The state Board of Higher Education is tightening up its policy on the relationships between a college or university and its foundation – or other non-profit affiliate.

The new rules say the campus president must be an ex-officio non-voting member of the organization’s board.

This comes about because of litigation surrounding the activity center at Dickinson State University. The DSU Foundation financed the center – but it dissolved in 2015, and five banks have sued, looking for repayment of loans.

There will not be a mayoral recall election in Bismarck.

A group opposing Mayor Mike Seminary circulated petitions for a recall. The group needed 1898 valid signatures to recall the mayor. 2405 signatures were collected. But Bismarck city manager Keith Hunke said because of discrepancies, the state's Bureau of Criminal Investigation was called in to take a look.

Steven Somsen’s farm has looked the same his entire life -- it’s flat, with wheat and soybeans that will soon grow as far as the eye can see.

But the 61-year-old’s view changed last year.

“Those are the closest ones to us, but they’re not our towers,” he said, pointing to several nearby wind turbines. “That’s the neighbors’. Ours are way, way off in there.”

One hundred wind turbines dot the farmland around his rural community of Courtenay in eastern North Dakota. Somsen has three on his land.

The Board of Higher Education has approved the annual budget guidelines for the state’s 11 public colleges and universities.

This will include tuition increases.

The 2017 legislature allowed the campuses to raise tuition to a cap of four percent for in-state students.

"For all campuses, they are requesting a maximum tuition rate increase of 4 percent," said University System Finance Director Tammy Dolan. "That's the Legislative cap."

The chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee says the Legislature continues to put a high priority on property tax relief.

Sen. Ray Holmberg (R-Grand Forks) said all you have to do is look at the percentages of state expenditures that go towards keeping property taxes down.

In a memo to Holmberg, the Legislative Council said in the 2015-2017 biennium, the state provided $1.313 billion in property tax relief – or  about 21.8 percent of the state’s general fund budget.

A subsidiary of MDU Resources, In. continues to work on a project to bring more natural gas to eastern North Dakota and western Minnesota.

It’s called the Valley Expansion project. WBI would build a 38 mile pipeline to connect the Viking Gas Transmission Company’s pipeline in Felton, Minnesota to the existing Williston Basin pipeline near Mapleton.

North Dakota is still producing over one million barrels of oil per day.

That’s shown in the just-released March production figures.

"We had a very slight downtick in production from February to March," said Mineral Resources Director Lynn Helms at his monthly "Director's Cut" briefing. "Gas production was up 1.4%."

The figures: March oil production at 1,025,638 barrels a day. Natural gas at 1.7 MCF per day.

It appears a special Legislative session to override Governor Burgum’s vetoes is not likely.

The Governor vetoed three bills – as well as parts of others.

When the Legislature adjourned, it left three days for a potential special session.

Senate Majority Leader Rich Wardner R-Dickinson) has been talking to his Senate caucus members – and to the Senate Democrats – and he said there isn’t much of an appetite to come back. Wardner said there’s more interest among House members to come back for overrides.