New weed plan for parks is ready

THEODORE ROOSEVELT NATIONAL PARK (AP) - The National Park Service has completed an exotic plant management plan for parks in North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming and Nebraska.

Officials said an environmental assessment found no major problems with the preferred alternative, which is integrated pest management. The weed control method employs a variety of strategies, from chemicals to prescribed burns.

The new regional weed battle plan that the Park Service said will now be implemented has been in the works for nearly two years.

Grand Forks passes late bar hours

GRAND FORKS (AP) - The City Council here has approved an ordinance allowing bars to stay open until 2 a.m., matching an earlier move by neighboring East Grand Forks, Minn.

The Grand Forks City Council also has voted to allow bars to open on Thanksgiving Day.

Council member Eliot Glassheim said police will be keeping data to see if the extended bar hours lead to more drunken drivers and accidents. If that happens, the matter will be revisited.

The new law goes into effect Oct. 3.

A new state law allows North Dakota bars to stay open an extra hour.

Moorhead man charged in burglaries

FARGO (AP) - Bail has been set at $75,000 for a Moorhead, Minn., man who authorities say is a suspect in at least 30 business burglaries over the past couple of years in the Fargo-Moorhead region.

Mark Zero, 32, is charged in Minnesota's Clay County with possessing stolen property. Authorities said more charges were expected.

Investigators said they had recovered an estimated $200,000 in stolen property from Zero's apartment and garage, much of it computer equipment.

Authorities said Zero also is a suspect in a dental office burglary in a St. Paul, Minn., suburb.

Three accused of robbing Plaza bar

PLAZA (AP) - Three Parshall men are accused of breaking into a bar here and stealing money, alcohol and cigarettes, authorities said.

Tyson Kraft, 19, Bobby Deane, 18, and Zachery Urlacher, 20, were charged in Northwest District Court with burglary, a Class C felony. Bond was set at $1,500 each.

Mountrail County Sheriff Ken Halvorson said the bar was entered last Thursday. He said the building's back door was forced open.

Halvorson said damage to the building and the stolen property totaled $979.

Farstad Oil being rebuilt

MINOT (AP) - An oil company here is rebuilding after its office and warehouse were destroyed by fire in January.

Dennis Krueger, Farstad Oil's chief operating officer, said the new building will house a lubricant warehouse, tank farm and a shop for maintaining trucks.

Maintaining the business since the fire has been a challenge because it required operating from different locations, Krueger said.

The company's general offices will remain in a building a few blocks southeast of the new warehouse, just off of County Road 19.

The company plans for an open house early next year.

Chad Reinhardt, 29, of Minot, a former Farstad Oil warehouse worker who set fire to the building, was sentenced in May to nine years in prison after pleading guilty to arson and burglary charges.

Prisoner charged with molestation

FARGO (AP) - A man serving a 12-year prison sentence in Minnesota is back in Cass County to face a charge of continuous sexual abuse of a child.

Forrest Robert Birnel, 37, of Fargo, made his first court appearance on Monday in East Central District Court after his prison transfer.

He was jailed in June at the Minnesota Correctional Facility in St. Cloud on a Clay County, Minn. charge of first-degree criminal sexual conduct against a victim under 13.

He is eligible for release in December 2012.

Drug dog joins Dickinson police

DICKINSON (AP) - This city's police department has a better way to sniff out drugs.

Police Chief Chuck Rummel on Monday introduced city officials to Duke, the department's new drug dog.

The black Lab was donated by Stark County Sheriff's Deputy Ray Becker, who has trained the dog.

"Ray came to us. I've been open to a dog, especially like this, because I've seen the benefits of this," Rummel said. "Becker trained the dog and got the dog to a position where he felt he could turn it over to a new handler."

Duke will be working with officer Matt Lechler on patrol.

Lechler was one of three applicants within the department who wanted to work with the dog, Rummel said.

"All three dearly wanted it. It was a difficult decision," he said.

The dog can find marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin and ecstasy. Rummel also said the dog is trained in tracking and searching for evidence.

Man convicted of cheating girlfriends

FARGO (AP) - A man here accused of stealing thousands of dollars from one ex-girlfriend and using another's credit card to join Internet dating sites will be sentenced in about a month, once a judge determines restitution.

Chancellor Geophery McMasters, 38, entered an Alford plea on Monday for allegedly stealing more than $50,000 from a woman by using her credit, eventually sending her into bankruptcy.

McMasters also pleaded guilty on Monday in East Central District court to felony theft by deception for writing a $9,500 check for a shipment, knowing the account had been closed.

In the third case, he pleaded guilty to unauthorized use of personal identifying information for using a girlfriend's credit card to buy memberships to online dating services.

Teens to face charges in break-in

ABERDEEN, S.D. (AP) - A northeast South Dakota business owner who shot at two teenagers trying to break into his Lake Traverse resort likely will not be charged, Roberts County authorities say.

But the two boys will go to court on charges of burglary and breaking and entering, officials said.

The owner of the Circle K Resort woke up Saturday morning to the sound of someone breaking into his business, according to the sheriff's office. He yelled something at the two boys, got a shotgun and shot at the intruders, law officers said.

One boy was treated at a Browns Valley, Minn., hospital and the other was taken to Fargo, N.D. The boys are 14 and 15 years old.

Sheriff Rick Moen said the resort owner likely won't be charged because he was protecting his property.

He also said the boys may have been involved in at least two other break-ins.