Opinion

Officials say the state’s first Safe Haven Baby Box is now installed. It’s located at Rapid City’s fire station number one on Main Street.

The first fort established at Ya n k t o n was built in 1862. It was constructed to protect settlers from maraud ing hostile Sioux Indian raiders during the Civil War. The fort was a stockade that included a quarter of each block on Broadway between Third and Fourth streets. This was the first organized army for the Territory of Dakota and also its first and only fort at that time.

hoden South Dakota is Open for Opportunity, and we had a chance to prove that in a big way recently! Smithfield announced plans to build a new, state-of-the-art processing facility on the outskirts of Sioux Falls. This will be the largest business investment in South Dakota’s history, and it represents confidence in our people, our producers, and our future.

The frontier of the Wild West offered women the chance to pursue careers and redefine their roles in society. As historian Glenda Riley observes, “The frontier provided women with opportunities to step outside traditional roles and to develop new skills and attitudes.”

On Friday, Governor Larry Rhoden signed 12 bills into law, including three bills introduced by Attorney General Marty Jackley to promote open government. “Openness and responsiveness are key pillars of my Administration.

The Social Security Administration (SSA) is announcing that over 100 million Americans have created personal my Social Security accounts. This marks a major milestone in the agency’s digital-first transformation to increase accessibility, expand service, and improve the overall customer experience for the public.

hoden I just signed Senate Bill 2 (or as some are calling it, SB 2A), which fittingly protects our 2nd Amendment. South Dakota is the most pro-2nd Amendment state in America, and we take protecting this right seriously.

DITOR Dear Editor, Today I focus on Gov. Rhoden’s “The Right to Worship” comments made in the January 28 edition of The Gregory Times Advocate. His comments illustrate the negative impact of the mixing of religion and politics on America’s democratic politics, which has been a main theme of my letters. The basic problem with this mixing is that it makes the determination of citizen morals a matter of voting. Mixing creates the possibility that one religious group can legislate its morals into state law, and this is exactly what happened in South Dakota. Securing sufficient votes (a mere majority) by forming an enduring voting bloc alliance with the Republican Party, the Rightto- Life religious organization successfully legislated its Bible-based anti-abortion moral into state law. Gov. Rhoden’s comments display how this religion-based legislation has undermined two fundamental principles of democracy: freedom of religion and “we the people” government.

The origins of the wo m e n ’ s suffrage movement in America began in the West. Virtually all of the western states enfranchised women long before states in the east granted women the vote. The movement was partly tied to the abolition campaigns before and during the Civil War, but it was Wyoming and Utah where women first legally cast ballots. Colorado and Idaho followed shortly afterwards.

hoden Being open and honest isn’t hard to do. It may seem tough, but it’s actually far easier to be direct and truthful.