Wayne Byers Show – Morning – Dec 17

Valley City (CSi) Valley City now removal crews has scheduled snow removal.

Plows  start removing snow in the southwest part of the city and then move to the northwest and continue  counter clockwise to the northeast section  and finish in the southeast corner of the city.

Remove  vehicles off city streets.

In Jamestown city crews cleared downtown streets last overnight, and are expected to continue with snow removal in residential areas.

 

Update…

 BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – Several schools in northeastern North Dakota and northern South Dakota are starting classes late in the wake of a two-day snowstorm.
 
     The snow moved out late Wednesday, but cleanup continues. The storm dumped a foot of snow in western South Dakota and more than half a foot in eastern North Dakota.
 
     North Dakota’s Transportation Department has lifted a no-travel advisory for areas in the northeast, including Interstate 29 and U.S. Highway 2, but many roads in the two states remain in poor driving condition.

Many semi-trucks and other vehicles slide off I-94 on Wednesday west of Jamestown. Traffic was slow moving for a stretch on the eastbound lane.
 
     Rural electric cooperatives in central and southern North Dakota are working to restore power to the last of the homes and businesses that lost electricity. Outages at one point numbered more than 4,000. Outages also have been reported on South Dakota’s Rosebud Indian Reservation.

 There were approximately 800 customers of Dakota Valley Electric without power in the Millarton, Gackle and Jud areas as of about 3 p.m. Wednesday. About 300 Northern Plains Electric customers were also without electricity at that same time.

The cooperatives were bringing in third-party contractors to help with the repairs.

 

Valley City (CSi) The Barnes County Sheriff’s Office reports an accident about 11:30-a.m. Wednesday on County Road 21.

The 19 year-old Fort Ransom man was injured after he lost control of his pickup as it rolled down a riverbank and came to rest on its top on a frozen edge of the Sheyenne River about 10 miles south of Valley City,

Barnes County Chief Deputy Don Fibiger said the driver received cuts and bruises when he broke out a window to get out of the vehicle. The unidentified man was taken to Mercy Hospital for treatment of his non-life threatening injuries.

The crash remains under investigation with the Barnes County Sheriff’s office.

　

Jamestown (CSi) The Jamestown Regional Airport Authority has approved the 2016 budget for $130,500 more in spending than in 2015.

The Airport Authority approved revenues of $643,700 and expenditures of $643,100. The biggest increase in revenues comes from $65,000 the Stutsman County Commission approved to help pay for the cost of a wetlands mitigation project.

The Airport Authority will also see increased revenues from leases of airport property to Reimer Land Legacy LLC, which is leasing 835 acres of airport land for three years. Reimers will pay $105.73 an acre for 2016, $108.90 an acre for 2017 and $112.17 an acre for 2018. The current lease, which expires at the end of this year, had Reimers leasing the land for $73.32 an acre. In the 2016 budget the lease revenue increases from $75,200 in 2015 to $102,800 for 2016.

With spending,most of the increase is the $65,000 the county gave to the Airport Authority to cover its portion of the $1.3 million phase II wetlands mitigation project.

The 2015 budget had $499,600 in total revenue.

The authority also budgeted $206,000 for salaries of the airport’s hourly and salaried employees, up from $190,000 in 2015.

 

Jamestown (CSi) The Jamestown Choralaires will host a Christmas dinner and concert at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday in the Zebedee Center at St. John’s Academy.

The performance includes solos by two college students who received scholarships from the Choralaires.

The concert will include performances of “Ave Maria,” “Gloria in excelsis Deo,” and a medley of Christmas songs including “Silent Night,” “The Christmas Song,” and “Sleigh Ride.”

People who attend the concert and dinner will also be able to purchase a copy of a new compact disc recording of songs by the Jamestown Choralaires called “Christmas on the Prairie.”

Those who want to get tickets for the dinner and concert should purchase them at Looysen I Care by today. The admission price includes a three-course meal being catered by Sabir’s Buffalo Grill.

 

Valley City (CSi) The bachelor’s degree program in communication at Valley City State University has recently been recognized by two independent sources as one of the top online communication degrees in the nation.

The program was recently ranked fourth among the top online communication degrees for 2015–16 by Affordable Colleges Online and ranked seventh by SuperScholar in its 2016 Smart Choice list of best online bachelor’s in communication degree programs.

Available entirely online (in addition to being offered face-to-face), VCSU’s professional communication degree offers three concentrations: corporate communication, digital media management and media communication. A key component of the VCSU program is a professional internship during the junior or senior year which provides real-world, hands-on learning.

