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Regional Briefs

Knudsvig to seek re-election as alderman

Minot attorney Scott Knudsvig has announced that he will seek re-election as alderman in Minot’s 5th Ward.

Knudsvig was first elected to the Minot City Council in 2006. Knudsvig is a shareholder at the Pringle & Herigstad law firm in Minot. He is a native of Alamo and graduate of the University of North Dakota School of Law.

Knudsvig is chairman of the council’s Public Works and Safety Committee. He also serves on the Airport Committee. He previously served as the chairman of the Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee and currently serves on the search committee for Minot’s new city manager.

He sees dealing with the growth resulting from this region’s expanding economy and the continuing recovery from the Souris River flood of 2011 as key challenges that the city will face in the next few years.

“I am also very concerned about rising property taxes, and I intend to work hard to keep property taxes affordable as I have done in the past,” he said.

Man dies, woman injured in shooting

WILLISTON One man is dead and one woman is injured in separate shooting incidents in Williston early Friday morning, according to the Williston Police Department.

Shortly after midnight, police responded to a call reporting shots fired in the 400 block of 11th Street West. There they found an unidentified female who had suffered three non-fatal gunshot wounds. She is now being treated for the injuries at an unidentified medical facility.

Police then were directed to the 1,000 block of Sixth Avenue West where they heard a single gunshot from inside a home. A man was located inside, dead from a fatal gunshot wound.

Flint McColgan

Regional Briefs

Transportation secretary to visit

U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx is scheduled to visit North Dakota next month in regard to rail safety issues.

Foxx will be in Casselton on April 24 to meet with local officials about the rail safety issues.

Casselton was the site of a December 2013 collision of a train carrying crude oil and another train that triggered an explosion.

Michael Huerta, head of the Federal Aviation Administration, also will be visiting North Dakota next month. Huerta will be in Grand Forks and Williston April 21 to review the state’s growing unmanned aerial systems industry and see the aviation infrastructure needs in the western part of the state.

North Dakota’s congressional delegation will accompany the visitors.

McLees judgeship to be retained

The North Dakota Supreme Court announced Wednesday that the judgeship that will be vacated upon the June 30 retirement of Judge William W. McLees, the presiding judge of the North Central Judicial District, will be retained.

The court had to determine within 90 days of the announcement of a judge’s retirement whether that seat was necessary to the effective court processes in the district and to hire a new one, move move it to a new region or remove it.

In making their decision the court looked at reports about population and caseload trends and other matters and also received one comment from an attorney or judge in favor of retaining the judgeship.

Flint McColgan

Compost sites to open this weekend

Compost sites in the city of Minot will open Saturday. Friday will be the last day yard waste will be picked up by city sanitation crews.

The city asks residents to take all yard waste to one of the compost sites or the city landfill. Locations of compost sites 1 and 2 have changed from last year. Compost site 1 is now located at 27th Avenue and Seventh Street Northwest. Compost site 2 is located at 15th Avenue and Second Street Northeast. Locations of all the compost sites can be found on the city website at (www.minotnd.org).

Landfill hours are currently 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Saturday. Summer hours are 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday through Saturday, beginning April 14.

Regional Briefs

Board awards $8 million for school

BISMARCK The Board of University and School Lands (Land Board) Monday awarded an energy impact grant of $8 million to Watford City and the McKenzie County Public School District for street, water and sewer infrastructure that will support the construction of a new high school and residential development.

The Land Board also committed to provide another $3 million in grants next year to help cover the utility construction costs.

“These state funds will support the construction of critical infrastructure that will accommodate the building of a new high school and other development in Watford City,” said Gov. Jack Dalrymple, chairman of the five-member Land Board. “We will continue working with local officials in the state’s oil and gas region to address the dynamic challenges of rapid growth.”

Watford City voters approved a $27 million bond referendum on March 11 to finance building a $50 million high school.

Other Land Board members are Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem, Secretary of State Al Jaeger, Superintendent of Public Instruction Kirsten Baesler and State Treasurer Kelly Schmidt. The Land Board voted unanimously in favor of awarding the grant funds to Watford City and the local school district.

Williston pondering new school

Superintendent Viola LaFontaine said people at a forum held last week to discuss the future of the school district said they were most interested in the idea of building the new high school.

