Bluestem Prairie

Jean Wagenius: For climate and clean water, state agencies need Walz to lead

It's impossible for Bluestem Prairie to resist commentary by former Minnesota state representative Jean Wagenius about climate action and clean water.

Particularly when she addresses agricultural use of nitrogen.

And so, here's her latest commentary from the Minnesota Reformer:

For climate and clean water, state agencies need Walz to lead
By Jean Wagenius

To their credit, Gov. Tim Walz and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan set a goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from Minnesota 50% by 2030. The Legislature included the same goal in the final environment/energy bill which is now law. It’s the goal science tells us we must meet globally to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. 

To meet the 2030 goal, agriculture needs to substantially reduce its use of nitrogen fertilizer that is creating greenhouse gas emissions. Reducing nitrogen is also needed to stop pollution of groundwater, which is making it unsafe for drinking and making surface water unsafe for aquatic life. It can be done. Minnesota agriculture can sustainably produce food for Minnesotans and the world. 

Nitrous oxide emissions from nitrogen applied to crops

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency tracks greenhouse gas emissions from seven economic sectors. In its latest report of Minnesota emissions, MPCA said that the transportation sector was the biggest emitter at about 25% of the state’s total emissions, and the combined agriculture/forestry sector was second. But the effect of this combination is misleading. The agriculture sector is a net emitter of greenhouse gas emissions. Forests sequester carbon. If MPCA considered agriculture and forests as separate economic sectors, then agriculture would be Minnesota’s largest emitter of greenhouse gasses.

MPCA also tracks greenhouse gas emissions from specific activities in each sector and reports each kind of emission. In total, nitrous oxide is the biggest source, accounting for 49% of agriculture’s greenhouse gas emissions. Carbon dioxide is 27%, methane is 24%. Most of agriculture’s nitrous oxide emissions are from row crop agriculture, some is from animal agriculture.

In 2021 Minnesota farmers planted about 8.5 million acres of corn, covering more than 15% of the state’s total surface area.  Of that vast acreage, 31% were devoted to corn for ethanol. 

Growing corn is heavily dependent on nitrogen fertilizer. More nitrogen is applied than needed for growing corn. When nitrogen fertilizer is applied, nitrous oxide is produced from the nitrogen in soils, crop residues and runoff. MPCA reports that “Nitrous oxide emissions from crop agriculture increased by approximately 9% from 2005 to 2020.” 

Bear in mind: The emissions reported by MPCA don’t even include emissions in other states where the nitrogen fertilizer is produced from fossil fuels. 

Nitrogen in our waters from agriculture

When it comes to reducing climate pollution from agriculture, Europe has been successful. In the past 20 years European efforts focused on  water pollution also reduced nitrous oxide emissions and increased agricultural productivity. 

While Europe has been successful in reducing nitrous oxide from agriculture, Minnesota has failed. In 2014, Minnesota created a nutrient reduction plan for surface waters relying on unenforceable goals, voluntary actions, best management practices and cash payments. But nitrogen pollution didn’t decrease — it increased. Regulation has helped other industries limit pollution; it’s time now to limit nitrogen pollution with regulation.

MPCA’s efforts to reduce nitrogen will continue to fail until it starts measuring the actual outcomes of its work, instead of measuring its work by the number of programs created by state agencies and the practices adopted by farmers, regardless of the results achieved. Even after years of state agencies efforts, they don’t know how many more drinking water wells are contaminated with nitrogen or what is happening to aquatic life. 

The most recent evidence of nitrogen’s impact on drinking water is in the well documented April 23, 2023 emergency petition to the EPA filed by the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy and 10 other groups. The petitioners tell EPA that public and private wells in the southeast Karst area of Minnesota are exceeding health standards and putting the health of residents at “serious risk.” 

The petitioners ask EPA, among other things, to determine which enforcement measures should be implemented and order those responsible for contaminating wells to pay for free safe drinking water for residents. In an uncomfortable echo of Flint, Michigan, the need to provide residents with free safe drinking water clearly shows the consequences of state agencies’ failure to protect drinking water sources. 

Reducing nitrous oxide emissions and water pollution 

In Minnesota, the Legislature has taken serious action to to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in two of the three big economic sectors, transportation and electricity generation. 

But not yet in the agricultural sector. 

Instead of real climate action, some in Minnesota are asking the federal government to increase mandates for use of corn ethanol in gasoline. Ethanol proponents argue that ethanol reduces greenhouse gas emissions. But current peer-reviewed science tells us that the federally mandated use of ethanol in gasoline has caused farmers to grow more corn on more land with more nitrogen. So ethanol doesn’t mitigate climate change. Its impact “is no less than gasoline and likely at least 24% higher.” 

Other economic sectors are transitioning to avoid greenhouse gas emissions and protect us from the worst impacts of climate change. Other industries are regulated and have substantially reduced their water pollution. Now it’s agriculture’s turn to transition. With new direction from Gov. Walz, state agencies could change course and require rapid reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and water pollution from nitrogen. 

But that isn’t enough. A new generation of farmers also needs support. Some farmers want a future that is less dependent on production methods that add to greenhouse gas emissions and pollute our water. Some farmers are acutely aware of food scarcity and are growing needed food crops, but they need support to expand. Some farmers need support to go organic. And some farmers see the future with more electric vehicles and less ethanol and want to plan their transition. 

While the next generation of farmers gets only token support as some are experiencing food scarcity, conventional corn farmers have received massive financial support. Gov. Walz can begin to change that dynamic by giving this new generation of farmers the financial support they need to grow the produce and protein that hungry Minnesotans need. 

This Minnesota Reformer article is republished online under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

 

Related posts

• Minnesota Department of Health isn’t properly enforcing drinking water law, and kids will suffer 
•  A rural take in defense of Rep. Jean Wagenius 
•  Backer backer blames Rep. Wagenius for buffer legislation she voted against 2 years running

Photo: An aerial view of the Mississippi River-Lake Pepin watershed. Photo courtesy of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency/ via Minnesota Reformer.

 

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MPCA press release: Study shows unaffordable costs of PFAS cleanup from wastewater

The Minnesota legislature passed tough rules to help keep "forever chemicals" out of the state's environment, but groundbreaking study that's the subject of a recent press release from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) illustrates how daunting--and expensive--dealing what's already there may be.

From the MPCA:

Groundbreaking study shows unaffordable costs of PFAS cleanup from wastewater

Findings underscore need to reduce use of “forever chemicals”

A new report published by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) finds that technologies and expenses needed to remove and destroy per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from certain wastewater streams across Minnesota would cost between $14 and $28 billion over 20 years. The study is the first of its kind and, although specific to Minnesota, the novel methods developed to estimate costs can be applied anywhere.

The MPCA commissioned the independent study as part of Minnesota’s PFAS Blueprint, a comprehensive interagency plan to prevent, manage, and clean up PFAS pollution. The report, titled Evaluation of Current Alternatives and Estimated Cost Curves for PFAS Removal and Destruction from Municipal Wastewater, Biosolids, Landfill Leachate, and Compost Contact Water, was prepared by Barr Engineering Company and Hazen & Sawyer with funding from the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund.

“The exorbitant costs associated with removing PFAS from community wastewater systems underscores the need to address PFAS pollution long before it gets into the waste stream,” said MPCA Commissioner Katrina Kessler. “At no fault of their own, wastewater treatment facilities receive PFAS from a variety of sources and they cannot carry the burden of cleaning up the pollution. We must all focus on preventing PFAS from entering the environment in the first place.”

Unaffordability of PFAS cleanup from wastewater

The full report will be of interest to the wastewater management and scientific communities. Key findings of broader interest include:

• Removing and destroying PFAS from water and biosolids leaving Minnesota’s wastewater treatment facilities could cost between $14 billion and $28 billion over 20 years.
• PFAS can be bought for $50 - $1,000 per pound (according to MPCA estimates), but costs between $2.7 million and $18 million per pound to remove and destroy from municipal wastewater, depending on facility size.
• Small wastewater treatment facilities would face per-pound costs over six times greater than large facilities, due to economies of scale.
• New “short-chain” types of PFAS are more difficult and up to 70% more expensive to remove and destroy compared to old “long-chain” PFAS.