　

Jamestown (CSi)  Jamestown Regional Medical Center held their annual Celebrity Celebration at the Gladstone Inn & Suites. Employees reaching anniversaries of 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35 and 40 years were recognized for their service to JRMC and the community.

The individuals who were recognized are as follows:

40 Years: Roberta (Jo) Huebner; 35 Years: Terry Baltrusch, Cheryl Brown, Tracy Dale, Deb Falk, Linda Guthmiller, Tracy Johnk; 30 Years: Sheri Schweitzer, Sally Siefken, Cindy Tag Nygord; 25 Years: Sybil Anderson, Tracy Neva, Brenda Schlecht; 20 years: Shelly Fercho, Betty Kennedy, Arlyce Klein, Lisa Sand, Peggy Schroeder, Becky Wahl; 15 years: Korri Aesoph, Melissa Azure, Jenna Bredahl, Michele Geigle, Nikki Mack, Ricki Ramlo, Emily Woodley; 10 years: Brian Ament, Sarah Haas, Joanne Kleese, Chris Lunde, Sheila Metz, Renate Mohiuddin, Cheryl Schiele, Val Soleim; 5 years: Samantha Beckman, Mallory Bear, Cody Champagne, Janelle Dahl, Annette Hazelton, Tricia Herzig, Penny Holland, Brittany Johnston, Nicole Kappes, Catherine Kautz, Nicole Lemieux, Michelle Locke, Liz Mehus, Jeremy Olson, Roberta Schmidt, Tanya Schroeder, Vicki Wegner.

Physicians were also recognized for their dedication to JRMC. The following physicians were recognized: Dr. Many Sorlie (5 years), Dr. Brad Skari (5 years) and Pat Walter, PA-C (5 Years).

　

Washington (CSi) – Senator John Hoeven has announced that the year-end funding bill for Fiscal Year 2016 includes authorization and funding for new starts and construction of flood protection projects. The senator said the measure includes nearly $690 million more than the Army Corps of Engineer’s proposed budget for construction and authorizes new studies and construction activity that will help to advance flood protection projects in the Fargo-Moorhead and Minot regions.

Hoeven worked on the Appropriations Committee to include language in the

FY 2016 Energy and Water funding bill, which has now been included in the year-end legislation. Congress is expected to pass the measure later this week. Specifically, the legislation will:

· Help communities in North Dakota build permanent flood protection projects with an emphasis on public private partnerships like the permanent flood protection project for Fargo and the Red River Valley.

· Provide permission for the Corps to begin studies of new permanent flood protection projects, which is vital for communities like Minot and the Souris River.

· Increase the Corps funding for water development infrastructure over FY 2015. This increase will help communities like LaMoure with funding to replace sanitary sewer systems.

· Increase the Corps’ funding for FEMA flood-mapping activities to better coordinate with flood insurance and keep premiums more affordable.

 

 GRAND FORKS, N.D. (AP) -Authorities have identified the man who was found dead in the bathroom of a mall in Grand Forks yesterday. The Police Department says the body of 26-year-old Grand Forks resident Michael Hall was found Wednesday morning at the Columbia Mall, and they don’t suspect foul play.

 

 LISBON, N.D. (AP) – A Lisbon man is charged with murder in the death of his infant son.
 
     Thirty-five-year-old Byron Whetsel is accused of squeezing 1-month-old Kyle Whetsel to death in October. An autopsy found fractures on the baby’s ribs and bleeding on his brain.
 
     Byron Whetsel could face life in prison without parole in convicted of murder. He also faces two felony child abuse counts.
 
     Court documents do not list an attorney for him, and a home telephone listing could not be found.

 

 Update…

GRAND FORKS, N.D. (AP) – Bond is set at $50,000 for a man accused of torching a Somali restaurant in Grand Forks.
 
     WDAZ-TV reports 25-year-old Matthew Gust, of East Grand Forks, Minnesota, made his initial court appearance Wednesday on a felony arson charge.
 
     Gust is accused of throwing a 40-ounce beer bottle filled with gasoline through a window at Juba Coffee House on Dec. 7, starting a fire that caused an estimated $90,000 in damage. It happened three days after vandals spray-painted what some have described as a Nazi-like symbol on the business, along with the words “go home.” Authorities didn’t immediately link the fire and the vandalism.
 
