SCHMID: LOOKING BACK FROM THE LEFT COAST - MAY 23, 2016
“IT’S A RECESSION” was part of the headline for a Reuters article detailing the impact on Williston of a near halt in oil well drilling and fracking. Vacant homes, apartments and hotels are only a portion of the economic damage. Vacant storefronts and empty parking lots are other indications. ND’s economy was the economically fastest-growing in the nation and now may be among the slowest.
BNSF RAILROAD provided further information about the decline in its commodity revenue. Coal shipments are down 33% and are the big culprit. In the Williston Basin, rail oil shipments, 800,000 barrels a day in 2014, dropped to 500,000 barrels a day in February. This is due to both greater use of pipelines and reduced oil production.
POPULATION GROWTH Despite the Oil Patch slowdown, ND’s population grew over 2% in 2015. Almost all of the state’s 17,000 increase happened in the largest cities. Fargo and Williston led with each having an increase of about 2,400. As of July 1 last year, Fargo had 118,500 residents, part of a metro area of nearly 200,000.
THE VIEW FROM TWO STATES The Minnesota Dept. of Natural Resources has issued a 568-page final environmental impact study of the $2 billion F-M Diversion. The project would protect F-M from flooding by building a 36-mile ditch to the west of Fargo. The Star Tribune said, “Supporters and opponents of the project saw the DNR report as a validation for their side.” Fargo interests emphasized the report’s conclusion that there is “no reasonable alternative” to the plan. In Minnesota the project is described as one “that would protect Fargo from floods by diverting the water onto Minnesota land instead.” Work is commencing on phases of the project not requiring Minnesota approval, while permits are being negotiated.
AN AGRICULTURE RESEARCH PROJECT using unmanned aircraft was launched at the Hillsboro Regional Airport. The location splits the distance for research partners from NDSU and UND’s Northern Plains UAS Test Site. The aircraft and ground control equipment were assembled by a crew from an Israeli unmanned aircraft manufacturer. The 20-foot long Hermes aircraft will collect crop data from an area 4 miles wide and 40 miles long (160 square miles).
THE UND HOCKEY TEAM will be honored for its 8th national championship at a Minnesota Twins game at Target Field on May 22. Twins President Dave St. Peter is a Bismarck native and 1989 UND graduate. UND coach Brad Berry said, “We are extremely grateful and honored.”
WHERE ARE THE DRUNKARDS? Wall St. 24/7 prepared a list of the nation’s 20 drunkest cities. There was no contest -- Wisconsin swept 12 of the 20 positions. Who was the No. 2 state? ND with Fargo No. 5 and Grand Forks No. 14. Minnesota’s lone entry was Mankato No. 10.
“THAT WOULD BE AMAZING," Bergh said as she broke into tears in the Froggy studio. Samantha Bergh is the woman who was kicked out of the Garth Brooks concert at the Fargodome last week for using the men’s bathroom. Sympathetic Froggy 99.9 FM is sending her to a Garth Brooks show in Las Vegas.
A WOODEN CAR owned by a Swedish man is kept in Bismarck. The one-of-a-kind car has been driven from Antler, ND, on the Canadian border to Galveston, Texas. The car has a wooden body, the look of a modern sports car and a V-8 engine in the rear. The owner is considering a cross-country trip from the West Coast to the East Coast.
LUTHERAN SOCIAL SERVICES plans to bring 100 new refugees, mostly from Somalia and Bhutan, to Grand Forks this year for family reunification. In anticipation, the city has authorized an additional English Language Learner teacher.
EDGY MINNESOTA RESIDENTS wonder if any of the young Somalis who support ISIS terrorism will stage an attack in the Twin Cities. In the wake of terror attacks in Paris, Brussels and San Bernadino, an incident in the Twin Cities is more than a slight possibility. At the Minneapolis federal trial of Guled Omar, one of three defendants charged with offering support to ISIS, it was learned that Omar planned to “share a route into Mexico with ISIS fighters . . . so they could stage attacks in the U.S.”
MINNESOTA DEMOGRAPHICS Star Tribune commentary editor D.J. Tice said it’s not surprising the importance of hard work and strong families is seldom mentioned in public discussions about economic disparities. To do so is to risk “seeming to disparage certain groups,” the type of comments seen by blacks as “microaggresions.” The effect of work and families is highlighted in a “chartbook” issued by the Minn. Demographic Center which sorts Minnesotans into 17 distinct cultural groups, for instance, the study makes a distinction between nonimmigrant black Minnesotans (the largest cultural group after whites) and recent African immigrants, principally Somalis.
THE MINNESOTA “CHARTBOOK” indicates that over 50% of nonimmigrant blacks are either out of the labor force or unemployed (one-third of all blacks 45 and older are on disability). The comparable number for Somali is 45%. Also, a very high percentage of black households are headed by a single mother. These factors together explain to a large degree why the two groups of blacks have the lowest median household incomes in Minnesota. An additional factor, other immigrant groups, such as Mexicans and Hmong, tend to have large households making it more likely that a household has more than one wage earner.
“A GREAT, WONDERFUL CITY” -- Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges faithfully used that description in her State of the City speech. BUT, as she added, one which “faces persistent challenges, particularly in terms of racial disparities.”
