News : LOOKING BACK FROM THE LEFT COAST

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THE ND LEGISLATURE convenes every two years and will see action again in January. The booming state has a large surplus, but caution lights are beginning to blink. Oil and grain prices have dropped sharply, the strong Canadian loonie which brings shoppers to the state has dropped from a high of $1.10 to the dollar to around 85 cents, and the national financial crisis is easing into the state. One state legislator summarized the cautious rural attitudes that will probably guide spending: "In the bad years you don't paint the barn and you don't shingle the house. But when you have some money you fix the place up better."

DEER SEASON The opening of deer season and ND’s first winter snowstorm coincided -- a delightful combination for hunters. Deer hole up during a storm, then come out, hungry, moving around and very visible. The state wildlife chief said, "After a blizzard is the perfect time to go deer hunting." The Dickinson Press estimated 15-20 percent of high school students in southwestern ND took off the opening day of deer season. Carrington and Jamestown didn’t even fight it -- they closed high school on opening day. A Lisbon hunter’s enjoyment was short-lived -- he was shot to death within 90 minutes of the opening.

CAN YOU KEEP A SECRET? Over the last year, several ND universities selected new presidents. The Board of Higher Education was disappointed by the small number of qualified candidates. The explanation given by the search committees was that strict open record laws discouraged candidates. Potential applicants with high level positions in other schools did not want it known they were looking. The Board will introduce a bill in the Legislature to keep applicant names secret unless they become semifinalists. The approach seems reasonable, but expect opposition, particularly from the press, which resists any slippage in open record laws.

FAT CHANCE The Human Nutrition Research Center at Grand Forks was targeted for closure early this year. The USDA lab worked with trace elements, nutrients that are required in tiny amounts, such as selenium. ND’s muscular congressional delegation came to the rescue, the lab and its vital mission were saved. But wait, there is a new vital mission, the trace elements mission has gone and the GF lab will now be the only USDA lab strictly focused on obesity. Maybe the skirmish was really about the location of jobs.

OVERPROMISES. Tribune columnist Lloyd Omdahl says he deliberately wrote his post-election column before the elections to avoid the appearance of partisan bias. The point of his column was that as the presidential campaign advanced the promises made by both candidates expanded until they approached the ridiculous. Most of their promises will be made unrealistic by events and separation of powers. Omdahl’s advice: "So, if you were on the losing side of the 2008 election, you have far less to fear than fear itself. The world will not end. If you were on the winning side, you will be disappointed when less happens than you had expected. That’s how we can live together between the seasons of overpromise and underperformance."

SEN. CONRAD told WDAY he turned down an opportunity to be director of the White House Office of Management and Budget -- Conrad was an early Obama supporter. Tom Dennis of the Herald said he believes this was a Kabuki (Japanese theater) moment: Obama pretended to extend an offer, Conrad pretended to reject it. Dennis thinks Conrad would be unlikely to give up a powerful position as chairman of the Senate Budget Committee. Worse yet, from the position of the Democrats, if Conrad accepted a position with the Obama administration, Gov. Hoeven would get to name his replacement in the senate.

IMAGINE THAT! Janell Cole, political writer for the Forum newspapers, was having fun. She imagined a scenario two years from now where Gov. John Hoeven runs against and defeats Sen. Dorgan (then 68). Lt. Gov. Dalrymple takes over state government for the remaining two years of Hoeven’s term and others scurry for position. The director of the Democratic Party in ND scoffs at the scenario. He says the cautious Hoeven will not "risk an iffy race against a popular senator." The chairman of the state Republican Party isn’t so sure, he believes there will indeed be "a tremendous amount of pressure for John to run for U.S. Senate" in 2010.

THE MYERS BROTHERS OF MINOT are named Darroll, Dale and Dean. Darroll and Dale run auto parts stores in ND, while Dean is president of CSC General Contractors in Atlanta. The company name has an unusual twist, CSC stands for Christians Serving Christ. One of the aims of the company is to help Christian business people going through crises. CSC is building commercial and residential structures in Williston where it is considering investing as much as $40 million.

THE U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY calls the Bakken formation (mostly in ND) the largest continuous oil accumulation it ever has assessed. State Director of Mineral Resources Lyn Helms says ND is now producing 186,000 barrels a day and "We are solidly No. 5 in the nation . . . by the end of the year, we’ll pass Louisiana, and that will put us at No. 4."

DAKTOIDS: The Red River Valley had the wettest fall on record -- one result, never in ND history was so much corn unharvested in late fall . . . Ward County is losing sheriff’s deputies to the oil patch faster than they can be trained -- oil jobs pay $60,000 and over, about double the pay in law enforcement.