Opinion

Gritty infrastructure

Published by admin on Wed, 09/03/2025 - 9:35am
The timing was coincidental, though certainly noteworthy. As members from my administration met with industry leaders to discuss how to strengthen our state’s critical infrastructure, we were experiencing our own significant infrastructure challenges. The first meeting of my newly appointed GRIT task force was taking place at the same time as a major technology service disruption that impacted critical functions of all branches of state government.

I plan to reintroduce property tax bill

Published by admin on Wed, 08/27/2025 - 5:38pm

Greetings. Every place I go every one approaches me about property tax relief. Some even say that I promised property tax relief. I did promise I would try and Rep. Ladner and Sen. Hulse and I most definitely did try. They can give you a rundown of their property tax bills. I’ll do just mine in this article.

SDPB cuts will hurt the state

Published by admin on Wed, 08/27/2025 - 5:34pm

By now you’ve heard South Dakota Public Broadcasting (SDPB) is laying off 15 employees across a spectrum of programs and services that will impact SDPB local journalism efforts, eliminate the radio program “In the Moment” and the TV program “South Dakota Focus,” reduce output of the program “Dakota Life,” and eliminate the educational resources provided by SDPB’s education team. Several support positions are also being eliminated. The layoffs will take place this fall.

It might be time for a brain scan

Published by admin on Wed, 08/27/2025 - 5:31pm

I was an hour late to the Custer County Commission meeting last Wednesday.
No, there was no emergency. There wasn’t a problem at my home. I didn’t get a flat tire on the way to work, and my car didn’t break down. Rally traffic is long gone, so I don’t have that excuse, either.
The real reason I was late is as baffling as it is embarrassing.

Down Memory Lane Aug. 27

Published by admin on Wed, 08/27/2025 - 4:41pm

5 YEARS AGO, 2020

Let them rot, I say

Published by admin on Wed, 08/27/2025 - 4:41pm

Richard Marx had just topped the charts with his hit “Right Here Waiting.” Names like Paula Abdul, New Kids on the Block and Great White rounded out the top 10 list for Aug. 19.
The year was 1989. 
I was 19, the same age as Erik Menendez, when I heard about the brutal murders he and his brother Lyle were accused of.
Like many, I was in shock.
Sure, I was a teen and knew all too well how unfair my parents could be at times. 
I had thought about running away to punish them for grounding me or setting an early curfew. 

How much AI should a newspaper use?

Published by admin on Wed, 08/20/2025 - 12:33pm

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is an ever-growing, ever-changing, ubiquitous part of our lives. It is transforming the way many things are done, for better or worse. It’s not going anywhere, and will only continue to evolve. It advances every day. In the space of time between when you start reading this editorial and you finish it, AI will have likely evolved with a new major breakthrough.

Prairie Thunder helping keep us safe

Published by admin on Wed, 08/20/2025 - 12:29pm

Strong, safe and free. Our state is all three of those things, and it’s my mission as your governor to keep it that way. When it comes to safety, one of our biggest opportunities to move the needle is in Sioux Falls—and that’s what my administration will accomplish with Operation: Prairie Thunder.

Newspaper closures leaves void in state

Published by admin on Wed, 08/20/2025 - 12:23pm

It made me want to weep.
The grinding decline of the traditional newspaper business continued in an incredibly sad way last week with news that the Brookings Register, Huron Plainsman, Moody County Enterprise and Redfield Press have closed.
The papers are/were owned by News Media Corp., based in Illinois. I know very little about that company beyond the fact that it closed four South Dakota papers that mattered, apparently with no advance notice for employees and no continuing health coverage or certainty that the staffers will be paid all of what they’re owed.

Let’s prevent—not just contain—measles

Published by admin on Wed, 08/20/2025 - 12:23pm

It’s not as bad as it could’ve been: That’s the new bar for public health success in South Dakota.
The leader of the state Health Department, Melissa Magstadt, made that clear Thursday when she declared herself “so proud” of the state’s measles response.
In an opinion piece she wrote and sent to the media, Magstadt summarized the state’s efforts since measles cases surged earlier this year in other parts of the country and reached South Dakota in May.