5 things to know today: Mayoral race, Nursing home numbers, Statement clarification, Concordia furloughs, Magazine closed

Grand Forks voters elected Brandon Bochenski to the mayor’s office on Tuesday, putting the real estate developer and political newcomer in City Hall’s top job — and ousting incumbent Mike Brown after a historic two-decade tenure.

The businessman and former hockey star — who played at UND before launching a professional career — defeated not only Brown, but also city workforce and immigration staffer Robin David. Art Bakken, a former City Council candidate, had waged a write-in campaign.

“When you put five months of work in, you’ve got to be excited about this result,” Bochenski told a gaggle of Grand Forks media in a cadence reminiscent of a post-game interview. “I just think the town was ready for a change, and that’s the biggest attribute that we brought to it, was the change and the change for the better.”

Vote totals as of 7:30 p.m. gave Bochenski 5,663 votes, or 49.62%. Brown had 3,360, or 31.81%, and David had 1,989, or 17.43%. Write-in candidates, including Art Bakken, had 131 votes.

Read more from Forum News Service

All of North Dakota's statewide and local election results, all in one place

The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has begun publishing COVID-19 nursing home data, including the number of deaths, but at least one local senior care provider disputes the numbers being posted.

Also, Eventide Senior Living Communities is attributing a higher number of cases at one of its facilities to an initial lag in testing for the illness by the Minnesota Department of Health.

Jon Riewer, Eventide’s president and CEO, announced on Tuesday, June 9, that 15 residents of Eventide on Eighth in Moorhead have died from COVID-19 since the pandemic began.

Read more from The Forum's Robin Huebner

Former Fargo Deputy Police Chief Todd Osmundson held an impromptu news conference from his home Tuesday morning, June 9, to address what he said were concerns he had regarding a profile story about him that appeared in Tuesday editions of The Forum.

The story explored Osmundson's experiences during a May 30 protest in Fargo that culminated in rioting and destruction of property in downtown Fargo.

Osmundson received a week-long suspension after walking among demonstrators in civilian clothes, and he subsequently resigned from the department.

In The Forum profile piece, Osmundson talks about how he realized during the protest and afterward that he had a deep-seated bias against people of color.

Read more from The Forum's Dave Olson

Concordia College has announced furloughs of nearly all full-time staff members as it deals with the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

The summer furloughs for each of the 210 employees affected will last three weeks.

The salary reductions affect all areas of the 129-year-old private Lutheran college in Moorhead, including faculty and administrators, according to Jill Abbott, deputy to the president.

She said President William Craft is doing his part in the budget reduction by taking a 20% pay cut.

The furloughs will be strategically planned in each department to help maintain the general operation of the college while allowing as many employees as possible to be on furlough prior to July 25 to take advantage of the extra jobless benefits available that have been available through the federal Cares Act.

Read more from The Forum's Barry Amundson

There will be no legal action taken against the businesses that pulled advertising from a local magazine due to its publisher’s involvement in an alleged racially-heated incident in Horace, and the publication has now been shut down.

At least a dozen area businesses and nonprofits pulled advertising from Fargo Lifestyle magazine over an alleged racial harassment incident involving its publisher, Tamara Jones, who has also gone by the names Tammy Jones and Tamara Johnson, Saturday, May 30, at Big Erv's Bar & Grill in Horace.

Read more from The Forum's Ryan Stotts