Patsy Madsen was elected as the American Legion Auxiliary president at the 104th State Convention of the American Legion Auxiliary held in Chamberlain, SD. Patsy has been a member of the American Legion Auxiliary since 2014.

Governor Noem’s “Evil Foreign Governments” bill, SB 189, will go into effect on July 1st. The bill restricts state and local governments from contracting with six “evil foreign governments.” The prime sponsors of this legislation were Sen. Jim Stalzer (R-11) and Rep. Tyler Tordsen (R-14).

Several bills that strengthen families in South Dakota will go into effect on July 1st. “South Dakota will continue to strengthen families and promote life,” said Governor Noem.

During Ronald Reagan’s first inaugural address in 1981, he spoke of the significance of American values. He said, “It is time for us to realize that we’re too great a nation to limit ourselves to small dreams… Let us begin an era of national renewal. Let us renew our determination, our courage, and our strength. And let us renew our faith and our hope. We have every right to dream heroic dreams.”

DITOR Dear Editor, The landowners in Gregory and Charles Mix counties affected by the Gregory Co. Pumped Storage project received a letter dated May 23, 2023, stating that MidAmerican and MRES have decided not to pursue the project “at this time” and have applied to FERC to surrender their permit application which remained in effect until June 30, 2023. They stated the project was terminated due to financial reasons and market value fluctuations. They also stated “landowner opposition” had nothing to do with their decision. Of course, we would like to think we had something to do with the termination, but we’ll probably never know.

The Gregory County Farm Service Agency will be conducting a signup for the Emergency Conservation Program (ECP) to address damage caused to fences by the heavy snowfall of the 20222023 winter. The signup will begin June 20, 2023, and run until July 20, 2023.