Cost estimates are based on the required upgrades to Minnesota’s existing wastewater infrastructure to treat and destroy PFAS using current commercially available technologies and PFAS levels. In total, 13 PFAS removal and destruction technologies passed a screening on their real-world effectiveness and the most cost-effective technology was selected for statewide cost development. Complete details and additional findings are found in the full report.

New technology that reduces costs to remove and destroy PFAS from wastewater is in development, but the MPCA believes that without an alternative source of funding, PFAS removal and destruction from municipal wastewater will be unaffordable for the foreseeable future. In contrast, emerging biosolids technologies capable of destroying PFAS can be cost-competitive with current practices.

PFAS in wastewater  

PFAS can enter wastewater through industrial processes, everyday use of commercial products, or when PFAS-containing products are discarded in landfills and compost sites. Even decades after they are brought to a landfill or compost site, PFAS can make their way into liquids called landfill leachate and compost contact water. These liquids are often sent to wastewater treatment facilities that are not designed to remove PFAS and ultimately released into the environment, where PFAS can contaminate surface water, groundwater, drinking water, fish, other wildlife, and the food supply. Targeting PFAS in wastewater streams, as the study assesses, would be a significant step toward protecting these resources.  

Minnesota’s wastewater treatment facilities recognize the need to address PFAS pollution. They have begun monitoring for PFAS and completing PFAS source identification work, but no municipal wastewater facility has the infrastructure capable of removing and destroying PFAS.

Managing and preventing PFAS pollution

Minnesota’s PFAS Blueprint prioritizes pollution prevention as the most effective way to protect health and the environment, and the new PFAS wastewater cleanup cost estimates add a greater urgency to prevention efforts in Minnesota and elsewhere.

The MPCA is working to implement a new law passed by the Minnesota Legislature and signed by Gov. Tim Walz to phase out nonessential PFAS use over the coming decade. The Legislature also funded PFAS Blueprint programs to help businesses transition away from PFAS, protect drinking water supplies, and enhance monitoring systems. 

Download the report

Evaluation of current alternatives and estimated cost curves for PFAS removal and destruction from municipal wastewater 

Related posts

• Minnesota PFAS news digest: landfills and pesticides laced with killer forever chemicals 
• Proposed federal EPA PFAS regulation could cost South Dakota millions for testing, cleanup 
• PFAS industry written testimony on Minnesota House bill takes logos to a whole new level (2023)
• MNReformer opinion: If drinking water can go bad in Bemidji, it can be contaminated anywhere (2022)
• Bills banning use of PFAS approved by bipartisan MNHouse environment committee vote (2021)

 Photo: This example of a large water filtration facility in New Brighton, MN, for TCE contamination, would be needed for PFAS removal from wastewater for a community of about 5,000 people. Via MPCA.

 

If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post. 

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MN Reformer: Sen. Smith, Lt. Gov Flanagan highlight tribal rights in face of SCOTUS ruling

Readers know Bluestem has been following considerations of tribal sovereignty for many years. Since moving to Summit, SD, within the historical boundaries of the Lake Traverse Reservation, home of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, we've been following the fate of the federal Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978, since our next door neighbor, a SWO citizen, is the father of three happy and bright adopted brothers, raising the boys along with his non-Indian wife.

His own mother is a traditional herbalist who owns a small business, and the boys help gather sage and other herbs for their grandmother, as well as doing well in the local school. It's a blessing to live beside a happy family.

Yet, while this happiness isn't guaranteed for other Dakota families, there's a movement across the country to protect the concept of tribal sovereignty and heritage. 

At the Minnesota Reformer, Michelle Griffith reported Monday in Sen. Smith, Lt. Gov Flanagan highlight tribal rights in the face of U.S. Supreme court ruling:

Minnesota Sen. Tina Smith and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan on Monday praised the emerging influence of Native Americans throughout state and federal governments, and they urged leaders to uphold tribal sovereignty at a National Congress of American Indians conference.

The conference at the Mystic Lake Center in Prior Lake attracted tribal leaders from across the country. Speakers addressed issues facing tribal nations, including climate change and the 2023 federal Farm Bill. 

But the theme of the day was celebrating a series of recent electoral and political victories for Native Americans, all the while anxiously awaiting a potential existential blow to tribal sovereignty from the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court any day now will issue a ruling in Brackeen v. Haaland, a case to determine the constitutionality of the federal Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (ICWA). The law established federal minimum standards for the removal of Native American children from their homes and requires states to prioritize placing children in homes of extended family members and other tribal homes — places that could reflect the values of Native American culture.

ICWA was enacted following a century-long campaign by the federal government of forcibly removing Native children from their homes and placing them in boarding schools and with white adoptive families. The mission was to assimilate Native children into the white American mainstream — or “kill the Indian in him, save the man,” as the founder of the first boarding school infamously said.

The plaintiffs in the Supreme Court case argue ICWA discriminates against non-Native families because of their race. ICWA proponents argue tribal citizenship is a political — not racial — category.

Smith told the room full of tribal leaders that she will “do everything in my power to protect and strengthen tribal sovereignty.”

“We have to hold each and every federal, state and local leader accountable for respecting your sovereignty,” Smith said.

The Minnesota Legislature this session passed a law codifying ICWA-like language into state law in light of the Supreme Court’s ruling, though if the Supreme Court overturns ICWA it’s unclear what would happen in Minnesota. Minnesota’s law could face its own court challenge.

Flanagan told the room about the initiatives the Minnesota Legislature passed this session for the 11 tribal nations within the state, including additional funding for tribes and restricting the use of Native American mascots in public schools.

Flanagan also said it was a “beautiful gift” for young Native Americans to see themselves represented in the government and in television and movies.

“For far too long, dominant culture has seen Native people as mascots, as ancient history, but that is not and has never been the truth,” Flanagan said. “We are sending powerful reminders that we are still here and we will not be unheard, and it is past time for systems that were built without us to finally listen, or we will change those systems for our own benefit.”

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, who is the first Native American to serve in a president’s cabinet, also spoke on Monday. The Department of the Interior published a first-ever report last year on the atrocities committed at boarding schools. Haaland said Interior continues to hear the stories of people who survived boarding schools while directing survivors and their descendants toward support.

This Minnesota Reformer article is republished here under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

Related posts

• Update: Amos LaFramboise to be returned to the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, Lake Traverse Reservation from Carlisle Indian School
•  SWO archivist: "We are committed to them . . . to bringing them home like the chiefs that they are" 
• SWO moves closer to bringing ancestors home from Carlisle Indian School with affidavit signing ceremony
• Video: Return of Our Sisseton-Wahpeton Children
•  With passage of SF667, legislature updates Minnesota Indian Family Preservation Act 
• MN Reformer: MN lawmakers hope to codify Indian Child Welfare Act language into state law
• Joint panel hears testimony on legislation to codify protections of Native American children
• Mission of Wounded Knee activists continues 50 years later with children, grandchildren
• Philadelphia Inquirer feature 'I had to be prayed home' highlights Sisseton Wahpeton family

Photo:  Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, a member of the White Earth Nation, is the nation's highest ranking Native woman elected to executive office. Flanagan shown here speaking before a march for missing and murdered Indigenous women in Minneapolis in February 2020. Photo by Max Nesterak/Minnesota Reformer.

If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post.

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I'm on Venmo for those who prefer to use this service: @Sally-Sorensen-6

SD News Watch: Dangerous wild animals encroaching on South Dakota neighborhoods

While my neighbor saw a mountain lion cross her path while out on a walk north of town a few years ago--and an occasional bear ambles into Roberts County--this hasn't been an issue in Summit. I grew up hearing a story about a great-great-grandmother shooting a cougar out of a tree above where her children were playing in early statehood southern Minnesota, so I gather the concerns about safety aren't misplaced, even these days.

