Project Prison Reset Task Force Shares Consultant Report
PIERRE, S.D. – Today, the Project Prison Reset task force shared the completed consultant report by Arrington Watkins. You can find the consultant report here.
“This new third-party report confirms what our task force concluded: that the state penitentiary in Sioux Falls has reached the end of its useful life,” said Lt. Governor Tony Venhuizen, who chairs the task force. “The report also found that our system is overcrowded and requires a new facility and, absent changes in law, we can expect this problem to get even worse over time.”
Arrington Watkins’ report specifically analyzed the state of our current system, including the South Dakota State Penitentiary, the Jameson Prison Annex, and the Sioux Falls Minimum Center. The consultant will evaluate potential sites for a new prison in the second phase.
The task force was announced by Governor Larry Rhoden in February. You can find information about past Project Prison Reset meetings here.
Gov. Rhoden Signs Hours of Service Waiver to Bring Relief for Fuel Supply
PIERRE, S.D. – Today, Governor Larry Rhoden signed Executive Order 2025-05 granting an hours of service waiver for certain liquid products being transported through South Dakota.
The 14-day order exempts delivery of gasoline, or gasoline blends, diesel, fuel oil, ethanol, propane, jet fuel, and biodiesel from federal motor carrier regulations regarding drivers’ hours of service. The waiver will address supply shortages being reported in the state by businesses and residents.
Although hours of service have been temporarily suspended for commercial deliveries, companies may not require or allow fatigued drivers to make deliveries. All other road safety and vehicle compliance regulations still apply.
The executive order is consistent with other states in the region, including Iowa, Nebraska, and Kansas, who currently have similar waivers in effect. The executive order expires at midnight on May 29, 2025.
I just had someone asking me for a political pin which I was digging for, and I came across this from one of the least memorable campaigns in state history, the official Mark Mowry for US Senate 2022 bumper sticker:
I don’t seem to recall that he did very well in that primary election. (Probably because he too was getting his slogan from Hobby Lobby).
Attorney General Jackley Announces Former State Government Employee Sentenced in Department of Revenue Fraud Case
PIERRE, S.D. – South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley announces that a former state Department of Revenue employee has been sentenced on a misdemeanor count of Misprison of a Felony.
Danielle Degenstein, 52, of Pierre entered her guilty plea Tuesday in Hughes County Circuit Court. She was granted a suspended imposition of sentence with one year in jail suspended, one year of unsupervised probation, a $500 fine, and court costs.
“This defendant violated the public’s trust by not reporting a coworker’s criminal activity,” said Attorney General Jackley. “I will continue to lead the effort to protect our taxpayers and maintain transparency in bringing forth violations of the public’s trust.”
Degenstein was investigated for knowing, and not reporting, that a Department of Revenue employee forged a power of attorney document for that employee’s financial gain.
The case was investigated by the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI). The Attorney General’s Office prosecuted the case.
Senator Mike Rounds WEEKLY ROUND[S] UP: April 28-May 11, 2025 by US Senator Mike Rounds
Welcome back to another edition of the Weekly Round[s] Up. It has been a busy couple of weeks back in DC after the Easter holiday. However, we’ve had 31 South Dakota groups visit DC over the past two weeks, bringing a bit of home to Capitol Hill and a bright spot in our busy days! In addition to those meetings, I’ve been attending hearings, voting on President Trump’s nominees on the floor and sitting in on classified briefings. I even had the opportunity to introduce a couple of nominees at their Senate confirmation hearings over the past two weeks! More on this and the rest of my schedule in my Weekly Round[s] Up:
South Dakota groups I met with: Over 30 – South Dakota Telecom Association; South Dakota members of the Association of Nurse Anesthetists; the South Dakota Snowmobile Association; South Dakota members of the American College of Physicians Services; South Dakota Rural Electric Association; the Independent Insurance Agents of South Dakota; Barry Dunn, President of South Dakota State University; South Dakota Emergency Nurses Association; the Siouxland Chamber of Commerce; South Dakota tribal students partaking in the Native Youth Policy Summit Expo; Benjamin Ostebee, South Dakota’s representative for the National Community Pharmacists Association; South Dakota Emergency Nurses Association; members of the South Dakota Education Association; Charles and Heather Maude and their two children, Lyle and Kennedy; virtual meeting with Chamberlain High School’s AP Government class; Teonna Randle, who represented South Dakota at the national Poetry Out Loud competition (and placed second overall!); leaders from the Rosebud Sioux Tribe; the South Dakota Association of Healthcare Organizations; members of Northern Great Plains Joint Venture; the U.S. Cattlemen’s Association, including President Justin Tupper of St. Onge; South Dakota members of the Association of American Railroads; members of the South Dakota Farmers Union; leaders from the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe; South Dakota members of the Truck Trailer Manufacturers Association; leaders from Thrivent; South Dakota members of the American Kidney Fund; South Dakota Concerned Women for America; South Dakota Dairy Producers; and Associated General Contractors of South Dakota.
