Minnesota state representative Rick Hansen, DFL-S. St. Paul, talked about the efficacy of buffer strips in his talk Wednesday (video embedded here) as part of a panel on Future of Clean Water during the The 2025 Harkin On Wellness Symposium.
He also critiqued voluntary programs, though the article below from the South Dakota Searchlight about buffer strips and livestock exclusion from creeks suggests that that approach along the Big Sioux River is better than nothing.
The Big Sioux River's source is near Summit, so I'd love to see it flow clean. Here's hoping there's plans to keep other industrial agriculture contaminants out of the water as well.
Also hope that the federal grants mentioned in the article remain available.
SIOUX FALLS – Keeping cattle waste out of the river that runs through the state’s largest city will cost about $11 million over the next five years, and the city will pay more than half the price.
One of the designers of the water quality program that money pays for, however, told an audience in Sioux Falls that past investments have paid off.
The Big Sioux River is polluted with dissolved soils, agricultural chemicals and livestock waste beyond levels safe for uses like fishing and swimming. City, federal and state money has been used for a little over a decade to pay landowners to leave strips of tallgrass or other vegetation in the land along the banks of a river or a tributary. The root systems in those buffer strips catch and filter out pollutants before they enter the water, and also prevent erosion.
During Thursday’s Big Sioux Stewardship Summit, program developer Barry Berg, said his team and partners have enrolled over 100 stream miles into their buffer strip program since its inception.
“We finally reached the century mark with the program,” he said during a morning presentation.
The enrolled areas now total more than 4,000 acres, with an additional 250 to 300 slated for enrollment this spring, Berg said.
Under the primary model of the program, livestock are blocked from bank access from April through September. Farmers are allowed to cut the grass for hay after June 15. The idea is to keep cattle out of streams during hot summer months when they’re most likely to wade in and defecate, spiking E. coli levels.
Berg said advancing the program is an arduous process that involves enrolling landowners in conservation agreements, coordinating federal and state funding streams, and adapting grazing and haying practices to better protect streambanks and riparian vegetation.
A focal point of the effort is Skunk Creek, which flows about 70 miles from Brant Lake into the Big Sioux River near Sioux Falls. Skunk Creek now contributes over half of the water that flows over the falls at Falls Park and through the city, due to a diversion upstream on the Big Sioux near the airport.
Skunk Creek historically carries a lot of E. coli into the river. But today, he said 44% of its banks in the program’s footprint and 48% of adjacent pastureland acres have been enrolled. And that’s making a big difference, he said. It’s possible, he said, for the state’s integrated water quality report to take Skunk Creek off its list of impaired water bodies if the program keeps its momentum.
“Back in 2013 and 2014, we had samples on Skunk Creek with 50 to 70% exceeding standards,” for permissible E. coli and suspended solids, he said. “Now we’re down around 10 to 11% exceeding. If we get down below 10 and hold that for two years in the integrated report, they’re gonna say, ‘Hey, we’re passing. Skunk Creek is no longer impaired.’”
A Natural Resources Conservation Service demonstration illustrates how various land management practices result in varying degrees of runoff and soil erosion. (Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight)
For Skunk Creek, “no longer impaired” would mean its waters would be safe for non-immersion recreational activities like kayaking or canoeing. Because it feeds the Big Sioux, that would move the river’s water quality within city limits closer to what advocates want: a swimmable river.
Participating farmers see financial benefits, Berg added. He described working with one landowner to calculate returns on haying the buffer land. The landowner made more through incentive payments and hay than he would have by planting corn or soybeans.
When the last five-year phase of the project wraps up this summer, the water quality investments will have supported 16 watering stations, over 4,000 feet of fencing, 12,000 feet of pipe, and four barns, built with manure-trapping pits beneath them. Additionally, the final phase also saw over 1,000 acres of cover crop planted and 900 more acres enrolled in the buffer program.
The next five years will continue that work, with $11 million already earmarked. That includes about $5.8 million from Sioux Falls, $3.2 million in federal grants and funding, $1.4 million in local cash and donations, $465,000 from Dell Rapids, and $263,000 from the East Dakota Water Development District.
Berg said his long-term goal is to enroll 75% of Skunk Creek’s streambanks.
“If we can get there, I believe we’ll see it delisted for E. coli,” he said. “We’re already close.”
Travis Entenmann, director of Friends of the Big Sioux River, said the effort is not only about compliance and conservation, but the city’s future. A clean river, he said, is one that people can use.
