Dakota Beacon

CHEW ON THAT Next Sunday, ND will be 126 years old -- the Fargo Forum prepared 126 “amazing” ND facts for the occasion. Some were a little banal, like “Salem Sue is the World’s Largest Holstein Cow,” but others were more substantive, like “The state has sported the fastest-growing economy in the U.S. since 2010.” Certain facts remind that life in ND is rugged. The state has the widest swing in the 50 states between record high and record low temperatures -- what is particularly “amazing” is that it happened in one year, 1936. The all-time high was 121 degrees at Steele on July 6; the all-time low was minus-60 degrees at Parshall on Feb. 15. A swing of 181 degrees!

LSS ON THE DEFENSIVE Jessica Thomasson is the CEO of Lutheran Social Services of ND. She said, "We know that the work that we do (refugee resettlement) isn't always popular." A survey of F-M residents showed they oppose continued resettlement two-to-one. Thomasson said refugees who can work, do, and they are an essential source of labor. ND leads the nation in resettlement per capita.

FARGO’S MOMENT IN THE SUN On November 7, 1940, Duke Ellington and his band pulled into Fargo from Winnipeg in a private Pullman car for a performance at the Crystal Ballroom. They used a rail car because blacks were barred from most hotels. Two young radio technicians, Dick Burris from NDSU and Jack Towers from SDSU, recorded the session. After Ellington’s death in 1974, his family released the recording as “Duke Ellington at Fargo, 1940.” in 1980, the album won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Big Band. The recording is called “a milestone in the Ellington recorded literature.”

IMPASSE In 2013, all Griggs County (Cooperstown) commissioners were defeated in a recall election prompted by their decision to build a new courthouse. Undaunted, the defeated commissioners formed a building authority to finance and build the courthouse. How did that work out? Not so well, the courthouse is nearly finished, but the county and the building authority are locked in a lawsuit over responsibility for the remaining construction bills. Meanwhile, taxpayers are stuck with an incomplete courthouse.

LOSS OF MARKET Bringing ND crude oil to East Coast refineries by rail costs about $10-11 a barrel. Foreign crude oil can be imported for transportation costs of $2-3 a barrel. The consequence: East Coast refineries are eliminating deliveries of ND crude causing a sharp decrease in demand. ND oil remains competitive in Midwest markets.

SECOND THOUGHTS “How further into debt are we going to go? Of all the things this community needs, we’re going to spend a quarter of a billion on the airport?” -- Dan Kali, Chairman of the Williams County Commission. Williston is moving forward on a new $250 million airport targeted for completion in 2018. Kali is concerned about the drop in oil prices, thinks the airport is unneeded and peak traffic may already have passed -- he suggests upgrading the old airport. The director of the airport says it would costs nearly as much to bring the airport into compliance as it will cost to build the new airport.

WHOA! NDSU President Dean Bresciani recently set an enrollment goal of 18,000 students. Mark Hagerott,chancellor of the university system, was concerned about the infrastructure requirements. He said, "I will say that coming to ask for more dorm rooms and more bricks and mortar, that would not be something I'd support.” Hagerott also said “his top priority was not growing enrollment but increasing retention.”

RAINMAKER A Business Week article is headed “A North Dakota Company Sells Salvation Cloud by Cloud.” The article is about Weather Modification Inc., the world’s largest private cloud-seeding company, based in Fargo. WMI is owned by Patrick Sweeney and is located at the Fargo Jet Center, a private airport and service center. WMI generates $20 million a year in revenue, does business with governments all over the world, and services its 100 cloud-seeding aircraft in Fargo.

POOR AND DUMB “It portrays Central as a school with dumb, poor students, who suck at sports.” -- An excerpt from a letter from a Grand Forks Central H.S. student responding to a Herald editorial. The editorial mentioned the growing superiority of Red River H.S. athletic teams over those at Central. The Herald said, “We suspect—but would be happy to be proven wrong—that the demographics of the two schools also are pulling apart.” That is, wealthier people were clustering on GF’s south and west sides served by Red River. The student writer conceded, “But the editorial's goal was not to demean anyone. It is shedding light on an issue that is growing and will be a problem down the road if trends continue.”

PRESSURE MOUNTS “For the past few months, Minneapolis has had to contend with a sharp rise in violent crime . . . which has put Minneapolis on pace to log its deadliest year in nearly a decade.” -- Minneapolis StarTribune. Janee Harteau, recently reappointed Minneapolis police chief, said her department will announce a “holistic” plan to address mounting violence, including measures such as sensitivity training for police. The StarTrib article received about 100 online comments -- the majority were massively skeptical of the chief’s plan. If the assaults and murders (41 so far this year) continue at this pace, Harteau may have a hard time hanging on to her job.

ONCE AGAIN A civil rights lawsuit has been filed against the state of Minnesota for failing poor and minority students in the Twin Cities. The same attorneys sued the state 20 years ago. The suit alleges that remedies obtained then such as open enrollment and charter schools have worsened segregation. The suit asks for a metro-wide integration plan. In recent years, state and federal policy has moved away from forcing racial balance in schools.

DAKTOIDS: Another casualty of low oil prices -- MDU Resources in Bismarck announced the sale of its oil and gas assets . . . ND transportation officials are meeting to discuss making U.S. Highway 85 four lanes from Belfield (I-94) 62 miles north to Watford City requiring a rehab of the bridge over the Little Missouri.