CSi Weather…
TONIGHT…PARTLY CLOUDY. LOWS IN THE LOWER 60S. SOUTH WINDS 5 TO
10 MPH.
.FRIDAY…MOSTLY SUNNY. HIGHS IN THE LOWER 80S. SOUTHEAST WINDS
5 TO 10 MPH.
.FRIDAY NIGHT…PARTLY CLOUDY. LOWS IN THE LOWER 60S. SOUTHEAST
WINDS 5 TO 10 MPH.
.SATURDAY…MOSTLY SUNNY WITH A 20 PERCENT CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND
THUNDERSTORMS IN THE JAMESTOWN AREA, A 30 PERCENT CHANCE IN THE VALLEY CITY AREA. HIGHS IN THE LOWER 80S. SOUTH WINDS 5 TO 15 MPH.
.SATURDAY NIGHT…PARTLY CLOUDY WITH A 40 PERCENT CHANCE OF
SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. LOWS AROUND 60. SOUTH WINDS 5 TO
10 MPH SHIFTING TO THE SOUTHWEST AFTER MIDNIGHT.
.SUNDAY…MOSTLY SUNNY WITH A 40 PERCENT CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND
THUNDERSTORMS. HIGHS IN THE UPPER 70S.
.SUNDAY NIGHT AND MONDAY…PARTLY CLOUDY. LOWS IN THE UPPER 50S.
HIGHS IN THE UPPER 70S.
.MONDAY NIGHT AND TUESDAY…MOSTLY CLEAR. LOWS IN THE MID 50S.
HIGHS IN THE LOWER 80S.
.TUESDAY NIGHT AND WEDNESDAY…PARTLY CLOUDY. A 20 PERCENT CHANCE
OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. LOWS IN THE LOWER 60S. HIGHS IN THE
MID 80S.
.WEDNESDAY NIGHT…INCREASING CLOUDS. A 30 PERCENT CHANCE OF
SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. LOWS IN THE LOWER 60S.
.THURSDAY…MOSTLY SUNNY WITH A 30 PERCENT CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND
THUNDERSTORMS. HIGHS IN THE LOWER 80S.
Jamestown (CSi) The Month of August, 2014, is off to a good start for enplanements at Jamestown Regional Airport.
On Thursday’s Wayne Byers Show on CSi Cable 2 airport manager Matt Leitner said so far this month average Jamestown boardings on United Express/SkyWest airlines are 22-23 per flight, with the early morning departure to the Denver hub, showing the largest number of boardings.
In July 2014 boardings were the highest since July of 1978, and second best number of boardings in the past 36 years. The July 2014 boardings were a 262-percent increase over July 2013 boardings, utilizing the smaller aircraft of Great Lakes Airlines.
United Express-SkyWest began Essential Air Service to Jamestown on June 5, 2014, with the 50 seat CRJ-200 50-passenger regional jet with service to the Denver hub.
He said in addition to Jamestown area passengers, others have come from Aberdeen, and Bismarck, as flyers pointed to the competitive fares from Jamestown in addition to the free parking and other amenities at Jamestown Regional airport.
More information and reservations and links on line at www.flyjamestown.net and www.united.com or contract your local travel agent.
Leitner also pointed out that the T-hangar project at Jamestown Regional Airport has stated with the recent groundbreaking for eight hangars, six with a uniform size and two larger hangars. The hangars are scheduled for completion by the end of this year. The apron installation bids have also been awarded.
He notes that several pilots using private grass airstrips have indicated there interest in Jamestown hangars, with the airport’s maintenance for snow removal during winter months.
Contact Matt Leitner at Jamestown Regional Airport for hangar rentals.
Leitner added that new ground markings have been painted at the airport, along with a crack sealing project on surfaces.
Valley City (CSi) Valley City authorities are reminding motorists to follow detour signs with the water main replacement project.
Valley City Police Chief, Fred Thompson says motorists may travel eastbound on Main Street from 5th Avenue Northwest to Central Avenue. Westbound traffic approaching Central Avenue should follow the detour signs until further notice, as traffic cannot travel westbound on main from Central Avenue to 5th Avenue northwest.
Jamestown (CSi) – The Jamestown Public School District has announced the launch of its Jamestown Public School District App, an all-in-one information source for parents, students, staff and community. Created by ParentLink, the app was developed specifically to provide direct access to the district’s most sought after information in the most convenient format — your mobile device.
