BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A mentally disabled Colorado man was set to be sentenced Friday for the murder of a Montana teacher whose death highlighted the downsides of an oil boom that has brought thousands of newcomers to the remote Northern Plains. Prosecutors recommended 100 years in prison for Michael Keith Spell, 25, of Parachute,.
North Dakota workplace deaths examined in TV report
WILLISTON, N.D. – Before North Dakota oil worker Dustin Payne died last fall, he sent text messages to his girlfriend about safety conditions on the worksite. “I’m literally going to be welding something that’s full of oil. … Don’t (feel) comfortable welding this at all. Dangerous as (expletive).” Payne, a 28-year-old Marine Corps.
In North Dakota, a Tale of Oil, Corruption and Death
FORT BERTHOLD INDIAN RESERVATION, N.D. — Tex G. Hall, the three-term tribal chairman on this remote, once impoverished reservation, was the very picture of confidence as he strode to the lectern at his third Annual Bakken Oil and Gas Expo and gazed out over a stuffed, backlit mountain lion. Tall and imposing beneath.
N.D. oil boom ignites cash-spending splurge
WILLISTON, N.D. – The workers sometimes come in with stacks of $100 bills, their jeans and boots still covered in oil field mud as they scour the glass jewelry counter looking for clean sparkle. One oil field worker plopped down $25,000 for a diamond for his girlfriend back home. Many others settle on $1,000 necklace.
Bismarck police ID man killed after reportedly pointing gun at kids
BISMARCK – Police have identified a man who was shot to death during a struggle that ensued after he reportedly pointed a handgun at three young children Saturday in a south Bismarck apartment. Kelly Carrol Smith, 54, lived roughly one block south of the apartment building where the shooting took place, Bismarck Police Sgt. Mark.
Man killed at worksite near Stanley
STANLEY — An Arkansas man working in western North Dakota’s energy industry was killed on the job Tuesday. Stanley Police Chief Kris Halvorson said Alan Eberhard, 51, of Harrisburg, Ark., had been working on a payloader hose at Dalton Logistics in Stanley when the forklift collapsed, pinning him. He was transported to the Mountrail County.
Williston police still seeking answers in gunshot report
WILLISTON — Williston police can’t say with certainty that a gunshot was fired at a girl who was riding her bicycle in Williston last week.Police received a report that two men driving an older black Chevy Silverado fired a shot in the area where the 7-year-old girl was riding a bike in the 1900 block.
Man charged in North Dakota with masquerading as FBI agent
WILLISTON, N.D. — A convicted con man who swindled Nashville, Tennessee, businesses out of five-star hotel rooms, stretch limousine rides, helicopter rentals and expensive gifts didn’t fare quite as well during a month in the North Dakota oil patch, investigators contend. Steven Goldmann’s attempt to pass himself off as an FBI agent netted him free.
Breathalyzer selfies paint a picture of U.S. drinking habits
The first data from breathalyzer selfies – measurements of blood-alcohol content by a new smartphone app – show that users drank the most on the weekend of the summer solstice, the longest day of the year. San Francisco-based breathalyzer manufacturer BACtrack reported on Wednesday that the highest average blood-alcohol content (BAC) from April 2013 to.
North Dakota Is the Deadliest State to Work In
Fracking has done some incredible things for North Dakota: It has the fastest-growing economy and lowest unemployment in the nation, and it is second only to Texas in churning out oil. But as with any gold rush, the boom comes with a human cost for those involved—illness, injury, and fatalities. (For a firsthand view of.