Dakota Beacon

STILL IN THE RACE  Both of ND’s largest universities won their FCS playoff football games last Saturday.  Next Sunday, May 2, UND will play at James Madison; NDSU will play at Sam Houston State.  These quarterfinal FCS games will be broadcast on ESPN channels.

TREY LANCE was drafted last evening by the San Francisco 49ers.  The 6-foot-4, 226-pound NDSU quarterback was drafted No. 3 in the first round of the NFL draft.  His contract guarantees $34 million over the next four years.  During the current season, he played in only one NDSU game before withdrawing for the draft.  That provided very little recent film for the NFL teams to study.  Lance is from Marshall, Minnesota, where his parents live.  They attended the draft ceremonies.  

THE ND POPULATION turned out to be somewhat larger than earlier census estimates.  The state’s 2020 population was 779,000 compared to 673,000 in 2010 (an increase of 15.8%).  ND’s percentage growth was fourth in the nation.  The population growth of bordering states was noticeably slower.  Montana grew 9.6%, SD 8.9% and Minnesota 7.6%.  The nation increased 7.4%, while the Midwest population grew by just 3.1%, the slowest of any region.

THE OIL PATCH, directly and indirectly, accounted for the lion’s share of ND’s growth.  City and county information is not yet available and it will be interesting to see the extent ND’s population is shifting westward.  Fargo is no slouch in growth and Ken Iverson, manager of the ND Census Office, has an interesting speculation about that growth.  Roughly 50% of new residents in ND come from Minnesota and Iverson believes they are responding to Minnesota’s high-tax status by moving to ND, particularly Fargo.

NOT A SLAM DUNK  A Forum writer described Jamestown business leaders as “smitten” by the proposed $60 million Buffalo City Park.  They visualize the park opening in 2024 with 200,000 visitors and a profit of $2.3 million.  Before that happens they must climb a tall ladder of conditions.  Design and planning (leaders get to see the actual details) have been jump-started by $600,000 from a local public development corporation.  The next step is a proposal to the State Investment Board for a $60 million loan from the ND Legacy Fund.  That will be subject to much vetting by money managers and financial experts.  Lastly, they can earn $10 million for a proposed operating endowment ($5 million from the state, matched by $5 million of private money) if they meet a series of benchmarks.  The $60 million loan represents $4,000 for each man, woman and child in Jamestown.

BUFFALO CITY PARK received a rude reception in the state legislature.  The $5 million matching grant (above) was withdrawn from the state budget.  Some legislators viewed the project as wasteful spending.  The Bismarck Tribune said, “Backers (mostly from the Jamestown area) believed it would provide an economic boost to a region with little else to offer.”  

OTHER CRITICS  Mike Jacobs mocked the project in a satirical column which concluded “If we build it . . . surely they (200,000 visitors) will come.”  Governor Burgum joined the critics more subtly.  He said, “Tourism projects like the proposed park present a major opportunity for diversifying North Dakota's economy,” but he noted the state shouldn't become the majority owner in what ought to be private enterprises.  He was implying the $60 million loan would put the state in that position.

STUBBORNLY OBSTINATE  “There’s an independent mindset in North Dakota.” — Dr. Richard Better, Chief Medical Officer at Essentia Health in Fargo.  He explained Nodaks are not always quick to follow what experts tell them.  ND would like to get 70% of its residents vaccinated — a high bar when 29% have expressed vaccine hesitancy.  That’s the highest rate in the nation after Wyoming’s 31% rate.  The rate in SD is 22% — Minnesota 11%.  Vaccine hesitancy is twice as high in western ND than eastern.

DAPL KICKED TO CORPS  A federal judge pushed the issue of shutting down the Dakota Access Pipeline back into the lap of the Corps of Engineers who face a May 3 deadline to make a decision.

CORONAVIRUS DEATHS in ND are leveling off near 1,500.  Deaths in Cass County (Fargo) as a percentage of total state deaths are 58% of its part of the state population.  Williams County (Williston) is even more so — its percentage of deaths is less than half its share of the population.  Going the other direction, in Stutsman County (Jamestown) the percentage of deaths was more than double its percentage of the population.  Morton County (Mandan) and Ward County (Minot) both had deaths percentages which were much larger than their share of the population.

LOW RETIREMENT SAVINGS  An investment organization named Personal Capital compared average retirement savings by state.  ND residents had the nation’s second lowest retirement savings ($311,000); surrounding states were significantly higher.  Alaska ($489,000) was among the top five states.  It was not clear what counted as savings, but I am guessing it was conventional savings accounts, 401K accounts, etc.  Farmland and homes, for example, most likely did not qualify.  No explanation was furnished for ND’s low ranking.  SD, a similar state, had average retirement savings of $429,000; Minnesota was $448,000.

RELIEF IS IN SIGHT  Have you been reluctant to get your ears pierced?  The estate sale of Tom and Gayle Clifford this weekend in Grand Forks includes 200 pairs of clip-on earrings.  Gayle was a collector — the sale includes table-top trinkets and walls of knicknacks.  Tom had been an influential president of UND —  his impact on state public affairs reached well beyond the campus.  

DAKTOIDS:  The MHA Nation at Ft. Berthold plans a greenhouse project to make it self-sufficient for fresh vegetables.  MHA chairman Mark Fox was inspired by a visit to the Netherlands and its ag technology . . . While ND’s population grew more rapidly than SD’s during the last decade, SD still has more than a 100,000 lead over ND . . . Minot’s Norsk Hostfest is out for another year — a victim of the pandemic.