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Stockmen’s distributes blizzard aid to ranchers; drought worsens across North Dakota

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Stockmen’s distributes blizzard aid to ranchers; drought worsens across North Dakota


The North Dakota Stockmen’s Affiliation and its Basis have distributed almost $250,000 in assist to ranchers impacted by a string of extreme spring storms that battered the state in the course of the coronary heart of calving season.

In the meantime, drought that reemerged within the state in late summer season is intensifying as autumn progresses, and the phrase “snow” has appeared within the state forecast for the primary time this season.

The rancher assist cash is thru the Hope After Haley Catastrophe Reduction Fund that was launched in late April with about $50,000 in Stockmen’s funding. Donors from the Dakotas, Minnesota and Montana boosted the overall. The appliance deadline was Aug. 1, and the cash was doled out final week.

“North Dakota cattle ranchers had been arduous hit not solely within the disastrous spring storms, however within the critical drought that preceded them,” Stockmen’s Basis President Jeff Schafer stated in an announcement. “I’m grateful to all those that supported our Hope After Haley Catastrophe Reduction Program and helped reinspire hope for these ranch households.”

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Individuals are additionally studying…

A 3-day blizzard in mid-April dropped 2-3 ft of snow over a large space of western and central North Dakota, and an Easter Sunday storm that adopted added a number of inches extra. A late-month blizzard dumped one other 1 to 1 ½ ft of snow within the west and likewise introduced freezing rain to the area. Heavy rain fell in lots of areas of jap North Dakota.

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“Functions got here from all throughout the state, each nook of the state, each area, with nearly half of the counties represented,” Stockmen’s Government Vice President Julie Ellingson stated in an interview.






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Julie Ellingson




Forty-five assist purposes had been permitted. The candidates had, on common, a 14% dying loss as a result of storms — amounting to about 2,000 complete animals.

That is seemingly a small fraction of the particular complete of misplaced livestock. A North Dakota State College examine concluded that the counties of Ward, Mountrail, Golden Valley, Billings and Stark had estimated losses from the blizzards of greater than 10% of their 2021 cattle stock, and most different western counties had estimated losses of as much as 5% of their cattle stock.

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Gov. Doug Burgum declared a statewide emergency and a statewide catastrophe within the wake of the storms. President Joe Biden in July granted a presidential catastrophe declaration for 40 counties.

Ranchers are also getting help by way of the federal Livestock Indemnity Program, which compensates ranchers for livestock deaths in extra of regular mortality, paying 75% of the truthful market worth, with nationwide cost charges set yearly by the U.S. agriculture secretary.

About 2,100 North Dakota ranchers submitted notices of loss by the deadline final spring, in keeping with Ellingson. The deadline for purposes is not till subsequent spring, however based mostly on the notices of loss, animal deaths might complete within the tens or a whole lot of hundreds.

“We all know it is substantial,” Ellingson stated.

The help administered by way of Hope for Haley quantities to about 25% of the worth of the misplaced animals.

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“Once we work collectively, we will accomplish unimaginable issues, and lifting up our personal of their time of want is actually one among them,” Stockmen’s President Jason Leiseth stated in an announcement.







NorthDakotaDrought

Drought expands

Drought disappeared in North Dakota after the moist spring however has develop into a priority once more after a dry summer season.

A big portion of central North Dakota, together with the very northern a part of Burleigh County, is now in extreme drought, in keeping with the newest U.S. Drought Monitor map, launched Thursday. A lot of the western fifth of the state additionally stays in extreme drought. General, extreme drought covers almost 17% of the state, up from 12% final week.

One other 71% of North Dakota is in reasonable drought — together with the remainder of Burleigh County and far of Morton County — up from 60% final week. Eleven % of the state is taken into account abnormally dry. The one space that is still freed from any drought class is the very northeastern nook.

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“Soil moisture indicators supported growth of reasonable drought all through northern and jap North Dakota,” Local weather Prediction Middle Meteorologist Brad Pugh wrote on this week’s report. “Based mostly on a consensus of indicators, extreme drought was added to central North Dakota.”

The newest North Dakota crop report from the Nationwide Agricultural Statistics Service charges topsoil moisture provides in North Dakota as 59% brief or very brief, with 58% of subsoil moisture in these classes. The chances per week in the past had been 53% and 51%, respectively.

Pasture and vary circumstances additionally degraded, at 27% poor very poor, in comparison with 22% final week. Inventory water provides improved barely, at 41% brief or very brief, in comparison with 45% per week in the past.

The report additionally reveals that the soybean harvest in North Dakota has reached the midway level at 53% full, barely forward of the common tempo. Corn is 12% harvested, close to the common, and sunflowers 10% within the bin, equal to the common. The situation of all three crops is rated largely truthful to good.

Winter wheat planting is nearing completion, at 90% seeded. Winter wheat is planted within the fall, goes dormant over winter, and resumes rising within the spring.

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The U.S. Drought Monitor is a partnership of the Nationwide Drought Mitigation Middle, the U.S. Division of Agriculture and the Nationwide Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Wind and snowflakes

Chilly fronts shifting by way of the area have introduced cooler temperatures to North Dakota together with windy circumstances.

Peak wind gusts on Wednesday and Thursday included 56 mph in Mandan, 58 mph in Watford Metropolis, 62 mph in Bismarck, 64 mph in Williston and 67 mph in Hettinger, in keeping with the Nationwide Climate Service.

The chilly fronts are ushering in colder northern air, together with snow in some components of the Higher Midwest. A couple of snowflakes had been briefly within the air in Bismarck early Friday, and the climate service state forecast known as for an opportunity of sunshine snow within the state. Snow was extra seemingly in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan, in keeping with AccuWeather.