     Defense attorney Theodore Sandberg told The Associated Press that Gust maintains his innocence in the fire and denies any involvement with the vandalism.

 

  FARGO, N.D. (AP) – A Grand Forks man has been sentenced to seven years in prison on illegal weapons charges.
 
     A jury in June found Christopher Clauthier guilty of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a stolen weapon. Authorities say they found him with a .22-caliber pistol in December 2014.
 
     Clauthier had previous felony convictions for burglary and conspiracy to commit aggravated assault and kidnapping.
 
     Clauthier must serve three years of supervised released after his prison term. He was ordered to return the stolen firearm to the owner.
 
     A federal public defender could not be reached for comment Wednesday night.

 

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – North Dakota lawmakers have denied emergency funding to the state’s unemployment agency.
 
     The state Budget Section voted 23-13 to kill the request on Wednesday.
 
     Job Service North Dakota administers state unemployment benefits and gets 97 percent of its funding from the federal government.
 
     Agency officials appealed to lawmakers to spend $240,000 in state money for staffing to handle a huge increase in unemployment insurance claims.
 
     The agency says it is expecting to see the number of unemployment insurance claims jump from 700 to 2,500 in January. The agency blames the rise of claims is due to layoffs of seasonal workers and those who are losing jobs in the oil patch because of a drop in activity.

 

 BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – A new report says the best way to prevent pipeline leaks is through proper installations, inspections and learning from the past.
 
     The report done by the University of North Dakota’s Energy and Environmental Research Center was presented Wednesday to the state Industrial Commission.
 
     It’s the first phase of a two-part, $1.5 million report authorized by the Legislature to find methods of preventing pipeline spills in the state.
 
     The second-phase of the report will study leak-detection and monitoring systems that could be employed. It is slated to be completed next year.
 
     EERC researcher John Harju says there are about 24,000 miles of pipelines in the state that carry crude and other oilfield liquids.
 
     Harju says preventing pipeline leaks is even more important than detecting a leak that already has occurred.

 

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – North Dakota’s two largest universities are holding their winter graduations this week.
 
     The University of North Dakota in Grand Forks scheduled its winter commencement exercises on Thursday and Friday in the Chester Fritz Auditorium.
 
     North Dakota State University in Fargo scheduled its ceremony on Friday in the Festival Concert Hall.
 
     It’s the last winter commencement for UND President Robert Kelley, who’s retiring in January. It’s also UND’s largest winter commencement graduating class, with nearly 1,000 students eligible to receive degrees.

 

In sports.

Valley City (CSi) The Minnesota Twins, 2016 Winter Caravan will make a stop in Valley City, open to the public.

The visit is highlighted by baseball great, Tony Oliva, who will be joined by Twins pitchers Trevor May, and Tyler Duffy, and radio game announcer, Cory Provus.

The caravan will be at the Valley City Town and Country Club on Monday, January 16, 2016 from noon to 1-p.m.

　

　BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – Bismarck residents hoping to add a second sheet of ice and other amenities to Schaumberg Ice Arena are asking the School Board for half a million dollars so they can reach their $8 million fundraising goal. The Tribune reports the Bismarck Parks and Recreation District pledged $4.5 million to the project, and the community group has raised $2.7 million through private donations.

 

College basketball…

 FARGO, N.D. (AP) – A.J. Jacobson scored 16 points, Paul Miller had 11 points and eight rebounds, and North Dakota State beat Montana State 73-64 Wednesday night for its 29th straight victory at home.
 
     Miller made a 3-pointer to give North Dakota State a 44-42 lead and Dexter Werner had one of his career-high six blocks at the other end. Werner’s fourth blocked shot led to Malik Clements’ 3-pointer to extend the Bisons’ lead to 51-45.
 
     Marcus Colbert’s 3 with 58 seconds left pulled Montana State to 67-64 but Miller answered with a 3 from the wing for a six-point lead with 27 seconds left.
 
     Werner added 11 points for North Dakota State (7-3), which had lost four straight road games to Iowa State, Arkansas State, Southern Miss and North Dakota.
 
     Colbert and Tyler Hall had 12 points apiece for Montana State (5-5). Zach Green had 10 points, seven rebounds and four assists.

 

 MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Jordan Murphy scored 12 points and grabbed 18 rebounds as Minnesota defeated Chicago State 70-52 on Wednesday night. Carlos Morris and Charles Buggs each scored 14 points for the Gophers. Chicago State got 12 points from sophomore guard Clemmye Owens.