SCHMID: LOOKING BACK FROM THE LEFT COAST - AUGUST 28, 2016
A STATE OF EMERGENCY for southwestern and south-central ND was issued by Gov. Jack Dalrymple. The SOE authorizes and funds law enforcement and other state agencies monitoring pipeline protests at the Missouri River near the Standing Rock Reservation, where in excess of 2,000 people have gathered. Costs may reach $1 million if protests continue. Tribes from other states have joined the Standing Rock Sioux.
ESCALATION GF Herald columnist Mike Jacobs sees the protest at the Missouri as “growing activism” by the tribes and part of a pattern of collaboration between Indians and environmentalists. The protestors are divided into two camps: The pacifists on the peaceful side and outside activists itching for action. There is a growing legal battle. The pipeline company has sued the Standing Rock Tribe which retained defense attorney Tim Purdon, former U.S. Attorney for ND. The ND Petroleum Council alleges “out-of-state activists and environmentalists” have been using “violence, trespass and intimidation.”
ND LT GOV DREW WRIGLEY joined those calling for an end to the protests labeling them “unlawful” and “dangerous.” An editorial in the GF Herald echoed those thoughts, saying sympathy for the protesters evaporated “when the protesters started to intimidate workers and threaten police.”
THE UAS DEGREE PROGRAM AT UND is the first in the nation and has 200 students enrolled. UND President Mark Kennedy said the program is one of UND’s core strengths and the school should be, among other things, “Unmanned U.” Bruce Gjovig, CEO of UND’s Center for Innovation, says it has the largest collection of UAS businesses in a tech incubator in the country.
THE F-M FLOOD DIVERSION PROJECT will cost about $2.5 billion and interest on financing will bring the total to $3 billion, according to consultant Ernst & Young. The amounts do not include $500 million of federal money. Payment of debt and interest will be largely funded by sales tax in Fargo and Cass County.
KICKBACK “Mr. Port concludes that ‘NDSU exceptionalism needs to be nipped in the bud for the university's own good as well as the state's.’ “ -- Mark Meister, Chair of the NDSU Dept. of Communications, in a letter to the Forum. He went on to ask, “Why would an exceptional university be ‘nipped in the bud’ and why would The Forum advocate the ‘nipping’?” Meister alleged that columnist Rob Port lacked evidence and logic for his claims about NDSU. Meister’s letter was part of kickback from Fargo area leaders responding to demands for the resignation of NDSU President Dean Bresciani.
WEATHER CHALLENGES “He estimated he lost about two sections, that is 1,200 to 1,300 acres, of beans and corn.” -- Jamestown Sun article about a cluster of storms which hit the area and ruined the crops of Buchanan farmer Randy Blaskowski. He said some of his beans had already been replanted twice because of previous hailstorms. Weather volatility is a special risk of farming in ND.
WHAT’S THAT IN THE DISTANCE? They look like fallen blimps lying listlessly on the ground -- they are, in fact, giant, white plastic bags used to store grain at ND farms and grain terminals. A large bag, a 12-by- 500 footer, holds 34,000 bushels of grain -- that would hold the production from a square mile of land (640 acres) producing 50 bushels to the acre. The bags have dreaded enemies, for example, hail and big pecking birds.
SURPRISE! Schools in the Oil Patch anticipated enrollment would drop along with the reduction in employment in oil development and drilling. It’s been the other way -- student enrollment is up. The schools are learning that employment in oil production is stable and so is the number of families with school age children. The drilling crews tended to be transitory and generally did not bring their families.
WHERE RVs GO TO DIE Five years ago, the Oil Patch was desperate for housing -- RVs were one solution. With cutbacks in the oil industry, many RV owners left the state abandoning vehicles by the hundreds. A salvage yard in Alexander takes the RVs and a couple hundred are lined up at any one time awaiting stripping and crushing.
ACT SCORES IN MINNESOTA are first in the nation among states requiring all students to take the test. But the state’s dilemma with black students was further emphasized -- only 12% of black students taking the test met three of four college-ready benchmarks compared to 49% of whites.
ACT SCORES IN ND make it clear that its students are not well prepared for college. ND’s statewide score of 20.3 compared to 21.1 in Minnesota and 20.8 nationally. Montana’s average scores were the same as ND, while SD was 21.9, but only 76% of its students took the test.
SNIPING “St. Paul has come to resemble Washington in its polarization and gridlocked government. Voters will have to decide what to do about the mess.” -- Fargo Forum editorial about political dysfunction in Minnesota.
A SOMALI COMMUNITY ORGANIZER in Minneapolis alleges Donald Trump’s comments about Somali have inspired hateful attacks. The organizer said if Trump became president he could use “executive powers to wreak havoc on Minnesota’s Somali community.” He said support of Trump by GOP brass is a moral scandal.
CLEAR AS MUD Ilhan Omar, a Somali DFL candidate for the Minnesota legislature, denied reports that she married her brother while married to the father of her three children, calling the reports absurd and offensive. After initially refusing to comment, she decided to clear the air by explaining she is married to a man now in England, but is planning to divorce him, which will allow her to marry the father of her children.
DAKTOIDS: Airport boardings for Fargo and the state were down 13% in July compared to a year ago. Jamestown was up 45% and Dickinson was down 64% . . . Oil woes in Alaska are more serious than those in ND -- college hockey may be eliminated in Alaska . . . Doug Burgum, likely to be ND’s next governor, announced his engagement to Kathryn Helgaas . . . UND has 200 students enrolled in its UAS degree program -- the first program in the country . . . UND is reviewing its athletic conference affiliation -- travel costs in the Big Sky Conference are proving too expensive.
