Preserving Our Outdoor Heritage
By: Governor Kristi Noem
March 1, 2024

Almost every memory I have from my childhood is outdoors. I think my parents used to send us kids outside as an attempt to keep us out of trouble. And to this day I am still more comfortable in my jeans and ball cap. As Governor, though, my hours are often filled with other things. But even with all those other things that have to fill up my time, one thing I have always prioritized is hunting.

I come from a family of hunters. Our hunting trips and the lessons that my dad taught me turned me into the woman that I am today. When I had kids of my own, I knew that I was going to raise a family of strong-willed, independent, stubborn hunters, too. When I think about future generations, about my two grandkids (and the third on the way), I don’t want anything more than for them to be able to grow up experiencing the outdoors and seeing the world the way I did.

If we want our grandkids to experience the joy of hunting and the outdoors, we need to proactively protect habitat.

In 2019, I started the Second Century Initiative to increase resources to grow our habitat here in South Dakota. This Initiative included the Working Lands Program to provide an alternative to cash flow marginal acres and make ends meet by converting those acres into habitat. And I am very proud that we have enrolled about 10,000 marginal acres in our Working Lands Habitat Program!

With the Second Century Initiative, I also launched my Nest Predator Bounty Program to increase the trapping of predators that kill our precious pheasants. Every year, participants turn in 50,000 tails of predators that would otherwise devastate our pheasant and wildlife population. But what I think it really awesome is that last year 46% of our participants were under the age of 18. I love that more kids are getting involved in trapping, hunting, and fishing!

I was honored to kick off Pheasant Fest this year. I am so proud that we are hosting this great event in Sioux Falls. They used to only go to Minneapolis, but because of our passion for pheasant hunting and habitat conservation, as well as our economic development efforts, we now get to host Pheasant Fest right here in South Dakota!

I signed a bill that my Department of Game, Fish and Parks has been working very hard on. This legislation creates a habitat conservation specialty license plate and emblem.  We will be unveiling the design later this year – but I can tell you that it will have some beautiful scenery featuring our grasslands and the habitats that are so critical to our wildlife. We will also have several emblems to choose from – a buck, a rooster pheasant, a meadow lark, and a pasque flower. There will be something for everyone! The dollars to purchase these special plates and emblems will then go to benefit habitat.

I grew up as a farmer and a rancher. My family put food on our own table by putting food on tables around the world. And my dad used to always tell me, “Kristi, you have to take care of the land, God isn’t making any more of it.” That has always motivated me to start these initiatives and prioritize conservation and habitat preservation.

I am very proud that we are ensuring that future generations will get to grow up and experience the outdoor heritage that is so central to our way of life here in South Dakota.

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Well, that sounds like a barn burner. (sarcasm warning)

The anti-prison NIMBY’s in Lincoln county had an event last night to raise money for their sisyphean fight against the state who is building a new prison on land it already owns.

Who were the featured speakers? Steve Haugaard and NDGOP exec for a week Dave Roetman.

Ironically, given Haugaard’s prohibitionist attitudes on alcohol, the musical entertainment was a Jimmy Buffet tribute band called “too drunk to fish.”’

If they had any number of people there, I’m guessing they were there for the band.

Rounds Leads Legislation to Increase Timber Sales in the Black Hills National Forest

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) today introduced the Timber Harvesting Restoration Act, legislation that would require the United States Forest Service (USFS) to improve timber sales numbers in the Black Hills National Forest.

In recent years, timber sales in the Black Hills National Forest have steadily decreased. This has put a significant strain on manufacturers of timber products that rely on these sales. These businesses then have to bring in timber harvested further away, paying additional shipping costs. In addition, USFS has been unable to justify the harvesting shortfalls in the Black Hills National Forest.

“A well-managed forest is a healthy forest,” said Rounds. “The reduction in timber production in the Black Hills not only harms our businesses, but our forest as well. I’m pleased to be introducing this legislation that takes steps toward getting our timber production back up to normal levels.”

