1. Fargo Amazon warehouse built using same design as Illinois facility that collapsed during tornado
The new Amazon warehouse here was built using the same design as one that collapsed during a tornado in Illinois last weekend, killing six employees.
The tornado was part of an outbreak of storms that swept through six states and flattened homes and businesses over a 200-mile path.
Illinois’ governor has questioned whether current building codes are adequate at a time of increasingly dangerous storms, and the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration has opened an investigation into the deaths.
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Read more from The Forum's Robin Huebner
2. Federal geologists find big drop in North Dakota's undiscovered oil resources
Federal geologists suggested in a report released this week that the volumes of untapped oil and gas in two major formations underlying North Dakota have fallen substantially since their last assessment in 2013.
The U.S. Geological Survey estimated in a report released this week that 4.3 billion barrels of potential, undiscovered oil output are still accessible in the Bakken and Three Forks formations, a drop of more than three billion barrels, or 40%, since the agency’s last report.
That decline is partly due to some 11,000 wells that have been drilled in the region over the last nine years, which the federal geologists noted have resulted in both more production and more knowledge of the formations’ resources.
Read more from The Forum's Adam Willis
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3. The nation's highest court is expected to make a decision early next year on whether to take up the case of the contested North Dakota pipeline.
The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and a federal agency are calling on the nation's highest court to reject an appeal by developers of the Dakota Access Pipeline aimed at restoring a key environmental permit for the contested project.
Operators of Dakota Access turned to the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year in their 5-year-old legal battle over operations of the pipeline, which delivers much of North Dakota's oil output to other parts of the country.
Justices on the Supreme Court are expected to make a decision on whether to take up the case early next year.
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But in briefs filed late this week, both Standing Rock and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is in the middle of an environmental review of the pipeline, urged the high court not to accept the case.
4. Longtime North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem announces retirement
The longest-serving attorney general in North Dakota history will retire at the end of next year.
Republican Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem announced Friday, Dec. 17, that he will not seek reelection next year to the office he has held since 2001.
The 68-year-old Capitol mainstay told reporters he wants to spend more time at home in the Bismarck area and traveling abroad with his recently retired wife, Beth.
Stenehjem touted accomplishments his office has made in busting up locally operated meth labs, mitigating human trafficking and reducing driving under the influence. He added that he's proud to have stood up for open records laws and lobbied for the establishment of a crime lab that analyzes physical evidence.
Read more from Forum News Service's Jeremy Turley
5. Central Cass girls enjoying moment on the mat as sport grows in first sanctioned season
Going out for wrestling never crossed Malva Gimbringer’s mind when she arrived in the U.S. from Sweden as an exchange student. She wasn’t familiar with the sport, and had never seen a female wrestler.
Her exchange program brought her to Central Cass, home of a blossoming girls wrestling program. Gimbringer, a senior, had a class with two girls on the team, who encouraged her to join. She was sold.
“It’s been really fun. I’ve tried a lot of new things,” said Gimbringer, who wrestles at 140 pounds. “I feel so much stronger. I’ve just had one match, which was really scary, but it was fun.”
