CSi weather….

WIND CHILL ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 6 PM THIS EVENING TO NOON
CST TUESDAY…

(WIND CHILLS TUESDAY NIGHT AND WEDNESDAY NIGHT FROM 15 TO 25 BELOW
 ZERO.)

WIND CHILL ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 6 PM THIS EVENING TO NOON
CST TUESDAY…
.REST OF TODAY…MOSTLY SUNNY. HIGHS ZERO TO 5 ABOVE. NORTH WINDS AROUND 10 MPH. WIND CHILLS AROUND 20 BELOW.
.TONIGHT…MOSTLY CLOUDY. LOWS AROUND 15 BELOW. NORTHWEST WINDS 5 TO 10 MPH. WIND CHILLS AROUND 25 BELOW.
.CHRISTMAS DAY…PARTLY SUNNY. HIGHS NEAR ZERO. NORTHWEST WINDS 5 TO 10 MPH. WIND CHILLS AROUND 25 BELOW.
.TUESDAY NIGHT…MOSTLY CLOUDY. A 20 PERCENT CHANCE OF SNOW AFTER MIDNIGHT. LOWS AROUND 10 BELOW. WEST WINDS AROUND 5 MPH SHIFTING TO THE SOUTHWEST AFTER MIDNIGHT.
.WEDNESDAY…PARTLY SUNNY. HIGHS 5 TO 10 ABOVE. SOUTHEAST WINDS AROUND 5 MPH.
.WEDNESDAY NIGHT AND THURSDAY…MOSTLY CLOUDY. LOWS AROUND
5 BELOW. HIGHS 10 TO 15.
.THURSDAY NIGHT AND FRIDAY…CLOUDY WITH A 20 PERCENT CHANCE OF SNOW. LOWS 5 TO 10 ABOVE. HIGHS AROUND 15.
.FRIDAY NIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY NIGHT…MOSTLY CLOUDY. LOWS NEAR ZERO. HIGHS 5 TO 10 ABOVE.
.SUNDAY…PARTLY SUNNY WITH A 20 PERCENT CHANCE OF SNOW. HIGHS 15 TO 20.

 

PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. (AP) – Volunteers are pulling on their Santa hats, phone lines are set, and tracking screens are ready – NORAD Tracks Santa is primed for its 57th annual goodwill mission.
 
     Santa trackers start taking calls early Monday, telling children – and some adults – when Santa is due at their house. The last shift won’t end until nearly 24 hours later.
 
     The number is 877-HI-NORAD or 877-446-6723.
 
     Updates will be posted online (http://www.noradsanta.org), on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/noradsanta) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/NoradSanta).
 
     The operation is based at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colo., home of the North American Aerospace Defense Command.
 
     NORAD Tracks Santa began in 1955 when a newspaper ad listed the wrong phone number for kids to call Santa. They wound up calling the Continental Air Defense Command, NORAD’s predecessor.

The website is available in eight languages: English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, and Chinese. 

Starting at 12:00 a.m. MST on Dec. 24, website visitors can watch Santa make the preparations for his flight.

 Valley City, ND  (KCSi-T.V. News Dec 24, 2012)  —   The Barnes County Salvation Army Red Kettle Campaign netted nearly $45,000.

The goal was $32,000.

Co-event coordinator Joe Lunde points out, that  a Barnes County family donated $5,000 to the campaign for the second consecutive year.

The family wishes to remain anonymous.

Lunde thanks individuals and organizations for donated their time as bell ringers.

 Lunde passed along  a special thanks to Al Trader Sr. who rang the bell for 20 years in a row.

Co-event coordinator Lee Isensee said the final numbers will be released later this week.

 He and Lunde thanked everyone who contributed to the Kettles during the Red Kettle Campaign  this year.

 

 FARGO, N.D. (AP) – Fargo police say they’ve cracked a multistate burglary ring with the arrest of a man suspected of targeting snowbirds’ homes over the winter.
 
     Police Lt. Joel Vettel says  34-year-old Nicholas Pulkrabec would look for homes that appeared unattended, specifically those with snow covering their driveways and sidewalks.
 
     Police say they’ve recovered high-priced items reported stolen by homeowners, including a $20,000 bassoon, as well as electronics and jewelry. The stolen items have been tied to burglaries in Fargo, Moorhead, Richland, Wilkin and Becker counties.
 
     Vettel says the cache of recovered items will easily hit the six figures.
 
     Pulkrabec, of West Fargo, faces charges of possession of stolen property and possession of drug paraphernalia. He also was wanted on an outstanding warrant.

 

 WILLISTON, N.D. (AP) – A casting director and producer is looking for some true-grit men and women to be stars of a Bakken-based reality show for a cable network.
 
     Casting Director Charisse Simonian says she’s looking for a half-dozen or so larger-than-life characters whose work and life in the Bakken would translate into a multi-week series.
 
     She hopes to end up with people involved in various aspects of the Bakken, anyone from a roughneck to the mom-and-pop owners of a diner.
 
     Of the Bakken, she says, “Everyone says it’s like the Wild West.” She’s distributing her email address for interested people: bigfishcasting(at)mac.com.
 
