SCHMID: LOOKING BACK FROM THE LEFT COAST - DECEMBER 1, 2013
Whoopee! Financial news website Wall Street 24/7 again ranked ND the best-run state because of its low unemployment, economic growth, budget surplus, etc. Neighbors did well too: Wyoming was #2, Minnesota #7 and South Dakota #9. Minnesota’s strong education and growth was offset by a bad business climate, high taxes and a budget shortfall. California again owned last place followed by chronic bad boys New Mexico and Illinois.
“We do stuff. It’s not so much of an entitlement culture here.” -- A Bismarck Tribune Thanksgiving editorial praised the state’s abundance and culture. The editorial went on: “When people here see something that needs to be fixed, they get out a toolbox. That goes for fences and tractors, as well as families, local schools and the state.” The Tribune expressed confidence that the state would solve the challenges of the oil and gas boom in a way that protects the land and maintains air and water quality.
One California IPO can create hundreds of millionaires (the Twitter offering is estimated to have unleashed 1,600 new millionaires). So, the number of millionaires in ND needs to be kept in perspective. By its own standards, ND is excelling, the number of millionaires (those with adjusted gross income in excess of $1 million) nearly doubled from around 600 in 2011 to 1,100 in 2012. Average adjusted gross income in the state rose from $61,000 to $74,000. ND was 6th in the nation in per capita personal income in 2012 -- in 2006 the state was 38th.
First-time students enrolling at NDSU and UND in 2005 graduated at a rate of only 54 percent -- certainly an argument for more rigorous admission standards. Under proposed admission standards, about 40 percent of the students admitted to those schools in 2006 wouldn’t be eligible. Some members of the Board of Higher Education feel political heat and are having second thoughts about the new standards. What’s the nature of the heat? Here’s one example, a Walsh County farmer was quoted, “I pay taxes and my son has a right to flunk out of the university.”
“This office has been provided only with contradictory opinions and theories.” -- Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem effectively threw up his hands about the question of why 40,000-plus emails were deleted from NDSU President Dean Bresciani’s account. The state Legislative Council asked Stenehjem for an opinion about the legality of the deletions. Staff in the ND University System office believe the emails were purposely deleted to avoid an open records request. NDSU blames the purges on an automated feature of their email system.
Is Marcus Jundt a loud mouth, Williston’s leading restauranteur, or both? His Williston Brewing Co. restaurant is said to be the highest volume sit-down restaurant in ND -- he has four Williston restaurants with 300 employees. Jundt’s goals are modest -- the Minneapolis native would like to become mayor of Williston and form a publicly-owned national restaurant chain headquartered in Williston.
Did the mail dry up or was it stolen? Rural Williston residents began to notice their mail was missing. The problem: four rural carriers quit with little or no notice. The post office brought in a dozen workers from Nebraska to work on the delivery backlog. Governmental agencies in the Bakken area have difficulty matching salaries in the private sector.
Only wimps wear seat belts. Manly Nodaks drink in the middle of the night and drive pickups without wearing seat belts. Carefully following this tradition, three ND pickup drivers died last weekend in separate rollover incidents.
“The explosion also ‘busted out every seam on the RV.’” -- Eight Bison fans were merrily tailgating when a propane stove exploded and ruined their 35-year-old RV. The Bison football team also exploded for an undefeated season. Other good news -- the tailgaters’ chili survived the explosion.
“The problem is especially acute in notoriously frigid Minot.” -- The Air Force has trouble keeping people in its nuclear maintenance and security forces.
“On a global basis, we’re still the prettiest pig in the trough.” -- A real estate economist was the keynote speaker at a land expo in Fargo and said he believed “farmland is not at risk of becoming a ‘bubble.’”
It’s bright yellow, 5 feet tall, 5 feet wide and 80 pounds . . . and it’s missing. The Dept. of Earth System Science and Policy at UND has lost a $30,000 buoy anchored in the middle of Devils Lake. The buoy reported water quality and location.
They are doing it because they can. ND’s smallest county is nestled next to Montana near ND’s southwest corner. Slope County has 760 residents of which 30 live in the county seat of Amidon. The county is constructing a new $4 million courthouse.
Babe and the Blue Ox don’t do it. That’s the view of groups trying to get health insurance for 83,000 uninsured immigrants in Minnesota. They say the iconic Minnesota characters used to promote the state’s health plan are unfamiliar to non-natives and fall short on minority outreach. Translators are being used to explain the new health options to Somalis.
Well, maybe it wasn’t. The Marvelous Fish House in Bemidji closed after being open only six months. Marvelous sold fresh walleye and wild rice from Minnesota’s Red Lake Reservation.
DAKTOIDS: The Fargo Theater canceled shows for nationally recognized psychic Sylvia Browne, who died last week in San Jose, Calif. -- shouldn’t she have known? . . . ND universities enjoy record high budgets. Across the Red River, Moorhead State is slashing programs and releasing tenured faculty to deal with a $5 million deficit . . . Given the Minot area’s hunting tradition -- local brides are requesting camouflaged wedding dresses . . . Medical facilities in western ND require big money -- Sanford is opening a $30 million “super clinic” in Dickinson, while Watford City is planning a $55 million medical complex.
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