Jamestown School District App makes information accessible via mobile device for students, parents, staff and community.
Recognizing trends in social technology and the unprecedented use of smartphones and tablet devices, Jamestown Public School has elected to become part of the mobile sphere to better connect and collaborate with the majority of their stakeholders. Jamestown School District is one of the first school districts in the state of North Dakota to offer a mobile app for their parents and community.
Superintendent Robert Lech says, “Our choice to go mobile goes directly back to our mission to improve student performance. Enabling our parents and students to connect with the district in real-time, at their own convenience magnifies engagement. We know this resource will help in terms of transparency and parent interaction.”
Other app features include:
District and school news, allowing the user to select which schools and district news feeds they want to subscribe to
Push notifications for the District/School to send out instant alerts to the user’s mobile device
Sports scores, schedules, and links to sports sites
Calendar information for schools and district events, including the ability to add events from school calendars to the user’s device calendar
A tip line tool for users to provide the District with suggestions, security issues and other important information
School and district directories and maps
Contact information for teachers, administrators and other staff
Links to the School/District’s Facebook, Twitter and YouTube Sites
Superintendent updates with the latest communications
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – Some North Dakota National Guard soldiers who have been serving in Afghanistan since January are coming home early as part of a recent drawdown of American forces there.
About one-fourth of the members of the 814th company are returning to the U.S. this week, three months earlier than scheduled. They’re to arrive at Fort Hood in Texas on Friday to go through the demobilization process. They’ll return to North Dakota within two weeks.
About 65 soldiers with the 814th deployed to Afghanistan to provide emergency trauma service and operate troop medical clinics. Another quarter of the unit is to return at the end of the month, with the rest coming back as planned at the end of October.
MINOT, N.D. (AP) – A motorcycle crash in Minot has killed two people.
Police say the motorcycle crashed into a tree at a high rate of speed shortly before 1 a.m. Thursday, throwing both occupants.
Police say neither was wearing a helmet. Both were pronounced dead at the scene.
Authorities have identified the victims as Tanner C. Platt of LaPorte, Minnesota, and Kaitlyn T. Bacon of Minot, formerly of Granville. Both were 21 years old.
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem says a man reportedly lost almost $9,000 as a result of a fake Internal Revenue Service call.
Stenehjem on Thursday said the caller threatened to get the victim arrested if he didn’t settle a phony debt stemming from his 2005 tax return.
The scammer directed the Wahpeton man to purchase 18 Green Dot cards totaling $8,897 and to read off the numbers on the back of each card. The scammer then emptied the money from the cards.
Stenehjem says hundreds of people are receiving these calls. He says the caller often has a foreign accent and it appears the calls were placed in Ireland.
He adds people should never agree to send money without first independently verifying whether an alleged debt is valid.
THOMPSON, N.D. (AP) – The Grand Forks County Sheriff’s Office says it found evidence of a methamphetamine lab in a Thompson home where a 14-year-old girl was baby-sitting a 4-year-old girl.
Authorities say both children were put in the custody of social service officials on Wednesday. Deputies called home the woman who lived at the house, and Amanda Rocha was arrested and charged with felony child neglect.
The man who lived at the home was found later in the day. James Hume faces felony drug and child neglect charges.
Court documents do not list attorneys for either Rocha or Hume.
FARGO, N.D. (AP) – The attorney for an Oklahoma man convicted of hiring a hit man to kill his son-in-law in North Dakota says he didn’t put his client on the stand because he thought he would talk too much and the trial seemed to be going well.
Gene Kirkpatrick, of Jones, Oklahoma, is serving life in prison for ordering the death of Fargo dentist Philip Gattuso in 2009 because Kirkpatrick thought Gattuso was a poor parent to his granddaughter. Kirkpatrick wants his conviction overturned. He says his trial lawyer, Mack Martin, did a poor job and should have let him testify.
Martin said during a hearing in Fargo he thought Kirkpatrick would have trouble answering questions directly on cross-examination. He cited Kirkpatrick’s testimony Thursday during which he went off on several tangents.
FARGO, N.D. (AP) – The executive chairman of BNSF Railway says his company is making progress on clearing out a backlog of grain cars in advance of the harvest.
Matt Rose told a group of agriculture producers and shippers Thursday that the number of past due cars should be down to 1,000 in a week, from 4,000 in mid-July. Rose says if predictions of a later-than-normal harvest pan out and farmers aren’t selling, the railway should be completely caught up.
