Dakota Beacon

FORMER UND PROVOST TOM DILORENZO was murdered in Charleston, S.C., his new home after retiring this spring following seven years at UND.  DiLorenzo worked with several UND presidents — a provost is the number two university officer who gets many tough jobs like making budget cuts and terminations.  DiLorenzo and his wife were out for an early morning walk when they were accosted by two juvenile males, ages 15 and 16, who shot DiLorenzo in a botched robbery attempt — they have been arrested.

NOTHING LIKE COMPETITION  The Block 9 tower nearing completion on Broadway in Fargo will include a luxury hotel.  The Fargo Radisson Hotel, which has been the premier large hotel in Fargo for many decades, is undergoing a $6 million remodeling and will emerge as a Radisson Blu “upper upscale” hotel.  The owners say it will be the first 4-star hotel in ND.  Fargo has given Renaissance Zone tax breaks to the project.

ALTRU HEALTH SYSTEM in Grand Forks began this year in bad shape.  Here were some of the problems: large operating losses, downgraded bonds, construction halt on a new hospital and firing of top management.  Then the pandemic pulled Altru further into difficulty — layoffs, pay cuts and reduced staff hours have been the response.  Dave Molmen, a former Altru CEO, has been named interim CEO.

STATE HITS A TRIPLE  The coronavirus is growing at a record rate in ND.  On Wednesday, the state had record new cases (160), active cases and hospitalizations.  ND, Montana and Minnesota were all on a list of states where new cases are growing based on a 14-day average.  New cases in SD are level.  Of the four states, SD has the highest number of cases per 100,000 residents (913) and ND has the highest number of deaths per 100,000 residents (105).  The ND deaths are concentrated in long-term care facilities (68%).

DISPUTED ROYALTIES  The state of ND is involved in litigation with 34 oil companies in a dispute regarding overdue gas royalty payments of tens of millions.  The list includes many of the state’s largest producers, such as Continental Resources and Exxon.  If the state prevails, the payments will go to the Common Schools Trust Fund which supports public school funding.

OIL CRISIS  In May, ND oil production cratered to 858,000 barrels per day; state officials believe production returned to 1 million barrels per day in July.  Dept. of Mineral Resources Director Lynn Helms called this year’s oil collapse “among the worst crises for the North Dakota industry in a lifetime.”

IMPORTANCE OF DAPL  “In a spatter of blistering court decisions this month, federal judges dealt blows to both the Dakota Access and Keystone XL pipelines.” — Billings Gazette (sister of the Bismarck Tribune) describing how environmentalists are slowing or blocking pipeline permits.  The article said the price for a barrel of ND oil will drop $5 if DAPL goes offline.  With DAPL, pipelines can carry 1.3 million barrels of Bakken oil per day; without DAPL the capacity drops to 700,000 barrels.

MORE OIL TRAINS will be leaving ND if the DAPL is shutdown.  The greatest concerns are safety concerns by cities through which the trains pass (remember the great Casselton derailing and explosion) and concerns from farmers about a shortage of rail cars during the fall harvest.  If the shutdown occurs, three more oils trains collectively carrying 200,000 barrels will leave ND each day.

PROTESTS LIVE ON  While the potential DAPL shutdown holds the headlines, the state of ND has a claim in federal court for $38 million of costs related to the DAPL protests in 2016 and 2017.  The state alleges the Army Corps negligently allowed protests on federal land.  A decision is expected in a Bismarck federal court in a few weeks.

THE MINOT CITY COUNCIL struggled to decide if it should support the appeal of the DAPL shutdown.  Activists said participation would harm the position of indigenous ND residents; business and civic interests strongly urged support for the appeal.  The Council finally agreed to provide information about how the shutdown would impact Minot.  The shutdown could economically harm Minot and reduce its State Hub City funding.

THE NCAA has recommended that student athletes be tested for coronavirus within 72 hours of every game.  A Division II school estimated that for the football team alone tests costing $100 apiece would add up to $200,000 for the season.  A manageable expense for the largest schools, but one which could price smaller schools out of fall sports.  In ND, UND and NDSU might be the only schools which could tolerate the expense, which could exceed $300,000 for all high-risk teams at a school.

DO YOU AGREE?  “Since North Dakota became a state 139 years ago (should be 131), there shamefully has never been an African American ever elected to statewide office or to the state legislature. Not one.” — Forum columnist Jim Shaw.  He indicated there were four Black candidates running for those offices this year.  He concluded, “North Dakotans should not vote for or against Hellerud, Dakane, Martin, or Vanhorne simply because they are Black. However, it’s time to elect African Americans in this state. It’s long past time.”  Blacks are roughly one percent of the ND population.

CRIME UP, POLICE DOWN  It’s estimated that 200 of 800 officers in the Minneapolis police force have filed disability claims.  Meanwhile, the city has been rocked by an explosion of gun violence.  The claims reflect poor police department morale related to lack of support from the city’s mayor and City Council.  Police Chief Medario Arradondo cautioned against making major cuts to the force while they’re struggling to rein in shootings.

DAKTOID:  The ND population center is in Wells County, near Sykeston.