701 Rundown: Oct. 21, 2024

Here’s your weekly rundown of some of the most interesting headlines from newspapers across North Dakota.

Two dead from grass fires fueled by high winds

Two people have died and thousands of acres, some rural homes and farm buildings were burned over the weekend from grass fires fueled by winds in excess of 70 mph across part of Williams County, including Divide County.

First responders reported one death from the fires over the weekend, Johannes Van Eeden, a 26-year-old South African farmhand, died from injuries sustained in the fires near Ray.

The other individual was transported to a hospital, where he later passed, after suffering critical injuries, according to the Williams County Sheriff’s Office.

Wind speeds Saturday, according to the National Weather Services, reached 75 mph at Tioga, while Fortuna reported 66 mph. Weather stations at Alkabo and Ray recorded gusts around 64 mph.

Along with two lives, property and livestock loss, the starkest sign of the fire’s path is the acreage damage it left behind. The exact size and scope of the fire was still unknown, the state Department of Emergency Services reported.

(Story by Brad Nygaard and Jordan Rusche, Divide County Journal)

Family code camp

Ellendale Public School’s librarian, Becky Middlestead, led 50 elementary school kids and their parents in an evening “Family Code Camp,” in which students in grades K-5 and their parents learned some of the basics of coding.

What is coding? As Middlestead explained, it’s providing instructions to a computer so it can do a task; in essence it’s creating a “program.”

What is a program? It is, participants learned, “a list of instructions you write to tell a computer what to do.”

The software lessons for coding are from cyber.org. “They have a lot of lessons that work very well with the initiative that the state has mandated that we teach – cyber security,” Becky said.

The Family Code Camp has been successfully held in thousands of schools nationwide and this year is being hosted by 50 schools across North Dakota. In addition, schools with top participation rates will be entered in a drawing to win the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation STEM kits for their school.

(Story by Ken Smith, Dickey County Leader)

Tribal candidates take part in forum organized by college students

More than half of the candidates running to represent the Turtle Mountain Tribe took part in an election forum last week.

The event continued the Turtle Mountain College’s (TMC) tradition of coordinating and hosting the political discussions. The event spans nearly three decades and has encompassed 15 elections.

This year’s election will involve 47 candidates vying for office, and 23 took part in the forum where they were able to introduce themselves and answer questions at random.

The event is a service learning activity initiative that’s part of the college’s tribal government class. Students identify community issues and use them to create the majority of questions for the forum.

Through the years, the TMC forum has stayed civilized by maintaining issue-oriented discussion. The primary goal of the event is addressing issues that members of the tribe deem important and need assessing.

(Story by Jason Nordmark, Turtle Mountain Star)

Westhope School District purchases two electric buses

The Westhope School District, in the near future, will have two electric buses transporting students within their school routes. The buses will save the district money and provide the students a safe ride to and from school.

“We needed two new buses,” Marty Bratrud, superintendent of Westhope School District, said. “The cost of a brand new bus has gone from $85,000 to $125,000 for a bus that runs on gas and $145,000 for a bus that runs on diesel, which is something the school district didn’t want to put on the taxpayers.

“The EV bus grant fully covers the cost of the buses, and the only cost we carry after rebates is half the cost for chargers, the electrical infrastructure for the chargers and the line into the bus barn and breaker box,” Bratrud said. “I am also under the understanding that another tax credit is going to be released on Jan. 1 that is probably going to grant us the ability to recover 95 percent of the cost on these items. So, the cost of everything is literally going to be about $10,000 which is a major benefit to our taxpayers.”

The rebates for clean school buses across North Dakota – as part of Investing in America Agenda – granted $3.47 million to five schools in North Dakota to purchase clean school buses.

Westhope will start using their electric buses in about a month and Bratrud said that he is pleased to get the buses into their fleet.

(Story by Scott Wager, Bottineau Courant)

'Katrina Christiansen. How do you do.'

Katrina Christiansen arrived in Harvey Tuesday morning, hoping she could escape the bastion of North Dakota Republican faithful unscathed.

By all reports, Christiansen had an enjoyable but brief fact-finding tour of Harvey, where she had the opportunity to visit friends of the Senior Center and hear their concerns, hopes and visions for Harvey, Wells County, the state and nation.

She asked for their support but in a congenial way Harvey responded to – positively, according to reports.

Traveling the Blue Highways and rural county roads, Christiansen has visited every county in the state and a town or two outside the county seat.

Christiansen’s strategy is to keep getting out and meeting voters.

(Story by Neil O. Nelson, The Herald-Press)