SCHMID: LOOKING BACK FROM THE LEFT COAST - JANUARY 20, 2020
LEST YOU FORGET “The National Weather Service in Grand Forks has issued a a winter storm watch for Friday afternoon through Saturday. The system could harbor gusting winds that could reach 50 mph with temperatures of 40 degrees below zero. Blizzard conditions are likely with snow accumulations of 2 to 6 inches.” — GF Herald.
SHOCKER! Forum Communications Company announced the Dickinson Press will become a weekly, sell its modern press building and have its printing done by the Bismarck Tribune. The Press will focus on online news and its Wednesday weekly will be delivered by mail. The change will also affect clients who had their printing done by the Dickinson paper. Changes at the Press seem counterintuitive — Dickinson is a growing market benefiting from the oil boom.
WHAT'S NEXT? What does this mean for the Jamestown Sun located in a community smaller than Dickinson and a circulation area with little or no growth? The Dickinson decision suggests there are more shoes to drop. Forum Communications is obviously reducing its footprint -- a strategy known as "asset light". This strategy reduces hard assets, such as real estate, and concentrates investment on core operations.
FRESH IDEAS WANTED “Big buildings are empty. People want things to do. We want them to come here. Think: What can it be? What can it be?” — The GF Herald urged its readers to come up with ideas to stoke tourism and add energy to the city’s slow-moving economy.
NATIONAL CHAMPS NDSU won the NCAA FCS championship with a 28-20 victory against James Madison U. The Bison have won eight of the past nine championships and 37 consecutive games. The game carried on ABC-TV had 2.7 million viewers, the most-watched televised Bison football game and also a record for an FCS game. Bison coach Matt Entz was named FCS National Coach of the Year.
THAT’S ONE WAY OF LOOKING AT IT "The biggest, best universities in the nation fit that niche, and that means we are becoming one of the biggest and best universities in the nation.” — NDSU President Bresciani’s reaction to NDSU’s championship game on ABC-TV. He pointed out that only the big schools like Alabama get the cameras on Saturday. If it were only that easy (becoming biggest and best).
THANKS TO OIL Since the Great Recession in 2007 to 2009, ND’s tax receipts have risen 71%, outpacing all other states. Oil revenue has led the growth offsetting a weak farm economy. Tax receipts rose 29% in Minnesota and 22% in South Dakota (percentages which may not be far above respective inflation rates for the same period, that is, little or no growth). ND tax receipts in 2019 are running ahead of projections.
WIN, WIN POSSIBILITY During the recent wet fall in eastern ND, there was a shortage of propane to dry grain and, when it was available, it was expensive. On the western side of the state, 20% of natural gas production is flared. If only liquid natural gas (LNG) could be piped to famers and industrial users, they would enjoy much lower costs. LNG is only half as expensive as propane. The big issue — finding parties with the competence and capital to invest in natural gas processing and distribution. An interim legislative committee is looking at ways to finance the movement of LNG from west to east — the most popular idea is using Legacy Fund earnings, say $100 million a year, to incentivize needed development.
GOOD IDEA — UNTIL IT WASN’T Early in January, the ND court system made a splash by opening a website that made many court documents publicly available online. The records turned out to contain sensitive information such as social security numbers and dates of birth — the raw material for identity theft. It should be noted most of these records were publicly available before the website, but required a visit to a courthouse, not so easy when the courthouse is on the other side of the state. The court system claimed the process had passed a lengthy review and comment period without a problem. The website is closed and on hold until a solution can be worked out.
SERMONETTE Forum columnist John Hauser wrote of a man whose mother told him “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t, you are probably right!” She was saying the difference between success and failure is attitude. She added, “I’ve noticed something. Two different people can go through the same exact set of difficult circumstances, but they end up in very different places. One comes out bitter and the circumstances limit and defeat them for years. The other person is able to move forward and comes out better.”
A SUCCESSFUL LIFE I have a hunch May Adelle Swift (94) from Glen Ullin, ND, was one of those people whose attitude took the high road. She grew up during the nation’s worst depression and graduated from high school in World War II. Her first job was a ship fitter in Tacoma, WA. After the war, she bounced back to ND and graduated from the Ag College (now NDSU) with a degree in home economics. Her obituary described how over 50 years she and her husband developed properties in Detroit Lakes and became positive role models in that community.
SOUTH DAKOTA GOV. KRISTI NOEM was solidly against legalizing hemp production in her state. Now she has swung the other way prompted by new federal guidelines and is proposing laws and regulations to govern the state hemp industry. It is estimated the annual cost of hemp enforcement and regulation in SD will be around $2 million.
SD IS OPEN FOR BUSINESS The words of Gov. Noem who furnished ten reasons to set up shop in her state. Leading the list were three tax-related items: no corporate income tax, no personal income tax and no personal property tax. She also mentioned low regulation, a balanced budget and a fully-funded pension plan. Minnesota businesses should be interested in the list.
DAKTOIDS: In 2019, Hunter Hanson (22) was behind the largest grain trading fraud in ND history; this year, he is a guest at a federal prison in Duluth . . . Fargo has the nickname Queen City, it’s not alone, Sioux Falls, SD, Virginia, MN and Helena, MT share the nickname, as do 34 other U.S. cities.
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