Dave Kolpack

Associated Press

Today in Manufacturing Podcast

Today in Manufacturing Podcast

Today in Manufacturing has a new podcast brought to you by the editors of Industrial Media. In each episode, we discuss the five biggest stories in manufacturing, and the implications they have on the industry moving forward.

In this Oct. 11, 2019, file photo, U.S. President Donald Trump, right, shakes hands with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He after being given a letter in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. China's trade with the United States fell by double digits again in September amid a tariff war that threatens to tip the global economy into recession.

China Truce Leaves Issues for Later

Nothing's on paper and details are scarce.

Some of the 1,000 solar panels that are part of a green energy project on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation frame the landscape near Cannon Ball, N.D., where the grand opening for the energy farm that was borne partly out of protests against the Dakota Access pipeline in 2016 and 2017 was held. Revenue generated from the 30 kilowatt farm is currently being used to power a community center and gymnasium in Cannon Ball.

Tribe Launches Solar Farm

Located just 3 miles from the pipeline, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe's solar project is meant as a first step toward clean energy independence.

The Dakota Access pipeline.

DAPL Environmental Study Must Continue

In a decision pipeline opponents have called "a significant victory," the judge said he'd consider later whether the pipeline must halt operations in the meantime.

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North Dakota Whiskey Survives Scotch Test

The Scotch Whisky Association had filed a protest over the local distillery's naming of their product, saying it would confuse consumers in thinking it was a Scottish product.

In this Dec. 30, 2013 file photo, a fireball goes up at the site of an oil train derailment in Casselton, N.D. The National Transportation Safety Board is set to release the cause of the 2013 oil train derailment in eastern North Dakota. The accident happened when a train carrying soybeans derailed in front of an oil tanker train near the small town of Casselton. It caused a series of explosions and the evacuation of about 1,400 residents, but no one was hurt.

Defective Axle Blamed for 2013 Derailment

A BNSF train carrying soybeans derailed and was struck by one carrying oil, setting off explosions near Fargo, ND.

In this Sept. 28, 2016 photo, This drone being flown by University of North Dakota students hovers over an aerospace building in Grand Forks, North Dakota. The flying session was part of the school's first drone business class that is meant to show students what it will take to further their unmanned aircraft careers. One student calls the class a 'game-changer' and another believes it will help him launch a drone business.

Student Learn Drone Business

At semester's end, students will pitch their enterprise ideas to venture capitalists and executives in a "Shark Tank" style setting.

This Aug. 29, 2016, file photo provided by Sharper Shape and SkySkopes shows a Sharper A6 drone before a test to fly over power lines in eastern North Dakota near Blanchard. The drone is specially designed for utility asset inspections. The drone is being tested as part of a project by Xcel Energy to see of unmanned aircraft can help crews restore power to areas hit by natural disasters. Officials with the company hope to be flying beyond visual line of sight by the end of the year.

Drone Operators Want to Fly Out of Direct Sight

Companies say the so-called line-of-sight exemptions are essential to someday use drones for such tasks as cleanup and repair after storm damage and monitoring widespread crop conditions.