From the Dakota Scout comes the announcement that GOP leaders had been working on toughening penalties for threatening worship services:

Rhoden, flanked by Republican lawmakers, announced the introduction of Senate Bill 113 Friday during his weekly press conference. And there was no mystery as to the provenance of the bill. Rhoden and GOP leaders cited the incident in St. Paul Sunday where illegal immigration activists burst into a church, disrupted the service and refused to leave.

“Just last week, religious freedom came under assault, just a few hundred miles from here in the Twin Cities,” Rhoden said. “That should trouble every single American, and it certainly troubled me. We’re here to announce a plan to make sure that that doesn’t happen in South Dakota.”

Read that here.

In light of this already existing bill that had already been in motion, already had assignment and is moving forward, it makes the late-night facebook announcement by Brandei Schefbauer come off as a me-too effort, trying to insert herself into the narrative on the effort that Governor Rhoden and legislative leadership had already been working on in an attempt to look important.

(Guessing House leadership didn’t invite the whips in on that one).

What the *BLEEP*?!?

Today, South Dakota State Senator and end-time army member Mykala Voita has decided to bring the full crazy to Pierre this session, since she’s probably not going to be back next year. And brought a Senate Concurrent Resolution to urge people to “return to the Lord Most High, the Almighty and Uncreate, and plead for His mercy upon the state.”

Senator Voita and her end-time army resolution by Pat Powers

Ohh.. wow.

Voita has introduced a 4 page resolution requesting everyone pray and fast in July, “depriving ourselves of those temporary physical comforts.” (What about fireworks? Is her version of jesus-government still going to allow us to do fireworks in July?).

And for the “the Paraclete to move within the halls of government, classrooms, businesses…,” etc.

As someone who flagged it for me noted “Someone should draft an amendment that says something like 4 lines. The lord is our savior. Please bless our country and state. Amen.    And Catholics can do what they want. Lutherans should be able to do what they want. And she can do what she wants with her army. It’s called freedom of religion. “

That sums it up pretty well.  You do your thing. I’ll do mine. And maybe the Senator who swore an oath to follow the constitution should actually do that.  Follow the first amendment instead of Senator Voita using the legislature to demand we follow her internet religious studies. 

(I do notice Rep. Phil Jensen is the only other person to sign on.  Apparently he wants people to deprive themselves in July as well. )

If you were ever tempted to feel bad for former Deadwood City Commissioner Blake Joseph, now would be a good time to consider that his problems might be largely of his own doing.

Applied Digital pitches Deuel County AI facility as tax reform, national security issue

Company executives say South Dakota’s energy, climate, and workforce give it an edge in the global AI race — but current tax law puts the state at a disadvantage.

Northern Plains News, LLC
By Steve Jurrens \ Northeast Radio SD News

WATERTOWN, S.D.—The proposed Applied Digital AI factory in Deuel County aims to enhance local tax revenue and serve as a strategic effort to maintain American technological competitiveness globally.

In a recent interview, Nick Phillips, executive vice president of external affairs for Applied Digital, said South Dakota’s cold climate and energy surplus position it as a key player in the international AI competition.

A TOOL FOR LOCAL INDUSTRY

Phillips addressed common anxieties regarding artificial intelligence, characterizing it not as a replacement for human workers, but as a transformative tool.

He cited examples from the “Grand Farm” initiative near Fargo, where AI analyzes soil and imagery to help farmers increase yields while using fewer resources.

“If you’re still out there with a manual mower… you’re not paying your bills,” Phillips said. “Technology has changed. This is just an extra tool for us to utilize.”

Phillips also shared a personal account of how AI helped his family navigate a medical diagnosis, emphasizing that the technology’s benefits are already being felt in healthcare and energy production.

THE LEGISLATIVE LANDSCAPE

Despite the region’s operational benefits, Phillips said current state law makes South Dakota an outlier. Along with Colorado, South Dakota is one of the few Midwest states that charges sales tax on data center equipment.

Rep. Kent Roe has proposed legislation to eliminate what Phillips described as a “bricks and sticks” tax disadvantage. Phillips said the bill is essential to leveling the playing field with neighboring states such as Iowa and Nebraska.

“South Dakota energy is already powering these facilities in other locations,” Phillips said. “Why not bring home the benefits of having these facilities right in the state?”

