A consultant is recommending a smaller State Hospital facility.

The Hospital is in Jamestown. It has 108 beds, and it provides acute psychiatric and residential care for patients with mental illnesses.

Human Service Research Institute president David Hughes told the Legislature's Interim Human Services Committee the state is making strides toward more community-based treatment options.

"Given current utilization patterns throughout the system, and the additional enhancements coming on-line, we think that a reduced number of beds is appropriate," Hughes said.

A state senator from Beulah told an interim Legislative committee there’s a lot of concern in Coal Country about the planned closure of the Coal Creek Station power plant near Underwood.

The plant’s owner – Great River Energy – has said it plans to close the plant in 2022, replacing it with wind power from Minnesota, as well as natural gas. The plant runs on lignite from the Falkirk Mine. And it employs a number of people in central North Dakota.

Great River said it had been looking for a buyer, but couldn't find one.

Former UND interim President Joshua Wynne believes it will be safe to bring students back to campus this fall.

After spring break in March, all classes became online, because of the coronavirus. All North Dakota public campuses did the same.

The Board of Higher Education has voted to allow the campuses to reopen for fall semester.

But Wynne said it won’t be the same as it was. He said it will involve mitigation strategies, as the campus prepares.

University System Chancellor Mark Hagerott is still hoping a portion of the earnings from the state’s Legacy Fund can be set aside for research.

That proposal was first floated in the 2019 Legislative Session.

"If there ever was an argument for the need to diversify our wonderful North Dakota workforce, highly intelligent and adaptabe, into new fields, advanced technology and whatnot, I would say the evidence is even more compelling," Hagerott said.

Monday, June 1, 2020 - Joining us today to reflect on the current racial unrest is Joseph McNeil, Jr. of Bismarck, a Standing Rock Sioux tribal member and the son of Joseph McNeil, Sr., one of the Greensboro Four; a group of African American college students who sat down at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter to challenge the store's policy of denying service to non-white customers. ~~~ Commentary on our history of racial unrest from Mark Trahant. ~~~ ND Farmers Markets and Growers Association  has been developing “best practices” recommendations as the season for selling is about to get underway in the midst of the pandemic. Joining us is Holly Rose Mawby, the association’s executive director. She’s also the director of the Entrepreneurial Center for Horticulture at Dakota College at Bottineau, and she does some growing herself.