South DaCola

Editorial Cartoonist from South Dakota

l3wis

South Dakotans State Funding State Legislature

South Dakota Trust Companies don’t benefit us One Iota

l3wis 17Comments

With the story about Pandora Papers coming out yesterday, the one thing that has often frustrated me about the trust companies in South Dakota is that having all that money parked here doesn’t benefit the state coffers one bit.

Even if we had a simple state finance charge or a transaction fee that was incredibly tiny, we could rake in millions for education and infrastructure.

The first problem with that is the ones that hold onto the trusts could no longer be secret.

I ask our legislators, why are we allowing them to be here if they serve no public good? You know like PO box RVers, sales tax on food and video lottery.

Nevermind.

abortion Donita Trump Noem Kristi Noem South Dakotans

When will the Media poll South Dakotans on Abortion?

l3wis 3Comments

So we have been seeing a lot of stories about abortion these days. From our governor proposing primitive and unconstitutional laws to protests from both sides of the aisle and rallies.

I guess my question is when is our local media going to pony up and just do a poll of South Dakota voters? Heck, they could even join forces and use the Poli-Sci departments at the public universities to help conduct it.

I think the results in South Dakota would be the same as the rest of the country. Most people support legal abortion as long as it is within a reasonable window of time.

I will tell you why the media won’t touch it, they like the controversy. Even though South Dakotans have voted twice to preserve prochoice in our state there seems to be this attitude in the media that we are split 50/50 on the topic. I don’t believe it for a moment.

Audit Charter Revision Commission Planning Commission SF City Council Sioux Falls

Sioux Falls City Council Agenda, Oct 4-6, 2021

l3wis 6Comments

The City Council and other boards have a full agenda this week;

• The Audit Committee has finally released some audits, been awhile. On Spectra (the people who provide concessions to several city owned entertainment facilities) they found a ton of non-compliance especially with insurance requirements. On the Midco Aquatic Center they have seen an over 50% drop in attendance since 2019 and around a 40% drop in revenue. They were also non-compliant on several fronts and like the Spectra Audit it seems our own Finance Department is not doing regular checks of compliance. For Travel expenses there was several instances of non-compliance. $137,000 travel reimbursements paid directly to travelers (city employees). Many of these results don’t surprise me. I have said the City Manager (The Mayor) is running a rudderless ship and when you have a poor city manager, it results in poor management under that person.

• The Planning Commission has decided to go full rogue by putting every single item on the consent agenda this month. Now items can be pulled for discussion by the Commission or Individuals from the public but I find this startling considering that all items are recommended for approval by the Planning Department and I am sure several Commission Members will recuse due to conflicts. Folks, this is what true cruise control government looks like. I am still puzzled why we even have a Planning Commission.

• The Charter Revision Commission will continue to review the Charter.

• City Council Informational will review building code changes.

• City Council Regular Meeting;

On the contracts and agreements (Item 6) in sub items 17-18 they are paying this consulting firm out of Florida to do this?

And of course sub item #38 where we are reviewing the Human Relations Commission.

ADA SF City Council Sioux Falls

Why is the City of Sioux Falls paying for an outside Counsel Review of the Human Relations Commission?

l3wis 3Comments

So the Sioux Falls city council has decided to bury this on the consent contracts/agreements, Item #6, last sub item #38;

City Attorney’s office, Engagement Agreement for Human Relations Commission Review, Cadwell Sanford Deibert & Garry, LLP, Not to exceed $5,000

A concerned citizen asked a city councilor to pull this from the agenda for discussion and he not only refused to pull it, he refused to tell the citizen what it was about. Mind you, this is on a publicly posted agenda.

So why is an outside law firm reviewing the Human Relations Commission. I don’t know, but let’s make some guesses;

• The attorney running the department mysteriously disappeared and the replacement left to work for the county. Why?

• There has been several accusations that the commission (city) has been dismissing complaints for no reason.

• Was there a Federal complaint filed? The commission probably is funded by some Federal grants and has to follow certain Federal rules when it comes to the appeals.

As I understand it another city councilor has agreed to pull it from the consent agenda and have some one from the administration explain what this review is about.

At this point I won’t speculate, because I am just as curious as you.

Dan Lederman Ethanol Republicans South Dakotans

Is SD GOP Chair Dan Lederman pushing for a Carbon Pipeline across South Dakota?

l3wis 6Comments

Besides the fact that he seems to be lobbying for the State of Iowa at the detriment of South Dakotans, why is he presenting this to the Minnehaha CC?

REGULAR BUSINESS:
10) Briefing on the Summit Carbon Solutions Pipeline – Dan Lederman

A MC Commissioner I talked with has NO idea what Iowa Dan will be presenting, but he has a pretty good guess;

Summit Carbon Solutions, the Alden company owned by Bruce Rastetter’s Summit Agricultural Group, proposes building a 710-mile underground pipeline that would extend into or through 30 of the state’s 99 counties.

Summit plans to capture the carbon dioxide emissions from ethanol and other industrial agricultural plants before they’re released into the atmosphere and contribute to global warming. The company will compress the emissions into a liquid so it can be transported to North Dakota, where it will be injected in underground rock formations for permanent storage.

So how do you get this crud to North Dakota? Well, you would most likely have to build a pipeline from Iowa through South Dakota. Bring in Iowa Dan.

The company says it has agreements to sequester carbon emissions from 31 Midwestern ethanol plants. In addition to Iowa â€” the nation’s largest producer of ethanol â€” Summit Carbon plans to run the pipeline into Nebraska, Minnesota, South Dakota and North Dakota.

While some would argue this is a great idea I have an even better one, stop using fossil fuels and ethanol and invest in clean energy. The technology already exists where you could run most if not all autos, trucks, semis and trains on electric and they are working on the technology for airplanes also. The electricity could come from investing in wind, solar, hydro and even nuclear energy. We don’t need to make more bio fuels which I have argued takes food out of hungry mouths and doesn’t produce enough return on energy. Ethanol is a big scam, always has been.

But I still wonder why the Chair of the SD GOP is promoting an Iowa business that is interested in running a hazardous waste pipeline through our state. I have argued for a long time that South Dakota Republican lawmakers are consistently working against the interests of hard working residents and baffled why they keep getting elected and now the leader of that party in South Dakota is proving that once again.

« Previous Page — Next Page »

You Missed

Miranda Bayse Planning Commission SF City Council Sioux Falls

Councilor ‘Lucy’ Bayse proposes ordinance change without consulting local fencing industry

Arterial Roads Downtown Sioux Falls recreational Road Funding Sioux Falls Sioux Falls Parks and Rec

UPDATE III: BREAKING: LOCAL TV STATION TRACKS DOWN NEWEST HOT DOG CART!!!

Harrisburg School District Open Government Open Meetings

Did the city of Harrisburg violate open meeting laws?

Bonita Schwan

Personal Privilege