIND CHILLS AROUND 30 BELOW.
.FRIDAY NIGHT…PARTLY CLOUDY. LOWS AROUND 20 BELOW. WEST WINDS
AROUND 10 MPH. WIND CHILLS AROUND 40 BELOW.
.SATURDAY…MOSTLY SUNNY. HIGHS AROUND 5 BELOW. WEST WINDS 5 TO
10 MPH.
.SATURDAY NIGHT…INCREASING CLOUDS. LOWS AROUND 15 BELOW. SOUTH
WINDS AROUND 5 MPH.
.SUNDAY…MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A 30 PERCENT CHANCE OF SNOW. HIGHS
ZERO TO 5 ABOVE.
.SUNDAY NIGHT AND MONDAY…MOSTLY CLOUDY. LOWS AROUND 10 BELOW.
HIGHS NEAR ZERO.
.MONDAY NIGHT…MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A 20 PERCENT CHANCE OF SNOW.
LOWS AROUND 10 BELOW.
.TUESDAY…PARTLY SUNNY. HIGHS ZERO TO 5 ABOVE.
.TUESDAY NIGHT…PARTLY CLOUDY. LOWS AROUND 10 BELOW.
.WEDNESDAY…PARTLY SUNNY. HIGHS 5 TO 10 ABOVE.
.WEDNESDAY NIGHT…PARTLY CLOUDY. LOWS NEAR ZERO.
.THURSDAY…PARTLY SUNNY WITH A 20 PERCENT CHANCE OF SNOW. HIGHS
AROUND 15.

  A TRAVEL ALERT remains in effect for the extreme northeastern
     region of the state due to blowing snow causing reduced
     visibility and scattered snow drifts.  Cities included are
     Grafton, Pembina, and surrounding areas.

Jamestown (CSi) The Jamestown City Fire Department was called out Thursday just after 4-p.m., to a reported chimney fire at 312 2^nd Avenue, Northwest.

Lt. Sheldon Mohr said the fire was out on arrival. No damage was reported.

Three trucks and 29 fire fighters were on the scene about 10-minutes.

Homeowners are reminded to have chimneys inspected before extensive usage this heating season, including creosote build up on the interrior chimney walls.

Jamestown (CSi) With the deadline passing for proposals, two airlines have submitted bids for the Jamestown Essential Air Service route Great Lakes Aviation and Sky West from Utah.

Jamestown Airport Authority Chairman, Jim Boyd says, the Great Lakes proposal tied together Jamestown and Devils Lake, with, 3 round trips daily to the Twin Cities using a Beech 1900 (19) passenger turboprop, with a partial code share with Delta.

Sky West’s proposal is Jamestown and Devils Lake flights, independent of each other, 1 round trip daily to Denver, with a CRJ-200 (50) passenger jet, and a code share of United Express.

Boyd says Sky West does not meet the full requirements to the number of round trips per day; however, the passenger available capacity is greater than the Great Lakes offer.

Boyd says the Jamestown community will be requested to submit their recommendations/comments to the Department Of Transportation by January 6, 2014.

He says the plan is to package messages from community members and submit them all together.

More information will be forthcoming.

Valley City (CSi) – U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp Thursday visited a Head Start facility in Valley City, to see firsthand the devastating impact of across-the-board spending cuts on programs that offer affordable early education for low-income families.

Since the automatic, across-the-board spending cuts – known as sequestration – began earlier this year, the Valley City Head Start facility has been forced to cut 17 children from the program, reduce classroom sizes, and combine employees’ positions. Heitkamp is determined to reduce federal spending and address our Federal budget deficit, but she is opposed to blind cuts that disproportionately hurt the most vulnerable, like the children who participate in the proven Head Start Program.

Sen. Heitkamp says “Visiting the Valley City Head Start facility, and seeing these preschoolers engaged and learning only reinforces that early childhood education is crucial to make sure all of our children have every opportunity to succeed. And Head Start offers those opportunities to North Dakota children whose parents might not otherwise be able to afford early education. However, we are causing real damage by not investing in Head Start and instead implementing reckless across-the-board spending cuts that are taking these programs away from our kids and also seriously hurting families. We’re seeing the direct impacts here at Valley City Head Start where kids have been shut out of the program because of harsh funding cuts. I’m committed to reducing Federal spending, but not at our children’s expense. We need to support our kids, and help them learn and grow – and in the long run, it actually saves taxpayer money.”

