North Dakota
2 measles cases reported in Cass County
FARGO — The North Dakota Health and Human Services Department said two measles cases have been reported in Cass County, the first to be recorded in eastern North Dakota.
Human services said both cases are unvaccinated individuals who contracted the disease through international travel. One of them is hospitalized.
The health and human services department said members of the public who were at two Essentia Health locations in West Fargo and Fargo may have been exposed. Exposure may have occurred at the Essentia Health Clinic, 3150 Sheyenne St., Ste. 240, West Fargo, between 2:30 and 6 p.m. on Wednesday, May 7, or between 5:30 and 6 p.m., Friday, May 9, at the Essentia Health Walk-in Care, 52nd Avenue, 4110 51st Ave. S, Fargo.
The two new cases bring the total cases reported in the state to 11. The Cass County cases are not believed to be related to the nine cases recently reported near Williston, in Williams County.
The first case was reported Friday,
May 2, when the North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services said an unvaccinated child from Williams County contracted the virus, likely during an out-of-state visit. The number jumped to nine by Friday, May 9. Four of the individuals were contagious while inside three different Williston schools.
Individuals who have not received a dose of the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine should quarantine, or stay home, and monitor for symptoms for 21 days.
Those who have been exposed but are vaccinated do not need to quarantine. However, the department of health and human services said they should still monitor for symptoms for 21 days after exposure.
Measles is a highly contagious, viral illness that can be fatal, particularly for young children and those with compromised immune systems. Measles spreads through the air and can remain in a room and on surfaces for up to two hours, sometimes even traveling between floors through ventilation systems.
Measles symptoms often include a fever, cough, runny nose or eye irritation followed by a body-wide rash. Measles spreads easily through the air and remains contagious for several days before and after symptoms appear.
There is no specific medical treatment for measles, though antibiotics may be used in cases with a developed secondary bacterial infection.
According to the state health department, most North Dakotans are vaccinated against measles, and the risk to the general public is low. People who were vaccinated as children and adults born before 1957 are considered protected due to previous infection.
“The MMR vaccine is 93% effective after one dose and 97% effective after two doses,” Molly Howell, state immunization director, said in a statement. “People who are vaccinated and exposed to measles are not likely to develop the disease. MMR vaccination is critical to preventing the spread of measles in the community.”
The MMR vaccine is recommended starting at 12 to 15 months of age, with a second dose at 4 to 6 years of age. Children who have already received two post-12-month doses of MMR are considered fully vaccinated.
For information about measles, vaccination, or local clinic availability, contact the HHS Immunization Unit at 701-328-2378 or 711 (TTY), or visit hhs.nd.gov/measles.
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The Community Calendar publishes events, meetings and fundraisers in The Jamestown Sun at no charge. To submit an activity, email it to news@jamestownsun.
Saturday, May 23
Buffalo City Group Alcoholics Anonymous, 9 a.m. (open), AA Clubhouse, 518 10th Ave. SE.
James River Alcoholics Anonymous, noon (open) and 8 p.m. (open), AA Clubhouse, 518 10th Ave. SE.
James River Alcoholics Anonymous, 1:30 p.m., women (closed), AA Clubhouse, 518 10th Ave. SE.
James Valley Street Machines Shop Tour 2026. Schedule: 9-9:30 a.m.: Dakota Engine Builders, 2809 U.S. Highway 281; 9:40-10:20 a.m.: Adam Auto Express, 3735 U.S. 281; 10:30-10:55 a.m.: Tom Ravely, 1205 15th St. SW; 11:05-11:35 a.m.: Klein’s Body Shop, 414 17th St. SW; 1-1:30 p.m.: Preferred Transmission, 825 5th Ave. NE; 1:40-2:15 p.m.: Kainz Klassics, 2614 4th St. NE (take 3rd Street Southeast, turn left on 85th Avenue North); 2:30-3:15 p.m., Jon Greeinstein, 1424 Hwy 281 (across from the North Dakota National Guard); 3:25-4 p.m.: Neil Baker, 1142 41st St. NW; 4:10-5 p.m.: Steve Jaskoviak, 500 block 1st Street East (east of Orphan Grain Train, north side of street).
Sunday, May 24
James River Alcoholics Anonymous, 1 p.m. and 8 p.m., AA Clubhouse, 518 10th Ave. SE.
James River Alanon Family, 4 p.m., AA Clubhouse, 518 10th Ave. SE.
Adult Children of Alcoholics, 7 p.m., AA Clubhouse, 518 10th Ave. SE.
Narcotics Anonymous, 4:30 p.m., New Hope Free Lutheran Church, 1545 4th Ave. NW.
Monday, May 25
James River Alcoholics Anonymous, 4:30 (open) and 8 p.m. (closed), 518 10th Ave. SE, (topic).
Celebrate Recovery, 6 p.m. dinner, 7 p.m. meeting, Church of the Nazarene, 1306 6th Ave. SE.
Narcotics Anonymous, noon, Clubhouse. 518 10th Ave. SE.
Memorial Day observances in the area:
Jamestown: 9 a.m., Gladstone Inn and Suites, followed by naval ceremony is planned at Nickeus Park, visits to city cemeteries, 11 a.m. Veterans Memorial Wall ceremony. Freewill lunch, 11:30 a.m., All Vets Club.
