Pierre landfill may take medical waste

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — City officials in Pierre are considering a proposal to accept treated medical waste from a hospital in Linton, N.D.

City Solid Waste Manager Val Keller said there would be one load every week or two, or an estimated 300 tons a year.

The medical waste would be rendered noninfectious before arriving at the landfill, and it would be deposited in an area separate from other garbage.

The usual fee of $40 a ton for garbage would be doubled for the medical waste, which would generate about $25,000 in annual revenues.

City commissioners took no immediate action on the proposal.

UND officials

proud of AgCam

GRAND FORKS (AP) — The chairman of electrical engineering at the University of North Dakota engineering school says he’s glad to be proved wrong.

Richard Schultz said he didn’t think UND had the expertise on campus to build a high-resolution camera to take pictures and provide information about the Earth, to help farmers better manage their crops.

But Friday night, UND’s AgCam blasted into space aboard the the space shuttle Endeavour. Schultz was one of the designers of AgCam, which will be put aboard the international space station.

Schultz said the eight years of work were well worth it.

Nate Ambler, AgCam operations analyst, said the project is “one of the most monumental accomplishments a university can have.”

Fargo priest reports at West Point

FARGO (AP) — The priest who served as vicar general of the Fargo Roman Catholic Diocese has reported for duty as chaplain at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

Monsignor Brian Donahue earned a Bronze Star for his service in 2005 in Iraq with a unit of the Texas National Guard.

He was set to return to Iraq with that unit, but Army authorities decided to send him to the elite training academy in New York instead.

Donahue said he felt called to go back to Iraq, and he’s saddened that he won’t remain with the troops he got to know well. But he said it’s an honor to be assigned to West Point. He said looking out over the grounds seems like a dream.

Tags: south dakota, pierre, waste, linton