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CSi weather…
FIRE WEATHER WATCH IN EFFECT FROM SATURDAY MORNING THROUGH
SATURDAY EVENING FOR LOW HUMIDITY AND GUSTY WINDS…DRY DORMANT FUELS…STRONG SOUTHWEST WINDS
OF 15 TO 25 MPH FOR EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA AND THE NORTHWEST QUARTER OF MINNESOTA…
WIND…SOUTHWEST 15 TO 25 MPH BECOMING NORTHWEST WITH GUSTS TO
35 MPH.
HUMIDITY…AS LOW AS 15 PERCENT.
ANY FIRES THAT DEVELOP WILL SPREAD RAPIDLY.
A FIRE WEATHER WATCH MEANS THAT CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS
ARE FORECAST TO OCCUR. LISTEN FOR LATER FORECASTS AND POSSIBLE
RED FLAG WARNINGS.
Forecast…
FRIDAY NIGHT…MOSTLY CLEAR. LOWS IN THE UPPER 40S. SOUTH WINDS 5 TO
15 MPH.
.SATURDAY…MOSTLY SUNNY. A 30 PERCENT CHANCE OF RAIN SHOWERS AND
THUNDERSTORMS IN THE AFTERNOON. BREEZY. HIGHS IN THE LOWER 80S.
SOUTH WINDS 10 TO 15 MPH INCREASING TO SOUTHWEST 20 TO 25 MPH IN
THE AFTERNOON.
.SATURDAY NIGHT…PARTLY CLOUDY WITH A 20 PERCENT CHANCE OF RAIN
SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS IN THE JAMESTOWN AREA, A 30 PERCENT CHANCE IN THE VALLEY CITY AREA. LOWS IN THE UPPER 40S. WEST WINDS 5 TO
10 MPH SHIFTING TO THE NORTHWEST 10 TO 15 MPH AFTER MIDNIGHT.
.SUNDAY…PARTLY SUNNY IN THE MORNING THEN CLEARING. HIGHS IN THE
UPPER 60S. NORTHWEST WINDS 10 TO 20 MPH.
.SUNDAY NIGHT…MOSTLY CLEAR. LOWS IN THE UPPER 30S. NORTHWEST
WINDS 5 TO 10 MPH. GUSTS UP TO 25 MPH IN THE EVENING.
.MONDAY THROUGH TUESDAY…MOSTLY CLEAR. HIGHS IN THE LOWER 70S.
LOWS NEAR 40.
.TUESDAY NIGHT…MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A 50 PERCENT CHANCE OF RAIN
SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. LOWS IN THE LOWER 50S.
.WEDNESDAY…RAIN SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS LIKELY. HIGHS IN THE
LOWER 70S. CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION 60 PERCENT.
.WEDNESDAY NIGHT…CLOUDY WITH A 50 PERCENT CHANCE OF RAIN
SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. LOWS IN THE LOWER 50S.
.THURSDAY…MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A 40 PERCENT CHANCE OF RAIN
SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. HIGHS IN THE UPPER 60S.
.THURSDAY NIGHT…MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A 30 PERCENT CHANCE OF RAIN
SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. LOWS IN THE UPPER 40S.
.FRIDAY…PARTLY SUNNY WITH A 20 PERCENT CHANCE OF RAIN SHOWERS
AND THUNDERSTORMS. HIGHS IN THE MID 60S.
SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE SATURDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING. OVER SOUTH CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA INTO
THE JAMES RIVER VALLEY
MOISTURE IS UNCERTAIN BUT SOME MARGINALLY SEVERE STORMS THAT
COULD PRODUCE SOME HAIL ARE NOT OUT OF THE QUESTION POSSIBLY DEVELOPING STRONG WIND GUSTS.
Valley City (CSi) Meeting in Special Session Friday, the Valley City Parks and Recreation board approved bids for the construction of the Valley City Health, Wellness and Physical Education Center.
Seven contractors bids were approved.
Parks and Recreation Board President Dick Gulmon says preliminary work will begin June 1, 2015.
Valley City State University is slated to sign off on a 99 year land lease agreement between the state and the Valley City Park District, on Friday afternoon.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Xcel Energy continues to add wind power.
The utility says it will spend $300 million to purchase and complete a wind farm in North Dakota under development by Geronimo Energy. The purchase salvages a project that might otherwise not have been finished because no wind energy company emerged to buy and operate it.
Xcel planned to buy electricity produced by the wind farm in Stutsman County, North Dakota. But the utility didn’t necessarily want to own it. Xcel has two other large wind farms under construction.
Geronimo executive Betsy Engelking tells the Star Tribune that an unfavorable tax ruling in North Dakota made it difficult to find an outside buyer. If Xcel completes the project before the end of 2016, it’s expected to qualify for the federal wind production tax credit.
GARNDER, N.D. (AP) – Authorities in Cass County have identified the two men who died earlier this week in an all-terrain vehicle crash on a rural Gardner farmstead.
The sheriff’s office says 50-year-old Corby Heller of Gardner was operating the ATV when it crashed Thursday morning. Fifty-three-year-old Robert Schmitz, also of Gardner, was his passenger.
The investigation into the incident is still ongoing and the sheriff’s office is working with the North Dakota Highway Patrol to reconstruct the crash.
WEST FARGO, N.D. (AP) – Charges are pending in an unusual road rage case in West Fargo.
Police say a man threatened another man with a chain saw after a crash and a chase Thursday afternoon.
The 34-year-old man from Illinois was arrested on numerous charges including terrorizing and hit-and-run. He was taken to a hospital to be checked for possible ingestion of controlled substances before being taken to jail.