From South Dakota News Watch:

Dangerous wild animals encroaching on South Dakota neighborhoods
By Bart Pfankuch

SPEARFISH, S.D. – Holly Hansen doesn’t have hard data to prove that potentially dangerous wild animals are entering residential areas with greater frequency, but she does have some pretty strong anecdotal evidence.

In early May, a black bear entered her suburban Spearfish property and killed 16 ducks, chickens and turkeys, she said. Large paw prints in the mud and two piles of bear scat provided evidence of the daytime intruder’s identity.

On May 23, an adult mountain lion was hunkered down in a tree at a home on Wyoming Court, well within Spearfish city limits and not far from two schools, a recreation center and two parks. State game officers tranquilized the lion and safely relocated it before any people were endangered. However, the property owner posted a note on social media indicating that her children likely walked beneath the big cat, whose method of killing animals can include an ambush from a tree limb overhead.

Also in May, a resident near Whitewood, between Spearfish and Sturgis, reported that a suspected mountain lion had killed a foal found dead on her ranch, according to the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office.

Those incidents came amid numerous other wild animal sightings reported in residential areas across South Dakota. Among them: a mountain lion photographed on a street in west Rapid City in March and an encounter at Sertoma Park in Sioux Falls in May where a woman walking her dogs had to carry the canines and run from two coyotes that chased her.

“If they’re coming into town and they’re comfortable, that’s a different level of concern,” said Hansen, who has had mountain lions, coyotes, skunks and now a bear visit her Spearfish property, though only the bear attacked animals. “If they’re in your stuff, tearing animals apart and eating them, it’s a dangerous situation.”

Report of mountain lion above kids concerning, official says

Some wildlife interactions in residential areas are to be expected in South Dakota, where numerous cities border the Black Hills National Forest and other animal habitats. 

But the lion removed from Spearfish in May should increase concerns about future interactions with humans, said Terry Mayes, a vice president of the South Dakota Wildlife Federation.

“He wasn’t up there to sleep overnight because that is their normal prey activity,” Mayes said. “They ambush from a branch above, and that’s how they get their major kills, including deer and elk. They disable it and eat that animal pretty much entirely, so there’s a potential for an encounter that could be very bad.”

Officials from the South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks — the agency tasked with responding to wild animal encounters — were unwilling to answer questions about the frequency and potential risks of wild animals encroaching into residential areas. 

Mike Apland, a GFP supervisor in Spearfish, did not return calls or a text message seeking comment from News Watch. 

GFP spokesperson Nick Harrington declined to answer questions about the topic or arrange an interview for News Watch despite numerous email and phone requests.

Animal encounters a global issue

Expanding research into wildlife habitat and human encounters reveals a consistent theme. Encroachment of urban life into animal habitat across the world is increasing. As a result, so are human-animal interactions.

A 2019 study by Colorado State University researchers found that housing and other development had intruded on protected wildlife areas and could reduce them by as much as 12% by 2030.

As urban areas across the world continue to expand, they increasingly shrink habitat for wild animals. 

The greater interface between wild animals and residential and developed areas leads to a change in how wild animals behave. It makes them even more likely to brush up against unsuspecting humans, according to a 2020 review of 83 wildlife studies published in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution.

That study concluded that 9 in 10 wild animals adapted to their new urban habitat by changing their diets to include more human foods. They also reduced their range of movement. Both changes could make them more likely to enter or even reside entirely in urban areas.

A July 2020 National Geographic article examined the rising incidence of wildlife in urban areas. It included a map showing how one collared coyote in 2014 had a den atop a parking garage in Chicago and traveled along elevated train tracks and other urban corridors from Michigan Avenue downtown and several miles along Lake Michigan to the city’s south side.

Increased interactions bad for people and animals

The increasing interface between wild animals and humans in non-wild areas is not good for either side of the equation. But it’s far worse for the animals who find themselves in unfamiliar settings and subject to car accidents or euthanization, said Megan Howell, executive director of the non-profit South Dakota Wildlife Federation.

“I think it’s harder on the animals for sure because they don’t have the habitat they need. And they’re put in a situation where they don’t have malicious intent, they’re just subject to new situations,” she said. “And in those situations, we do need to keep humans safe.”

While feeding habits, a change in availability of food or water or illness can lead wild animals into residential areas, the biggest reason for increasing human interactions is loss of habitat for animals across South Dakota and the world, Howell said.

“We’ve lost so much habitat. And not only that, but it’s more fragmented, so the habitat isn’t in big chunks, which is what most wildlife needs to thrive,” Howell said. “When they lose their habitat, that’s when we have more interactions.”

Small steps to possible improvement

Farmers and urban planners can improve practices to maintain animal habitat and provide buffers between wild areas and residential or crop lands, Howell said. 

Public education can help residents maintain suburban or rural properties in ways that reduce animal interactions. 

And government and environmental groups can continue to seek money and methods to put more land under protection.

“Everyone that has an interest in wildlife or any natural resources, we need to remember that it’s ours and we need to protect it,” she said. “For the federation, we personally take it as a responsibility to protect the natural resources because they are a public trust.”

Mountain lions, and the hunt, hot topics in S.D.

Mountain lions have a long and storied history in South Dakota, and the hunting season remains a controversial program for many.

The mountain lion population was strong in the 1800s but rapidly declined amid unregulated hunting in the early 1900s to the point where the animal was listed as a state threatened and protected species from 1978 to 2003. A hunting season was approved in 2005 and has been in place since.

Due to difficulty of pursuit and sometimes challenging weather (light snow is best for tracking and sighting), hunters have had a hard time reaching the state’s annual quota of 60 total lions or 40 females killed. 

The Black Hills season runs from December to April, and prairie hunting is allowed year-round. Hunters are allowed to use dogs in the hunt in Custer State Park and on some other public lands.

Big male mountain lion topped 150 pounds

About 3,000 to 4,000 lion licenses are sold each year, and 2011-2012 was the last time the quota was reached, with 73 animals taken in the Black Hills and Custer State Park. 

In recent years, the kill total has ranged from a low of 21 in 2018-2019 to a recent high of 51 total in 2019-2020. So far in 2023, 44 lions have been killed, the largest a 153-pound male estimated to be 7½ years old taken in January in Pennington County.  

A 2021 proposal to expand use of hounds to hunt on some public lands outside Custer State Park was opposed by numerous residents who wrote to the GFP before the commission voted in favor. Their comments shone a light on the emotions surrounding the lion hunt overall in South Dakota.

Some argued that the rules could decimate the state’s population of roughly 300 lions, while others decried the lion hunt as existing only to provide hunters with a trophy.

“I am very opposed to a pointless mountain lion season,” Katie Gilmore of Harrisburg wrote. “Shooting animals for food serves a purpose, trophy hunting does not.”

Others were opposed to the use of dogs in lion hunting, which often culminates in a lion being flushed up a tree where it can be shot.

“It is bad enough we have a hunting season on mountain lions when there is no need for one, but to allow the use of hounds is truly despicable,” wrote Teresa Hicks of Rapid City. “This isn’t hunting. It’s cruel and unsportsmanlike.”

But the GFP and some wildlife groups support the hunt as an important way to manage the state’s lion population. The season continues “as a management tool to manage mountain lion populations at a desired level,” according to the GFP website.

Deer population may influence interactions

In addition to habitat loss, the declining deer population in the Black Hills may be another reason mountain lions are migrating into residential areas, according to Mayes with the South Dakota Wildlife Federation, who has become an animal behavior expert.

Deer populations — a primary food source for mountain lions —  have declined slightly due to animal losses caused by the emergence of chronic wasting disease and epizootic hemorrhagic disease, a viral illness spread by midge flies, Mayes said. 

One metric of deer population is the annual harvest by hunters, which reached a low of roughly 20,000 per year in the late 1970s, rebounded to nearly 100,000 a year in 2010 and recently has hovered closer to 50,000 annually.

