Dakota Beacon

FOOTBALL IN BROOKINGS  The popular ESPN College GameDay goes to Brookings, SD, tomorrow where the nationally No. 3 ranked SDSU Jackrabbits play the No. 1 NDSU Bison.  The winner will hold the Dakota Marker, a husky replica of the 720 monuments used to establish the states’ border in the 1890s.  NDSU is undefeated, SDSU has one close loss to the Minnesota Gophers, and the teams are tied atop the Missouri Valley Football Conference.

TOO LATE FOR TICKETS  The Brookings game is expected to draw a crowd of over 19,000, the largest crowd to ever watch a football game live in South Dakota.  Scalpers were asking as much as $500 for better seats.  The game starts at 2 p.m. (CST) Saturday following the GameDay broadcast.

DEVILISHLY COMPLEX RANKINGS  WalletHub released its rankings of the 1,000 best colleges and universities.  The list compared institutions based on key measures, such as student selectivity, cost and financial resources and career outcomes.  The rankings are the result of a complex system and are not easily summarized.  Seven ND schools were included in the 1,000.  Minot State was ranked the highest of the ND schools followed by Dickinson State, Valley City State, University of Mary, UND, U. of Jamestown and NDSU.  Surprisingly, Minot State ranked 22nd among Midwest schools.  ND’s two large universities were closely ranked and near the middle of 264 Midwest schools.

MIXED OUTCOMES FOR NEIGHBORS  Many Minnesota schools scored high in the Midwest rankings — Carleton was ranked 7th and the U. of Minnesota in the Twin Cities was 9th.  In South Dakota, Augustana ranked 23rd among Midwest schools, while SD’s two large public universities were on the border of the lowest 10%.  Montana schools were in the Western region and Montana’s two large public universities were also on the edge of the lowest 10%.

GOV. BURGUM AND LT. GOV. SANFORD announced they are running for reelection in 2020.  Burgum said one of the biggest challenges facing the state is the developing agriculture crisis caused by unprecedented moisture late in the year.  The problem is unique and Burgum said it will require "solutions we've never had before.”  Asked about his administration’s accomplishments, he said one was the way the high-profile dispute was resolved involving the Dakota Access Pipeline and Native American groups opposed to it.  He said, "That could have turned violent and it didn't and from that we built even stronger relationships with the tribes.”

A FOOL IS BORN  ND state Sen. Oley Larsen knew a breakthrough when he saw one.  He sent his followers a black-and-white photo of a woman terrorist in a Somalia training camp who he identified as Minn. Rep. Ilhan Omar.  Larsen made one small error — the picture was taken before Omar was born.  Republican leaders Gov. Burgum and ND Senate Majority Leader Rich Wardner said Larsen should issue a public apology and resign his leadership position.

CLOSED PUBLIC RECORDS  The Grand Forks Herald had a bad experience with an open records request made in a small Minnesota community causing the Herald to wonder if that was an isolated case.  To find out, the Herald randomly selected 10 small communities in ND and Minnesota for a test.  In ND, Petersburg, Edinburg and Hoople passed with flying colors.  The same for Lake Bronson, Grygala and Beltrami in Minnesota.  Aneta, ND, and Brooks, MN, refused, while Forest River, ND, and Middle River, MN, never responded.  The law in both states requires public records to be available — most local governments easily handle requests with online responses.  The Herald was discouraged by the result of its test and may pursue action against the four holdouts with their respective state Attorneys General.

EITHER WET OR DRY  A Forum article by Patrick Springer traced the radical weather history of the Red River Valley, which quickly swings from flood years to drought.  This explains two huge, current projects:  The $2.75 billion F-M Diversion Project involves a 36-mile channel to divert floodwater around F-M and is scheduled for completion in 2027.  The $1.2 billion Red River Valley Water Supply project brings water from the Missouri River to the RRV and is scheduled to finish in 2029.

MURDER-FOR-HIRE  Ten years ago, an Oklahoma grandfather hatched a brutal plan.  His 37-year-old daughter died of heart complications and he wanted custody of his 3-year-old granddaughter who lived in Fargo, but his widowed son-in-law, Dr. Philip Gattuso, stood in the way.  The bitter grandfather, Gene Kirkpatrick, arranged for his criminal handyman to go to Fargo and kill Gattuso.  The handyman did it with zeal and did not stop at murder — he took everything of value at Gattuso’s home including a Porsche car, which he loaded on a trailer.  The whole foolish adventure quickly unraveled and the handyman and Kirkpatrick were both convicted and are serving life sentences.  Fargo never dealt before or since with such a murder-for-hire scheme.

ENOUGH!  The Dakota Access Pipeline has been operating for over two years.  The pipeline has increased the value of ND oil and encouraged production.  The Standing Rock Sioux (supported by national environmental interests) repeatedly make legal challenges to the pipeline calling for more studies by the Corps of Engineers.  The tribe labels the resulting studies a “sham.”  The Corps wants the federal district court to sign off on the Corps’ August 2018 finding (its latest) that no more environmental study is warranted.  If the court’s ruling is favorable to the Corps, the tribe is expected to again appeal.

DAKTOIDS:  ND August production records: Oil - 1.48 million barrels a day; gas - 3.0 billion cubic feet per day.  September production may be dialed back a little because of heavy rains.