Gackle: 10 a.m., Gackle Legion Hall Mayer-Morlock Post #250, followed by ceremonies at the Gackle Cemetery, Alfred Cemetery. Potluck lunch after at Gackle Legion Hall.
Kensal: 10:30 a.m., Kensal Public School, followed by ceremonies at Kensal Cemetery and St. John’s Cemetery. Lunch at St John’s Catholic Church.
Medina: 10:30 a.m., Medina High School, followed by visits to Medina Community Cemetery and the Catholic Cemetery. Dinner follows at American Legion.
Pettibone/Woodworth: 9 a.m. at Pettibone Cemetery; 10:30 a.m., at Woodworth Gem Cemetery. Potluck dinner follows at Woodworth Fire Hall.
Pingree: 10:30 a.m., Pingree Community Center. After, meet at the depot and march to the cemetery to decorate military veterans’ graves. Noon meal follows at community center.
Sanborn: 9:30 a.m., rifle volley, Sacred Heart Catholic Cemetery; 9:45 a.m., at Fairview Cemetery; 10 a.m., donuts and coffee at the Sanborn Community Center.
MINOT — “It’s hard to do enhanced oil recovery,” Charles Gorecki said during a Plain Talk podcast interview from the Williston Basin Petroleum Conference.
Gorecki is the head of the Energy and Environmental Research Center at the University of North Dakota. That organization conducts exploratory research explicitly driven by North Dakota’s industrial and environmental needs. Stuff like how to reduce flaring, how to build safer pipelines and how to enhance oil recovery.
The theme of the conference, which
brings together all the major players in North Dakota’s oil and gas industry,
was “cracking the code,” which is a reference to ongoing efforts for enhanced oil recovery. Something that could perhaps set off a second oil boom, and prolong the oil and gas industry’s prodigious contributions to North Dakota’s economic prosperity and tax revenues.
Gorecki said there are many promising paths to enhanced oil recovery, but using captured carbon emissions to unlock more oil from wells is one of the most promising. The problem? We don’t have enough of it.
“I’ve talked about CO2 being the thing that we need in massive quantities, hundreds of billions of tons to really unlock the Bakken,” he told us.
“For context, our coal fire power plants in the state of North Dakota produce annually about 30 million tons of CO2,” he continued. “So it would take all the coal fire power plant CO2 emissions captured times three or more to really enhance that recovery to have what we would consider basically, volumetrically, a second boom in the Bakken.”
But getting that carbon to North Dakota has proven politically fraught. Opposition to a carbon pipeline proposed by Summit Carbon Solutions has
caused that project to be rerouted to Wyoming,
and while some of that outcome had to do with Summit’s
aggressive and ham-handed
approach to landowners, there’s no question there’s a noisy and organized movement against carbon pipelines in general.
Gorecki told us “there’s a lot of misinformation” about the issue. “We transport things in a number of different ways in this country. We transport them by truck, by train, by pipeline,” he said. “And by far the safest way to transport large amounts of liquids and gases is in pipelines.”
Also on this episode, guest co-host Alison Ritter and I talked about the controversies around data centers, and carbon pipelines, and whether too many in the public are taking North Dakota’s economic prosperity for granted.
If you want to participate in Plain Talk, just give us a call or text at
701-587-3141.
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The Community Calendar publishes events, meetings and fundraisers in The Jamestown Sun at no charge. To submit an activity, email it to news@jamestownsun.
Friday, May 22
Jamestown Overcomers Narcotics Anonymous, 7:30 p.m., Seventh-day Adventist Church, 1201 4th St. NE.
James River Alcoholics Anonymous, noon (closed, topic) and 8 p.m. (open, speaker meeting) AA Clubhouse, 518 10th Ave. SE.
Overeaters Anonymous, 5:30 p.m. Regular weekly step meeting; phone meeting only. Call 701-320-2386 before meeting time to get information on calling into meeting.
Saturday, May 23
Buffalo City Group Alcoholics Anonymous, 9 a.m. (open), AA Clubhouse, 518 10th Ave. SE.
James River Alcoholics Anonymous, noon (open) and 8 p.m. (open), AA Clubhouse, 518 10th Ave. SE.
James River Alcoholics Anonymous, 1:30 p.m., women (closed), AA Clubhouse, 518 10th Ave. SE.
James Valley Street Machines Shop Tour 2026. Schedule: 9-9:30 a.m.: Dakota Engine Builders, 2809 U.S. Highway 281; 9:40-10:20 a.m.: Adam Auto Express, 3735 U.S. 281; 10:30-10:55 a.m.: Tom Ravely, 1205 15th St. SW; 11:05-11:35 a.m.: Klein’s Body Shop, 414 17th St. SW; 1-1:30 p.m.: Preferred Transmission, 825 5th Ave. NE; 1:40-2:15 p.m.: Kainz Klassics, 2614 4th St. NE (take 3rd Street Southeast, turn left on 85th Avenue North); 2:30-3:15 p.m., Jon Greeinstein, 1424 Hwy 281 (across from the North Dakota National Guard); 3:25-4 p.m.: Neil Baker, 1142 41st St. NW; 4:10-5 p.m.: Steve Jaskoviak, 500 block 1st Street East (east of Orphan Grain Train, north side of street).
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