South Dakota towns represented: Aberdeen, Bison, Box Elder, Brandon, Brookings, Burbank, Caputa, Chamberlain, Custer, Dakota Dunes, Dell Rapids, De Smet, Flandreau, Freeman, Gettysburg, Groton, Hermosa, Highmore, Hot Springs, Huron, Ipswich, Kimball, Lake Andes, Madison, Milbank, Mission, Mitchell, North Sioux City, Parade, Pierre, Plankinton, Rapid City, Reliance, Salem, Seneca, Sioux Falls, St. Onge, Tea, Vermillion, Watertown, Wessington Springs, Winner, Woonsocket and Wall.
Other meetings: Dr. Robert Kadlec, nominee for Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear Deterrence, Chemical, and Biological Defense Policy and Programs; Michael Obadal, nominee for Under Secretary for the Army; Adam Telle, nominee for Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works;Professor Lars-Hendrik Röller, Chairman of the Berlin Global Dialogue; Rwanda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs; Pious Jung, CEO of CJ America; spoke at a fireside chat for the Hill & Valley Forum; attended the SeedAI Breakfast for AI Policy Practitioners; Thomas Tull, founder of Tulco LLC; Christopher Eisgruber, President of Princeton University; Katie Sutton, nominee for Assistant Secretary of Defense for Cyber Policy; Ambassador Khazar Ibrahim, Azerbaijan’s Ambassador to the United States; Bishop Zaidan of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and Sean Callahan, CEO of Catholic Relief Services; Scott Donnelly, CEO of Textron; Binalf Andualem, Ethiopia’s Ambassador to the United States; members of National Grid Renewables; King Abdullah II of Jordan; Paul Hudson, CEO of Sanofi; members of the General Aviation Manufacturers Association; Salim Ramji, CEO of Vanguard; and Michael Powers, nominee for Deputy Undersecretary of Defense.
I spoke at a breakfast hosted by The Hill about artificial intelligence.
Hearings: I attended nine hearings over the past two weeks. Five were in the Senate Armed Services Committee, three were in the Senate Committee on Appropriations and one was for the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. During the Banking Committee hearing, I spoke about the importance of reauthorizing and reforming the National Flood Insurance Program. Watch that clip here. In addition, I introduced my friend and former advisor Katie Sutton at her nomination hearing to serve as the next Assistant Secretary of Defense for Cyber Policy, which you can watch a clip of here.
I also had the honor of introducing Luke Lindberg of South Dakota during his nomination hearing at the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry. He’ll do a great job as Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs. You can watch a clip of my introduction here.
Classified briefings: 3 – two were for the Select Committee on Intelligence. I attended one classified briefing as part of my work as Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Cybersecurity.
Votes taken: 29 votes over two weeks – most of these were on additional nominees to executive positions. While the confirmation of these nominees may not grab headlines like the cabinet-level nominees, everyone being confirmed right now is critical to the Trump administration and the work they’re doing for the American people.
My staff in South Dakota visited: Aberdeen, Belle Fourche, Gregory, Lower Brule, Spearfish, Sturgis, Wagner and Winner.
Steps taken: 52,890 steps or 26.31 miles during week one; 58,202 steps or 29.03 miles during week two.
Video of the week: I joined Fox Business to discuss the budget reconciliation and the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act:
The Minnehaha County GOP met last night to elect a new Treasurer. And just to be a helper, Minnehaha Chair Korry Petterson offered a suggestion..
Subject: Official Notice – Minnehaha County Republican Executive Board Treasurer Election
Good afternoon, Minnehaha County Central Committee Members,
I am writing to provide the official notice of the upcoming election for the Treasurer position on the Minnehaha County Republican Executive Board. Please click on the meeting agenda. This letter serves as your formal notification of the meeting, which will be held on May 12th at 6:30 PM.
I am pleased to announce that District 10’s South Dakota House of Representatives member, Bobbi Andera, has graciously stepped forward and volunteered to run for the Treasurer position. True to her lifelong dedication to service, including her time in the United States Air Force, Bobbi continues to demonstrate her commitment to our community and the values we uphold. Having worked closely with her during her campaign, I can confidently say she is one of the hardest-working and most dependable individuals I’ve had the pleasure of working with. I believe she will bring tremendous energy and integrity to this role.