Along with population changes, more deer have taken up full-time residence in South Dakota cities. That has caused more than 300 car-deer crashes and $1 million in property damage a year in Rapid City, said Mayes, who serves on the Rapid City wildlife management board.

In recent years, Mayes said, more deer have become part of established herds that are born, live and die entirely inside city limits. That not only dramatically increases the likelihood of animal interactions with humans but theoretically could attract more lions into buffer lands in and outside the urban area.

The high population of deer in Rapid City has led to six years of an annual culling by city sharpshooters, who removed 237 deer in January and February 2023, according to city records.

A devastating loss of family’s fowl

Hansen, the Spearfish area resident, said the bear that tore up her yard and killed her fowl entered her property sometime during the daylight hours of Mother’s Day while she and her sons were off fishing. 

She keeps animal feed and garbage in metal containers with strong lids to reduce enticements for wild animal visits, but she has experienced a mountain lion on her deck and other close calls with coyotes and other critters.

The bear climbed a wood pile and broke through a fence before clawing and tearing up her animal houses, killing numerous farm fowl but also a “silly turkey” that followed her around, pecked at windows to get attention and had become somewhat of a pet.

“I walked out there, and it was pretty devastating. There were dead animals and animal parts everywhere,” she said. “The bear had torn off a panel attached with deck screws, and he tore off wood and wire.”

The bear scat found on her property contained corn and egg shells, which Hansen said likely came from attacks the bear reportedly made on her neighbors’ properties.

Seeking greater information sharing

Hansen said the bear attack and recent mountain lion sightings around Spearfish have heightened her concerns to where she tries not to do chores after dark and traverse her property with a dog or other person present.

“I’ve seen more and more mountain lions in the past year and more and more coyotes,” she said. “They say there’s never been a mountain lion attack in South Dakota. But there’s also never been a bear killing this many animals, so maybe anything is possible, and it’s just a matter of time.”

Hansen said she has shared her bear story with neighbors so they are aware. She added that she felt like GFP officials have not done enough to inform the public about wild animal encounters on her property and in other areas of South Dakota. “I think we need to know so people can be prepared,” she said.

Risk can be mitigated, not eliminated

Mayes, who has seen mountain lion tracks at his home about a mile from Monument Hospital in Rapid City, said wild animals will adapt to their surroundings fairly quickly and do what they must to survive, even if it means traipsing into areas populated by humans.

“They’re adaptable, they know where the food is, and with them it’s all about survival,” he said.

Mayes said that regardless of the species, people need to realize that animal encounters are always possible, and that some basic precautions can reduce the risk of a negative interaction. 

He urged people not to feed wildlife, to keep animal feed and household garbage safely secured, and to drive slower and be more aware of potential animal movement at dusk, overnight and dawn.

“We have to make peace with the fact that we’re going to interact. And we have to know that you can do things to mitigate that, but you can’t eliminate it,” he said.

This article is published here with the permission of South Dakota News Watch.

Photo: The mountain lion that Spearfish police tranquilized in May after it wandered into a residential area. (Photo: Spearfish Police Department via South Dakota News Watch.

Scott Jensen promises to file lawsuit on Tuesday against Board of Medical Practice & AG Ellison

On June 1, Bluestem noted in  Third time: Scott Jensen to rejoin usual bunch of quacks at Global Health Freedom Summit, that former state senator and 2022 Republican gubernatorial candidate Dr. Jensen had been saying for a couple of months that he was suing the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice and Attorney General Keith Ellison over the Board's investigation of Jensen's unconventional health care views.

At that time, no lawsuit had been filed.

Bluestem was left to guess had been the topic of the complaints against Jensen, since the inquiries and files of Board of Medical Practice investigations are closed unless the doctor is reprimanded. We're guessing that the Board is represented by a staffer at the Attorney General's office, although Keith Ellison's name appears at the top of the letter such a letter would be printed on.

Apparently in the world of Scott Jensen, the board doing its job to investigate complaints violated his right to free speech. He's a victim.

According to a news press release mentioned in the Morning Take Newsletter:

TOMORROW: via a Scott Jensen press release, VERBATIM: “Former Republican Gubernatorial Candidate [Dr.] Scott Jensen will be filing two suits against [Attorney General] Keith Ellison and the MN Board of Medical Practice. … Scott Jensen and counsel will be available for media who attend the event.” The event is at 1:00 p.m.

Willmar Radio has more in Scott Jensen suing AG Keith Ellison, alleging free speech violations:

(Chaska, MN) -- Former state senator and candidate for governor Scott Jensen is suing Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and the state Board of Medical Practice. Jensen claims they violated his First Amendment rights of free speech and other rights under the U-S Constitution. Jensen was investigated for, among other issues, questioning the effectiveness of the COVID vaccine and says if physicians are denied their First Amendment rights to speak in opposition to "conventional narrative, you would lose the dynamic vitality of medical discussions that really pave the way for scientific advancement." Opponents contend Jensen, as a physician and public figure, made scientifically inaccurate statements and spread information that could mislead people. A spokesman for Attorney General Ellison said, “There is no merit to the allegations" now being formally filed in Jensen's lawsuits.

That's not quire as detailed as Willmar Radio's April 20 report, Scott Jensen suing Ellison over medical license investigations:

(Chaska MN-) Former Gubernatorial Candidate and Minnesota Family Doctor Scott Jensen has announced that he's filing a lawsuit in Federal Court against Attorney General Keith Ellison and members of the Board of Medical Practice for violating his First and Fourteenth Amendment rights. The following is a news release from Jensen...

Government regulatory agencies are not weapons to be used against political opponents. Dr. Jensen is preparing a lawsuit to vindicate the rights of physicians and other health care professionals, cosmetologists, and anyone else who recognizes this grave threat to free speech and the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution.

The purpose of the suit will be twofold: First, to aid the courts in further drawing the line between protected speech and professional conduct subject to regulation. Second, we will hold accountable those responsible for the outrageous weaponization of government against Dr. Jensen and countless other professionals who displayed the courage to speak out against censors and regulators run amok.

After being an outspoken voice during the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Jensen had his medical license threatened 5 times by political activists who leveraged Minnesota's Board of Medical Practice against him. These attacks on speech continued throughout his campaign for Governor of the State of Minnesota.

Said Jensen of the lawsuit, "For three years, while I was a sitting State Senator and while I was running for governor, the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice hovered over me as a weaponized agency. Attorney General Keith Ellison joined that harassment as a political actor. My rights were violated, as were the rights of so many to speak freely during the COVID-19 pandemic and afterwards. We are going to take this lawsuit as far as we need to in order to protect the rights of physicians and all other professionals who have dissenting voices. The silencing and intimidation of political adversaries cannot become the norm in America."

Fergus Now's Dave Bishop reported the next day in Scott Jensen to Sue Attorney General Keith Ellison:

Former state senator and candidate for governor Scott Jensen says he plans to sue Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and the state Board of Medical Practice in federal court, alleging they violated his First Amendment rights of free speech.

Jensen was investigated for, among other issues, questioning the effectiveness of the COVID vaccine and says if physicians are denied their First Amendment rights to speak in opposition to “conventional narrative.”

Jensen continues, “You would lose the dynamic vitality of medical discussions that really pave the way for scientific advancement.”
Opponents contend Jensen, as a physician and public figure, made scientifically inaccurate statements and spread information that could mislead people — an allegation he strongly contests. A spokesman for Attorney General Ellison says, “There is no merit to the allegations.”

On February 1, the Minnesota Reformer's Deena Winter reported in Scott Jensen accuses state of targeting his medical license to ‘crush dissenting voices’:

Former Republican nominee for governor Scott Jensen is accusing the state medical board and attorney general of targeting his medical license for political reasons.

Jensen released a video on social media (now going viral) Monday in which he said he recently received a letter from the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice notifying him of an upcoming conference on a complaint against him. The letter (which he showed on screen) was written on Office of Attorney General stationery because their attorney works for the board.

