BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) _ Job Service North Dakota says doctors, managers and engineers have the state's highest-paying jobs.
   Job Service says the average wage for a surgeon in North Dakota last year was nearly $243,000 while petroleum engineers in the western part of the state averaged $215,100 annually.
   Job Service analyst Michael Ziesch said that most occupations in North Dakota reported an increase in wages last year.

   MINOT, N.D. (AP) _ A former North Dakota fire fighter says he will plead guilty for attempting to burn down a house that was occupied at the time by four of his children.
   Joseph Morin, of Belcourt, is charged in federal court with arson. The charge carries a maximum penalty of life in prison without parole.
   Authorities say Morin was employed with the Belcourt Rural Fire Department and set fire to his former residence where his wife and eight of his children lived.
   Morin allegedly removed all the electrical meters from the house, threw burning paper into the dryer vent from the outside and stuffed a towel inside the vent.
   No injuries were reported from the Feb. 5 incident.
   Morin signed the plea agreement earlier this month. A sentencing hearing has not been set.

   BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) _ A newly created North Dakota trust fund for oil taxes now has about $353 million.
   State Treasurer Kelly Schmidt put another $44.8 million into the ``Legacy Fund'' on Wednesday.
   North Dakota voters set up the fund two years ago. It gets 30 percent of the state's oil tax collections.
   North Dakota lawmakers can't touch the Legacy Fund until 2017. After that, it can be spent only with two-thirds approval of the North Dakota House and Senate.
   The fund has been getting monthly deposits since last September. They've ranged from $32.6 million in October 2011 to March's deposit of $45.3 million.
   The state Retirement and Investment Office has hired the J.P. Morgan and Babson Capital companies to invest the money. It goes mostly into short-term bonds.

    
   BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) _ A veterans' group is buying television advertising to support Republican Duane Sand's U.S. Senate primary campaign against GOP Congressman Rick Berg.
   Sand and Berg are opposing each other in the June 12th primary election. They're competing for the Republican Senate nomination to run against Democrat Heidi Heitkamp in the fall.
   Sioux Falls, South Dakota lawyer Joel Arends is director of a newly formed political action committee called the Veterans for a Strong America Action Group.
   Arends says the PAC will be spending $40,000 on North Dakota television ads later this week that oppose Berg's Senate bid.
   Arends says Berg voted last fall to raise the national debt limit, while Sand opposed raising the limit.
   Arends says the veterans' PAC is also backing Sand because Sand is a Navy veteran.

    
   BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) _ Governor Jack Dalrymple (DAHL'-rimp-ul) says the Federal Emergency Management Agency has approved nearly $5 million in grants to help Minnewaukan residents relocate a portion of their community to higher ground.
   FEMA approved $3.8 million in Hazard Mitigation Grant funds for the city of Minnewaukan to buy 57 homes that face the threat of flooding from Devils Lake.
   The city also will receive about $1 million to relocate 18 homes, and the school district has been awarded $172,401 to relocate three homes that house teachers.
   Dalrymple says the grants combined with state and local funding will help protect the community from what has become an annual threat.
   The FEMA grants cover 75 percent of the project costs. Dalrymple said the state will pay 17.5 percent of the grant's local match requirements.

    
   BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) _ North Dakota now has two vacancies on its state Board of Higher Education.
   Former board president Richie Smith of Wahpeton said Wednesday he is resigning.
   Smith's term was scheduled to end in June 2013. Smith was in his second term on the board, and he wasn't eligible for reappointment.
   Smith is a lawyer in Wahpeton. He served two years as the board's president from 2008 to 2010.
   Smith's departure leaves the board with two vacancies. Board member Claus Lembke resigned last month. The board has eight voting members.
   In his resignation letter, Smith said the time demands of serving on the board have become too much.
   He says, ``I am tired of working nights and weekends to stay current, and it is no longer fair to my (law) partners.''

    
   VALLEY CITY, N.D. (AP) _ Valley City has selected a new police chief.
   Fred Thompson is a 29-year veteran of the Henderson Police Department in Nevada.
   He'll begin his new position in June.
   Administrator David Schelkoph says the city started with 39 applicants and whittled the list down to 10 phone interviews. Five applicants were brought in for face-to-face interviews.
   Thompson holds a bachelor's degree in public administration-law enforcement from Nevada State College, and an associate's degree in criminal justice.

    
   GRAND FORKS, N.D. (AP) _ The University of North Dakota says its highly specialized radar unit will be assisting Grand Forks area media with weather forecasts for the next week. UND's WSR-74C polarimetric Doppler radar is filling in during National Weather Service upgrades of its system near Mayville.
   The UND radar produces images of what goes on in rain clouds, helps scientists figure out how storms develop and track.
   UND radar research meteorologist Chris Theisen says the radar produces more information on the moisture in clouds, so scientists can better predict what's happening.
   Theisen says media have asked for the university's help while the Weather Service's Grand Forks area radar system is down for the upgrade.
   The upgrade is expected to take about a week.

    
   BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) _ North Dakota Insurance Commissioner Adam Hamm has ordered a Grand Forks area agent to stop doing business in the state.
   Hamm says Tim Everett allegedly created bogus insurance policies and collected commissions on them.
   Everett has about a month to request an administrative hearing on Hamm's cease and desist order. Everett told the Associated Press on Wednesday that he was not aware of the order and declined immediate comment.
   

    
   GRAND FORKS, N.D. (AP) _ A Grand Forks restaurant open since 1954 is closed and for sale.
   Terry Fonder has been chef and owner of the Bronze Boot Steakhouse and Lounge since his father, Darcy, died nearly five years ago.
   Fonder said that he will not reopen the supper-club-style restaurant.
   Fonder chose to close The Bronze Boot as Grand Forks Public Health was considering a mandatory closer. A patron complained about the leaky roof a week ago.
   Inspectors said they found plastic sheets over parts of the kitchen, dining room, bathroom and bar, and that some of the water was stagnant.