As you’ll see in the attached agenda, the meeting will be concise and focused. It is my goal to respect your time by keeping the meeting to under an hour while still accomplishing all necessary business. Your participation is essential and sincerely appreciated.
After the meeting is adjourned, I will remain available to answer any questions you may have regarding the executive board’s recent activities.
Thank you again for your dedication and involvement.
Respectfully,
Korry Petterson
Chairman Minnehaha County Republicans
In his notice, Minnehaha Chair Korry Petterson offered his suggestion for anti-vaxxer State Rep. Bobbi Andera to be the new Treasurer..
Which was resoundingly rejected, and previous Treasurer Spencer Wrightsman from several years back was brought forward to fill the role in a surprising move, since he represents a Minnehaha GOP from when it was much less of a circus.
Congratulations Spencer – I guess. It may be less of an honor and more of a front row seat for the chaos that is now the GOP in Minnehaha County.
Rounds Introduces Legislation to Advance Brain Cancer Research and Development
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) introduced the Bolstering Research and Innovation Now (BRAIN) Act, legislation to advance research for brain tumors and improve brain tumor treatment and care.
“For me, the fight against cancer is personal. When my late wife Jean was courageously battling cancer a few years ago, we were already seeing encouraging progress in the development of new treatments for many cancers,” said Rounds. “I firmly believe we are years, not decades, away from seeing cures to many of the most deadly cancers. The BRAIN Act will allow us to continue capitalizing on the progress we have made so far by implementing programs and funding that will advance research and treatments for brain tumors. I look forward to working with my colleagues to get this important legislation signed into law.”
“After Brian was diagnosed with glioblastoma, the most common and deadly type of malignant brain tumor, his journey provided hope to a lot of folks in his community,” said Lisa Fulton of South Dakota of her late husband, a well-respected rodeo champion and father of three sons at the time of his diagnosis in 2006. “He literally got back on the horse the day we came home from five weeks at in-patient rehab following his recurrence and never gave up. Senator Rounds’ support of this landmark bill means the world to those of us affected by this life-altering disease. The BRAIN Act creates a framework to support research that could change the course of so many lives.”
The BRAIN Act is cosponsored by Senators John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and Jack Reed (D-R.I.). Companion legislation was introduced in the U.S. House by Representative Lori Trahan (D-Mass).
BACKGROUND:
Today, more than one million people in the United States are living with a primary brain tumor. Despite major improvements made in the treatment of other cancers in recent years, incidence and survival rates for malignant brain tumors have remained stagnant for 45 years, with a five-year relative survival rate of only 35.7 percent.
In order to reduce mortality rates and make meaningful progress against brain tumors, better funding and collaborative research is needed. The BRAIN Act takes a comprehensive, complementary approach to meet this need and further advance research for these aggressive, hard-to-treat tumors.
Specifically, the BRAIN Act:
Increases transparency of federally-funded biobank collections so researchers are aware of others who possess samples that may be shared to enable important research.
Sufficiently supports the National Cancer Institute’s Glioblastoma Therapeutics Network so it can realize its promise of vetting treatments and completing innovative early-phase clinical trials.
Enables team science to advance immunotherapy research (CAR-T) engineered to attack brain cancer cells.
Directs the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to conduct a public education campaign around the importance of clinical trials and biomarker testing in cancer treatment.
Augments and expands funding to develop innovative systems of care models for brain tumor survivors.
Directs the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to issue guidance to guarantee brain tumor and other rare and recalcitrant cancer patient access to clinical trials evaluating treatments for other diseases.
Former South Dakota Republican Party Chairman Randy Frederick is noted as the Treasurer on a new federal Super PAC that was filed today, the “Dakota Conservative PAC”:
The Federal independent expenditure-only political committee does not have a lot of information out there about it just yet…. However, given Randy’s friendship with Senator Mike Rounds, and the fact that it’s a Federal PAC, it could possibly be a mechanism to support the Senator’s candidacy. (Or not. I’m just speculating.)
That being said, there is ALSO a Dakota Conservative PAC at the state level that’s ran by former State Senator Erin Tobin, which would not seem to have any association at this time with Randy’s Federal PAC of the same name. Erin’s PAC has been around since late 2023, predating this PAC by 18 months.
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) introduced the Bolstering Research and Innovation Now (BRAIN) Act, legislation to advance research for brain tumors and improve brain tumor treatment and care.