Dakota Beacon

SOME GOOD NEWS  ND state revenues in April were down 14% from a 2019 legislative forecast, but general fund revenues for the first 10 months of the two-year budget cycle beginning July 2019 were 4% ahead of forecast.  Not great, but better than expected.  Oil production held at 1.43 million barrels per day (BPD) in March, but April is expected to tumble below 1 million BPD.  

UNSTATED PURPOSE  “Altru has supported this community for years, and now they need our community’s support.” — From a letter by Dr. Casey Ryan, a member of the staff and former president of Altru Health Systems (Grand Forks).  Continuing, he said, “As we unwind from this pandemic . . . To come out of this strong, we must remain locally-led.”  He said decisions should be local and include physicians.  Obviously, Dr. Ryan was responding to a perceived threat never identified in his letter.  Let me guess — he is concerned financially-troubled Altru might be taken over by a larger hospital chain.

BOASTING  "Everybody else kept going -- all of construction, all of energy, all of ag.” — Gov. Doug Burgum describing ND’s response to the coronavirus in a press conference with President Trump.  He said, "We had less to worry about opening up because we never really closed down.”  Burgum also highlighted the state’s high rate of testing and low rate of positive tests.

NEW CASES RISING  Gov. Burgum may have spoken too soon.  On Thursday new cases (134) broke a record; the majority of new cases have been in nursing homes in Cass County (see below).  Cases are also erupting in nursing homes throughout the state.  Wednesday, 18 of the new cases were tied to nursing homes in Morton County and another 18 cases in Mayville.  New cases in Minnesota are steady at a high level (600 to 700 cases a day).  New cases are slowing in SD and have essentially stopped in MT.

CASS COUNTY, ND’s largest metro area, continues as a hotspot for the coronavirus.  Last Thursday, 93 of 134 new cases came from Cass, as did 40 out of 51 cumulative deaths.  At least 29 of the Cass deaths came from nursing homes.  The infection rate of those tested in Cass is 8%.  Without Cass and Grand Forks counties, the state has a below average level of cases and deaths.

ECONOMIC TOLL WORSENING  A Form editorial said “there’s an urgent need to get the economy back on track.”  The Forum found testing, tracing and isolation to be adequate, but the human toll also had be measured “by unemployment rates and business shutterings.”

UNDERWOOD AND WASHBURN ARE TOAST — that’s pretty much the conclusion about the effect of the future closing of the Coal Creek power plant and the related Falkirk coal mine.  But the ripples go much further — Hazen, about a 40-minute drive southwest from Coal Creek, has many residents working at the plant and two-thirds of the city’s budget comes from coal severance taxes.  Bismarck’s mayor says the high-paying power plant attracts 25% to 35% of its employees from Bismarck-Mandan.

OK, SO HE GOT A LITTLE EXCITED  “Sometimes when you burn a bridge, you have to get a new contractor to rebuild that bridge. Going forward . . . we need to hold the people accountable who burned that bridge.” — Is this analogy a little confusing?  The quote is from a candidate for the Minot City Council running on the theme “People have lost trust in the City of Minot. It’s embarrassing.”  The loss of trust relates to a bungled city parking project, the firing of an “out of control” city manager and mishandled grant requests.

SPARKS IN GRAND FORKS  Robin David is a workforce staffer for the city of Grand Forks and a candidate for mayor.  Her campaign is short on specifics, but advocates a more nurturing, collaborative style of decision making in GF.  This week her campaign proved to be less than nurturing when it was revealed her family had been circulating baseless conspiracy theories about Brandon Bochenski, another candidate.  Bochenski is a real estate developer and former pro hockey player who sees Grand Forks as a laggard needing stronger leadership and lower taxes.  Long-time mayor Mike Brown is running on his record and says the city is in the middle of a “Billion-dollar boom.”

POLITICAL MUSCLE  The ever-controversial Dickinson-based Fisher Sand and Gravel won a $1.3 billion contract to build 42 miles of wall on the Mexican border.  Critics of the company and its CEO, Tommy Fisher, allege political weight was used to obtain the contract.  Fisher cultivates ties to President Trump and his allies.

OAR IN THE WATTER  “It’s intriguing, and our regional loyalties sway us to hope Biden chooses the Minnesotan to share the ticket.” — The GF Herald editorial board endorsed Sen. Amy Klobuchar as a running mate for Joseph Biden.  The editorial hastened to say they weren’t endorsing Biden for president, but rather the hope “that Biden chooses a running mate that would have moderate political beliefs, can work with both parties and who understands rural issues specific to Minnesota and the Dakotas.”  Will the Herald recommendation carry the day?

HIGH-PRICED TRIBUTE  A B-52 bomber swooped over hospitals in ND’s four largest cities last Monday.  No, it wasn’t hostile, it was the Minot AFB’s way of honoring essential workers at those hospitals.  The AF says don’t worry about the cost — the flights are part of routine training.

DAKTOIDS:  ND’s eight commercial airports had April passenger counts which dropped over 90% . . . ND is open for business — it was ranked the second most open state after number one Montana . . . Three finalists will compete to be the architect for the T. Roosevelt Library in Medora: Studio Gang (Chicago), Hennings Larsen (Copenhagen) and Snohetta (Oslo) . . . Three disaster declarations are exhausting the Stutsman County emergency fund: Fall flooding, spring flooding and the coronavirus . . . Black ND residents are less than 3% of the population, but more than 25% of those testing positive for the virus.