Unemployment Hits fargo, North Dakota.

The unemployment rate has surpassed 10 percent for the first time since 1983 -- and is likely to go higher. Nearly 16 million people can't find jobs even though the worst recession since the Great Depression has apparently ended. Many economists worry that persistently high unemployment could undermine the recovery by restraining consumer spending, which accounts for 70 percent of the economy.

The Labor Department said Friday that jobless rate rose to 10.2 percent, the highest since April 1983, from 9.8 percent in September. The economy shed a net total of 190,000 jobs in October, less than the downwardly revised 219,000 lost in September, but more than economists expected.

The jump in the jobless rate reflects a sharp increase in the tally of unemployed Americans, which rose to 15.7 million from 15.1 million. The net loss of jobs occurred across most industries, from manufacturing and construction to retail and financial. That tally is based on a separate survey of businesses.

Economists say the unemployment rate could climb as high as 10.5 percent next year because employers remain reluctant to hire.

Counting those who have settled for part-time jobs or stopped looking for work, the unemployment rate would be 17.5 percent, the highest on records dating from 1994.

"It's not a good report," said Dan Greenhaus, chief economic strategist for New York-based investment firm Miller Tabak & Co. "What we're seeing is a validation of the idea that a jobless recovery is perfectly on track."

Friday's report is the first since the government said last week that the economy grew at a 3.5 percent annual rate in the July-September quarter, the strongest signal yet that the economy is rebounding. But that isn't fast enough to spur rapid hiring.

"You need explosive growth to take the unemployment rate down," Greenhaus said in an interview Thursday.

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KFGO Radio News time reports says The need for help is desperate.

University of North Dakota and North Dakota State University to play each other in football every year.

North Dakota lawmakers say they're willing to soften a bill that requires the University of North Dakota and North Dakota State University to play each other in football every year.

The state House Education Committee is considering the bill. The two schools played each other for more than a century before NDSU began the process of joining the NCAA's Football Championship Subdivision. They haven't played since 2003.

Grand Forks Rep. Corey Mock is a sponsor of the bill. He says he's willing to change the measure to encourage the two schools to play each other without requiring that it happen.

Mock says lawmakers have heard critics say the issue should not be debated in the Legislature. But he says the bill was requested by people in his district during his election campaign last year.

Mock's district includes the University of North Dakota.

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Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. ''the Big Bopper'' Richardson played the Surf the night before their plane crashed en route to a Moorhead concert

Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. ''the Big Bopper'' Richardson played the Surf the night before their plane crashed en route to a Moorhead concert on Feb. 3, 1959.

Dave Mason never got to see Buddy Holly play. He wasn't about to miss the 50th anniversary of Holly's last performance.

Mason was among the stars appearing in front of a sellout crowd Monday at the Surf Ballroom to cap a series of events dubbed ''50 Winters Later.'' Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. ''the Big Bopper'' Richardson played the Surf the night before their plane crashed en route to a Moorhead concert on Feb. 3, 1959.

''I wish I'd gotten to see him play live,'' Mason said of Holly. ''He was a master of simplicity in song.''

Bobby Vee, Graham Nash, Los Lobos, Delbert McClinton, Joe Ely and Wanda Jackson were in the lineup along with Tommy Allsup, who played with Holly's band on what was called the Winter Dance Party tour.

''I'm elated and sad,'' said Pat DiNizio of The Smithereens. ''I feel as though we may be here to lay the final wreath on the casket, so to speak.''

Bobby Vee, then 15-year-old Robert Velline, filled in for Holly and the others in Moorhead, essentially launching Vee's career.

Maria Elena Holly, Buddy Holly's widow, and brothers and sisters of Valens thanked the crowd for coming.

Bethany Prenevosk, of Chicago, rocked to the music with her sister, Jamie, and father, Brien.

''There's so many people here that appreciate the same music that we do,'' she said. She added: ''We've been here all week. It's the best vacation we've ever taken.''

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