Dakota Beacon

GET OUT OF THEIR WAY  "I just think it's worth a try. This is the Great Northern Plains.  It’s not like we're in downtown San Francisco trying to order Dilly Bars.” — Minot state Sen. Oley Larsen advanced his argument for a road train pilot bill.  Road trains are multi-trailer truck platoons that are often pictured thundering across Australia.  The pilot bill received a favorable 12-1 vote in the state Agriculture and Transportation Committee.  Fully-stocked triple trailer road trains can reach up to 360,000 pounds and 191 feet in length.

CAN’T GET A LID ON IT  ND continued to set new records by nearly every measure of coronavirus.  Cass County (Fargo) has spiked again and is the state leader in new and active cases.  Ward (Minot) has come up on the outside and has the third highest number of active cases after Burleigh (Bismarck).  On a per capita basis (per 10,000), the story is a little different:  Morton (Mandan) led larger cities Wednesday with 87 followed by Burleigh 84, Williams (Williston) 70, Cass 61 and Ward 48.  Over half of the state’s active cases are in long-term care facilities — Somerset Court in Minot is an example with 42% of its 137 residents infected.

REGIONAL POWER  With 379 journalists and content providers, Forum Communications Company dominates local news in ND and Minnesota outside of the Twin Cities.  The Fargo Forum claims its newsroom staff is untouched and it still has 31 full-time journalists, plus 30 employees at WDAY-TV.  Mike McFeely reports the Forum has 30,000 paid subscribers of which 10,000 are online only subscribers.  The 20,000 print subscribers receive a newspaper on Wednesday and Saturday.  FCC also has reporters in Bismarck, Pierre and St. Paul.  The long-term success of FCC depends on converting more readers to digital formats.

NEW ALTRU DEBT  In November 2019, Altru Health in Grand Forks took out a one-year loan to finance new hospital construction.  Then the roof caved in, Altru had serious operating and cash problems and the construction was stopped in April.  Altru represents its operations have been downsized and stabilized.  Altru will refinance the short-term loan with a $50 million bond issuance which will be sold as an obligation of the city of Grand Forks thereby qualifying the borrowing as low interest, tax-free municipal debt.

NOTABLE IRONY  The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is starting a new court-ordered environmental review (EIS) of the DAPL.  At the same time, the Corps has joined the owner of the pipeline to ask a panel of federal appeals judges to conclude that an EIS is unnnecessary.     

“DIVERSIFY OUR ECONOMY” are the words written on a billboard outside of Calgary, Alberta.  A Fortune magazine article points out that has been the need for a long time.  Oil sands dominate the economy of Alberta and take it through cycles of boom and bust.  Right now it’s bust.  Residents find it hard to change, when times are good there is “little motivation,” when times are bad there is “no money.”  ND should take a lesson — on a smaller scale it has the same problem.  Alberta can’t rely on its Trust Fund which has $13 billion for four million residents.  ND is further down the savings road — its Legacy Fund has $7 billion for only 760,000 residents.

AG BOUNCING BACK  There is a sense that ND’s ag economy is regaining health.  That idea was confirmed by regional bankers participating in a Creighton University survey.  The Rural Mainstream Survey saw the regional economy returning to growth in October.  A Creighton economist attributed the improvement to better prices for farm commodities, federal farm support and low interest rates.  In the case of ND, he could also have mentioned good growing and harvesting conditions.

A FLOOD OF MISSIONARIES  The Latter-day Saints (LDS) normally have about 100 missionaries in the Dakotas.  At the moment, they have around 200, most of whom would otherwise be in countries such as Mexico and Brazil, but are stateside because of the pandemic.  ND is considered rich ground for the Mormons, Bismarck has one of the largest LDS missions in the country.

GOEHNER MARRIES GACKLE  “Marilyn’s ability to manage all the needs at home, including milking cows, feed grinding, fence fixing, swathing, haying, feeding the cows, feeding the kids, and everything else in between.” — From the obituary of Marilyn Goehner Gackle (89), a lifetime resident in the Germans from Russia triangle, who in 2006 was one of six finalists for Farm and Ranch Guide’s Country Woman of the Year.  She was a community leader and traveled the world with her husband Bill Gackle, then a Director of Lions Club International.  Yes, and she sang along with German polkas.

BOBCAT  Most ND people are familiar with Bobcats, the nimble little construction machines.  Bobcat is the state’s largest manufacturer, employing more than 3,000, mostly in Gwinner and Bismarck.  The company is adding 100 production employees in ND.

TARGET has 8,500 corporate workers in downtown Minneapolis.  The company has told the majority of those employees they may continue to work from home to at least  next June.  Imagine the ripple effect on downtown businesses: restaurants, retailers, etc.

DAKTOIDS:  Has UND finally found a popular president?  A GF Herald editorial praised Andrew Armacost: “In his first months, he has done well with inclusivity, collaboration and morale, all within the great shadow cast by the pandemic” . . . Wonderment: despite a huge loss of retailers, Grand Forks sales tax collections are ahead of last year — online sales tax collections may be taking up the slack . . . Hospitals in Bismarck and Fargo have only a few beds remaining for coronavirus patients — but overall, the state is believed to have adequate hospital capacity . . . Wheat is $6 a bushel, the highest price since 2015 — another plus for ND agriculture.