SCHMID: LOOKING BACK FROM THE LEFT COAST - July 7 , 2014
TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING Last week, I mentioned public higher education in ND was benefiting from steadily rising budgets -- a contrast to public colleges in most states. This week the Board of Higher Education requested a two-year budget of $764 million -- a whopping 14 percent increase. The Bismarck Tribune concluded, that even with seemingly overflowing state coffers, the request was a bit too much and the BOHE needed to exercise more restraint. The Trib said, “Otherwise, it becomes an all-too-familiar pattern these days: Going for the ‘big ask’ simply because of surplus funds rather than actual need.”
NO DETAIL IS OVERLOOKED Heidi and Thomasine Heitkamp look somewhat alike. Both have round smiling faces and ample figures. Both have red hair and favor red clothing. You probably know about Heidi -- she’s the junior senator from North Dakota. Thomasine is chair of the UND Dept. of Social Work. Want to learn more about her? No problem -- her online profile is neatly broken into sections such as “Professional Experience,” “Professional Presentations” and “Honors & Awards” and runs 34 pages.
IT’S OFFICIAL, HE WAS A BULLY Gerald Groenewold, former director of the UND Energy and Environmental Research Center, is a Captain Queeg. An independent law firm interviewed a sample of employees and stated, “Without exception, every one of them portrayed a workplace that is volatile, unpredictable and often very demeaning, due solely to the conduct of Dr. Groenewold.”
YOU DON’T KNOW LELAND, but he is all around you. Fargo businessman Leland Swanson is president of Swanson Health Products, which sells diet and weight loss supplements, as well as natural products for your skin and hair. He will entertain you -- try his Northern Gentlemen’s Club. Leland’s in Fargo real estate -- not to mention condos scattered from Las Vegas to Palm Beach. Leland caught our attention this week as the buyer of a $7.6 million apartment on NYC’s “Billionaire’s Row.”
CONTROL THE DRONES! A Fargo Forum editorial warned about the potential of sneaky drones. The editorial said, “These things need to be controlled. Advocates for free-for-all drone protocols, including some folks at the University of North Dakota aviation school, are dead wrong.”
SO YOU THINK THERE IS NO VOTER FRAUD? ND has a new voter ID requirement. Columnist Lloyd Omdahl tends to think it’s unnecessary, since he sees little evidence of voter fraud in ND. Democrats in Minnesota have a similar view and oppose voter ID believing it suppresses turnout. All should be informed by an issue now developing in Minneapolis, where 140 voters listed a mailbox center as their residence in an April DFL primary. The mailbox center has no residents, is used primarily by Somalis and is not allowable as a voting address. A Somali-American candidate had a surprisingly strong showing in the April election.
BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY A Forum editorial characterized criticism of voter ID as absurd. The Forum said, ”Putting a better ID system in place is smarter than closing the barn door after the horse is gone. The state’s population is growing and changing. It’s good policy to stay ahead of the potential for voter fraud.”
MINNESOTA’S GENEROUS SOCIAL SERVICES attracted a large number of Somali refugees. Those numbers were further increased by Somalis resettling from other states. Smaller numbers of Somali refugees are also settling in Red River Valley communities and Jamestown. A StarTribune article indicates mayors in Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire have asked the State Department to stop sending refugees, saying Somalis strain city services. The State Department has obliged, but says it can’t stop refugees from resettling once placed elsewhere. The 15-year-old Somali boy, who became nationally famous when he survived a trip from San Jose to Honolulu in the wheel well of a jet, plans to join an aunt in Minneapolis.
TRANSFERRING MONEY TO SOMALIA Somalis use money service businesses (MSBs) to transfer a large part of their incomes to relatives in East Africa. The MSBs are intermediaries and need accounts with U.S. banks to initiate the transfers. Bell State Bank in Fargo announced closure of its MSB accounts because anti-terrorism banking regulations make the accounts cost-prohibitive. Bell was one of the few banks still accepting transfers. A Muslim congressman from Minnesota is sponsoring legislation to lower federal regulatory barriers for MSBs.
DUELING HEADLINES In May, Blue Cross Blue Shield of ND fired its CEO, Paul von Ebers. In June, BCBS of ND was ranked No. 1 in the nation for customer service among other BCBS plans.
NO QUESTION, TIOGA IS GROWING. The population in 2019 is expected to be over 8,000, four times the 2010 census. Not everyone thinks Tioga’s growth is cool -- the city commission approved a shop for Boomtown Babes Expresso -- the babes will serve coffee dressed in hot pants and tank tops.
HOME FOR ARTISTS Minot has a shortage of affordable housing because of the oil boom and the 2011 Souris River flood. A non-profit housing developer from the Twin Cities completed the first new building in downtown Minot in 30 years. Artspace Lofts is a four-story, 34-unit mixed-use building where artists live and work and which includes space for arts organizations, such as a tribal arts association.
SHOPLIFTING We used to think of shoplifters as people who crept away with unpaid groceries under their overcoats. A new aggressive version involves a small gang loading shopping carts and storming out of a store into waiting getaway vehicles. Bismarck stores have been a target. Two Spirit Lake Reservation women, Jennifer Whitebuffalo and Tonday Grady, did the deed at Sears and were apprehended heading for a nearby hotel. Misty Feather is still loose.
CHIP WAS A DEADBEAT Erma Vizenor, the chairwoman of the Minnesota White Earth Tribe near Fargo, ousted Chip Wadena from that position in 1996 and kept him at bay in subsequent elections using the slogan “Skip Chip.” Wadena was deeply in debt to the tribe because of earlier fraud convictions and said he needed the chairman job in order to pay restitution. At the time of his recent death, Wadena owed the tribe $732,000 -- the debt had grown due to interest and penalties because Chip was paying only $200 a month. Upon his death, the debt was forgiven.
WELL, MAYBE NOT THE WIND GF Herald columnist Marilyn Hagerty said poet Paul Mortenson’s reasons for staying in ND resonate with her. If he left, he would miss the prairie, the openness, the drifting snow and even the cold. Mortenson wrote, “And when I leave this place, I shall miss the wind, the unrelenting, howling, accusatory, sinuous and incessant wind; rude and strong, bullying its way like it owns the place — which it does. Yes, I shall miss the wind – but not much.”
DAKTOIDS: Now you know, 55 percent of Jamestown residents have a Germans from Russia heritage . . . The ND Attorney General has good news and bad news: DUI arrests and binge drinking among teens are down, but drug trafficking by Mexican cartels is soaring in the Oil Patch . . . This April, ND flared about 30 percent of natural gas production -- flaring is expected to be down to 26 percent by Oct. and new regs create a path to 10 percent flaring within six years. Ten percent is still high by national standards . . . Since the start of the recession in December 2007, employment in ND has risen 28 percent. ND is the only state with a double digit increase and 32 states are still below their 2007 employment levels.
DakotaBeacon