The weekend forecast for Bismarck-Mandan requires highs within the mid-50s on Saturday and the mid-40s on Sunday, with in a single day lows within the 20s. Each days are anticipated to be blustery.

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North Dakota

Moorhead man arrested for DUI, assaulting ND State Trooper

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Moorhead man arrested for DUI, assaulting ND State Trooper


FARGO — A Moorhead man faces multiple charges after a run in with a North Dakota Highway Patrol trooper around 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 17.

Oscar Lee Jr., a 44-year-old Moorhead resident, was in a vehicle with children when a North Dakota Highway Patrol trooper made contact with him in a parking lot at 2535 23rd Ave. S., in Fargo, according to a release from the North Dakota Highway Patrol.

The trooper arrested Lee Jr. for driving under the influence. When Lee Jr. was placed under arrest, he “resisted” and kicked at officers, the release said. A trooper was struck several times and went to a nearby hospital to be treated for minor injuries.

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Oscar Lee Jr.

Cass County Jail

Lee Jr. was arrested for driving under the influence and driving under revocation, the release said. He was also arrested for felon resisting arrest, assault on a peace officer and terrorizing.

Lee Jr. is being held in Cass County Jail, according to the release. No charges have officially been filed, according to North Dakota Court Records.

Lee Jr. pleaded guilty to felony terrorizing and reckless endangerment in 2022 and two separate misdemeanor DUI incidents in 2024.

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Our newsroom occasionally reports stories under a byline of “staff.” Often, the “staff” byline is used when rewriting basic news briefs that originate from official sources, such as a city press release about a road closure, and which require little or no reporting. At times, this byline is used when a news story includes numerous authors or when the story is formed by aggregating previously reported news from various sources. If outside sources are used, it is noted within the story.





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New state plan targets falling reading scores in North Dakota

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New state plan targets falling reading scores in North Dakota


FARGO — Reading test scores are declining across the U.S., but North Dakota is working to reverse that trend.

The National Assessment of Educational Progress, also known as “The Nation’s Report Card,” reported a significant decline in U.S. reading scores between 2019 and 2022.

A statewide plan in North Dakota is focusing on key areas of development: Phonics, vocabulary, comprehension and oral reading fluency, or reading aloud.

It’s called “The Science of Reading in North Dakota.”

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“COVID played a big role in this. We certainly went backwards after COVID, and that’s unfortunate, but I think we’re taking the correct steps to move forward now,” Nick Archuleta, president of North Dakota United, said. North Dakota United is the union of the North Dakota Education Association and the North Dakota Public Employees Association.

A recent survey by the National Literacy institute shows 21% of adults in the U.S are illiterate and 54% have a literacy rate below a sixth-grade level.





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Jamestown, state officials tour businesses that received automation grants

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Jamestown, state officials tour businesses that received automation grants


JAMESTOWN — State and local officials went on a tour of three businesses in Jamestown on Friday, Dec. 13, that highlighted recipients of the Automate ND Grant Program.

The tour included stops at Champ Industries USA Inc., Agri-Cover Inc. and Midmach.

Champ Industries received a $240,500 grant for an automated tool-loading brake press.

“This program helped a lot,” said Kyle Johnson, plant manager at Champ Industries. “Automation is definitely something that we were going towards, and this allowed us to take the first step much sooner than we anticipated.”

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Agri-Cover received a nearly $283,000 grant for robot arms and autonomous carts. Midmach received $500,000 for three robotic welding cells.

The North Dakota Development Fund received $5 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funding for a grant program during the 2023 legislative session. The program was developed in response to the workforce shortage in North Dakota, according to the North Dakota Department of Commerce’s website.

The one-time program made grants of up to $500,000 available to primary-sector certified businesses in North Dakota. The grants could not be more than 50% of the machinery, equipment or software being purchased.

“We’ve had legislators reach out to us with interest in advancing and sponsoring a bill to run it into the future and create something or at least do another one-time funding,” said David Lehman, advanced manufacturing business development manager for the state Commerce Department.

The Automate ND Grant Program had 42 applicants with $13 million in requests in a three-month application window from 21 communities, said Shayden Akason, deputy director of economic development and finance with the state Commerce Department. He said 18 applicants were funded from 13 communities.

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“It just showed the type of demand and interest that companies have in automation to help their workforce challenges,” he said. “ … The quality of those applications, we probably would have funded another dozen of them. That’s how good they were and that’s how competitive the process was.”

The state needs about 30,000 to 40,000 people to fill its workforce gap, Lehman said. He said the manufacturing sector has around 26,000 to 29,000 employees in the state.

“If you took every graduating high school student and every graduating college student, we still wouldn’t fill our workforce gap in North Dakota,” he said.

A welder does some work at a station at Champ Industries USA in Jamestown.

John M. Steiner / The Jamestown Sun

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Lehman said there are three ways for the state to dig itself out of the workforce issue — improving processes, focusing on Visa workers and legal immigration to increase workforce and automation.

“If you can’t, if you can’t improve your processes, you can’t get enough people, then you have to automate it,” he said.

Lehman said automation can be difficult in the short term because the state doesn’t have a strong infrastructure for it and the upfront costs are more expensive.

“But in the long term, so North Dakota, who has consistently been in the top three lowest unemployment states since the Bakken hit, has the opportunity,” he said. “So it’s painful now, but as we automate, it should make us more productive and better.”

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Akason said workforce is the No. 1 challenge to expansion and economic development in North Dakota. He said the one-time Automate ND Grant Program was created to help alleviate the workforce shortage and keep manufacturers competitive so they can maintain or expand their market share.

Masaki Ova

Masaki Ova joined The Jamestown Sun in August 2021 as a reporter. He grew up on a farm near Pingree, N.D. He majored in communications at the University of Jamestown, N.D.





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