Some local residents and lawmakers have raised broader questions about large-scale data centers, including long-term grid capacity, infrastructure strain, and whether projected tax benefits match public costs over time.

CONSUMER PROTECTIONS AND ACCOUNTABILITY

Phillips said the proposed law includes explicit protections designed to ensure that the arrival of a large-scale power user does not shift costs onto residential ratepayers.

He emphasized that Applied Digital is not seeking a “free ride,” but rather a tax structure that allows it to compete with other states for multi-billion-dollar investments.

COMMUNITY INVITATION

As the project moves forward, Phillips said Applied Digital plans to continue engaging with local residents.

He confirmed the company will host another town hall meeting in the third or fourth week of February.

“Spend the time to look at it,” Phillips said. “I don’t see any better economic development opportunity for the state of South Dakota right now than bringing folks in that are very compatible from a workforce standpoint.”

The facility is expected to bring 200 to 250 jobs to the area, primarily in mechanical, electrical, and facility maintenance roles.

I had someone send me more on the House blocking off access to the bathrooms. Accompanied with a photo, they noted that not only has the Speaker decided to prohibit public access to public restrooms, they’ve also sealed off access to the offices of the majority leader and assistant majority leader.

There’s the South Dakota House of Representative’s version of being open & transparent.

In Will Mortenson’s column in the Pierre Capital Journal today, the District 24 State Representative has some big problems with Governor Larry Rhoden’s property tax relief proposal, particularly that “his plan is paid for by a new tax, rather than spending cuts, and the math checks out.”

From Facebook:

Does this mean ex-newsreader Shad Olson is now in charge of State Representative Brandei Schaefbauer’s legislative activities?

He reads stuff on the Internet, writes up overly verbose proposals (today’s missive is overly long in typical ShadGPT form) and Brandei smiles, nods, and drops it in the hopper?

If Shad is going to take over as Aberdeen’s representative, does that mean he’s moving into the district?

Really? Sometimes there’s legislation that leaves no doubt that we are going to hear a lot of crazy this year.

How many of you have reached out to your state legislator to tell them “I think we need to establish a new state currency based on gold or silver.” Show of hands?

We can’t figure out how to keep pace with state law on funding education this year, but we are wasting time & effort on this bag of goofiness?

Seriously.

Secretary of State Monae Johnson was interviewed by KOTA TV regarding recent public concerns over the Secretary of State’s sharing of voter information with the Department of Justice:

“I’m supporting any effort to make our voter rolls clean, and it didn’t matter if it was a Democrat or a Republican president or The Department Of Justice, they have legal right to have that information that we have in our system,” said Johnson.

Johnson says the state turned over the rolls to the Department of Justice, but she declined to sign a memorandum of understanding as the state and federal government ultimately did not agree on terms.

“I’m supporting any effort to make our voter rolls clean, and it didn’t matter if it was a Democrat or a Republican president or the Department of Justice, they have legal right to have that information that we have in our system,” said Johnson.

Johnson says the state turned over the rolls to the department of Justice, but she declined to sign a memorandum of understanding as the state and federal government ultimately did not agree on terms.

Read/Watch the entire story here.

From South Dakota Searchlight, State Representative Phil Jensen apparently remains in a state of war with House Leadership after he was removed from House Education Committee over his behavior. According to the story filed today:

Odenbach told members of the media at a leadership press conference Thursday that Jensen and some other members of the House Education Committee planned “an effort to disrupt the committee,” which is “unacceptable behavior.” Republican leaders pulled the members from the room to “deal with the issue out of sight” of the public.

and..

Jensen alleged to South Dakota Searchlight that the Republican legislative leadership has “declared war on conservatives.” He said the new seating arrangement isolated conservative legislators from each other. House Speaker Jon Hansen, R-Dell Rapids, “threw” Jensen and other members of the committee “under the bus” by siding with the chair, Jensen alleged.

“The speaker chose to support an out-of-control chairman who instructed committee members last session to stop talking with each other and forbid them from using their phones to communicate on how they were voting on bills,” Jensen said in an emailed statement, adding that he and some other members were treated “as children.”

Read the entire story here.

I’m sure that’s going to end well for Phil.

Update..

If you think about it, Phil is complaining that the chair told them to stop secret discussions over their phones on how they were voting in committee. Not thinking he is going to win that argument.