Forecast

.SATURDAY…PARTLY SUNNY. A 20 PERCENT CHANCE OF SNOW IN THE
MORNING. AREAS OF BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW IN THE MORNING.
WINDY. HIGHS AROUND 30. NORTHWEST WINDS AROUND 30 MPH WITH GUSTS
TO AROUND 45 MPH DECREASING TO 15 TO 20 MPH WITH GUSTS TO AROUND
35 MPH IN THE AFTERNOON.
.SATURDAY NIGHT…PARTLY CLOUDY. LOWS IN THE LOWER 20S. WEST
WINDS 15 TO 20 MPH.
.SUNDAY…MOSTLY SUNNY. HIGHS AROUND 30. NORTHWEST WINDS 10 TO
15 MPH.
.SUNDAY NIGHT AND MARTIN LUTHER KING JR DAY…MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH
A 20 PERCENT CHANCE OF SNOW. LOWS AROUND 10. HIGHS AROUND 10.
.MONDAY NIGHT AND TUESDAY…MOSTLY CLOUDY. LOWS AROUND 10 BELOW.
HIGHS 10 TO 15.
.TUESDAY NIGHT…MOSTLY CLOUDY. LOWS NEAR ZERO.
.WEDNESDAY…MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A 20 PERCENT CHANCE OF SNOW.
HIGHS 5 TO 10 ABOVE.
.WEDNESDAY NIGHT…MOSTLY CLOUDY. LOWS NEAR ZERO.
.THURSDAY…MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A 20 PERCENT CHANCE OF SNOW. HIGHS
15 TO 20.

 

UPDATE

Jamestown (CSi) According to Matt Leitner, manager at Jamestown Regional Airport, Great Lakes Airline has released a schedule change for Jamestown.

Starting Monday, Jan 20, Great Lakes Airline will reduce service to only 1 flight a day from and to Minneapolis, Sunday through Friday. There will be no flights on Saturday. This will bring the total weekly flights to 6, on the 19 passenger Beech 1900 turbo-prop.

Passengers are encouraged to check with their travel agent or the airline to see how the schedule change will impact their reservations and for exact flight times. The “no Saturday flights” goes into effect Jan 18, 2014.

Earlier this week, the Airport Authority approved covering the expenses of sending Chairman Jim Boyd, Jamestown Regional Airport Manager Matt Leitner and Mayor Katie Andersen to Washington later this month to answer questions about the bid from SkyWest Airlines to provide essentail air service to Jamestown.

The bids are advertised, reviewed, and awarded by the United States Department of Transportation for the FAA.

Regional Airport Authority Chairman Jim Boyd says DOT officials have some concerns about the SkyWest Airlines bid.

The SkyWest Airlines bid is a one flight daily roundtrip from Denver to Jamestown using a 50-seat jet airplane. The DOT minimum bid for a 50-seat jet airplane service to Jamestown is two daily flights.

SkyWest’s bid would require a higher subsidy from the federal government because its plane would be traveling a greater distance.

Prior to the schedule reduction, Great Lakes Airlines, which currently provides service to Jamestown Regional Airport, submitted a bid to continue providing service to Jamestown with three roundtrip flights daily from Devils Lake/Jamestown to Minneapolis, using 19-seat turboprop airplanes. It is unknown if Great Lakes plans to withdraw or revise that bid, after the airline reduced flights.

The original bid meets the DOT’s minimum bid requirement for turboprop airplanes.

The Regional Airport Authority has recommended the SkyWest Airlines bid to the DOT.

Boyd says he hopes the state’s congressional representatives, including Senator Heidi Heitkamp, Senator John Hoeven, R-N.D., and Representative Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., will be able to answer questions from DOT officials about the SkyWest bid.

Leitner said Great Lakes Airlines continues to have problems getting full flight crews for its flights due to changes in FAA requirements for co-pilots, increasing the minimum number of flight hours a co-pilot must have in order to be part of a flight crew for a passenger flight from 250 hours to 1,500 hours.

The change has put qualified co-pilots in high demand for all airlines.

 

Spiritwood (CSi)  — Spiritwood Energy Park Association announced this week that Dakota Missouri Valley Western RR (DMVW) of Bismarck, ND was awarded the bid for the rail procurement and construction project in Spiritwood Township, Stutsman County, ND.

