SCHMID: LOOKING BACK FROM THE LEFT COAST - FEBRUARY 10, 2016
NEW REALITY “We're going to kind of take a break from big infrastructure investments.” -- Gov. Jack Dalrymple talking to the GF Herald editorial board about upcoming budget reductions. The reductions were announced Monday -- the current two-year budget cycle is projected to have a $1 billion shortfall. State agencies will be asked to reduce their budgets by 4 percent and about $500 million will be withdrawn from the state’s Budget Stabilization Fund. During the oil boom, ND wisely saved most of its oil tax revenues and has tried to keep a lid on its core budget.
A WEEK OF FUN The Fargo Forum loves to provoke controversy -- one day this week all guns were blazing. The spin was about the NDSU President Bresciani’s business class trip to India. Columnist Rob Port was the leadoff -- he urged it was time to fire Bresciani saying the India trip was part of a long history of disregard. In rebuttal, a peevish letter writer pounced saying Port’s “resume could fit on a grain of rice.” Forum editors jumped on the pile accusing Bresciani critics of “pettiness and parochialism,” and for good measure, the editorial also called the ND university system chancellor a “sad-sack private.” Finally, it was time to mop up for the day -- an editorial cartoon showed Bresciani preparing to board a junky airplane that looked like a stagecoach.
HERE WE GO! The Kilbourne Group and the RDO (R.D. Offutt) companies may begin construction this fall on Fargo’s newest high-rise which will combine retail, offices, a hotel and condos. RDO is an equal partner in the development, will headquarter in the new building and be the principal office tenant. TMI Hospitality, a Fargo company, will operate the 88-room hotel.
HOW WILL THIS WORK? UND hired a new ombudsman (dispute mediator) -- excuse me -- the position is called Office of the Ombuds, because the title must be gender-neutral. Pepperdine graduate Henok Elias is enthusiastic about his new job -- he will use “transformative” mediation. Elias will “celebrate the differences” and work “with a person over time to try to get at in-depth issues.” The previous ombuds did not work out.
CIRCUMSPECT It was mentioned last week that the Dept. of Energy proposes to drill a 3-mile deep hole near Rugby to investigate crystalline rock formations. ND officials, including the governor, are very wary -- they fear the hole might be used to dispose of nuclear waste. An EERC officer at UND assures this is not the case -- he says the hole will be plugged and current law prevents use of the hole for disposal of nuclear waste.
JENNIFER PUHL, a native of Devils Lake, UND law school grad and career federal prosecutor in Fargo, has been nominated to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals based in St. Louis, which also hears cases in St. Paul. Her nomination has bipartisan support.
SARAH VOGEL (69), a former ND ag commissioner, announced she will not be a candidate for governor -- no other Democratic candidate has been identified. Three Republicans are running: Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem, Fargo entrepreneur Doug Burgum and Rep. Rick Becker of Bismarck.
“THAT’S THE DELTA SPIRIT” was once the motto of Delta Airlines. The spirit was displayed recently when there was a fist fight between flight attendants on a L.A. to Minneapolis flight forcing the pilot to land in Salt Lake City. The combatants decked an unfortunate passenger who tried to intervene. A good time was had by all, Delta apologized and passed out extra frequent flyer miles.
TALE OF TWO REFUGEE GROUPS According to the Minnesota Demographic Center the Twin Cities area has two sizable refugee populations: Somalia (46,000) and Hmong (67,000). There are significant differences in their circumstances. The poverty rate for Somali (57%) is roughly double the rate for Hmong. Hmong have higher levels of employment and make better progress in education than Somali. Only 8% of Somali own a home, while Hmong ownership is six times that rate.
SOMALI IN ST. CLOUD ND and Greater Minnesota (the part of the state outside the Twin Cities metro area) have not experienced unusual problems with Somali refugees. The single exception is St. Cloud, the largest city in central Minnesota. Somali students there are protesting and alleging discrimination in their schools -- Muslim factory workers have disputes with employers about matters such as prayer breaks. As a consequence, St. Cloud is the only city in Minnesota where a local state civil rights office has been established.
A WEEK OF FUN The Fargo Forum loves to provoke controversy -- one day this week all guns were blazing. The spin was about the NDSU President Bresciani’s business class trip to India. Columnist Rob Port was the leadoff -- he urged it was time to fire Bresciani saying the India trip was part of a long history of disregard. In rebuttal, a peevish letter writer pounced saying Port’s “resume could fit on a grain of rice.” Forum editors jumped on the pile accusing Bresciani critics of “pettiness and parochialism,” and for good measure, the editorial also called the ND university system chancellor a “sad-sack private.” Finally, it was time to mop up for the day -- an editorial cartoon showed Bresciani preparing to board a junky airplane that looked like a stagecoach.