Rose told the group that complaints about the railway failing one industry over another are unfounded. He says the backlog for the private tank fleet is the same as the ag fleet.
Members of North Dakota’s congressional delegation, which sponsored the meeting with Rose, plan to meet with Canadian Pacific officials next week.
WASHINGTON (AP) – Consumer spending has soared since the Great Recession ended five years ago in U.S. states with oil and gas drilling booms and has lagged in states hit especially hard by the housing bust.
The figures come from a new annual government report that for the first time reveals consumer spending on a state-by-state basis. They point to substantial shifts in the economy since the recession.
Spending jumped 28 percent in North Dakota, the largest gain nationwide, from 2010 through 2012. It surged nearly 16 percent in Oklahoma.
By contrast, spending rose a scant 3.5 percent in Nevada, the weakest for any state and far below the 10.7 percent national average. Arizona’s 6.2 percent increase was next-weakest. Home values plummeted in both states when the housing bust hit in 2006.
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – A Russian ban on food imports from the West isn’t likely to have an immediate impact on North Dakota’s large pulse crop and wheat industries.
North Dakota Wheat Commission Marketing Director Jim Peterson says Russia doesn’t import any wheat, so the ban won’t directly affect North Dakota farmers. North Dakota leads the nation in producing spring wheat and durum wheat.
Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring traveled to Moscow in December 2012. He says he found a growing demand for crops such dry peas, dry beans and lentils. North Dakota is a top producer of those commodities.
Goehring says Russia could be a prime market for those types of foods. But he also says political tensions over the past year and half have basically ground business to a halt anyway.
FOXHOLM, N.D. (AP) – The first inspection of the Lake Darling Dam gates since historic flooding three years ago revealed no structural problems or erosion.
The dam on the Upper Souris National Wildlife Refuge regulates flows on the river northwest of Minot and creates Lake Darling, a popular fishery. The last major inspection of the gates was 15 years ago, in 1999.
The Souris River rose to historic levels in June 2011 because of heavy spring snowmelt and rains. Flooding damaged or destroyed more than 4,000 homes, businesses and other structures in Minot, and also caused widespread damage in rural areas.
Refuge Manager Tom Pabian says this summer’s inspection found no problems with the gates. He says “everything was as expected or better than expected.”
In world and national news…
DETROIT (AP) – A homeowner in suburban Detroit has been convicted of second-degree murder in the shooting of an unarmed woman who showed up drunk on his porch in the early morning hours last November. Jurors rejected Theodore Wafer’s claim that he acted in self-defense when he fired through his screen door and killed 19-year-old Renisha McBride. Wafer could face up to life in prison, but it is likely his actual sentence will be much shorter.
WASHINGTON (AP) – The White House is considering direct military strikes in Iraq, to help stop the advances of an Islamic militant group. That’s according to U.S. defense officials and others who are familiar with what’s being considered. They say the options also include humanitarian relief tor thousands of displaced religious minorities in the country’s north.
KIEV, Ukraine (AP) – NATO’s chief is promising to provide help to Ukraine as it tries to put down an insurgency by pro-Russia rebels in the country’s east. The show of support Thursday from Anders Fogh Rasmussen (AHN’-derz fohg RAHS’-moo-sihn), during a visit to Kiev, came as government troops push to recapture the rebel-held city of Donetsk (dah-NETSK’). In a sign of sagging morale among rebel forces, the separatists issued a desperate plea for help today. A statement said there’s a “critical situation” concerning “food, uniform and ammunition supplies.”
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – Firefighters pouring water into parched trees and brush saved a cluster of homes in Oregon’s Columbia Gorge from a wind-driven wildfire. The Rowena Fire has burned about 4 square miles of trees and brush. Residents of 275 homes have been told to evacuate and dozens more were warned they might have to leave as well. A fire spokeswoman says crews are clearing vegetation to create buffer zones around the homes. No homes were lost overnight.
BEAVERCREEK, Ohio (AP) – Ohio’s attorney general says a man who was fatally shot by police in a Wal-Mart store in a Dayton suburb was carrying an air rifle. Police in Beavercreek have said 22-year-old John Crawford waved a rifle at customers Tuesday night and was fatally shot when he wouldn’t drop the weapon. Attorney General Mike DeWine now says it was a “variable pump air rifle.” The owner’s manual for the BB and pellet rifle warns that misuse can result in “serious injury or death.”