Dakota Beacon

TALE OF TWO RESERVATIONS  An Associated Press article discussed the political and social implications of oil production on American Indian reservations.  The article used two ND reservations to illustrate the “have and have-not” effects of owning oil.  The Ft. Berthold Reservation (the MHA Nation) has experienced ills from oil, such as crime, drugs and traffic problems, but positive impacts are seen as much greater.  The reservation has new schools, parks, civic centers and health facilities provided by oil.  The Standing Rock Reservation has no oil and, by contrast, lives in poverty.  One resident said, “There’s nothing here. No jobs. Nothing.”

GRAND FORKS LAGS  Former pro-hockey player Brandon Bochenski just completed his first year as mayor of Grand Forks.  The consensus seems to be that he did a good job of keeping the city stable during the pandemic.  He has a quick, decisive style and, unlike his predecessor, doesn’t spend a good deal of time asking people’s opinions.  Now comes the hard part — there is general agreement that Grand Forks is lagging places like Bismarck and Fargo and economic development must be the priority.  Bochenski agrees, but says he wants to enable people to help themselves, to be successful and not to lean on government services. 

METAMORPHOSIS  A little more than a year ago, Altru Health System in Grand Forks was in financial difficulty.  It stopped construction on a new hospital and laid off over 150 employees.  Bingo!  It’s now going the other way — hospital construction has resumed and is expected to be completed in 2024 and many of the laid-off employees have been rehired.  Even more surprising — Altru is discussing the management or purchase of St. Alexius Hospital in Devils Lake.  Earlier this year, a deal to sell St. Alexius to a Duluth company fell through.  Altru said it is confident about its financial situation.

BRESCIANI  Last week I mentioned that NDSU President Dean Bresciani’s contract was not renewed by the State Board of Higher Education.  There has been an outcry by his supporters in the Fargo area who see the decision as unfair.  In his weekly column, Mike Jacobs took the opposite position saying essentially “it was about time.”  Jacobs cited a litany of abuses by Bresciani over a period of 11 years which “angered legislators and disappointed the board.”

ECONOMY IS STRONG  The Midwest economy keeps rolling.  The Creighton University survey for June showed continued growth for the region as well as ND.  The state had a high, steady score of 75 (anything above 50 indicates growth), slightly higher than the regional score of 73.5.  Growth has been accompanied by wage increases — hourly wages in ND rose 8% in the past 12 months.  Supply problems are also widespread in the region.

BACKROOM DEAL?  ”This smells like a backroom deal that benefits the North Dakota coal lobby, not regular Minnesotans.” — This was the snarling response of the Minnesota Sierra Club to the news that Great River Energy, a Minnesota energy cooperative, would continue to buy electricity from the Coal Creek plant in Underwood. GRE is selling Coal Creek to a Bismarck energy trading company.  The club added, "It also sounds like Minnesota customers may remain on the hook for paying for power from this economic loser of a plant for years to come.”  The club is mounting a full-fledged attack on the transaction.

PAY FOR STUDENT ATHLETES  The U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for college athletes to receive pay for their play.  Columnist Rob Port sees an inevitable increase in the cost of the major athletic programs at NDSU and UND.  His concern is that the programs already lean on students and taxpayers.  He indicated 23% of NDSU athletic revenues and 47% of those at UND come from a combination of students and taxpayers.  That amounts to $626 per student at NDSU and $1,049 at UND.  Port says, “These programs should live or die on their own revenues.”  He would like the Legislature to prohibit the use of taxpayer funds or student fees for athletic programs.

CAREER CENTER  Fargo, ND’s largest city, does not have a community technical college.  That will be partially remedied by a new workforce academy being developed by the ND State College of Science in Fargo to be known as the NDSCS Career Innovation Center.  The Center will work closely with the Fargo and Cass County schools to prepare students to enter the workforce directly from high school.  The $30 million facility is expected to open by the fall of 2022.

ND GUARD HEADED SOUTH  About 125 National Guard troops from Bismarck will be deployed to help secure the U.S.-Mexico border.  Gov. Burgum approved the request from the Department of the Army which will cover the costs.  This differs from South Dakota which did the same thing, but at the request of the states of Texas and Arizona.

THE POWDER RIVER TRAINING COMPLEX is not well-known.  Draw a line from Bismarck to Billings, the area south of the line almost to Rapid City is the largest Air Force training area in the continental U.S..  The area comprises 35,000 square miles in the Dakotas, Montana and Wyoming.  In late July, Air Force B-1 bombers from Ellsworth (Rapid City) and B-52 bombers from Minot AFB will join to conduct a periodic large-scale training exercise in Powder River.  The last was held in 2015.  The Air Force advised residents of Powder River to prepare for noise.

DAKTOIDS:  ND’s lignite reserves are second only to Australia’s . . . A heat wave similar to that recently in the Pacific Northwest occurred in the ND region in 1936.  Jamestown was representative with a temperature of 118 degrees . . . ND soybean acreage is increasing and is the fourth highest in the U.S. after Illinois, Kansas and Minnesota . . . For the first half of the year, the traffic death toll in ND rose from 39 to 47, the percentage attributable to alcohol is also up.