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – The Highway Patrol lieutenant who led the response to a deadly collision between a school bus and freight train near Larimore has been suspended without pay for one day and fined $20 for driving the wrong way on a major highway the night of the Jan. 5 crash.
Lt. Troy Hischer is to serve his suspension on Monday. It will cost him $322 in pay. He declined comment to The Associated Press.
Hischer was accused of driving the wrong way on U.S. Highway 2 for about 4 miles. A log of 911 calls shows Hischer told a dispatcher he was on his phone at the time.
Hischer was put on administrative leave during the monthlong probe but returned to duty Tuesday. He did not contest the punishment against him.
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – North Dakota’s congressional delegation says new federal safety rules for transporting crude by rail are important to improving safety.
U.S. Sens. Heidi Heitkamp and John Hoeven and U.S. Rep. Kevin Cramer responded to the new rules Friday. They require tank cars within 5 years to have an outer shell, a thermal lining and thicker steel walls to prevent them from rupturing.
Cramer says the new requirements are a “sensible approach” to dealing with outdated rail car designs but cautioned that new regulations alone won’t realistically prevent accidents.
Hoeven says the new standards are “vitally important” in giving the industry regulatory certainty. But he says there’s more to be done, including adding more inspectors.
Heitkamp says the new rules are a “needed and important” step toward improving crude transportation by rail.
FARGO, N.D. (AP) – A Catholic student group at North Dakota State University is protesting the showing of “50 Shades of Grey” at the student union next week.
The group Bison Catholic represents 4,000 Catholic students on campus and says the film blurs the lines of rape and other crimes against women.
The student-run group Campus Attractions is planning a three-day run of the movie at the Memorial Union theater.
Father James Cheney heads the campus Newman Center and says the movie glamorizes sexual abuse and abuse relationships. He says it should not be paid for with student fees.
Father Cheney says Campus Attractions has told the Catholic group it will not cancel the showing.
University spokeswoman Laura McDaniel says NDSU doesn’t interfere with the student decision making process.
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – A health care consulting firm says about 5 percent of North Dakota’s rural hospitals are vulnerable to closure.
The estimate comes from iVantage Health Analytics, a Maine-based firm that compiles a hospital strength index based on data about financial stability, patients and quality indicators.
Fifty hospitals in rural America have closed since 2010, and the pace has been accelerating. North Dakota rural hospitals have avoided closures, but the firm believes 5.3 percent of the facilities are vulnerable and are similar to hospitals that have closed elsewhere.
The closures are forcing many Americans to travel much farther for medical care. Hospitals cite changing demographics, medical practices and management decisions as reasons for the shutdowns. They’ve also been affected by federal policies that put more financial pressure on the facilities.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – A new monthly survey report says April results suggest that slow economic growth remains ahead for nine Midwestern and Plains states.
The survey report issued Friday says the overall Mid-America Business Conditions Index rose to 52.7 last month from 51.4 in March.
Creighton University economist Ernie Goss oversees the survey, and he says rising economic expectations from nonenergy firms, resulting from lower energy prices, “more than offset economic pessimism stemming from weakness in firms directly tied to energy.”
The survey results from supply managers are compiled into a collection of indexes ranging from zero to 100. Survey organizers say any score above 50 suggests economic growth, while a score below that suggests decline.
The survey covers Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota.
In sports…
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – North Dakota will not have a sage grouse hunting season for the eighth straight year due to low numbers of the birds.
The Game and Fish Department says a spring survey found a record-low 30 males on six strutting grounds.
Sage grouse in the U.S. once numbered in the millions, but current estimates put the population between 200,000 and 500,000. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has set a Sept. 30 deadline to decide whether to propose listing the bird as endangered.
Officials in western states fear that could limit ranching and energy production. Eleven states have launched voluntary effects to conserve sage grouse habitat in hopes of avoiding a federal listing.
In world and national news…
BALTIMORE (AP) – Baltimore’s mayor is promising to change the culture of the city’s police department — after six officers were charged in the death of Freddie Gray. One of the officers — the driver of a police van — is charged with second-degree murder. Charges against the others include manslaughter. One community activist says the charges are a first step toward transparency. And a city councilwoman says the decision to bring charges is a “defining moment.”
BALTIMORE (AP) – Prosecutors in Baltimore say the events leading to death of Freddie Gray began with an arrest that was unjustified. They say the officers had no reason to charge Gray, because the knife he was carrying was legal. Officers had described it as an illegal switchblade.
CHICAGO (AP) – There have been demonstrations around the country Friday to protest police brutality. And some parents in Chicago brought their children along, and used the occasion as a teaching tool on how to perceive police officers. Meredith West told her 9-year-old daughter that when she encounters an officer, she should stay calm and keep still. They were part of a small group of families who marched on Chicago’s West Side.
NEW YORK (AP) – Singer Ben E. King has died in New Jersey at the age of 76. He was lead singer for the Drifters, before a solo career that included pop and R&B hits like “Spanish Harlem” and his best-known song, “Stand By Me.”
NEW YORK (AP) – The Muscular Dystrophy Association telethon, a Labor Day television tradition for decades, is ending. The association says the decision is due to “the new realities” of TV viewing and charitable giving. Celebrities from Frank Sinatra, John Lennon and Michael Jackson to Pitbull and Jennifer Lopez have performed on the telethon — hosted for most of its life by Jerry Lewis. It ran 21 and a half hours in 2010, Lewis’ last year as host, and had dwindled to a two-hour show the last two years.
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