Cousins Cheryl Schonebaum of Burke, SD, and Brad Utoft and Susan Utoft of Omaha, NE, visited Bonnie Johnson and Dave Dobesh in Gregory, SD on Friday, May 26..

Marcus Popowski, of Burke, SD, has been named to the Bismarck State College president's honor roll for the spring 2023 semester..

S ERVICES Military appreciation and mental health Melanie VanderPol-Bailey, MSW, CSW-PIP In 1999, the US Congress designated May as National Military Appreciation Month to ensure that our nation publicly had the opportunity to honor our military, their families, their sacrifices, and their service. As we pause this Memorial Day, it is important to both honor bravery and also recognize the silent costs of service for military personnel, veterans, and their families.

South Dakota’s kids are our future. This point really hits home for those of us who are already seeing our own kids have kids of their own! And we must set our kids up with the skills and knowledge to build the best possible future for our state and nation.

MidAmerican Energy and Missouri River Energy Services (MRES) have long histories of safely, economically, and reliably serving their customers with the energy they need. Recently, the two companies teamed up to explore the Gregory County Pumped Storage Project as a way to store the clean energy that is already being generated from MidAmerican’s wind fleet and to supply energy to the grid when it’s needed. While pumped storage technology is proven, and the need for energy storage solutions is essential for regional reliability, MidAmerican and MRES have decided not to pursue the project at this time.

“American school children are taught that Lewis and Clark were the first white men to penetrate the interior and therefore open up the West for the fur trade and succeeding generations of settlers.” These were comments made by Shebby Lee in April of 2008. Lee, a historian, researcher, and writer, made these remarks in a paper which she presented at the Rivers and Plains 40th Annual Dakota Conference held at Augustana College. In her comments, she examined just why the American explorers were accorded such an unearned reputation.