Last month, Heitkamp called on Senators and Members who are working to negotiate a plan to move forward with a long-term budget, to spare proven programs like Head Start from additional cuts. Heitkamp and several fellow Senators pointed out that for every $1 invested in high-quality early childhood education, taxpayers save an average of $7 in future costs.

Automatic across-the-board spending cuts went into effect earlier this year and were signed into law before Heitkamp came into office. According to the National Head Start Association, these cuts slashed nearly $405 million to Head Start, resulting in 57,265 fewer children participating, including nearly 200 in North Dakota. Additionally, students who can still attend will have about 80 fewer days of participation. And the National Indian Education Association estimates that Indian Head Start will lose about $12 million from these harsh cuts.

Also Thursday, Heitkamp read to Fargo Pre-K students who are participating in North Dakota Reading Corps.

Oriska (CSi) No cause has been listed in connection with a fire that destroyed a home Northeast of Oriksa, Wednesday afternoon.

Barnes County Sheriff Randy McClaflin says the residence at 22^nd Street Southeast in Rural Barnes County was unoccupied at the time of the fire.

Fire departments from Tower City, Hope, Page, and Valley City Fire responded.

The American Red Cross is assisting the family displaced by the fire.

FARGO, N.D. (AP) – Sentencing has been scheduled Jan. 6 for a North Dakota man accused of neglecting about 170 dogs at an apparent puppy mill at his rural Wheatland home.
 
     Fifty-one-year-old Darcy Smith on Wednesday entered an Alford plea to misdemeanor animal abuse. That means he does not admit guilt but acknowledges there is enough evidence to convict him.
 
     Authorities seized the animals from Smith’s home in July. He later waived his rights to the animals and they were put up for adoption.
 
     KFGO radio reports that Smith could face up to a year in jail and a $2,000 fine. Prosecutor Leah Viste tells the Forum the state will seek a sentence that prohibits Smith from owning any more dogs.

 GRAND FORKS, N.D. (AP) – A jury has acquitted a former Grand Forks police officer of felony terrorizing and convicted him instead of misdemeanor disorderly conduct.
 
     Twenty-eight-year-old Jace Prelip was accused of holding an unloaded gun to another man’s head during a party in August 2012. He resigned from the police force a few days later.
 
Jurors deliberated about 1  1/2 hours Wednesday before delivering their decision.
 
     Prelip could have faced up to five years in prison had he been convicted of terrorizing.

 BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – A North Dakota official says state and federal veterinarians are investigating a case of tuberculosis in a young heifer from an Oliver County dairy herd. The heifer has never produced milk.
 
     State Veterinarian Susan Keller says the case was found when the owner agreed to have the herd tested after an employee tested positive.
 
     Keller says the U.S. Veterinary Service Laboratory in Iowa confirmed the tuberculosis diagnosis in the heifer. She says even if the heifer had produced milk, routine pasteurization would have prevented any contamination of the milk supply.
 
     Tuberculosis can be transmitted from animals to humans and from humans to animals.
 
     Keller says an investigation is now underway, and further testing will be done to determine the source of the disease and to prevent its spread.

MINOT, N.D. (AP) – Fire has engulfed some apartments under construction in Minot.
 
Some inhabited apartments near the site of the Chateau Apartments fire have been evacuated. The Red Cross is helping displaced residents.
 
     A city street also has been closed and city bus routes have been disrupted.
 
     Fire crews are working to ensure nearby businesses are not damaged.
 
     There was no immediate word on a possible cause of the Thursday morning fire.

 BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – Bismarck’s Environmental Health Division says a black widow spider has been found in grapes purchased at a store.
 
     The spider was taken to the Burleigh County Extension office where it was identified. Venomous black widows are identified by red, hourglass-shaped markings.
 
     Several states have had recent reports of black widows being found in grocery store grapes.
 
     Bismarck Environmental Health Administrator Anton Sattler recommends that residents be cautious when handling grapes or any other produce. He also suggests washing produce prior to eating.

Bismarck (CSi) North Dakota employers will see a reduction in their unemployment insurance tax rates effective January 1, 2014. The 2014 tax rate schedule will range from 0.16 percent to 9.76 percent compared to the 2013 schedule which ranges from 0.17 percent to 9.78 percent. The average 2014 tax rate will be 1.15 percent compared to the current rate of 1.17 percent.

