GF Business News: HIVE renaming…Niagara eyesore & demo begins

More employers are posting salary bands for job postings, even in states where it’s not mandated by law. The number of U.S. job postings advertising salary information more than doubled between February 2020 and February 2023, from 18.4% to 43.7%.  Advocates say it benefits women and people of color, who statistically fare less well in hiring negotiations.

North Dakota’s jobless rate remained unchanged in February.  The not-seasonally adjusted rate of 2.6 last month was the same figure posted in January.  The number of people employed totaled 401,722.  The number of workers seeking a job was 10,862.   The North Dakota seasonally adjusted rate of 2.1 percent was tied with South Dakota the lowest rate in the nation.

Minnesota has completely recovered the private sector jobs it lost during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to new data from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development.  Minnesota lost 416,000 jobs from February through April 2020 (benchmarked) and has since gained 405,900 jobs as of February 2023, or 97.6% of the jobs lost.

The City of Grand Forks is still looking for a new name for the HIVE building.  The city attempted to sell the naming rights to the tech accelerator building through an RFP process – but received no responses.  The minimum bid was $500,000 dollars.  A second RFP will soon go out on naming rights for individual spaces within the building.  With the RFP process out of the way the city can now enter into direct negotiations with individual business who show an interest.

The University of North Dakota is participating in a U.S. Department of Transportation grant to use drones to deliver medicines and medical supplies for members of the Three Affiliated Tribes in western North Dakota.  The project makes available nearly $2 million to conduct demonstration projects focused on improving the efficiency of transporting medicines.

The City of Niagra is asking Grand Forks County to take action to clean up what it calls a rodent infested eyesore on Main Street.  The county assumed ownership of the former bar and vehicle repair shop after the owners fell delinquent on their property taxes.  Commission Cynthia Pic says the two story building is in pretty rough shape.  The board directed staff to look into the matter – including possible demolition.

The North Dakota State Board of Animal Health met has amended the policy for the suspension of poultry/bird events due to avian influenza.  Bird shows, sales and swaps will only be prohibited in the affected county, unless the 10 km control zone extends into an adjoining county.  If no new cases emerge in 30 days after a detection, the suspension will be automatically lifted for that area.  There are no current cases of avian influenza in the state.

The ND PSC will hold two public input sessions on April 5 regarding a rate case filed by Dakota Utilities (MDU) to increase electric rates.  The proposed bump would result in an annual increase in revenue of approximately $25.4 million or a 12.3 percent increase over current rates.

Ford’s electric vehicle business has lost $3 billion before taxes during the past two years and will lose a similar amount this year as the company invests heavily in the new technology. The figures were released as Ford rolled out a new way of reporting its financial results. The new business structure separates electric vehicles, the profitable internal combustion and commercial vehicle operations into three operating units.

The Chevrolet Camaro has for decades been the dream car of many teenage American males. Now it is going out of production. General Motors is the maker of the brawny muscle car and it says it will stop producing the current generation early next year. The future of the car is a bit murky. GM says a new generation may be in the works.