Specifically, the Timber Harvesting Restoration Act would:

• Require superintendents of National Forest System (NFS) units (individual national forests) to submit harvesting improvement reports to the Secretary if they have historically fallen well below annual Allowable Sale Quantity (ASQ) numbers laid out in forest plans.
• Require superintendent reports to identify any of the following actions: 1) forest areas that could be used to help meet harvesting targets 2) any actionable steps that may help meet harvesting targets, including expediting environmental review processes and increasing the use of Good Neighbor Authority when applicable.
• Require superintendents to consult with private industry, advisory committees, local, tribal and state governments and relevant stakeholder groups when drafting improvement reports.
• Require superintendents to submit improvement reports to the Secretary within 180 days of enactment of the Act.
• Require superintendents to demonstrate actionable steps towards improving timber sale numbers within one year of enactment. If a forest supervisor does not increase timber sales from the preceding year, they will be required to submit another improvement report within 180 days after the actionable step deadline.
• Direct the Secretary to allocate any available resources to an individual NFS if a superintendent does not demonstrate harvesting improvements one year after submitting a harvesting improvement report. This may include providing additional personnel, expanding the use of Good Neighbor Authority and finding any feasible actions to expedite environmental review processes.

Click HERE for full bill text.

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China Creeps Closer
By Rep. Dusty Johnson
March 1, 2024

BIG Update

The surge of migrants coming across the southern border certainly isn’t news to many people. But, as the crisis rages on, more and more Chinese nationals are crossing our southern border illegally. In 2023, Customs and Border Patrol reported 37,000 Chinese nationals were encountered while crossing the border illegally. That’s 50 times more than in 2021. And many of them are doing so through the help of Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok. Viral videos share specific details and locations on where and how to cross the border, allowing thousands of unvetted people to enter our country with ease.

Other videos on TikTok solicit viewers in the U.S. to help smuggle drugs and migrants across the border. Sheriffs who work near the border encounter many situations like this and end up in dangerous, high-speed chases, some resulting in injury or death.

TikTok is a bad app, and many agree with me that it is malware from the Chinese Communist Party. It’s evident that TikTok and Douyin are only worsening the border security crisis and national security crisis.

BIG Idea

On Monday, I visited the PURIS pea processing facility in Harrold. PURIS handles 8,000 bushels of peas each day and has created 14 good jobs in the community. I got to go behind the scenes of their operation and learned about the anti-competitive behavior China has been using to manipulate the markets. We’re asking the International Trade Commission to intervene and hold China accountable.

BIG News

Do you know the frustration of having debt sent to collections when it isn’t your bill to pay? For many Native Americans who receive purchased and referred care through the Indian Health Service, this is all too common. Many patients receive care through the IHS and are referred to a specialist or another care facility that isn’t an IHS provider. IHS is required to pay the bills for approved referrals, yet 82% of over 800,000 claims were not reviewed, approved, or paid in accordance with federal law. These unpaid bills may then be sent to the patients. If left unpaid, they can end up in the hands of debt collectors. These patients are forced to decide between paying bills they don’t owe or taking a hit to their credit.

This issue can lead to financial struggles that can be hard to recover from. Today, I introduced two bills to hold IHS accountable for not paying the health care bills they owe to providers and to protect Native Americans’ credit from these wrongfully charged bills IHS is liable for. My bills seek to rectify this unfair negligence by the IHS.

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I was given permission to let the cat out of the bag this AM today that long-time politico Kristi Golden is going to run for office as a candidate for District 9 House. Since her days doing press for Larry Pressler, Kristi has been involved in Republican politics and public affairs for decades, and is an absolute gem of a person.   Which is good news!

In bad news, unfortunately, apparently now both of the main people behind last year’s attempt at book banning in the Brookings School District are running for the legislature. And they’re gathering petition signatures at a Brookings coffee shop where people go to study and read books.

In an announcement posted to social media by one of the spouses, Rick Weible had announced earlier for District 8 house, but has apparently shifted gears and instead of being beaten by the two house candidates is setting himself up to be beaten by the incumbent Senator, Majority Leader Casey Crabtree. And also contained in that same post is a note that Jeff Struwe, who worked closely with Weible on their efforts to ban books in Brookings Schools (about 1:59:00 in on the linked video), is also going to be a candidate for the State Legislature, this time in District 7.