HERE WE GO! The Kilbourne Group and the RDO (R.D. Offutt) companies may begin construction this fall on Fargo’s newest high-rise which will combine retail, offices, a hotel and condos. RDO is an equal partner in the development, will headquarter in the new building and be the principal office tenant. TMI Hospitality, a Fargo company, will operate the 88-room hotel.
HOW WILL THIS WORK? UND hired a new ombudsman (dispute mediator) -- excuse me -- the position is called Office of the Ombuds, because the title must be gender-neutral. Pepperdine graduate Henok Elias is enthusiastic about his new job -- he will use “transformative” mediation. Elias will “celebrate the differences” and work “with a person over time to try to get at in-depth issues.” The previous ombuds did not work out.
CIRCUMSPECT It was mentioned last week that the Dept. of Energy proposes to drill a 3-mile deep hole near Rugby to investigate crystalline rock formations. ND officials, including the governor, are very wary -- they fear the hole might be used to dispose of nuclear waste. An EERC officer at UND assures this is not the case -- he says the hole will be plugged and current law prevents use of the hole for disposal of nuclear waste.
JENNIFER PUHL, a native of Devils Lake, UND law school grad and career federal prosecutor in Fargo, has been nominated to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals based in St. Louis, which also hears cases in St. Paul. Her nomination has bipartisan support.
SARAH VOGEL (69), a former ND ag commissioner, announced she will not be a candidate for governor -- no other Democratic candidate has been identified. Three Republicans are running: Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem, Fargo entrepreneur Doug Burgum and Rep. Rick Becker of Bismarck.
“THAT’S THE DELTA SPIRIT” was once the motto of Delta Airlines. The spirit was displayed recently when there was a fist fight between flight attendants on a L.A. to Minneapolis flight forcing the pilot to land in Salt Lake City. The combatants decked an unfortunate passenger who tried to intervene. A good time was had by all, Delta apologized and passed out extra frequent flyer miles.
TALE OF TWO REFUGEE GROUPS According to the Minnesota Demographic Center the Twin Cities area has two sizable refugee populations: Somalia (46,000) and Hmong (67,000). There are significant differences in their circumstances. The poverty rate for Somali (57%) is roughly double the rate for Hmong. Hmong have higher levels of employment and make better progress in education than Somali. Only 8% of Somali own a home, while Hmong ownership is six times that rate.
SOMALI IN ST. CLOUD ND and Greater Minnesota (the part of the state outside the Twin Cities metro area) have not experienced unusual problems with Somali refugees. The single exception is St. Cloud, the largest city in central Minnesota. Somali students there are protesting and alleging discrimination in their schools -- Muslim factory workers have disputes with employers about matters such as prayer breaks. As a consequence, St. Cloud is the only city in Minnesota where a local state civil rights office has been established.
SOUTH DAKOTA has a secret sauce -- laws which are very friendly to trust companies. Sioux Falls is home to substantial trust business. Business Week reports that foreign trust companies recently opened offices in Pierre and Sioux Falls to serve international clients. South Dakota and Nevada are being called “the new Switzerland.”
DAKTOIDS: Columnist Rob Port says the Fargo Police Department reports non-whites are 10% of Fargo’s population, but commit 24% of its crime . . . As part of its downsizing, Concordia College in Moorhead is discontinuing nine majors. Examples: French, German, Latin and Scandinavian studies . . . The Bismarck Tribune believes UND used a poor process to pick its new nickname and may be repeating the error by selecting a new logo “behind closed doors” . . . Lawmakers in South Dakota have proposed a moratorium on refugees on the grounds of “adverse impact to residents.”
DAKTOIDS: Columnist Rob Port says the Fargo Police Department reports non-whites are 10% of Fargo’s population, but commit 24% of its crime . . . As part of its downsizing, Concordia College in Moorhead is discontinuing nine majors. Examples: French, German, Latin and Scandinavian studies . . . The Bismarck Tribune believes UND used a poor process to pick its new nickname and may be repeating the error by selecting a new logo “behind closed doors” . . . Lawmakers in South Dakota have proposed a moratorium on refugees on the grounds of “adverse impact to residents.”
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