In July 2020, Jensen first went public about a medical board complaint against him. He said it was the first time in his 40-year career he’d been the subject of a complaint, and that it arose after he expressed unconventional views about COVID-19. 

He said four other complaints against him were dismissed, but after hearing nothing last year — as he was running for governor — this fifth complaint has been resurrected after first being lodged 15 months ago.

“What do you think happened in 2022?” he said, an apparent reference to his failed run for governor. “The pieces of the puzzle fell into place” — presumably after he lost to Gov. Tim Walz.  

“There’s an opportunity for dissenting voices to be crushed,” Jensen said.   

The letter, dated Jan. 25, is a notice requesting that he meet with the board’s complaint review committee as an “information-gathering step.” Ruth Martinez, the board’s executive director, and an assistant attorney general signed the letter. 

Martinez acknowledged in the letter that their language is “quite formal and legalistic,” as required by law, but went on to say the meeting won’t be a hearing. Rather, it will be a forum for the board to meet face-to-face with Jensen and have a conversation about the concerns raised.

That did little to assuage Jensen’s concerns: He said he was up past 1 a.m. “trying to go through this.”

“This is all about raw politics. This is about raw power. This is about punishment,” he said on the video.

Other doctors have accused Jensen of spreading misinformation about COVID-19 and vaccines. 

Although Jensen has denied being anti-vaccine, he has appeared with prominent anti-vaxxers, and he once referred to COVID-19 as a “mild four-day respiratory illness.” He promoted using hydroxychloroquine or ivermectin to prevent or treat COVID-19. And during this campaign for governor last year, he compared pandemic public health policies to Hitler’s rise. 

Jensen said his medical license is on the line.

“How does that make me feel? Sick to my stomach,” he said.

He accused the state of trying to “extinguish a voice of skepticism,” noting that he is former vice chair of the Senate Health and Human Services Finance and Policy Committee, has taught at the University of Minnesota and was asked by Walz to help get an insulin bill passed.

“If you’re not getting on board, you’re a problem,” he said. “If they can do it to me, they can do it to you.”

The attorney general and medical board did not respond to a request for comment.

Well jeepers. 

Before the 2022 election, the Reformer's Michelle Griffith reported Scott Jensen’s unconventional health care views spread beyond COVID-19. 

Who knew? Head over to the Reformer and check out the list of unconventional views.

Should a lawsuit be filed in federal court, Bluestem will try to pry it out of the PACER system and check it out.

Relate posts

• Third time: Scott Jensen to rejoin usual bunch of quacks at Global Health Freedom Summit
• Jensen ad touts MAFP's 2016 award, but where does he stand on med group's policy positions?
• MNGOP gubernatorial candidate Scott Jensen bail[ed] on 3rd annual Alex anti-vaxx event
• Scott Jensen to speak--again--at "vaccine awareness" Global Health Freedom Summit
• Minnesota anti-mandate effort promotes national anti-vaxxer at September 26 state capitol rally
• The headlines keep coming for MN vaccine skeptic gubernatorial candidate Scott Jensen
• Small town MN freedom fighting restaurateur's anti-vaxx pals make us pause about her savvy
• Minnesota, kiss your herd immunity good-bye: Senator Scott Jensen cuddles up to anti-vaxxers

Photo: Former candidate for governor Scott Jensen accused the state medical board and attorney general of targeting him for being a voice of dissent about COVID-19 vaccines and treatment. Screenshot from Jensen video/via Minnesota Reformer.

If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post.

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Noem plans to use emergency and disaster money to pay for border troop deployment

On Thursday, Bluestem Prairie posted Governor Kristi Noem orders South Dakota National Guard troops to Mexican border again, a South Dakota Searchlight article about the governor's latest border excursion.

But there's more to the story: how South Dakota is paying for it.

The Searchlight's Seth Tupper reported Friday in  Noem plans to use emergency and disaster money to pay for border troop deployment:

Gov. Kristi Noem’s funding source for a troop deployment to the U.S.-Mexico border is the state’s Emergency and Disaster Fund, a revelation that caused a top-ranking legislator to criticize the plan and question its legality.

Noem announced the impending troop deployment Thursday in a news release, saying she plans to send at least 50 National Guard soldiers to help secure the nation’s southern border this summer. She and 12 fellow Republican governors are responding to a request for assistance from the governor of Texas, the news release said.

Noem’s spokesman, Ian Fury, did not provide a cost estimate for the deployment, but told South Dakota Searchlight via text message Thursday evening, “All costs will be paid out of the Emergency & Disaster Fund.”

Lee Schoenbeck, a Watertown Republican and president pro tempore of the state Senate, said securing the border is a federal responsibility. He said Noem is acting on a “political agenda unrelated to South Dakota issues” and violating the trust placed in the executive branch to spend the state’s money as intended.

“She cannot use those funds for that,” Schoenbeck said Thursday night. “She needs to follow the law.”

A fund for in-state expenses

A Searchlight review of budget documents, public testimony, legislation and state laws pertaining to the fund revealed a common thread: references to the fund being intended for expenses within the state’s borders.

According to the recommended budget Noem sent to legislators in December, the fund is for emergencies and disasters “in South Dakota.” Noem asked legislators to put $2,524,560 into the fund. 

The House Committee on Appropriations filed a bill to appropriate precisely that amount in January. Angela Lemieux, of the Department of Public Safety, testified during the bill’s first public hearing later that month. 

“The fund covers costs for emergencies and disasters that occur in the state,” Lemieux told the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Appropriations.

She said the money is used to help communities recover from natural disasters, and for grants that help communities prepare for future disasters. 

After the Joint Appropriations Committee, the bill’s next stop was the House of Representatives, where Republican Lance Koth of Mitchell delivered the only comments.

“It’s a special appropriation for the Emergency and Disaster Fund to cover costs of emergencies and disasters that have already occurred in our state,” Koth said.

In the Senate, the only remarks came from Dean Wink, R-Howes, who offered a detailed example to illustrate the fund’s purpose.

“We’ve had a very dry two years out in the Black Hills, and so we’ve had some wildfires that the locals, it got too big for them,” Wink said. “We have a reciprocal agreement with neighboring states that if we need help, they send their crews and their equipment, and vice versa. And next year, they may need our help. So they send us a bill after going back home, the Department of Public Safety pays it, and now they request us to refill their fund to bring it back up to zero.”

The bill received unanimous support at each level of the Legislature, and Noem signed it into law on Feb. 9.

None of the testimony, nor any of the language in the bill, mentioned out-of-state National Guard deployments. 

The bill’s text said the money is for costs related to an “emergency or disaster” and pointed to a pre-existing state law that defines those terms. That law says emergencies and disasters include any natural, nuclear, man-made, war-related, or other catastrophe “in any part of the state.”

Legislators react

Thursday night, Schoenbeck declined to say what, if anything, the Legislature could do to stop Noem from spending the money as she plans. But he said budget requests from Noem and her staff could face opposition during the next legislative session.

“The appropriations process involves a lot of trust,” Schoenbeck said. “If they come back with less trust, that translates into what’s appropriated the next year.”

Sen. Jean Hunhoff, R-Yankton, the chair of the Joint Appropriations Committee, said Noem’s plan to use the Emergency and Disaster Fund for a troop deployment “looks like a new use of those dollars.”

Hunhoff wasn’t prepared to offer further comments, she said, because she hadn’t received any communication about the matter from the Governor’s Office.

“I wish we would’ve had notice or information, but apparently we all got the information the same time the news release went out,” Hunhoff said.

Noem has sent National Guard troops to the nation’s southern border before. In 2021, she ignited controversy with her acceptance of a $1 million donation from Tennessee billionaire Willis Johnson to pay most of the cost for deploying 48 troops. The deployment cost a total of $1.45 million, according to records obtained by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. 

