Thune: Female Athletes Deserve a Level Playing Field
“Thanks to this administration’s actions, Title IX is being enforced and upheld, and women and girls playing sports at federally funded educational institutions are protected.”
WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor:
Click here to watch the video.
This goofy data center nonsense “Notice of Maladministration” material was apparently put on desks in the House chamber by Representative Dylan Jordan this morning.
(Seriously, I don’t look for this goofy stuff). If they ignore or fail to deliver this notice, they agree to pay $30,000.
Does this mean that legislators are supposed to defer to all the goofy nonsense material sent to them, or is it just Rep. Dylan Jordan?
Attorney General Jackley Presents Public Integrity Report to Legislative Committee
PIERRE, S.D. – South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley has released his Public Integrity Report to the Government Operations & Audit Committee. The report details the work of the Public Integrity Unit in 2025, which reviewed 47 unique reports of misconduct by state government employees, resulting in 14 criminal investigations and four state employees being criminally charged. All four cases are still pending.
“South Dakotans deserve a government that is transparent, accountable, and free from corruption,” said Attorney General Jackley. “I am committed to ensuring South Dakota remains the most honest and ethical state government in the nation.”
The Public Integrity Unit was established through Senate Bill 62, proposed by Attorney General Jackley, passed by the 2025 Legislature, and signed by Gov. Larry Rhoden. The legislation created mandatory reporting requirements for state employee misconduct and provided protections for employees who make good-faith reports to authorities.
Housed within the Attorney General’s Office, the Public Integrity Unit investigates cases of state employee misconduct. It includes an Assistant Attorney General serving as prosecutor and a Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) Supervisory Special Agent serving as investigator.
Gov Rhoden said: “In several states across our country, corruption and fraudulent practices are going unchecked — and in South Dakota, we stood up against it. Our people deserve transparency and accountability, now more than ever. I am proud to work with the Attorney General on instituting and implementing this law.”
“The more than 14,000 South Dakota state employees are hardworking, law-abiding public servants who dedicate themselves to serving the state,’ said Attorney General Jackley. “We will not allow a few to tarnish the sterling reputation of the majority.”
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Before Attorney Jackley Marty Jackley bowed out of the gubernatorial contest that was anticipated, and pivoted towards Congress, money had not been flowing to him because they didn’t seem to know where he was going to land.
That’s not a problem now, and someone has opened up the money spigot.
Jackley EOY FEC Report 2025 by Pat Powers
Marty Jackley put up a fundraising quarter for Congress that’s on pace with any good fundraising quarter we see from our federal delegation. Marty reported $490,326.61 in donations, with another 10k transferred in to total $500,628.24 raised.
Expenditures were only $81,680.97, leaving Jackley a little under 1 million dollars cash on hand, at $922,326.34, to move towards the primary election.
Crabtree for Congress posted their end of year FEC Report for 2025 in the race for Congress, showing where Casey in in the sprint for the primary election.
Crabtree for Congress December FEC Report by Pat Powers
In the holiday portion of the cycle, the Crabtree operation was not as heavy on fundraising, where they only took in $30,202.48, against expenses of $77,250, leaving the campaign with $133,868.91 cash on hand.
He may have a little more to put into the kitty from a State PAC, and his legislative campaign account, but Casey needs a fundraising push in the contest against a well-heeled Marty Jackley. There’s time yet to go in the race, but cash needs to be king from now through early voting.
House Bill 1181, a bill to ban weather modification activities was withdrawn yesterday by the sponsors of the legislation.
If you recall, I had noted earlier that legislators seem to have broken their pledge to shoot down planes, and just ended up asking for more government. Such pledges like these below…
Those look pretty definitive on how they were going to “stay strong without dilution or compromise.”
If you look at the new legislation that was just dropped in the hopper, House Bill 1271 “Act to prohibit weather and climate modification activities and provide a penalty therefor,” all I have to say is that dilution and compromise, you have found a home, because the fierce opponents against chemtrails who promised military action are – as before – going to administer those planes.
They are going to administer and promulgate against those made-up villains and evil-doers for things they read about on the Internet, and they are going to establish criteria.
That’s those legislators just showing them how when they pledge military action, …they will do the exact opposite and run away.
January 26 – February 1, 2026
Welcome back to another Weekly Round[s] Up. It was a cold and icy week here in DC but that didn’t stop us from getting right back to work. For context, it snowed about 6 inches on Sunday, January 25 and DC city government simply doesn’t have the snow removal tools to properly clean the streets. Schools are finally open without delay on Tuesday, February 3. In South Dakota, we would have dealt with that in a matter of hours!
