Jennifer Hemingway will serve as Senate Sergeant at Arms and Jackie Barber will serve as Secretary of the Senate

December 5, 2024 – WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) today announced that Jennifer Hemingway will serve as Senate Sergeant at Arms and Jackie Barber will serve as Secretary of the Senate in the 119th Congress.

“Jennifer and Jackie are two immensely qualified professionals who will be crucial to the Senate functioning day in and day out,” said Thune. “These are often thankless jobs, so allow me to express my gratitude on behalf of the American people for their willingness to serve the Senate and the nation.”

As the chief law enforcement officer of the Senate, the Sergeant at Arms is charged with maintaining security in the Capitol and all Senate buildings, as well as protection of the members themselves. More information on the Senate Sergeant at Arms office is available here.

The Secretary of the Senate is responsible for an extensive array of offices and services essential to the day-to-day operations of the U.S. Senate. The secretary keeps the legislative records of the Senate, including minutes of proceedings, calendars of business, debates, nominations, bills, and amendments. More information on the Secretary of the Senate office is available here.

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Barber, a native of Onida, SD is a USD graduate, and received her JD from the USD School of Law in 2006.

Barber has been the staff Director for the Senate Rules and Administration Committee (July 2023-), and had previously served as chief counsel for the Senate Rules and Administration Committee, the Senate Ag subcommittee on Nutrition & Forestry, as well as Chief Counsel to the House Ag Committee.

You can read more about her here.

Attorney General Jackley, DCI To Review Officer Involved Shooting in Yankton

PIERRE.S.D.  – South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley confirms that the Division of Criminal investigation (DCI), at the request of the Yankton Police Department, is investigating an officer involved shooting that occurred Thursday night, Dec. 5, 2024, at a Yankton school.

One person was injured in the incident. The officers involved were not injured.

Attorney General Jackley said the Yankton Police Department is cooperating with the investigation. Officials said there is no threat to the public but asked that that the public stay away from the scene so law enforcement can conduct the investigation.

The DCI will process the crime scene, conduct a forensic examination of all collected evidence, interview officers and witnesses, and review all video cameras from the area.

After the investigation is complete, the DCI will issue a shooting summary likely within 30 days.

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From Twitter, Rep. Tony Venhuizen and Sen. Randy Deibert explain their proposal for property tax relief:

I hear more about property taxes from my constituents than any other issue, by far. This is the year for major property tax relief for South Dakotans.

This coming session, I am sponsoring legislation to cut property taxes for homeowners by an average of 35%.

Sen. Randy Deibert… pic.twitter.com/oWIUYXmbx2

— Tony Venhuizen (@Tony_Venhuizen) December 5, 2024

Public Broadcasting is facing a $3.6 Million cut in the upcoming budget proposed by Governor Kristi Noem, and they’re already taking to the non-public media to tell everyone they’re going to have to cut high school sports and legislative coverage. Not sure if that’s a smart move for them:

The free broadcast of high school sports tournaments and emergency weather alerts are in jeopardy under Gov. Kristi Noem’s proposed $3.6 million cut in South Dakota Public Broadcasting funding, an SDPB official said.

“If we take a cut of that magnitude one of the things that we would lose would be high school sports,” said Ryan Howlett, the chief executive officer of Friends of SDPB. “We wouldn’t have the resources to cover them…”

and..

Also in danger is the daily coverage of meetings during each legislative session. Howlett said then-Republican Gov. Dennis Daugaard established this program to provide media coverage independent of any state agency to serve as a watchdog.

Read the entire story at keloland.com.

I don’t think the cuts this year will generate the sense of outrage that prior years’ attacks on SDPB’s funding have.  If it comes down to sports, I’m sure that the legislature or High School Activities Association can negotiate arrangements to stream the events or create legislation permissive where others can do so.  Emergency broadcasting? God knows our cell phones do double duty serving that function.  I think we’re hitting the point in our society where there’s a sense of obsolescence and questioning how SDPB is competing in todays’s market.

If the response to the funding threat is that they’re going to cut things they do well such as legislative coverage, something they excel at doing (versus rebroadcasting “Call the Midwife” and other British dramas), they’re cutting their own throat.