And both book burners will be gathering signatures tomorrow at the Cottonwood Coffee Shop in Brookings, a popular spot for local high school and college students to study and read while they drink coffee.

So, stop and pause a minute, and think about this.   Two of the main people who wanted to ban books from being read by students in Brookings are going to be gathering petition signatures in a place where students go to read.

Amazing.

Oh barf. Nobody is paying much attention to Taffy Howard anymore, so the word on-line is that – allegedly – she’s going to run for District 34 State Senate.

If that’s actually true, seriously, after her performance the last time she was in Pierre, why would they send her?

Over the last 3 years of being in Pierre, she was 0-17 on her legislation. And when she was running for Congress, her performance was much worse:

I had a note from a legislator in the State Legislature who was noticing that when it came to voting on bills on the floor of the State House of Representatives, State Representative and Congressional wannabe Taffy Howard seemed to be more and more absent. As was noted to me “she is here today but seems to be nowhere to be found on occasion, specifically whenever we are voting on BOR issues.”

I’d also heard talk that she’d duck out to go do fundraising, etc. in connection with her Congressional campaign.

Reading that and having heard those rumors, I thought it would be an interesting research project to figure out if that was just a fleeting and possibly unfair impression from the other residents of the State Capitol. Or if she was just not there when she was supposed to be.

And here’s what I found. According to House Journals, out of about 377 recorded roll count votes in the State House of Representatives, there were 53 votes where Taffy was marked as “Excused.” Calculating it out, Taffy Howard missed 14% of the floor votes she was sent to Pierre to represent her District on.

Read it here.

And if you click on that link. you can review each and every bill she skipped voting on yourself. Not BS. Not Puffery. She skipped 14% of all floor votes in her last session to duck out for campaigning or to avoid challenging votes. And after session she also skipped casting a vote on impeachment.

Why on earth would ANYONE want to send someone with that kind of record to represent them in the State Senate in Pierre?

From the book of face, it looks like they far right is switching gears in District 8, as Rick Weible, who was running for House, is now said to be running for Senate by the gal who failed in that race last time;

Wasn’t Rick ‘the self-declared hero’ running for another office a while ago? He’s just running from his own accolades to new office so quickly! And now he’s running against State Senator Casey Crabtree.

I suspect Crabtree will let him down the easiest, as opposed to the two ex-sheriffs who might put handcuffs on him and investigate his background (just kidding). They might scowl at him too.

Flags at Half-Staff at State Capitol in Honor of Former State Legislator Burton “Burt” Elliot

PIERRE, S.D. – Today, Governor Kristi Noem ordered that flags be flown at half-staff at the State Capitol from sunrise until sunset on Saturday, April 20^th, 2024, in honor of former state legislator Burton “Burt” Elliot. He represented Brown County in the South Dakota State House of Representatives from 2001-2008.

A memorial service for former state legislator Burt Elliot will take place at 11:00 am on April 20^th, 2024, at the Plymouth Congregational UCC (431 W Melgaard Rd, Aberdeen, SD, 57401).

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Thune: Biden’s Inflation Crisis Hits Hardworking Americans

 “[T]he Biden inflation crisis has made life harder for a lot of people. It’s harder to save. Harder to get ahead. Harder to make ends meet.”

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) today spoke on the Senate floor about the harsh realities families are facing due to President Biden’s self-inflicted inflation crisis. Thune noted that President Biden’s misguided and costly economic policies have forced Americans to grapple with high prices, elevated interest rates, mounting debt, and shrinking savings.

 

The District 30 House Republican Primary just grew a little more this week, as Matthew Smith filed a Statement of Organization:

I believe this is the dude on KOTA Radio, or at least podcasting through them, who is always featuring Taffy Howard & Tonchi Weaver.

He joins several others in the race already. Right now, I have down:

• Trish Ladner (R – Incumbent)
• Matthew Monfore (R)
• Patrick Baumann (R)
• Stephen Saint (R)
• Matthew J. Smith (R)
• …and possibly Dennis Krull (R – Incumbent)

And I also heard there could be another one or two out there still coming making this a six or seven-way primary.

If Krull is in the race, he would be the most likely to hold his seat. We’ll see how the rest would tumble out as they progress in the campaign.