Opinion

Letter to Editor: Gov. Kristi Noem fails to give proper credit to the source of the massive federal funds for SD of which she boasts.

It’s the 2021 holiday season and just about everywhere you look, businesses are hiring. “Help Wanted” signs dot store windows in Sioux Falls, Rapid City, and all points in-between. For the past two months, the South Dakota Department of Labor & Regulation has posted between 20,000 and 31,000 active jobs on their DLR website. That’s good news for our state, as unemployment numbers remain well below the national average.

The earliest days of the cattle industry and open range in this country have produced a unique individual whose characteristics were emphasized by his occupation and environment. Nowhere in the world has there been developed a more efficient and selfreliant individual than the American cowboy. You might know him as a drover, cowman, rancher, cowpoke, broncobuster, or buckaroo.

Federal workplace safety regulators announced Monday, November 15, that they have reached an agreement with Smithfield Foods to settle a contested citation of the company’s coronavirus safety measures during a massive outbreak last year at a South Dakota pork processing plant.

South Dakota lawmaker and former House Speaker Steve Haugaard will challenge Gov. Kristi Noem for the Republican nomination for governor next year.

Dear Editor, Here’s the thing: Thanksgiving is coming up. And it’s feasible many of us are going to eat way too much.

Thanksgiving is a time of unity. It is a time of gathering friends, family, and sometimes newcomers into your home. Somewhere along the way, America began to forget what the true meaning of Thanksgiving is.

In March of 2020, the South Dakota Legislature passed Senate Bill 55 which required the Board of Regents to assemble a task force to examine possible program and administrative efficiencies at the six public universities. Their examination was to specifically include the following:

Every ten years following the federal decennial census, all federal, state, and local election district boundaries must be redrawn or revised. Redistricting begins when the new census data is delivered to the states, and 2021 was the year to accomplish this goal to meet our constitutional requirements. After receiving census data, we found that we needed to have close to 25,333 voters in each of the 35 legislative districts. Plans were then made to set out to accomplish this.

Funeral services to be held for Jody Ridgway Mass of Christian burial for Jody Ridgway will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, November 19, 2021, at Holy Family Catholic Church in Mitchell, SD.