Friday, Fury seemed to disregard the $1 million donation while tweeting that the state’s Emergency and Disaster Fund “is how these type of activations are ALWAYS paid for. In fact, it’s precisely how the deployment to the border 2 years ago was paid for.” South Dakota Searchlight sent Fury a message asking for clarification on whether the fund covered the portion of the deployment not covered by the donation, or whether the donation was never paid. Fury has not yet responded.

Yes, the @SD_Guard deployment to the border is being paid for by Emergency & Disaster Funds. That is how these type of activations are ALWAYS paid for.

In fact, it's precisely how the deployment to the border 2 years ago was paid for.

The border is an EMERGENCY. It's a warzone.

— Ian Fury (@IanTFury) June 2, 2023

Also in 2021,

Noem approved the sending of additional National Guard soldiers to the border at the request of the federal government. She said those additional troops were on “federal pay status.” 

The new deployments announced by Noem and other Republican governors come during a period of heightened political rhetoric about the border, in connection with the end of a pandemic policy that temporarily turned away asylum seekers to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The number of migrants crossing the border — predicted by some to surge after the policy ended — has plummeted recently.

Fury’s Friday tweet said, “The border is an EMERGENCY. It’s a warzone.”

— South Dakota Searchlight’s Joshua Haiar contributed to this report.

This South Dakota Searchlight article is republished online under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

 

Related posts

• Governor Kristi Noem orders South Dakota National Guard troops to Mexican border again
• Our own Ludlow? Noem partying like 1914 with use of private money to deploy National Guard
• AP: ‘Slow day:’ South Dakota National Guard emails don’t match Noem border ‘war’ talk.

Photo:  Gov. Kristi Noem visits troops during the 2019 Golden Coyote Exercise at Rapid City in 2019. (U.S. Army Reserve photo by Spc. Jamaal Turner/ via South Dakota Searchlight).

If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post.

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Minnesota Reformer: Cost of managing Minnesota’s whitetails: 33 million bucks

Data reporter dude or not-from-around-here-guy? At the Minnesota Reformer, North Star State transplant Christopher Ingraham doesn't quite seem convinced about spending money for wildlife management.

I've had to stifle my inner deep-rural, bumpkin heritage conservation and hunter soul to realize the questions are good ones, and Ingraham buries the lede in the last paragraph:

The DNR, however, estimates that deer hunting “generates nearly $500 million annually in total economic activity to the state.” If you buy that figure, $32.8 million seems like a reasonable investment.

The state herd is threatened by an always fatal prion disorder and habitat issues, so there's that, too.

From the Minnesota Reformer:

The cost of managing Minnesota’s deer: 33 million bucks
By Christopher Ingraham

There’s an awful lot of spending in the $72 billion two-year budget recently signed into law, much of it the subject of fierce, headline-grabbing partisan battles: public safety, education, the social safety net, and so on. 

But there are also plenty of line items that flew under the radar. Like deer, for instance: The environment and natural resources budget includes $32.8 million earmarked for the state’s whitetail deer population. 

There are roughly 1 million deer in Minnesota, so it’s kind of like if the state mailed a 33-dollar check to every buck, doe and fawn. 

How do those bucks get spent?

The bulk of the appropriation — $17 million — comes from the DNR’s “deer management account.” By law, money in that fund can only be spent on deer management and habitat improvement. That includes things like prescribed burns, forest and grassland development, and efforts to improve winter food supplies for deer, according to a 2022 DNR report.

Those deer management funds come primarily from hunter license fees.

The second-largest item in Minnesota’s deer budget is $8.4 million for inspections, investigations and enforcement actions taken against deer farms, and for managing chronic wasting disease (CWD) more broadly. CWD is a communicable, neurological disorder — think Mad Cow Disease but for deer — with a similar concern that the condition could jump to humans.

In addition to placing a moratorium on new operations, the legislation tightens regulations on fencing, testing and dealing with positive CWD cases at deer farms. That new regulation will require stepped-up enforcement, which is where the $8.4 million comes into play.

A separate $5.4 million sum is earmarked for additional CWD actions statewide. Those include testing thousands of deer shot by hunters each year, researching CWD hotspots, tracking outbreaks, disposing of infected deer and issuing reports on the disease.

The budget directs an additional $1.6 million to the University of Minnesota to develop CWD contingency plans.

Finally, Bemidji State University gets $393,000 for an analysis of urban deer behavior in the city of Bemidji. The goal is to improve special archery hunts put on by some cities in the hopes of reducing car collisions, mitigating deer damage to plants and limiting the spread of CWD.

One important caveat to these numbers: there are many other line items in the natural resources budget, like land acquisitions and preservation efforts, that benefit the state’s deer even if they’re not done with deer exclusively in mind. Conversely, much of the habitat improvement earmarked for deer also benefit other species that share the same environment.

In the end, $32.8 million may not seem like a huge sum in a budget measured by the billion. But it’s nonetheless notable that the state devotes more money to deer management than to many human endeavors — $25 million for film production tax credits, for instance, or $17.7 million for electric vehicle rebates, or the entire $15 million annual operating budget of the state auditor’s office.

The DNR, however, estimates that deer hunting “generates nearly $500 million annually in total economic activity to the state.” If you buy that figure, $32.8 million seems like a reasonable investment.

This Minnesota Reformer article is republished online under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. 

Related posts

• Session Daily: Bill targets deadly deer disease with tighter proposed restrictions on farms
• Omnibus environment bill aims to ‘correct past wrongs, prepare for future,’ committee chair says 
• VIDEO: MN House environment committee passes most sweeping anti-CWD measure to date
• DNR: Chronic wasting disease suspected in a wild deer in Bemidji area for the first time
• MN Chronic Wasting Disease dilemma: should new deer farms be blocked? The old bought out?
• Chronic Wasting Disease: St. Louis County permanently bans new or expanded cervid farms .
• Todd Miller's deer farm was depopulated Tuesday,
•  On Facebook, operator of CWD doomed Winona County deer farm wears Miller Scrap hat 
• MN Board of Animal Health: CWD confirmed in quarantined Winona County captive deer herd
• Update: More on Miller family deer farm interests
•  Senate DFL Leader Franzen raises conflict-of-interest concerns in Republican leader's role overturning bipartisan vote to protect wild deer 

Photo: A white-tailed buck.

If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post.

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Third time: Scott Jensen to rejoin usual bunch of quacks at Global Health Freedom Summit

A recent appearance at a town hall in Rochester by unsuccessful 2022 Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott Jensen--read about it here at KTTC's Former Minnesota governor candidate Scott Jensen speaks at town hall in Rochester--made me wonder whether he'd again be joining the speakers at the annual anti-vaxxer fest in Alexandria MN, the Global Health Freedom Summit.

Yes indeedie, as the screenshot above from the website's Event Speakers page shows.

The purpose of the event? From the Global Health Freedom Summit's tickets page:

Our goal is to give uncensored updates from names you trust while discovering new and important front-line voices. We strive to offer only the best in the movement that will stand and deliver truth! This year you will learn to legally protect yourself from forced vaccinations, mask mandates, and other forms of medical tyranny. You will become an advocate for you, your family and our communities!

And a slightly different message on the main page:

Our goal is to give uncensored updates from names you trust while discovering new and important front-line voices. We strive to offer only the best in the movement that will stand and deliver truth! At this event you will gain more knowledge surrounding our current world issues and become an advocate for you, your family and our communities!

It's not the first time for Jensen. As the bio notes, "This will be his 3rd year speaking at our event." 

Originally, Jensen's third year of speaking at the event was to be last October, while he was campaigning for governor.

As Bluestem first reported on August 20, 2022 in Scott Jensen to speak--again--at "vaccine awareness" Global Health Freedom Summit:

Back in January 2019, we posted  Minnesota, kiss your herd immunity good-bye: Senator Scott Jensen cuddles up to anti-vaxxers, before the COVID pandemic, before COVID vaccines, and before Jensen announced his intention to run for Minnesota governor.