 Job Service North Dakota Interim Executive Director, Darren Brostrom said, “Under the new tax rate schedule, more than 65 percent of the state’s employers will receive the lowest rate of 0.16 percent.

The 2014 rate reduction will provide a level of tax relief while maintaining a stable tax environment for our state’s employers.”

North Dakota Century Code outlines the tax rate-setting process and takes into account the current unemployment insurance trust fund balance, historical data, statewide annual wages, and unemployment insurance benefit projections for the next calendar year.

 North Dakota’s strong economy has led to an increase in average annual wages which in turn has raised the taxable wage base from $31,800 (2013) to $33,600 (2014). The taxable wage base is the maximum amount of wages per employee on which employers must pay taxes each year. North Dakota law sets the unemployment insurance taxable wage base at 70 percent of the statewide average wage.

Brostrom said, “Statewide wage growth has driven up the taxable wage base on which unemployment insurance taxes are calculated. Fortunately, our unemployment insurance trust fund is solvent which makes it possible to reduce 2014 tax rates and help offset the increased costs from the higher taxable wage base.”

 Job Service will mail 2014 tax rate notices to employers beginning December 6th. Employers who have not received their notices by December 13th should contact the Job Service Tax Department at (701) 328-2814. TTY customers can call 800-366-6888.

 MINOT, N.D. (AP) – Voters in the South Prairie School District near Minot have approved a $12 million bond issue to add a high school.
 
     The district currently has grades K-8. About 81 percent of the 349 people who voted Tuesday favored an expansion.
 
     School officials say taxes shouldn’t go up because the district will no longer have to pay tuition to send high school students to other districts.
 
     Construction is to begin in May and the school should be ready for the 2015-16 school year.

  NORTHWOOD, N.D. (AP) – A North Dakota family got an unwelcome surprise when 191 gallons of fuel oil were delivered to their house by mistake.
 
     The oil was supposed to be delivered to a nearby house in Northwood. A bigger problem was that the family’s home had a pipe on the outside but no fuel tank on the inside. That meant the fuel oil was pumped Monday into the finished basement of the home of Chad and Ryndee Veer and their three children.
 
     Chad Veer says he never expected such an accident because fuel isn’t delivered unless it’s ordered. He says the fuel supplier has helped by setting his family up with meals at a restaurant and providing other assistance. The family is staying in an apartment.

In world and national news…

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) – A prosecutor says Florida State quarterback Jameis (JAYM’-ihs) Winston will not be charged in a sexual assault case. The 19-year-old Heisman Trophy candidate was accused of raping a female student in December of last year, but State Attorney Willie Meggs says there is not enough evidence for anyone to be charged in the case. The prosecutor says Winston’s DNA matched a sample found in the woman’s underwear. But Winston’s lawyer has said that was expected and doesn’t prove guilt.
 
     ADEN, Yemen (AP) – Yemen’s government says 52 people have been killed in a suicide car bombing and a subsequent attack by gunmen on the Defense Ministry in the capital, Sanaa (sah-NAH’). It says another 167 people were wounded. Nobody has claimed responsibility for the attack, but suicide bombings and follow-up attacks are the hallmarks of al-Qaida.
 
     WASHINGTON (AP) – The State Department is identifying the American shot to death in Libya Thusday as a teacher named Ronald Thomas Smith II. A spokeswoman at says Smith taught at an international school in Benghazi. A Libyan security official says Smith was shot while he was jogging near the compound where the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans were killed by Islamic militants in September 2012.
 
     NEW YORK (AP) – Fast-food workers and labor organizers have been marching, waving signs and chanting in cities across the country Thursday, calling for higher wages. The demonstrations come amid a push by labor unions, worker advocacy groups and Democrats to raise the federal minimum wage of $7.25. The National Restaurant Association says “relatively few” workers have participated in past actions, while McDonald’s says that it offers employees advancement opportunities, competitive pay and benefits.
 
     NEW YORK (AP) – Edward Hopper’s “East Wind Over Weehawken” has sold for $40.5 million. The 1934 work depicts a streetscape of the New Jersey city across the Hudson River from New York. The painting captures the melancholy of post-Depression life in America and Hopper considered it one of his best works. The price was an auction record for the artist.