Latest North Dakota news, sports, business and entertainment:

SIOUX NICKNAME-LAWSUIT ND seeks dismissal of lawsuit over Sioux nickname Bismarck, N.D. (AP) Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem has filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Spirit Lake Sioux tribal members who want the University of North Dakota to keep its Fighting Sioux nickname.

Stenehjem filed the motion on Friday. He met with the state Board of Higher education behind closed doors on Thursday to update them on the state's response. A judge has barred the board from taking any action on the nickname issue until after a Dec. 9 hearing.

The board has said it will retire the nickname unless the state's Sioux tribes sign 30-year agreements to support it. The board originally set an Oct. 1 deadline, but extended it to Nov. 30 because of tribal elections on the Standing Rock reservation.

SIOUX NICKNAME-THREATS Chief: No threats made over nickname Grand Forks, N.D. (AP) University of North Dakota Police Chief Duane Czapiewski (chuh-PESS'-kee) says an investigation into whether threats were made against leaders of the University Senate has been dropped.

The faculty group supports a resolution calling for retirement of the school's Fighting Sioux nickname and logo, which some find offensive.

Czapiewski (chuh-PESS'-kee) says a caller left voicemails on the office phones of the University Senate chairwoman and vice chairwoman. But he says authorities have concluded that the comments were just expressions of frustration and not threats.

Information from: KNOX-AM, http://knoxradio.com DENTIST SLAYING Gattuso grandfather waives extradition to ND Fargo, N.D. (AP) An Oklahoma man accused of hiring his handyman to kill a North Dakota dentist has waived extradition and will be returned to North Dakota to face a charge of conspiracy to commit murder.

Sixty-three-year-old Gene Kirkpatrick of Jones, Okla., is accused of paying Michael Nakvinda $3,000 to kill Philip Gattuso, who was Kirkpatrick's son-in-law. The 41-year-old Nakvinda is charged with murder.

Gattuso was found in his Fargo home beaten to death with a hammer Oct. 26. Kirkpatrick allegedly arranged the killing because he did not agree with the way his granddaughter was being raised.

Gattuso's wife, Valerie, died in March after an extended illness.

North Dakota Gov. John Hoeven signed papers last week supporting Kirkpatrick's extradition.

DOUBLE FATAL SD Highway Patrol determines driver in fatal crash PRESHO, S.D. (AP) The South Dakota Highway Patrol says 16-year-old Maci M. Busack of Kennebec was the driver of a pickup involved in a fatal crash Nov. 13 on old Highway 16 west of Presho.

Busack and 19-year-old Alexis Bowsher of Minot, N.D., were killed in the one-vehicle rollover.

Initially, investigators had been unable to determine which of the occupants was driving at the time of the accident.

COUGAR KILLED Sixth cougar killed in western ND BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) Another mountain lion has been killed in western North Dakota.

The state Game and Fish Department says the 3-year-old, 92-pound female was shot Thursday by a deer hunter northwest of Grassy Butte in McKenzie County.

It is the sixth cat taken in Zone 1, which essentially is the Badlands area. The hunting season will end when two more are killed or on March 31, 2010, whichever comes first.

There is no quota in Zone 2, which is the rest of the state.

ROUGH RIDER AWARD Burgum receives North Dakota's highest honor FARGO, N.D. (AP) Philanthropist and former software company executive Doug Burgum is the recipient of North Dakota's highest honor, the Theodore Roosevelt Rough Rider award.

Gov. John Hoeven presented the award to Burgum Friday during a surprise ceremony at Fargo's Microsoft Corp. campus, where Burgum served as the company's senior vice president. He's the 37th person to receive the award.

Burgum joined Great Plains Software, Inc., then a start-up company, in 1983, and became its chairman and chief executive officer. Microsoft bought the company in 2001 for $1.1 billion in stock. Burgum left the company in 2007.

Burgum, an Arthur native, is a North Dakota State University graduate and longtime supporter of the university. Five years ago he bought a downtown office building and donated it to the university as a home for art and architecture students.

Red Cross DIRECTOR Minn-Kota Red Cross has new director FARGO, N.D. (AP) The Minn-Kota Chapter of the American Red Cross has a new director.

Greg Voss, a Red Cross volunteer for many years, currently is executive director of the Andover (Minn.) YMCA Community Center.

Andover is a Minneapolis suburb.

Voss is to begin his duties Dec. 14. He succeeds Sherri Thomsen, who said last summer she was resigning to spend more time with her family.

The Minn-Kota Chapter has offices in Fargo in North Dakota and East Grand Forks and Fergus Falls in Minnesota. It serves 27 counties in the two states.

Information from: The Forum, http://www.in-forum.com O'HANLON APPOINTMENT O'Hanlon appointed AP Great Plains news editor NEW YORK (AP) The Nebraska news editor for The Associated Press has been named to the new position of Great Plains news editor.

Kevin O'Hanlon is one of six editors in charge of an expanded multistate territory as part of a restructuring of the AP's U.S.

news management. He will oversee coverage of Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota.

O'Hanlon joined the AP in Dallas in 1995 and worked in the Cincinnati bureau before being named Lincoln correspondent in 1998.

He became Nebraska news editor in 2007.

He also has worked for newspapers in Nebraska, South Dakota, Michigan and Ohio.

The job of North and South Dakota News Editor Dennis Gale and Bismarck, N.D., Correspondent Phyllis Mensing have been eliminated as part of the consolidation.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) APNP 11-21-09 0202CST | save this article / add to your favorites list