We followed up that with mentions of Jensen's presence as a speaker at one of Minnesota's premiere "vaccine awareness" annual event. There are his speaking engagements at the 2020 Vaccine Awareness Event - Minnesota and its successor.

And now he's speaking again at an anti-vaccine/"vaccine awareness" forum in Alexandria that's getting to be an annual event under one name or the other.

And then there's that 2021 fundraiser hosted by Wellness My Way yearly event organizer. My, my.

By September 3rd, I posted MNGOP gubernatorial candidate Scott Jensen bail[ed] on 3rd annual Alex anti-vaxx event. noting that Bring Me The News' Adam Uren had reported in a story about the upcoming appearance:

Scott Jensen's campaign spokesman says that Jensen will not be speaking at the Oct. 1 event, despite being listed as a guest speaker, as he has a family wedding to attend that day. This story has been update to reflect this. Bring Me The News has reached out for further details.

At the Minnesota Reformer--a bit late to news of the cancellation and silent about the earlier appearances, Deena Winter focused on the usual bunch of quacks and anti-vaxxers at the Summit in Jensen to appear with all-star lineup of anti-vaxxers at Alexandria event.

Many of the same speakers will appear with Jensen on September 30, though Oath Keepers pal gal KrisAnne Hall doesn't seem to be on the roster this autumn. New from last year?  Leila Centner, a private school founder who's the object of Vanity Fair's Florida School Run by Idiots Says Vaccinated Students Must Stay Home for 30 Days After Each Shot and the Daily Kos' item Private school owner likens public schools to indoctrination camps, says they are pushing sexuality.

There's Carrie Madej, whom Reuter fact checked in Fact Check-Unidentified particles in vaccine samples under the microscope are likely contamination:

A self-described osteopathic physician who claims she saw a self-aware organism point at her from a sterile COVID-19 vaccine sample has likely misjudged her findings of common contamination debris, experts have told Reuters. ...

Also on the list? Scott Atlas, who briefly served on President Donald Trump's  White House Coronavirus Task Force, from August 2020 through November 30, 2020, after disagreeing with policies related to masking, social distance, herd immunity and such.

Earlier Jensen Summit appearances

In Bluestem summarized Jensen's earlier appearances at the yearly event in Alexandria:

The 2020 Vaccine Awareness Event - Minnesota in Alexandria . . . some of the stars of the anti-vaxxer world, described on the gathering's Eventbrite page:

This will truly be a once in a lifetime educational event to hear these amazing speakers speak on vaccine awareness and our health freedoms!

 

About this Event

Join us for our Fall 2020 event on Saturday October 24th 9am-5pm as we welcome Del Bigtree, Dr. Bob Zajac, Shelia Ealey, Leah Wilson, Dr. Joel Bohemier, Senator Scott Jensen and Andrew Wakefield! This will truly be a once in a lifetime educational event to hear these amazing speakers present on vaccine awareness and our health freedoms! We anticipate this event will sell out so grab your tickets now!

And Jensen was on the bill for 2121, we noted in Minnesota anti-mandate effort promotes national anti-vaxxer at September 26 state capitol rally:

BigTree will in the Loon State that weekend for the Saturday, September 25 Global Health Freedom Summit in Alexandria, Minnesota, where he'll share the stage with other leading figures in the anti-vax movement, as well as Minnesota Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott Jensen. Jensen began establishing his anti-vaxx ties while serving in the state senate. though Salon reported in July that he denies he's an anti-vaxxer — he's just anti-vax-curious.

The State DFL Party reacted to the event with a press release Scott Jensen to Speak at Anti-Vax Summit This Weekend.

 

Curiously, the  Saturday, September 25 Global Health Freedom Summit link  in our post and the DFL statement is now directed to the Global Health Freedom Summit, Saturday, October 1st, 2022. Jensen is there again--along with a rogue's gallery of anti-vaxxers and vaccine skeptics: Peter McCullough, Sherri Tenpenny, Del Bigtree, Joel Bohémier, Dr. Robert (Bob) Zajac and Dr. Larry Palevsky.   Jensen'sbio:

Dr. Scott Jensen has practiced family medicine in Carver County, Minnesota for more than 30 years, and this is where he and his wife, Mary, a small animal veterinarian, raised their three children – Cristy, an anesthesiologist, Matt, an estate attorney, and Jackie, a family doctor.

Dr. Jensen served in the Senate from 2017-2021 and was vice-chair of the Health and Human Services Committee. He has served many organizations as a board member or chair including Waconia school board, Rotary and Lions clubs, several Chambers of Commerce, bank boards and audit committees.

Dr. Jensen is an avid pilot and writer, publishing his first book in 2015, “Relationship Matters” and another book due to be published in the late summer of 2021. In 2001 he founded Catalyst Medical Clinic which now has offices located in Watertown and Chaska. In 2016 Dr. Jensen received the prestigious award, Minnesota Family Physician of the Year,

from the Minnesota Academy of Family Physicians and was elected to the Minnesota State Senate. Dr. Jensen understands that we need to move forward from covid and address rehabilitation of our economy, businesses, schools, and communities.

Jeepers: who knew that Dr. Jensen was running for governor. There's certainly nothing in that biography which mentions it, nor a word about vaccines of any sort.

Not that Alexandria "vaccine awareness" event sponsor Wellness My Way didn't host a 2021 Lunch with Dr. Scott Jensen. As the Eventbrite invite to the fundraiser states:

About this event

In recognition of the people, businesses and leaders of Minnesota, we are pleased to announce a fundraiser for Dr. Scott Jensen, and we would like to warmly invite you to join us for this extra-special event. Please join us on Friday, September 24th at the Legacy of the Lakes Museum in Alexandria, MN.

The event will be held in the boathouse attached to the museum from Noon - 1:30p.m. You will enjoy lunch and a discussion with Dr. Jensen. Dr. Scott and his team are ready to answer the call and your questions. It is sure to be a meaningful and enjoyable noon hour!

Cost is open and all donations excepted with a suggested donation of $150.

Thanks in advance for your support, and we look forward to seeing you on September 24th at noon!.

Please register today as seats are limited (100). This event is first come first serve and you must have a ticket to enter. Thank you once again for attending our event!

In gratitude,

Dr. Jerod Ochsendorf . . .

It's not just about COVID vaccines at the Global Health Freedom Summit.

What was up at the Rochester town hall?

In a preview of the May 23 town hall, the Rochester Post Bulletin reported in Scott Jensen will speak at a rally in Rochester on May 23:

 Dr. Scott Jensen will speak at a town hall rally in Rochester on Tuesday, May 23, 2023.

The event will include discussion on how Jensen is suing Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice for alleged violations of his First Amendment and civil rights. The program starts at 6:30 p.m. at the Empire Event Center, 1517 16th St. SW.

Jensen, a former Minnesota senator, gubernatorial candidate and practicing physician, has been investigated by the medical practice board six times. The allegations have been dismissed. . . .

After the event, KTTC reported in Former Minnesota governor candidate Scott Jensen speaks at town hall in Rochester:

. . .According to the office of the Minnesota Attorney General, Jensen has not served a lawsuit against the Attorney General or the board.

As Dr. Jensen has stated publicly, he was the subject of complaints filed with the Board of Medical Practice. By state law, the Board of Medical Practice is required to receive and resolve complaints about its licensees. The Board of Medical Practice is one of the clients of the Attorney General’s Office, along with many other state agencies, boards, and commissions. Scott Jensen has not served a lawsuit against the Attorney General or the Board of Medical Practice. . . .

A few days earlier, Jensen shared press release with Willmar Radio about the case, which would be filed in federal court in Scott Jensen suing Ellison over medical license investigations:

Former Gubernatorial Candidate and Minnesota Family Doctor Scott Jensen has announced that he's filing a lawsuit in Federal Court against Attorney General Keith Ellison and members of the Board of Medical Practice for violating his First and Fourteenth Amendment rights. The following is a news release from Jensen...