Sioux Falls Mayor Paul TenHaken recently had some good advice to the legislators who will be meeting in January to focus on actually governing. Instead of devoting their time to expanding the nanny state:

When responding to a question about one thing the city as the whole would want from the state Legislature in the next upcoming session, TenHaken said he’d like to see state lawmakers stay out of “culture war issues.”

and..

“We’re in a divisive time right now. Politics is gross and people are mad,” TenHaken said. “How do we put just put some of that anger aside, culture issues aside, what’s the basic tackling and blocking we have to do to keep up with a city growing 5-6,000 people year. Keeping a couple books out of our library is not high on our priority list.”

Read the entire story here at KELOland.com

That might be some of the best advice I’ve heard in a while.

Thune: President Trump and Senate Republicans Will Restore American Strength

 “[A]s China flexes its muscle, Iran continues its proxy war on Israel, and North Korean soldiers join Russia’s war on Ukraine, it’s time for a return to clear American leadership on the world stage.”

Click here or on the picture above to watch the video.

 WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) today spoke on the Senate floor about President Biden’s disastrous foreign policy record and the incoming Trump administration’s determination to reverse course. Thune warned our adversaries and reassured our allies that four years of weakness on the world stage is coming to an end.

This is hot off the press.

2 South Dakota Legislative Democrats, Representative Pori Pourier and Senator Red Dawn Foster are said to have broken away and are NOT meeting with their respective Democrat House and Senate Caucuses over what I’m told is a disagreement with House Minority Leader Erin Healy over something or another.

And we might just take that to be rumor, innuendo and just plain chatter.. except for what was issued today – the House and Senate Legislative Seating charts:

Pourier is most certainly NOT seated with the rest of her caucus, as she’s been shifted to the center of the room.  And in the Senate..

..Despite there only being three Democrats, Red Dawn Foster was placed next to Tom Pischke, which might be argued could be an act of punishment, but it might just mean no one else wanted to sit there, and it’s an open space given JFM is long gone from the Senate.

But in ether case, something is going on among Democrats that hasn’t hit the public airwaves yet for these legislators to be separated from the pack.

Johnson to Lead Influential Conservative Caucus

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Representative Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) was re-elected as Chair of the Republican Main Street Caucus (“Main Street”). In recent years, Main Street has been at the forefront of delivering key conservative wins, including cutting $2 trillion in spending over four years, reforming welfare, and unlocking American energy.

“Now is a special time in American history,” said Johnson. “We must secure the border, cut spending, and roll back unnecessary regulations. The Republican Main Street Caucus will work with President Trump and the Senate to deliver on this strong, conservative agenda. I’m proud to lead this group during this exciting time.”

Main Street is comprised of more than 80 conservative House members from across the country dedicated to delivering commonsense, conservative solutions. Johnson has led the group since 2022.

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It’s like the candidates for SDGOP Chair can’t stop digging, as tonight we have a candidate for GOP Chair continuing the awful.   Tonight’s installment recalls the forum held by the confederate coalition of counties from the other night. The group had sent out minutes of what took place. Except that Ex-Majority Leader and alleged “attempted converter” Lee Qualm didn’t care for the page or so summary, and felt the need to clarify the minutes that they recorded.

Of course, his “clarification” ended up being a complete rewrite, taking it from about 1 page or less to eleven.   I won’t get into it too much, but there are some cringeworthy passages in there that are hard to ignore.. From SDGOP Chairman hopeful Lee Qualm, in his own words:

The Hispanic are becoming more a part…. I feel that as we talk about Hispanics and Blacks…. They are all Americans. We need to be inclusive and bring people in and stop distinguishing…. That is what causes racism by calling them Hispanic or calling them Black.

So, they weren’t part of the state before….? And racism is caused by referring to blacks and hispanics as black or hispanic.. which is why he’s referring to them as black and hispanic?

What do they say about giving someone enough rope?

(Can someone please enter the race so we have better choices? I don’t want to spend the next two years doing this.)

That was fast.

Before the hard right can officially take power in the State Legislature during the next legislative session, the even further right members of that faction are trying to eat their own, attacking incoming Senate President Pro Tempore Chris Karr:

Keep watching. I’m guessing this won’t be the last time they go on the attack.