ESCALATION GF Herald columnist Mike Jacobs sees the protest at the Missouri as “growing activism” by the tribes and part of a pattern of collaboration between Indians and environmentalists. The protestors are divided into two camps: The pacifists on the peaceful side and outside activists itching for action. There is a growing legal battle. The pipeline company has sued the Standing Rock Tribe which retained defense attorney Tim Purdon, former U.S. Attorney for ND. The ND Petroleum Council alleges “out-of-state activists and environmentalists” have been using “violence, trespass and intimidation.”
ND LT GOV DREW WRIGLEY joined those calling for an end to the protests labeling them “unlawful” and “dangerous.” An editorial in the GF Herald echoed those thoughts, saying sympathy for the protesters evaporated “when the protesters started to intimidate workers and threaten police.”
THE UAS DEGREE PROGRAM AT UND is the first in the nation and has 200 students enrolled. UND President Mark Kennedy said the program is one of UND’s core strengths and the school should be, among other things, “Unmanned U.” Bruce Gjovig, CEO of UND’s Center for Innovation, says it has the largest collection of UAS businesses in a tech incubator in the country.
THE F-M FLOOD DIVERSION PROJECT will cost about $2.5 billion and interest on financing will bring the total to $3 billion, according to consultant Ernst & Young. The amounts do not include $500 million of federal money. Payment of debt and interest will be largely funded by sales tax in Fargo and Cass County.
KICKBACK “Mr. Port concludes that ‘NDSU exceptionalism needs to be nipped in the bud for the university's own good as well as the state's.’ “ -- Mark Meister, Chair of the NDSU Dept. of Communications, in a letter to the Forum. He went on to ask, “Why would an exceptional university be ‘nipped in the bud’ and why would The Forum advocate the ‘nipping’?” Meister alleged that columnist Rob Port lacked evidence and logic for his claims about NDSU. Meister’s letter was part of kickback from Fargo area leaders responding to demands for the resignation of NDSU President Dean Bresciani.
WEATHER CHALLENGES “He estimated he lost about two sections, that is 1,200 to 1,300 acres, of beans and corn.” -- Jamestown Sun article about a cluster of storms which hit the area and ruined the crops of Buchanan farmer Randy Blaskowski. He said some of his beans had already been replanted twice because of previous hailstorms. Weather volatility is a special risk of farming in ND.
WHAT’S THAT IN THE DISTANCE? They look like fallen blimps lying listlessly on the ground -- they are, in fact, giant, white plastic bags used to store grain at ND farms and grain terminals. A large bag, a 12-by- 500 footer, holds 34,000 bushels of grain -- that would hold the production from a square mile of land (640 acres) producing 50 bushels to the acre. The bags have dreaded enemies, for example, hail and big pecking birds.
SURPRISE! Schools in the Oil Patch anticipated enrollment would drop along with the reduction in employment in oil development and drilling. It’s been the other way -- student enrollment is up. The schools are learning that employment in oil production is stable and so is the number of families with school age children. The drilling crews tended to be transitory and generally did not bring their families.
WHERE RVs GO TO DIE Five years ago, the Oil Patch was desperate for housing -- RVs were one solution. With cutbacks in the oil industry, many RV owners left the state abandoning vehicles by the hundreds. A salvage yard in Alexander takes the RVs and a couple hundred are lined up at any one time awaiting stripping and crushing.
ACT SCORES IN MINNESOTA are first in the nation among states requiring all students to take the test. But the state’s dilemma with black students was further emphasized -- only 12% of black students taking the test met three of four college-ready benchmarks compared to 49% of whites.
ACT SCORES IN ND make it clear that its students are not well prepared for college. ND’s statewide score of 20.3 compared to 21.1 in Minnesota and 20.8 nationally. Montana’s average scores were the same as ND, while SD was 21.9, but only 76% of its students took the test.
SNIPING “St. Paul has come to resemble Washington in its polarization and gridlocked government. Voters will have to decide what to do about the mess.” -- Fargo Forum editorial about political dysfunction in Minnesota.
A SOMALI COMMUNITY ORGANIZER in Minneapolis alleges Donald Trump’s comments about Somali have inspired hateful attacks. The organizer said if Trump became president he could use “executive powers to wreak havoc on Minnesota’s Somali community.” He said support of Trump by GOP brass is a moral scandal.
CLEAR AS MUD Ilhan Omar, a Somali DFL candidate for the Minnesota legislature, denied reports that she married her brother while married to the father of her three children, calling the reports absurd and offensive. After initially refusing to comment, she decided to clear the air by explaining she is married to a man now in England, but is planning to divorce him, which will allow her to marry the father of her children.
DAKTOIDS: Airport boardings for Fargo and the state were down 13% in July compared to a year ago. Jamestown was up 45% and Dickinson was down 64% . . . Oil woes in Alaska are more serious than those in ND -- college hockey may be eliminated in Alaska . . . Doug Burgum, likely to be ND’s next governor, announced his engagement to Kathryn Helgaas . . . UND has 200 students enrolled in its UAS degree program -- the first program in the country . . . UND is reviewing its athletic conference affiliation -- travel costs in the Big Sky Conference are proving too expensive.
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