BNSF RAILROAD provided further information about the decline in its commodity revenue. Coal shipments are down 33% and are the big culprit. In the Williston Basin, rail oil shipments, 800,000 barrels a day in 2014, dropped to 500,000 barrels a day in February. This is due to both greater use of pipelines and reduced oil production.
POPULATION GROWTH Despite the Oil Patch slowdown, ND’s population grew over 2% in 2015. Almost all of the state’s 17,000 increase happened in the largest cities. Fargo and Williston led with each having an increase of about 2,400. As of July 1 last year, Fargo had 118,500 residents, part of a metro area of nearly 200,000.
THE VIEW FROM TWO STATES The Minnesota Dept. of Natural Resources has issued a 568-page final environmental impact study of the $2 billion F-M Diversion. The project would protect F-M from flooding by building a 36-mile ditch to the west of Fargo. The Star Tribune said, “Supporters and opponents of the project saw the DNR report as a validation for their side.” Fargo interests emphasized the report’s conclusion that there is “no reasonable alternative” to the plan. In Minnesota the project is described as one “that would protect Fargo from floods by diverting the water onto Minnesota land instead.” Work is commencing on phases of the project not requiring Minnesota approval, while permits are being negotiated.
AN AGRICULTURE RESEARCH PROJECT using unmanned aircraft was launched at the Hillsboro Regional Airport. The location splits the distance for research partners from NDSU and UND’s Northern Plains UAS Test Site. The aircraft and ground control equipment were assembled by a crew from an Israeli unmanned aircraft manufacturer. The 20-foot long Hermes aircraft will collect crop data from an area 4 miles wide and 40 miles long (160 square miles).
THE UND HOCKEY TEAM will be honored for its 8th national championship at a Minnesota Twins game at Target Field on May 22. Twins President Dave St. Peter is a Bismarck native and 1989 UND graduate. UND coach Brad Berry said, “We are extremely grateful and honored.”
WHERE ARE THE DRUNKARDS? Wall St. 24/7 prepared a list of the nation’s 20 drunkest cities. There was no contest -- Wisconsin swept 12 of the 20 positions. Who was the No. 2 state? ND with Fargo No. 5 and Grand Forks No. 14. Minnesota’s lone entry was Mankato No. 10.
“THAT WOULD BE AMAZING," Bergh said as she broke into tears in the Froggy studio. Samantha Bergh is the woman who was kicked out of the Garth Brooks concert at the Fargodome last week for using the men’s bathroom. Sympathetic Froggy 99.9 FM is sending her to a Garth Brooks show in Las Vegas.
A WOODEN CAR owned by a Swedish man is kept in Bismarck. The one-of-a-kind car has been driven from Antler, ND, on the Canadian border to Galveston, Texas. The car has a wooden body, the look of a modern sports car and a V-8 engine in the rear. The owner is considering a cross-country trip from the West Coast to the East Coast.
LUTHERAN SOCIAL SERVICES plans to bring 100 new refugees, mostly from Somalia and Bhutan, to Grand Forks this year for family reunification. In anticipation, the city has authorized an additional English Language Learner teacher.
EDGY MINNESOTA RESIDENTS wonder if any of the young Somalis who support ISIS terrorism will stage an attack in the Twin Cities. In the wake of terror attacks in Paris, Brussels and San Bernadino, an incident in the Twin Cities is more than a slight possibility. At the Minneapolis federal trial of Guled Omar, one of three defendants charged with offering support to ISIS, it was learned that Omar planned to “share a route into Mexico with ISIS fighters . . . so they could stage attacks in the U.S.”
MINNESOTA DEMOGRAPHICS Star Tribune commentary editor D.J. Tice said it’s not surprising the importance of hard work and strong families is seldom mentioned in public discussions about economic disparities. To do so is to risk “seeming to disparage certain groups,” the type of comments seen by blacks as “microaggresions.” The effect of work and families is highlighted in a “chartbook” issued by the Minn. Demographic Center which sorts Minnesotans into 17 distinct cultural groups, for instance, the study makes a distinction between nonimmigrant black Minnesotans (the largest cultural group after whites) and recent African immigrants, principally Somalis.
THE MINNESOTA “CHARTBOOK” indicates that over 50% of nonimmigrant blacks are either out of the labor force or unemployed (one-third of all blacks 45 and older are on disability). The comparable number for Somali is 45%. Also, a very high percentage of black households are headed by a single mother. These factors together explain to a large degree why the two groups of blacks have the lowest median household incomes in Minnesota. An additional factor, other immigrant groups, such as Mexicans and Hmong, tend to have large households making it more likely that a household has more than one wage earner.
“A GREAT, WONDERFUL CITY” -- Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges faithfully used that description in her State of the City speech. BUT, as she added, one which “faces persistent challenges, particularly in terms of racial disparities.”
DAKTOIDS: U.S. Rep. Kevin Cramer has been named an energy advisor to Donald Trump . . . A mannequin at Scheels All Sports in Fargo wears Philadelphia Eagles jersey number 11 belonging to former NDSU quarterback Carson Wentz -- the jersey is a very popular item . . . Columnist Mike Jacobs notes that Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump and Bill Clinton will have visited ND in connection with the elections -- an unusual degree of interest in ND . . . B-52s from the Minot AFB are routinely rotated through Guam. One crashed this week in Guam -- all crew members safely left the plane.
DakotaBeacon