Jonm Hunter News Today

Gov. Kristi Noem announced she has asked the South Dakota Board of Regents to set policies that preserve certain educational curriculum in the states universities. It comes as a response to a push by some to redefine some elements of American history. Yes, the issue involves politics. It originated in political theory and is being debated in many state legislatures. In a short space, well try to broadly define the issue. Much of the current debate started with something called the 1619 project ...

While a cyberattack on an East Coast pipeline company may seem distant to us in Lake County, it does give us a stark example of something that could happen here. Colonial Pipeline Co., which operates a 5,500-mile pipeline that delivers 45% of the gasoline and jet fuel supplied to the U.S. East Coast, said Friday that it had been the victim of a ransomware attack. The criminals get inside an organizations computer system and lock it up, or threaten to make confidential data public, demanding a r...

Gov. Kristi Noem told South Dakotas tourism industry on Monday to prepare for a strong rebound this summer, following effects of the coronavirus pandemic on nationwide travel (see story in Tuesdays Daily Leader). The governor said the state would try to help tourism-oriented businesses hire enough workers for the summer season. She said the state usually focuses exclusively on bringing more people to the state but that the Department of Tourism and Department of Labor and Regulation will provid...

A Canadian company would like to mine uranium in southwest South Dakota and is seeking appropriate permits from the state. While that process is necessary, we believe the project should be rejected just based on common environmental sense. Powertech Industries Inc., a subsidiary of Azarga Uranium based in British Columbia, Canada, would use a mining process known as In-situ leaching that would use vast amounts of groundwater to dissolve uranium, then bring it to the surface. When we say vast am...

Public schools and universities are planning for a more "normal" school year after more than a full year of adapting to the coronavirus. The South Dakota Board of Regents announced March 15 that the states six universities and two special schools are intending to have campus life look much like it was before the pandemic. Most K-12 schools we know have not made formal announcements but are hoping to do the same. Health experts recommend continued caution still until infection numbers drop even ...

Dakota State University was founded 140 years ago next month as Dakota Normal School. While 140 years may not be a big round number like 100 or 200 years, we need to reflect and celebrate the journey the school has taken. Lets talk first about modest beginnings. The territorial legislature passed a bill creating the school, but there wasnt much to it: no money, building, students or faculty. The only thing they had in hand was 20 acres of donated land within a 6-month-old village called Madison...

United States Senate committee appointments were announced this week, and the two senators from South Dakota scored excellent assignments that will involve both the nation and South Dakota. The smaller number of senators (100) compared to the number of representatives (435) means that each senator will have more committee assignments compared to a house member. Even so, South Dakota senators are largely on the right ones. Each committee assignment has subcommittees associated with it. In some c...

All 50 state constitutions mandate that the governor give an annual (or regular) report to the state legislature on the condition of the state. This speech is most commonly referred

We have confidence in the plan and optimism that it will be as effective as possible. The plan is broken into phases and groups. Were in the midst of Phase 1, and have basically finished group 1A, which includes frontline health-care workers and long-term care facility health-are workers. They deserve to be first. Were now in the midst of Group 1B, which includes long-term care facility residents, mostly older citizens who are most at-risk to die from COVID-19. And weve started Group 1C, which ...

The South Dakota legislature will convene for its annual session in only twelve days, and from a distance, it doesnt appear as if its ready for this mid-pandemic session. Rep. Linda Duba of Sioux Falls announced this week that she will not attend the legislative session in person until she is vaccinated for COVID-19. She intends to meet all her obligations remotely, but at the moment, that is not considered an option. We understand legislative leaders are working on a proposal for remote attend...