Williston voters defeated a $55 million bond issue and a 10 mill increase for the school district building fund in December 2012. LaFontaine said the forums are being held this spring to determine what voters will support. The school board has not yet decided on a date for a revised possible bond issue, but LaFontaine said June or September are possible dates.

About 100 people attended the forum held last week. The plan that attracted the most interest would involve building a new high school on donated land. Middle school students would stay in the current high school building, with fifth and sixth-graders from the district being moved over to that building. That would free up more space in the district’s five elementary schools.

The $55 million cost would be covered by a combination of bonds and loans. LaFontaine said the Bank of North Dakota offers some loan programs to schools.

LaFontaine said there are currently 3,058 students in the district and enrollment has increased 14 percent in the last few years. Enrollment has held steady and there is a need for more space, she said.

Regional Briefs

Death of airman on base being

investigated

MINOT AIR FORCE BASE An airman at Minot Air Force Base was found dead in the individual’s base residence Monday at 9:44 p.m., base officials said.

The airman, with the rank of senior airman, was with the base’s 5th Bomb Wing. The name of the individual is being withheld pending notification of next of kin.

The incident is being investigated. Further details will be released when they become available, base officials said.

Housing project soon to break ground

WILLISTON The City of Williston planning and zoning commission voted unanimously Monday in favor of final plat approval for Northstar Center, a mixed-use site that will amount to over $1 billion in total development.

The 535-acre center will break ground in the middle of April.

Facing U.S. Highway 2 and 85 to the site’s east is 2.7 million square feet of commercial space including “large format retail,” an automotive center and a movie theater at the far east but lightening to hotels, offices and general retail along a “Main Street Retail” area in the middle of the center.

To the western edge will be over 2,000 new dwelling spaces featuring both single- and multi-family homes as well as twin homes which are largely padded from the light industrial section to the north along the future highway CR6 Bypass by 105 square feet of park and open space.

Regional Briefs

A ‘yes’ for Watford City schools

Voters in the Watford City School District decided Tuesday to approve a $27 million bond issue to pay for construction of a new high school.

The unofficial tally given after the polls closed indicated 90 percent support for the measure, with 748 votes in favor to 83 votes cast against.

School officials have cited an increase in students as reason for the new construction, with enrollment doubling over the past three years. Property taxes levied as a result are estimated to increase by $93.87 per year for a $100,000 home in the district.

Man arrested for alleged arson

Dustin R. Greaves, 32, Minot, was arrested by a Ward County deputy early Tuesday morning shortly after a home just south of Surrey was on fire.

He is charged with arson, burglary, driving under the influence of alcohol, failing to submit to a chemical test when requested by a law enforcement officer, and driving with a suspended license.

People passing by the residence in the 600 block of 104th Street Southeast reported the fire to Minot Central Dispatch shortly after 4 a.m. The callers went to take a closer look at the home and reported that a man was inside and then left the building in a sports utility vehicle and were able to identify the license number.

The deputy was able to stop the vehicle not far from the fire and then placed Greaves under arrest. The damage to the home is unknown at this time but the Surrey Fire Department was able to extinguish the fire.

Arizona man dies in crash

Brand M. Patton, 56, Mesa, Ariz., died at the scene from injuries suffered in a head-on crash on U.S. Highway 23 about three miles east of Watford City Sunday at about 11:50 p.m.

According to the North Dakota Highway Patrol, Patton was driving a 2003 Buick Century westbound on the highway at an unknown speed when, “for an unknown reason,” he swerved into the westbound lane and struck a trailer attached to a 2001 Ford Excursion driven by Erick J. Atkinson, 31, La Prairie, Minn.

The highway was closed for about two and a half hours following the crash.

Neither Atkinson nor his passengers, Joseph C. Eicher, 18, Sandpoint, Idaho, and Mitchell Niverson, 35, Nampa, Idaho, were injured in the crash. The Buick was totaled but there was only minor damage to the trailer.

Minor oil spill in stock pond

KILLDEER A well pad owned by Continental Resources about 14 miles northwest of Killdeer lost between six to ten barrels worth of oil Tuesday, according to the North Dakota Department of Health.

The agency also said that the oil reached a stock pond near the well pad and that the owner of that stock pad has been notified and oil spill cleanup has commenced.

Continental Resources employees working on the clean-up are also developing a remediation plan with a state inspector at the site.

Flint McColgan

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