SCHMID: LOOKING BACK FROM THE LEFT COAST - SEPTEMBER 16, 2019
SIOUX FALLS, South Dakota’s largest city, was struck by three tornadoes with winds up to 130 mph late Tuesday night. The city of 187,000 is in the southeastern corner of the state near Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska. There was substantial property damage in the southwestern part of the city, but no deaths or serious injuries.
MITCHELL, on I-90 about 60 miles west of Sioux Falls, received 7 inches of rain beginning about the time of the tornadoes. I-90 was closed and the James River near Mitchell reached flood stage. The storm was reported by the Daily Republic, a Forum paper in Mitchell.
A WAYS TO GO The Wall Street Journal ranked 800 U.S. colleges. They assigned rankings to the first 400; lower ranked schools were lumped alphabetically in blocks 401-500, 501-600, etc. No school in ND made the top 400 — UND and NDSU were both in the 401-500 block. The U. of Wyoming was ranked No. 245 and selected as one of the best values. No public college in Montana or SD made the top 500. Many private Minnesota colleges received high rankings and the U. of Minnesota (Twin Cities) was a respectable No. 95. The message for ND schools — they will continue to have low rankings until they have stricter admissions, reduce overlapping academic programs and campuses, and invest more in remaining programs.
STUBBORN PROBLEM A study concluded that ND’s “excessive number of small (higher education) institutions doomed them to mediocrity.” Sound familiar? Guess when the quote arose? It was 1930 and the study was made by a U. of Minnesota professor. The problem was again described by UND Professor Elwyn Robinson as another example of the “Too-Much Mistake” in his 1966 “History of North Dakota.” Wyoming, a state similar in size to ND, has one state university.
“NOT EVERYONE IS PLEASED, but that’s OK. Government needs to be shaken up every now and then.” — From a GF Herald editorial expressing approval of State Auditor Joshua Gallion and his critical reports about government agencies and leaders.
A WEATHER MODIFICATION PROGRAM (cloud seeding) in four northwest ND counties has a high return. Increased rainfall from the program improves crop revenue from $9 to $18 an acre, while costing about 40 cents a planted acre. This comes from a report of the director of the state Atmospheric Resource Board. Statewide, participating counties pay 2/3 of the $900,000 annual cost and the state pays the remainder.
SELL ICE TO ESKIMOS, or ethanol to Brazil. Brazil is the world’s second largest producer of ethanol (from sugar cane), yet it imports ethanol. The U.S. is the largest producer of ethanol, but exports 1.9 billion gallons a year, 30% to Brazil. This was the background for a ND delegation led by Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring to travel to Brazil to pitch ND ethanol. ND has five ethanol plants producing 520 million gallons a year of which only 10% is used in the state. ND producers are at a cost disadvantage to states like Iowa and Nebraska which are closer to shipping routes to Brazil.
ATV DEATHS are not uncommon as riders exceed the limits of the little vehicles. The deaths of two brothers near Valley City in separate, but related ATV accidents border on the bizarre. Kyle (43) and Jeremie (47) Foster were riding on a gravel road, when Kyle of Tuscon, Arizona, rolled into a slough and was killed. Jeremie of Fargo was riding ahead and was unaware Kyle was missing until he reached a farm. Returning and attempting to get help for his brother, Jeremie had a similar accident and died. The Highway Patrol concluded that alcohol and no helmets were a factor in both crashes.
NO ON HEMP South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem has announced she will veto any attempt to legalize hemp in her state. Her major concern is that hemp and marijuana are distinguishable only in sophisticated labs. So, “states that have legalized hemp have essentially legalized marijuana as well.” Hemp is legal under federal law and in neighboring states, such as ND. Noem believes current experiments with legalized marijuana will fail badly and wants to spare her state that experience.
THE MINNESOTA PARADOX — the reason Minnesota is one of the racially most inequitable states is a puzzle. The Minneapolis Tribune attempted to solve the puzzle, but did not arrive at a clear conclusion. They found blacks in Minnesota are no worse off than those in other states, but the gap between blacks and whites in Minnesota is among the largest in the country.
THE RACIAL GAP is created by the wealth and general success of whites in Minnesota. Some academics believe the gap is the cumulative result of white privilege and cannot be solved by blacks alone — they need help from whites. A sociologist at UM said, “In Minnesota, a more subtle ‘post civil rights’ racism exists among Minnesotans, who often like to think of themselves as liberal.” A public affairs professor at UM agreed, but said mobilizing politically around the issue will backfire.
WATCH WHERE YOU WALK The Minneapolis Tribune headline read “Police crack down after string of brutal robberies in downtown Minneapolis.” The article said “Robberies in downtown Minneapolis jumped by more than 50% this year as groups of mostly teenage boys or young men targeted and beat victims for their cellphones and wallets.” A pack of robbers near Target Field kicked and hit a man lying on the ground and rode over him with a bicycle. Twenty-three robberies took place in the last week of August alone.
DAKTOIDS: The Minot Daily News rolled out its new Weekend Edition which is delivered on Saturdays — sorry, no more Sunday newspaper . . . No surprise, as UND and NDSU resumed their football rivalry in the Fargodome, UND was routed 45-7 . . . Dying small ND towns can’t afford to maintain a police department — their solution, hire the Sheriff’s Department for a fraction of the cost of a separate department . . . ND’s pheasant population is up 10% from last year; SD and MN are down 17%.
DakotaBeacon