The DMVW bid was within the proposed $7.5M budget set for the project. The Dakota Missouri Valley Western RR company rated highly in all of the following areas: (a) extensive knowledge of the site; (b) extensive project specific experience with Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) (c) lowest financial risk factor and (d) lowest safety risk factor.

DMVW has a strong working knowledge of the site. They were the contractor that built the Spiritwood Station rail spur. They are also under contract to operate the rail on the neighboring sites. DMVW is very well experienced in the rail construction industry and has extensive experience working with Class A Railroads.

“We are excited to have DMVW as partners in this promising venture and look forward to a phenomenal growth period in the Spiritwood Energy Park!” stated Connie Ova, SEPA Business Manager. DMVW will begin construction on May 1, 2014 and finish on October 1, 2014, weather permitting.

About Spiritwood Energy Park Association (SEPA)

Spiritwood Energy Park Association manages the Energy Park. The association provides common-use transportation infrastructure, industrial lots, property management and value-added services on a fee-for-service basis to attract new businesses to Spiritwood Energy Park. Spiritwood Energy Park Association is majority owned and operated by Jamestown/Stutsman Development Corporation (JSDC) with Great River Energy being a minority owner. Spiritwood Energy Park Association will invest in the road and rail infrastructure within Spiritwood Energy Park that will benefit all tenants in the energy park. The project site is of critical strategic significance due to its proximity to utilities, transportation and markets.

 

KATHRYN, N.D. (AP) – A rural Kathryn woman is charged with three misdemeanors for the deaths of eight horses in one of her pastures.

Barnes County Sheriff Randy McClaflin says  Ginger Helland was charged with animal neglect, animal abuse and improper disposal of animal carcass.

The horses were found in December.

McClaflin says the state animal veterinarian office and North Dakota Stockmen’s Association helped in the investigation.

Helland could not immediately be reached for comment.

 

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) – A Colorado man charged with killing an eastern Montana teacher has been returned to jail following a lengthy evaluation to see if he’s fit for trial.

The Richland County Sheriff’s Office said Friday that Michael Spell had returned to the county detention center from the Montana State Hospital in Warm Springs, where he has been since November.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty in the 2012 killing of Sidney teacher Sherry Arnold.

Attorneys for the 24-year-old defendant say he has mental disabilities that render him unable to understand the case against him or assist in his defense.

State District Judge Richard Simonton has ordered the psychiatric hospital to complete Spell’s competency report by Jan. 31.

Co-defendant Lester Van Waters, Jr. pleaded guilty under a deal with prosecutors. He’s awaiting sentencing.

 

LAKOTA, N.D. (AP) – The Nelson County sheriff in Lakota has resigned in response to a state investigation into a sexual affair.

Sheriff Kelly Janke (JAN’-kee) submitted his resignation Friday.

According to documents obtained through an open records request, Walsh County State’s Attorney Barbara Whelan on Wednesday gave Janke until Friday to step down.

She wrote that otherwise, she would charge him with stalking a woman with whom he had an affair in 2010. Whelan said the relationship ended but Whalen stalked the woman the following year when she started dating another man.

Whelen said instead of prosecuting, she will offer Janke a pretrial diversion. She declined further comment.

Janke’s lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Commissioners will appoint an interim sheriff Tuesday who will serve until the November election.

 

FARGO, N.D. (AP) – North Dakota Board of Higher Education members are wrestling with complaints from college administrators over a plan to improve graduation rates and retention.

The Pathways to Student Success plan is scheduled to be fully implemented in 2015. It includes a proposed admissions index based upon a combination of high school grade point average, core courses and the ACT college entrance exam scores.

University system interim chancellor Larry Skogen said during a special meeting Friday that while presidents agree with the board on its goals, the board should not be in the business of setting ACT or GPA minimums.

Board member Grant Shaft told the group he might be OK with sending the plan back to the campuses but would like the evaluation to include views from independent sources.

 

WATFORD CITY, N.D. (AP) – Basin Electric Power Cooperative has unveiled two potential new routes for a transmission line planned for the Killdeer Mountain Battlefield area in western North Dakota.

The  two alternatives and a third unveiled earlier still cross eight miles of the Killdeer Mountain foothills. The area is the site of a historical 1864 battle between Army soldiers and American Indians.