On Friday, the Senate passed a package of five appropriation bills for Fiscal Year 2026. The legislation is now heading to President Trump’s desk for him to sign. I am pleased to have secured $145.7 million in funding for projects in South Dakota to improve in our rural health care facilities, expand our regional airports and invest in affordable housing. You can read more about the bill and our wins here. In addition, this legislation included a continuing resolution for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) appropriations through February 13. After getting out of DC late Friday night after votes, I was able to attend the Black Hills Stock Show and Rodeo on Saturday. It’s always a good time getting to meet with folks from around the state. Click here to watch my recap on the weekend. More on this in the rest of my week in the Weekly Round[s] Up:
South Dakota groups I visited with: Ismael Collazo with the National Federation of the Blind of South Dakota; South Dakota Head Start Programs; South Dakota Wheat Growers Association; José-Marie Griffiths, President of Dakota State University; and Mike McKelvey, CEO and Vice President of Institutional Advancement, Dakota State University Foundation.
Met with South Dakotans from: Brookings, Madison, Pierre and Webster.
Other meetings: Steve Ryan, CEO of Trinity Cyber; Vice Admiral Robert Gaucher, Direct Reporting Portfolio Manager for Submarines; Brandon Williams, Administrator at National Nuclear Security Administration; LTG Christopher Eubank, and Philip Alcorn, Director of Army Cyber Technology and Innovation Center (ArCTIC).
Hearings: I attended a hearing this week for the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. It was a nomination hearing for Lieutenant General Joshua M. Rudd, USA, to be Director of the National Security Agency (NSA). You can watch me question him here. Additionally, I chaired a Cybersecurity Subcommittee hearing, to hear receive testimony on the Department’s cyber force generation plan.
Briefings: I attended one closed Senate Select Committee on Intelligence briefing.
Senate Prayer Breakfast: On Wednesday I joined my colleagues for Senate Prayer Breakfast. Senator Katie Britt from Alabama was this week’s speaker.
Votes taken: 10 – As stated above, the Senate passed five appropriation bills for Defense; Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (LHHS); Transportation, Housing and Urban Development and Related Agencies (T-HUD); Financial Services and General Government (FSGG); and National Security, Department of State and Related Programs. This legislation also includes a continuing resolution for the DHS appropriations through February 13. The House of Representatives passed the legislation and it is on its way to President Trump to be signed into law.
In addition to the votes related to the appropriation bills, I also voted Yea on the Pregnant Students’ Rights Act.
Steps taken: 61,827 steps or 28.33 miles.
Video of the Week: On Friday, I joined Fox and Friends First to discuss Iran and the government shutdown. Click here to watch.
I’m sure District 4 must be proud. Of course, you read it here first, but their State Representative has the top story on the KELOland website:
“Republican Rep. Dylan Jordan had a point-of-order for decorum made against him after he said “I think this is a pretty simple bill. I didn’t realize I was in Minnesota’s Education Committee, so I’d just like to say I’m disappointed.”
and..
“Of course the employee would be employed by the school, which would make them not liable, but I’m a realist,” Greenfield said. “I’m here to tell you that somebody’s going to be liable, especially if a child is inadvertently killed in a school. They’re not gonna just say, well, that’s too bad, we’re not liable.”
The bill was sent to the 41st day in a 12 to 3 vote.
In the 2024 elections, House Majority Leader Scott Odenbach participated heavily in supporting the people he wanted, and defeating the ones he did not want in the Republican House caucus the following year. According to the campaign finance report his committee filed recently, it appears that he’s similarly building up cash to do so again in the 2026 elections:
Liberty Tree Pac 2025 SDCF Disclosure by Pat Powers
Odenbach’s report notes over $13k in income over the course of 2025, including a whopping $10,000 from former State Representative John Mills, among other donations, including a donation for $500 from former Dakota Scout reporter Austin Goss. (Just wondering.. do all the Dakota Scout reporters donate to GOP Leadership?)
Also interesting in this report. Odenbach’s PAC participated in opposing the Liberty Land project, and notes that it was was a big $1000 donor to Taffy Howard’s No Free Rides group, kicking in $1000 to stop the development project in Rapid City.
I’m sure the report is just the start to Odenbach’s fundraising for 2026.
Stay Tuned.
Morning Consult has released it’s latest rankings of America’s governors on the basis of their popularity. While he’s not in the top ten, Governor Larry Rhoden is definitely in upper rankings on a positive note, with a popularity ranking of +28 points.
According to Morning Consult:
As of the end of 2025, Governor Rhoden is sitting at an approval of 54%, and a disapproval rating of 27%. His high approval came in the 2nd quarter of 2025 at 59%, and his lowest disapproval was at the start of his term at 17%.
You can read all about the rolling survey here at Morning Consult.