     Interested people should make sure their families and employers will allow a camera to enter their lives.
 
     Simonian says she can’t say yet what networks are interested.

  BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – A wind advisory throughout the Dakotas has prompted National Weather Service officials to keep watch over ice formations on the Missouri River in the Bismarck-Mandan area.
 
     Meterologist Bill Abeling says  the river is gradually rising but there’s so far no concern of an ice jam. The water level’s gone from 3.5 feet Dec. 21 to 5.3 feet. Temperatures are expected to drop to at least negative 10 degrees with wind chills falling to negative 25 degrees.
 
     The wind chill advisory through noon Christmas Day made ice formations and jams possible. If the water rises quickly another five or six feet, officials will get concerned.
 
     Flood stage for Bismarck is 14.5 feet.
 
     Burleigh County Sheriff Lt. Steve Hall says deputies are also monitoring the river.

 

 BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – Officials say crews have temporarily plugged an oil well that spewed oil, gas and salt water on farmland near Watford City.
 
     The  crews lost control of the Newfield Exploration Co. well Friday night. Company spokesman Keith Schmidt says crews were able to stop the blowout Sunday night by installing a temporary plug.
 
     Officials say the well had been blowing a geyser of oil, gas and salt water some 95 feet into the air and spreading contamination more than a mile downwind from the well site.
 
     The amount of oil released is not yet known.

 

 FARGO, N.D. (AP) – North Dakota Natural Beef executives say their lenders plan to foreclose on a meat processing plant in Fargo. The plant was vacated in late November.
 
 
     MINOT, N.D. (AP) – A former Minot fire chief was sentenced to five years in prison after he was convicted of gross sexual imposition against a minor. Most of the sentence for 77-year-old Duwayne Ward was suspended in favor of probation. 
 

 
     BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – Some western North Dakota communities have started to benefit from a project that’s aimed at bringing treated drinking water from the Missouri River. The Western Area Water Supply Project is designed to supply water to residents of Burke, Divide, McKenzie, Mountrail and Williams counties.
 
     FARGO, N.D. (AP) – North Dakota State University is getting a federal grant to try to prevent teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. The program will focus on teenagers who are 14 to 19 in the Fargo area.

 

In world and national news…

HOUSTON (AP) – A police officer has died of gunshot wounds in Houston after the driver of a car that he tried to pull over opened fire on him.
 
     Houston police spokesman John Cannon says the officer died at a Houston hospital and that a bystander also was killed in the exchange of gunfire Monday morning.
 
     Cannon says the suspect is wounded and also in a hospital.
 
     He says the officer who was killed tried to pull over a car but that the driver sped away and hit another car. After the accident, the officer approached and the suspect opened fire.
 
     Cannon says the officer fired back and that the suspect took off on foot. Other police officers captured the suspect.
 
     Cannon says officer was based in the southwest Houston enclave of Bellaire.

 

  WEBSTER, N.Y. (AP) – A western New York police chief says a gunman who entrapped and shot four volunteer firefighters outside a blazing home is dead.
 
     Webster Police Chief Gerald Pickering says two of the firefighters were killed and two others hospitalized after the ambush on a spit of land on Lake Ontario just northeast of Rochester.
 
     He also says the gunman is dead and an off-duty police officer who was driving by has injuries from shrapnel. One of the slain firefighters is also a town police lieutenant.
 
     The shooting Monday morning happened in a quiet neighborhood of seasonal and year-round homes.
 
     Police say four homes in all were destroyed and four damaged by the spreading flames.

 
     INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – A judge has entered a not guilty plea on behalf of three people charged in an explosion that devastated an Indianapolis neighborhood, killing a couple. A judge ordered homeowner Monserrate Shirley, along with her boyfriend and his brother, held without bond during an initial court hearing Monday. The three were arrested Friday on murder, arson and other charges following the Nov. 10 blast that killed a couple who lived next door to Shirley’s home. Investigators say the three planned the explosion for an insurance payout.
 
     ATLANTA (AP) – After a strong post-Thanksgiving start to the holiday shopping season, shoppers may not have kept up their pace. The latest figures from ShoperTrak say sales fell 4.3 percent for the week ending December 15th. Analysts think shoppers have been spending less in recent days, amid concerns about the economy and the aftermath of shootings and storms.
 
     BEIRUT (AP) – The envoy for the U.N. and the Arab League is wrapping up a visit to Syria with no apparent progress toward a negotiated solution to the country’s civil war. Lakhdar Brahimi met today with President Bashar Assad, and said afterward that the situation in Syria is still “worrying.” The talks came hours after activists reported a government airstrike in a central town held by rebels. They say dozens of people were killed.
 
     JOHANNESBURG (AP) – South Africa’s presidency says former leader Nelson Mandela will spend Christmas Day in the hospital. The anti-apartheid figure was admitted Dec. 8 to a hospital in Pretoria, the South African capital. He was diagnosed with a lung infection and had a procedure to remove gallstones. Officials have said Mandela is improving and is responding to treatment. He’s 94 years old.