5 things to know today: April storm, landlord lawsuit, pot legalization, local impact, growing market – InForum
1. April’s ‘multi-faceted’ storm could have heavy impacts on North Dakota starting Friday
A week after western North Dakota was hit by a strong blizzard that saw many towns record more than 2 feet of snowfall, the state will be hit by a storm again starting Friday the 22nd. April, with western North Dakota likely to see snowfall and the Red River Valley hit by possible severe thunderstorms.
The National Weather Service issued a blizzard warning for much of north-central and western North Dakota from 4 a.m. Saturday April 23 to 7 p.m. Sunday April 24. The impacts of the storm will make travel “very difficult, if not impossible”, the National says the weather service. The western third of the state could accumulate between 8 and 14 inches of snow, and ice is expected to accumulate up to a tenth of an inch.
John Wheeler, WDAY Stormtracker’s chief meteorologist, said the storm is “multi-faceted” with three main components: potential flooding in areas with snowfall, possible severe thunderstorms in eastern Dakota and western Minnesota and heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain in western North Dakota. counties.
Read more from Michelle Griffith from the Forum
2. A lawsuit could allow Minnesota landlords to seek state money for a moratorium on COVID evictions
Brandon Bell/Getty Images files photo via MPR News
From MPR News via Forum News Service
A federal appeals court has revived a lawsuit challenging the eviction moratorium that Minnesota Governor Tim Walz put in place at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Walz’s decrees have long since expired. But the decision this month by a three-judge panel in St. Paul could potentially allow the owners to seek damages from the state.
Two landlords filed the lawsuit in September 2020, six months after Walz signed the first of several executive orders imposing a moratorium on residential evictions. It aimed to prevent tenants from becoming homeless as many businesses were closing and people couldn’t work.
Under the order, landlords could only evict tenants if they seriously endangered the safety of other residents or engaged in illegal activity.
Heights Apartments and Walnut Trails — two property management companies — are the plaintiffs, but only Heights is on the appeal. They argue the order was an unconstitutional interference with their leases with the tenants. The landlords also argue that the state appropriated their property in violation of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments by forcing them to continue renting to people they wanted to evict.
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3. North Dakota’s pot legalization campaign can now collect signatures
A group of North Dakotans lobbying late to ask a question about legalizing recreational marijuana in the November ballot can now collect signatures.
North Dakota Secretary of State Al Jaeger announced Thursday, April 21, that he is approving the format of a petition that proposes legalizing the possession and purchase of small amounts of marijuana for adults 21 years and older.
The legislation would also implement policies to regulate retail marijuana stores and growers. Cannabis products should be tested for contaminants, labeled and tracked through a “seed-to-sale inventory system”. Driving under the influence and the use of marijuana products in public would still be prohibited. If passed, the measure would direct regulators to establish rules and create the legal pot program by October 2023.
Read more from Jeremy Turley from Forum News Service
4. A Moorhead in Ukraine focuses on supplying the remote Donbass region
Contributed / Mark J. Lindquist
Mark J. Lindquist lives in the middle of a war zone.
Lindquist, an artist and motivational speaker who lives in Moorhead, felt called to ditch everything – including a political campaign – and travel to war-torn Ukraine three weeks ago after watching hours of news reports on Russian attacks on the former Soviet republic.
Today, he describes life in an accommodation in Lviv where he and seven other aid workers “are crammed together wherever we could possibly sleep”.
It’s in a corner of the world where air raid sirens are going off every day, panicked citizens are lined up with 20 to 30 people at ATMs and a missile strike on Easter Monday killed seven people.
Read more about Forum News Service’s Tammy Swift
5. Fargo’s Asian and American market will have a new, expanded home by fall
David Samson/The Forum
John Huynh is getting big.
The co-owner of the Asian and American market in downtown Fargo promises that the next version of his popular store, currently under construction at 1425 Main Ave., will appeal to lovers of international flavors.
“This will be the Dakotas’ biggest international market,” Hyunh said on Monday, April 18. “We are delighted.”
The new grocery store — at 19,500 square feet — will be about three times larger than the current market, which is the centerpiece of a small mall at 1015 Main Ave.
Hyunh estimates that once all the equipment is installed, he and his sister will have invested around $4 million in the project.
It promises plenty of parking spaces and a greater selection of merchandise at the new location.
Read more about Helmut Schmidt from the Forum
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