General News

North Dakota’s Industrial Commission has made some tweaks to its natural gas capture policy, while keeping the benchmarks for gas capture in place.

The current policy requires companies to capture 88 percent of the gas produced. That rises to 91 percent by November first.

The policy amends the definition of “stranded gas,” and clarifies how the percentage of gas captured is calculated where variances are applied, and it expands when requests for variances would require public notice and a hearing.

North Dakota’s interim state Health Officer has lifted the 14-day quarantine order for those returning to the state from international travel.

And some travel agents are glad to hear it.

Dr. Paul Mariani says his action follows the recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control.

"People are ready to start traveling," said Mark Haley of Bon Voyage Travel Leaders of Grand Forks.  "Maybe not to Europe, but to the Caribbean and Mexico."

North Dakota’s Tax Commissioner said it isn’t a surprise.

Ryan Rauschenberger said taxable sales and purchases for April, May and June were down 22.5 percent compared to the same three month period in 2019.

Taxable sales and purchases totaled $4.34 billion.

Rauschenberger said there were two major factors that caused that downward trend. One was COVID-19.

With some North Dakota school districts having a mix of in-person and online learning, some families are looking for information about safe and quality child care for their school age children.

There are about 1600 licensed and self-declared child care providers serving children up to age 12 in North Dakota communities. And during this pandemic, the state has provided some modified operating practices for licensed child care providers, to keep children and staff safe.

Beginning today, farmers and ranchers will be able to apply for another round of the USDA’s Coronavirus Food Assistance Program.

Up to $14 billion is available for producers who continue to face market disruptions and increased costs due to COVID-19.

North Dakota Farmers’ Union President Mark Watne said it’s timely.

"We're coming into a harvest where much of our state had some relatively good production," Watne said. "But we're selling into a marketplace that is totally below the cost of production."

Minot State University is hosting a pow-wow Sunday (9/20/20).

But in the age of COVID-19, this one is going to be a little different.

Prairie Public's Dave Thompson talks with the pow-wow organizers about how it will happen, and other reasons for holding it.