Government regulatory agencies are not weapons to be used against political opponents. Dr. Jensen is preparing a lawsuit to vindicate the rights of physicians and other health care professionals, cosmetologists, and anyone else who recognizes this grave threat to free speech and the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution.

The purpose of the suit will be twofold: First, to aid the courts in further drawing the line between protected speech and professional conduct subject to regulation. Second, we will hold accountable those responsible for the outrageous weaponization of government against Dr. Jensen and countless other professionals who displayed the courage to speak out against censors and regulators run amok.

After being an outspoken voice during the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Jensen had his medical license threatened 5 times by political activists who leveraged Minnesota's Board of Medical Practice against him. These attacks on speech continued throughout his campaign for Governor of the State of Minnesota.

Said Jensen of the lawsuit, "For three years, while I was a sitting State Senator and while I was running for governor, the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice hovered over me as a weaponized agency. Attorney General Keith Ellison joined that harassment as a political actor. My rights were violated, as were the rights of so many to speak freely during the COVID-19 pandemic and afterwards. We are going to take this lawsuit as far as we need to in order to protect the rights of physicians and all other professionals who have dissenting voices. The silencing and intimidation of political adversaries cannot become the norm in America."

I'll have to see if I can get a PACER account to work for me to see if that filing's been accomplished. I've contacted the Attorney General's office to see if the lawsuit has been filed, and will post the response here should Bluestem get a reply.

UPDATE: In an email response from the Office of Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, Deputy Chief of Staff John Stiles writes, "No, Dr. Jensen has not filed a lawsuit against the Attorney General or the Board of Medical Practice." [end update]

Jensen is soliciting contributions to help with his legal costs here.

Related posts:

• Jensen ad touts MAFP's 2016 award, but where does he stand on med group's policy positions?
• MNGOP gubernatorial candidate Scott Jensen bail[ed] on 3rd annual Alex anti-vaxx event
• Scott Jensen to speak--again--at "vaccine awareness" Global Health Freedom Summit
• Minnesota anti-mandate effort promotes national anti-vaxxer at September 26 state capitol rally
• The headlines keep coming for MN vaccine skeptic gubernatorial candidate Scott Jensen
• Small town MN freedom fighting restaurateur's anti-vaxx pals make us pause about her savvy
• Minnesota, kiss your herd immunity good-bye: Senator Scott Jensen cuddles up to anti-vaxxers

Screengrab: Minnesota docter Scott Jensen's billing for the September 2023 Global Health Summit.

If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post.

Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email [email protected] as recipient.

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The State DFL Party reacted to the event with a press release Scott Jensen to Speak at Anti-Vax Summit This Weekend.

 

Curiously, the  Saturday, September 25 Global Health Freedom Summit link  in our post and the DFL statement is now directed to the Global Health Freedom Summit, Saturday, October 1st, 2022. Jensen is there again--along with a rogue's gallery of anti-vaxxers and vaccine skeptics: Peter McCullough, Sherri Tenpenny, Del Bigtree, Joel Bohémier, Dr. Robert (Bob) Zajac and Dr. Larry Palevsky.   Jensen'sbio:

Governor Kristi Noem orders South Dakota National Guard troops to Mexican border again

Earlier in this decade, Bluestem reported  Our own Ludlow? Noem partying like 1914 with use of private money to deploy National Guard and AP: ‘Slow day:’ South Dakota National Guard emails don’t match Noem border ‘war’ talk.

Now South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem is at it again.

Joshua Haiar reports for the South Dakota Searchlight in Noem orders National Guard troops to Mexican border again:

Gov. Kristi Noem announced plans Thursday to deploy more South Dakota National Guard troops to the nation’s southern border this summer.

Noem has sent South Dakota soldiers to the border previously. She said the new deployment comes in response to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s request for assistance. Noem is joining 12 other Republican governors who have pledged their support.

“Across the country, crime rates, drug overdoses, and human trafficking have all increased due to the ongoing challenges at the border,” Noem said in a press release. 

The move follows President Joe Biden’s decision to end Title 42 in early May. The COVID-era policy prevented migrants seeking asylum from entering the country because of concerns about the spread of coronavirus.

In April 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the monthly number of migrants taken into custody or immediately sent back dropped to 16,182, which was the second-lowest total in more than 20 years. But encounters with migrants have soared since then, reaching 206,239 in November.

Earlier deployment

In 2021, a billionaire Republican donor from Tennessee, Willis Johnson, reached out to Noem and offered $1 million to help fund a South Dakota National Guard deployment to the southern border. She accepted the call and deployed 48 Guard members soon after. 

The deployment cost $1.45 million, according to records obtained by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. 

At the time, Noem said the troops would stop drug smugglers and human traffickers. However, the records obtained by CREW and reported on by The Associated Press showed that in the first two months of deployment, the troops didn’t seize any drugs, and mission logs did not contain any confirmed encounters with “transnational criminals.” Some days, the records showed, the troops had little if anything to do.

Noem’s spokesperson, Ian Fury, did not reply to a request for comment Thursday. Noem’s news release about the new deployment did not say how much it will cost or how it will be funded.

This South Dakota Searchlight article is republished online under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

Related posts

• Our own Ludlow? Noem partying like 1914 with use of private money to deploy National Guard
• AP: ‘Slow day:’ South Dakota National Guard emails don’t match Noem border ‘war’ talk.

Photo: An aerial view of the American flags flying over an international bridge as immigrants line up next to the U.S.-Mexico border fence to seek asylum on Dec. 22, 2022, in El Paso, Texas. (John Moore/Getty Images/ via South Dakota Searchlight).

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Update: Amos LaFramboise to be returned to the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, Lake Traverse Reservation from Carlisle Indian School

In February 2022, my beau (a Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate elder) and I attended a "signing ceremony," one of the steps necessary for the return of the remains of SWO children who had died at the notorious Carlisle Indian School.

Now Keloland reports that Amos LaFramboise will be coming home in September. Rae Yost reports in Tribal student’s remains to be returned to South Dakota:

 The remains of a South Dakota student who died at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania will be returned to the state later this year, according to the U.S. Office of Army Cemeteries (OAC).

Amos LaFramboise of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate of the Lake Traverse Reservation was one of several students who died between 1880 and 1910 at the school. An estimated 200 students died while the school operated from 1879 and to 1918.

The Army intends to begin disinterment activities on Sept. 11. It will be conducted under the authority of Army Regulation 290–5, in accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation.

LaFramboise is one of five individuals whose remains will be returned to their relatives and home states.

A KELOLAND News story from Oct. 6, 2021, said Tamara St. John, a tribal historian for Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, and the tribe were working to bring the remains of students who died at Carlisle home. The remains of two of six children who were at Carlisle were still at the school’s burial site in 2021.

LaFramboise died 20 days after arriving at Carlisle. He was the first to die at the school. . . .

St. John had been frustrated with the snail's pace of the process but her persistence has prevailed and the boy finally is coming home.

The boys' relatives gathered to sign affidavits yesterday that will allow the tribes to begin the repatriation process.

"We are committed to them and to bringing them home like the chiefs that they are," said Sisseton Wahpeton tribal historian Tamara St. John. pic.twitter.com/rWxS0Cs4kl

— Jeremy Turley (@jeremyjturley) February 20, 2022

Related posts

•  SWO archivist: "We are committed to them . . . to bringing them home like the chiefs that they are" 
• SWO moves closer to bringing ancestors home from Carlisle Indian School with affidavit signing ceremony
• Video: Return of Our Sisseton-Wahpeton Children

Screengrab: The gravestones of Amos LaFromboise and Edward Upright contain spelling errors in a cemetery near the site of the former Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania. Photos provided by the Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center via the Grand Forks Herald.

There's more about Amos LaFramboise and Edward Upright at the Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center, maintained by Dickinson College.

If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post.

Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email [email protected] as recipient.

I'm on Venmo for those who prefer to use this service: @Sally-Sorensen-6