The new book, from the lonely cold, is out now and available from Amazon. There is a link below. It is an anthology of 5 poets who live in SD now. It took a year to get this thing into the real world. There will be a couple release parties and readings in the near future. Dates unknown yet. Feel free to order from Amazon if you are out of this area or won’t be able to attend the reading parties in SD.
– Charles
We should do this in South Dakota;
If you are sick of living in an area crammed with payday lenders on every corner, maybe Arkansas is the right place for you.
On August 11, 2009, the final payday lending storefront shuttered its doors in Little Rock, Arkansas. Though the Arkansas Constitution limits interest on loans to 17%, a decade-old law enabled payday lenders to dodge the issue and charge triple-digit interest on loans.
Needless to say, the law had many vocal opponents. And, in an example of the judicial system at its best, the Arkansas Supreme Court found the law unconstitutional in 2008.
Dear Advocate,
I wanted to share a brief summary of where things stand regarding the smoke free law lawsuit.
The smoke free law lawsuit will be heard by the circuit court judge on November 12th. The hearing will cover a variety of issues raised by the opponents of the smoke free law concerning the validity of the signatures they turned in as well as the legal argument by the American Cancer Society and our partners with the South Dakota Tobacco Free Kids Network that the law is not referrable because of the constitutional clause that prohibits referring laws that are for the immediate preservation of public health.
The judge will hear legal arguments on the referability issue first and if she agrees with us, the trial will conclude and the law, in theory, would go into effect. We are expecting there to be an appeal from the circuit court regardless of the outcome and the implementation of the law will likely be delayed pending all legal steps.
If the judge does not agree with us about the referability issue, the trial will focus on the petition signatures to determine if, in fact, the opponents gathered enough valid signatures to place the law on the 2010 ballot. The issues that will be examined in this area have to do with proper notarization, lack of complete information, and other areas in which we contend the petitions are deficient. Depending on how many of these signatures are ultimately deemed valid, the judge will either rule that the law does not get referred or that the law is referred until the November 2010 election.
This is a big picture summary, as there are many technical issues to be determined during this process. The American Cancer Society and the South Dakota Tobacco Free Kids Network will be part of the process and will offer our legal arguments and insight as appropriate to help the judge make a determination on the issues outlined above.
If you have specific questions, please let me know.
___________________
Erik Gaikowski
Senior Field Government Relations
American Cancer Society
4904 South Technopolis
Sioux Falls, SD 57106
1.800.660.7703
605.323.3545
Help make South Dakota smoke free, visit our website http://www.smokefreesd.com
But how am I supposed to get to my kid’s college football games?
I had to laugh at this short story about Governor Rounds legacy, he hasn’t done much;
Gov. Mike Rounds says one of the things he’s most proud of during his time as governor is that more of South Dakota’s young people are staying put.
He says university enrollment is growing and there’s more opportunities in research and technology, in part because of the underground lab being built in the old Homestake gold mine.
Rounds said he’s also proud to see strong participation in the South Dakota National Guard.
He’s serving his final four-year term. A new governor will be elected in November 2010.
You forgot to mention he has taken a big shit on open government, used his position as governor to promote his personal insurance company, handed out no-bid contracts to campaign contributors like candy, ignored education funding and blew millions of our reserves on bad investments. Other then that, he’s a pretty swell guy.
For the next couple of weeks I will be featuring paintings I have FOR SALE. I will be selling them for BEST OFFER unless otherwise noted You can leave your bid in the comments section, and if your bid wins, you can email me.
MAKE AN OFFER: 16 SHELLS FROM A 30-OUGHT-SIX • From Tom Waits series (Aprox: 16 x 20″ – ACRYLIC ON CANVAS • BLACK FRAME)
l3wis