North Dakota

Occidental Petroleum Corp., the nation's fourth-largest oil and gas exploration company, announced agreements for major acquisitions of more than $3.2 billion in crude and natural gas assets in North Dakota and South Texas. The Westwood-based company also announced a $2.5-billion sale of its operations in Argentina and said it would be increasing its dividends to shareholders. Occidental also said it will buy out Sempra Generation's 50% in its Elk Hills Power Plant in California, bringing its ownership to 100%, in what may signal a flurry of major oil company interest in building up domestic production.

Genetic engineering has been hailed as a tool to produce crops that are left unharmed by weed-killing pesticides and that are more productive than their forebears. But critics have worried that modified plants might take over land used by native species and that increasingly hardy "superweeds" may develop. A new study supports some of these fears, detailing an abundance of genetically modified canola crops found outside cultivation in North Dakota. The so-called feral canola is the first report of a genetically modified crop found in the wild in the U.S., although another genetically engineered plant designed for golf putting greens, creeping bentgrass, was found in Oregon in 2004.

Sam Aanestad Political party: Republican Occupation: Oral surgeon, California state senator Age: 63; born in North Dakota City of residence: Grass Valley Personal: wife, Susan Aanestad; three children Education: bachelor's degree, UCLA, 1969; doctor of dentistry (oral surgery), UCLA, 1973; master of public administration, Golden Gate University, 1991 Career highlights: 35 years as an oral surgeon and businessman; 11 years on the Grass Valley Unified School District board; elected to the state Assembly in 1998; elected to the state Senate in 2002 Platform: stands for limited government and individual freedom, lower taxes; says he would bring a conservative, experienced voice to the office and support "common-sense" regulations and a business-friendly environment to encourage productive, private-sector jobs Campaign website: voteforsam.

As the Red River crested Sunday, Fargo, N.D., residents watched with relief as their man-made clay and sandbag barriers held back the near-bursting waterway and signs of normality -- dog-walkers and packed after-church brunches -- reappeared in the state's most populous city. But not so in Harwood. That's not to say the city has been inundated. Most homes sit on high enough ground or were protected by strong enough levees to escape the water. But parts of Harwood, a pastoral blip of 701 residents (and more outside its boundaries)

Dennis Walaker, the mayor of this flood-threatened city, closed a meeting Saturday by handing out celebratory cigars to officials -- to be smoked after the swollen Red River had crested. The city had spent an anxious week stacking 1 million sandbags to hold back the river, which was expected to near last year's record height of 40.8 feet. But on Saturday, with flood threats looming throughout the Upper Midwest, all signs seemed to indicate that the city would avoid calamity. The Red River, which flows north through tabletop-flat corn and beet fields, is projected to reach a high mark of 37 feet Sunday -- 19 feet above flood stage.

Single and unemployed, Adam Holguin knows he could find better opportunities outside California, where the unemployment rate is 12.3%. But with little savings, and college loans and credit card bills to pay, he can't afford to leave. "I don't have the finances at this time to move," said Holguin, 31, of Rancho Cucamonga. One of the hallmarks of the American worker has been mobility -- the speed with which people like Holguin have moved to find opportunities. But the recession of the last two years has produced a profound change, creating conditions that have tethered many people where they are. Since 2007, the nation's mobility rate has fallen to its lowest level since World War II, says William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution.

Three missing North Dakota college softball players were found dead Tuesday in a Jeep pulled from a pond, and police said they thought the women were in the vehicle when they made two desperate calls for help. Dickinson Police Lt. Rod Banyai said officers were investigating the cause of the deaths and autopsies were planned. He said he thought the women were in the white 1997 Jeep Cherokee when they called for help, but he didn't know whether it was already underwater or how it got into the pond.

A southeastern North Dakota town believes that it has set a new world record for having the most firetrucks in a parade. The town of Casselton recruited 181 firetrucks from throughout the Upper Midwest region to take part in Saturday's Cass County Summerfest parade. The old record was 159 trucks, set three years ago by the town of Oberdiessbach, Switzerland.

Just 1,000 feet above the ground, people, cars and trees were still visible from the small plane. The air was turbulent here, shaking the passengers as they took their careful measurements. "Open," called a student operating a probe that protruded outside the window. The 2-liter canister attached to the probe filled with air, and another student wrote down where the sample was taken.