The May Day storm has buried several Midwest states in snow that in some areas is more than 20 inches deep. Denver’s airport reported about 50 flight cancellations and delays due to icy runways, and several crashes were reported along Interstate 80 in southeast Wyoming. Southeast Minnesota reported that more than 26,000 customers experienced power outages due to fallen trees and power lines.In Owatonna, Minn., Interstate 35 was closed early Thursday, due to dangerous conditions and fallen power lines. Ellsworth, Wis., reported snowfall of about 14 inches, while 9 inches had fallen in Dodge County, Min., on Thursday.Rocky Mountain National Park saw more than a foot of snow by midday Wednesday, while Buford, Wyoming experienced 20 inches.Sioux Falls, South Dakota, experienced its first May snowfall in 37 years. Some residents welcomed the wet weather, expressing hope that it will combat the effects of a state-wide drought.“Well it’s a little different on May 1 – usually you are getting May baskets, and I guess we got a May basket by the snow. I think we need the snow and the moisture, I don’t think anyone should be upset about it,” Sioux Falls resident Jack Dyvig told KELOLAND.Local meteorologist Scott Mundt told the news station that this is the seventh time in the past 120 years that Sioux Falls has received measurable May snow.The snowfall took homeowners by surprise, some of which had never had to wear scarves and hats before in May. Some cities had already packed away their shovels and ice salt.“This is a record for me,” Brian Wagstrom, director of public works in Minnetonka, Minn., told NBC affiliate KARE. “This is the latest that we have ever put plows on this time of the year.”Jim Eulberg, director of public works in Worthington, South Dakota, told NBC that his crew was not prepared to plow snow this late in the year.“When you’re looking at the calendar, you’re thinking this isn’t the stuff we should be doing. Not dealing with ice storm damage and plowing,” he told NBC affiliate KDLT.And while the Midwest is experiencing record snow and ice, Californians are trying to extinguish wildfires that have already burned down 3,000 acres of vegetation, injured two firefighters and destroyed a home – a start contrast to the frozen conditions experienced just a few states next door.The storm is continuing to spiral eastward, and flakes are expected to be seen as far south as Missouri and Arkansas before the week’s end. … Read More
Fired TV news anchor A.J. Clemente books Letterman, “Today” show
Dropping he f-bomb on live TV might have been the best thing in former North Dakota news anchor A.J. Clemente’s budding career. Clemente, who was fired for the slip, became an overnight sensation as footage from his unfortunate first day went viral.Though he’s lost his job, however, Clemente has booked appearances on the “Today” show Wednesday morning and “Late Show” Wednesday night to discuss the firing.Clemente’s gaffe, though unprofessional, is certainly not the first time a news anchor has made an embarrassing misstep on live TV.As of now, Clemente is a “free agent,” tweeting: “Rookie mistake. I’m a free agent.Cant help but laugh at myself and stay positive.Wish i didnt trip over my “Freaking Shoes” out of the gate.”Continue Reading… … Read More
6 memorable news bloopers
A.J. Clemente had a rough first and last day as a news anchor for NBC affiliate KFYR-TV in North Dakota, getting fired for saying, “Fucking… Shit” on air.Clemente’s slip-up was pretty bad, but local news has long been a source of unintentional comedy, rife with f-bombs and sexual innuendo that have gone viral. Below are some of the most memorable slip-ups in recent history:1. Keep fucking that chicken:2. Curb job, blow job:3. The ass cream vendor:Continue Reading… … Read More
Senate Dem Tim Johnson endorses gay marriage
Sen. Tim Johnson, a Democrat from South Dakota, is the latest senator to say that he supports same-sex marriage, leaving just three Democrats left standing who have not.”After lengthy consideration, my views have evolved sufficiently to support marriage equality legislation,” he said in a statement. “This position doesn’t require any religious denomination to alter any of its tenets; it simply forbids government from discrimination regarding who can marry whom.”Johnson also recently announced that he will not run for reelection in 2014.Joe Donnelly, Ind., and Heidi Heitkamp, N.D., announced their support last week, leaving just Joe Manchin W. Va., Mark Pryor, Ark., and Mary Landrieu, La., as the only Senate Dems who have not.Continue Reading… … Read More
North Dakota, socialist haven?
North Dakota is the very definition of a red state. It voted 58 percent to 39 percent for Romney over Obama, and its statehouse and senate have a total of 104 Republicans and only 47 Democrats. The Republican super-majority is so conservative it recently passed the nation’s most severe anti-abortion resolution – a measure that declares a fertilized human egg has the same right to life as a fully formed person. But North Dakota is also red in another sense: it fully supports its state-owned Bank of North Dakota (BND), a socialist relic that exists nowhere else in America. Why is financial socialism still alive in North Dakota? Why haven’t the North Dakotan free-market crusaders slain it dead?Because it works.Continue Reading… … Read More
This is what losing looks like
Well, the Republican Party is getting ready to do more outreach to women — once again using a transvaginal ultrasound to make sure they get the best reach. Just a week after RNC Chair Reince Priebus and friends urged their colleagues to “address concerns that are on women’s minds in order to let them know we are fighting for them,” North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple signed legislation that effectively bans abortion in his state.One of the bills makes abortion illegal once a fetal heartbeat can be detected, normally around six weeks after conception, when many women don’t even know they’re pregnant yet. The law doesn’t specify the use of a vaginal ultrasound – those GOPers have gotten cagy — but since that’s the most reliable way to detect a fetal heartbeat, it almost certainly would be used. Another bill bans abortion in cases of genetic defects. Maybe the most dangerous one imposes new regulations on the state’s lone abortion provider, Red River Women’s Clinic, designed to put it out of business.Continue Reading… … Read More
Democratic South Dakota Sen. Tim Johnson will not seek re-election
South Dakota Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson announced Tuesday that he will not seek re-election at the end of his present term. According to the New York Times, Johnson made his announcement at a press conference in Vermillion, South Dakota. “I will be 68 years old at the end of this term and…
