The Corral Bar at 2111 E. Main Ave. in Bismarck has changed ownership.

Bismarck-Mandan natives Lance Potter and Mike Yantzer took ownership of the bar as of March 30, Potter said.

Don't worry, they're keeping karaoke Wednesday through Saturday; they've ordered some new tables and repainted the inside and will tackle the patio and back area soon. They hope to get some bands in over the summer and maximize their use of space outside, too.

"If things go well, eventually we could look at adding on to the building,"Potter said.

Lighting move

One Source Lighting will be closing its north location by Texas Roadhouse and relocating all areas of that business under the roof of its south warehouse, office and lighting location on 122 N. Mandan St.

Owner Wayne Yantzer said relocating all of its business to one location will help provide seamless customer service from pickup to delivery.

Unemployment

NorthDakota's non-seasonally adjusted unemployment dropped to 5.1 percent for March 2009, compared to 5.2 percent in February. It's still up from March 2008's 3.7 percent. The seasonally adjusted rate was 4.2 percent, compared to 4.3 percent in February 2009 and 3 percent in March 2008. The national seasonally adjusted rate was 8.5 percent for March, an increase of .4 percentage points from the previous month's 8.1 percent.

Tech jobs

On the subject of jobs, the Information Technology Council of North Dakota recently released a study that said the state's information technology industry will have 2,500 openings over the next 10 years, representing a third of the industry's workforce.

According to the report, the numbers reflect possible openings in the core of the ITindustry, including computer systems design, software publishing, and data processing and hosting.

The tech council wants to address those needs and is developing the IT Career Awareness Program, working with the North Dakota Department of Career and Technical Education to ensure students are motivated by these types of careers and programs. IT industry in North Dakota has grown 24 percent since 2002, according to the report, an increase of 1,144 jobs. It's projected to continue to see growth; annual wages for the two hottest jobs in North Dakota in that industry are $71,821 and $82,557.

(Reach reporter Crystal R. Reid at 250-8261 or at crystal.reid.) @bismarcktribune.com