Basin wants to build the 200-mile line from the Antelope Valley Station power plant near Beulah to a spot near Tioga to deliver more electricity to the Bakken oil fields. The project comes at a time when an alliance is trying to protect the Killdeer Mountain region from oil drilling.

The public has until Feb. 3 to comment on the new alternatives.

 

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – Passenger boardings at North Dakota’s eight commercial airports in 2013 set a record for the second straight year.

The state Aeronautics Commission says boardings in Fargo, Bismarck, Grand Forks, Minot, Williston, Dickinson, Devils Lake and Jamestown totaled more than 1.1 million. That was an 11 percent increase from 2012, when boardings surpassed the million mark for the first time.

North Dakota has a healthy economy in large part because of an oil boom in the western part of the state. Passenger boardings in the oil patch cities of Dickinson and Williston were up 47 percent and 152 percent respectively over the year.

Aeronautics Commissioner Kyle Wanner says he expects the growth to continue.

In December, of 2013 Jamestown boardings were 214, compared to 300 in December of 2012.

 

In sports…

Jamestown (CSi)  The Jamestown Wrestling Association reminds parents and wrestlers that Taz Wrestling for Monday January 20, 2014 has been postponed and will resume on Tuesday January 21st at 5-p.m., and 5:45 p.m.

 

Friday afternoon, Barnes County Girl’s Basketball Tournament

Barnes County  North  52, West Fargo Sheyenne  45

 

Minneapolis (CSi) The Minnesota Twins’ 54th annual Winter Caravan is will be in Valley City, at Mo Eats (formerly the Broken Spoke) in Valley City on Monday, January 20, 2014 at 8:45am.

Later that morning the caravan motors to Jamestown at 10: 15 a.m., at the Quality Inn in Jamestown.

The event is free and open to everyone.

Watch Twins baseball all season long on CSi Cable 25.

Those scheduled to be on hand in Jamestown are former Twin and Baseball Hall-Of-Famer and Twins broadcaster Bert Blyleven, along with coach,Terry Steinbach. Twins pitcher Anthony Swarzak, infielder Trevor Plouffe, and mascot TC Bear are also expected to be on the caravan.

The Twins plan a short program featuring highlights of the last season, and will take questions.

The Twins note that the Winter Caravan stops in nearly 50 communities throughout Twins Territory and is one of the longest and most extensive team caravans in professional sports.

 

In world and national news…

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether police need a warrant to search the cellphones of people they have arrested. Justices will hear appeals in two cases in which criminal defendants were convicted and sentenced at least in part on the strength of evidence obtained by warrantless searches of their cellphones. At issue is a 40-year-old high court ruling allowing warrantless searches of items people are carrying when they’re arrested. Lower federal and state courts have differed over whether the ruling should apply to increasingly sophisticated cellphones.

WASHINGTON (AP) – President Barack Obama is telling intelligence agencies to stop spying on friendly foreign leaders. Here at home, Obama wants to end government control of phone data that’s collected from hundreds of millions of Americans. But he’s offering no recommendation for where that data should be kept. He outlined changes in surveillance programs in a speech Friday at the Justice Department.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) – An attack by a Taliban suicide bomber and two gunmen on a restaurant in the Afghan capital has left 16 people dead — including foreigners who were dining inside, and two other gunmen. The attack targeted a Lebanese restaurant that is popular with foreigners and with affluent Afghans.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – Records show an Ohio inmate took 26 minutes to die during an execution in which he gasped repeatedly – the longest amount of time since the state resumed putting inmates to death 15 years ago. The timeline of Dennis McGuire’s death indicates Ohio’s never-before-tried combination of lethal drugs began at 10:27 a.m. Thursday, with McGuire being pronounced dead at 10:53 a.m. McGuire was executed with doses of a sedative and painkiller that had never been used before to put an inmate to death in the U.S. His family says it’s suing.

VATICAN CITY (AP) – A document obtained by The Associated Press shows Pope Benedict defrocked nearly 400 priests over just two years for molesting children. The statistics for 2011 and 2012 show a dramatic increase over the 170 priests removed in 2008 and 2009, when the Vatican first provided details on the number of priests who have been defrocked. Prior to that, it had only revealed the number of alleged cases of sexual abuse it had received.