“It’s a huge opportunity for us for tourism,” he said. “The idea that it could be 90 degrees outside and there’s not families recreating in the river; it is kind of sad. And we should want better.”
A voluntary, incentive-based approach is how the state primarily tries to tackle the issue of E. Coli contamination in its waters, but he said more could be done.
“The three things that I believe will clean our river are regulation, enforcement of regulation, and land use change,” he later said.
Photo (top): A grass buffer strip along the Big Sioux River. (Courtesy of Big Sioux River Project/ via South Dakota Searchlight).
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More landowner rebellion--and when the Farm Bureau agrees with them, perhaps Summit Carbon Solutions doesn't have everything tied up, even in North Dakota.
The North Dakota Supreme Court heard arguments Thursday in a case that could determine whether a state law on underground carbon dioxide storage is constitutional and fair to landowners.
The Northwest Landowners Association and other landowners are suing the state of North Dakota and the state Industrial Commission over a state law that can force landowners to take part in an underground CO2 storage project.
Joining the state in defending its statute are Minnkota Power, Basin Electric Power, Dakota Gasification Co. and Summit Carbon Solutions, the Iowa-based company that has a permit to store millions of tons of carbon dioxide in western North Dakota.
The North Dakota Farm Bureau has joined the landowners in their lawsuit.
Derrick Braaten, representing the landowners, said the state law authorizing amalgamation — forcing landowners to allow carbon dioxide storage beneath their property if 60% of the landowners agree to a storage project — is unconstitutional and doesn’t allow landowners to use the court system to argue for just compensation.
Northeast Judicial District Judge Anthony Swain Benson dismissed the lawsuit in August, ruling that a law passed in 2009 could not be challenged because a statute of limitations had expired. Thursday’s arguments delved into the merits of the case.
Braaten urged the Supreme Court to overrule the district court on the technicalities. He said the Supreme Court could also rule on the merits of the case or send it back to the district court for further arguments.
The Supreme Court took the case under advisement.
Summit Carbon Solutions is seeking to use property in Oliver, Mercer and Morton counties for underground CO2 storage. The underground storage area is referred to as pore space.
Phil Axt, representing the state, noted that North Dakota’s geology is exceptionally well suited to underground carbon dioxide storage. He said the state should have the authority to regulate a shared resource.
He said the case could set a precedent.
“As far as we’re aware, no other court has yet addressed the pooling of pore space interests and the interplay between individual rights, majority rights and regulatory authority,” Axt said. “We think courts around the country will be answering them, but this court is positioned to be the first.”
Paul Forster, attorney for Minnkota Power, argued that allowing a small percentage of landowners to stop an underground storage project denies the majority of a right to profit from their property.
Braaten also argued that state law takes away the right of landowners to challenge the level of compensation if a landowner is forced into a pool.
He noted the potential revenue for Summit Carbon Solutions if it is able to take advantage of federal tax credit for storing carbon dioxide, which the company hopes to gather from ethanol plants in five Midwest states.
“They’re making millions, if not billions, of dollars doing it by collecting government tax credits, and they’re saying we don’t get our share of that, even though it’s our property they’re using,” Braaten said.
About 92% of landowners in the 90,000-acre sequestration area for Summit were participating voluntarily at the time Summit’s storage permit was approved.
Summit Carbon Solutions, which faces a permitting challenge in South Dakota, did not make oral arguments Thursday. Among the arguments Summit made in a brief filed with the court is that the state has a law that forces property owners to participate in oil and gas development.
Braaten argued those property owners are fairly compensated.
The Northwest Landowners Association successfully challenged a 2019 North Dakota pore space law at the state Supreme Court, with justices finding it unconstitutional.
Screenshot: The North Dakota Supreme Court heard oral arguments over Zoom April 17, 2025, in a case brought by the Northwest Landowners Association against the state and the North Dakota Industrial Commission. (Screenshot via Bismarck Tribune/via North Dakota Monitor).
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ABERDEEN, S.D. – Toby Doeden was in Sioux Falls on April 9 when the Brown County Republican Party posted on Facebook about its Lincoln Day Dinner the following night, promising a “formal candidate announcement for statewide office.”
Doeden, an Aberdeen businessman whose deep pockets and conservative activism have sparked speculation about a run for South Dakota governor in 2026, was the first person who came to mind for political enthusiasts.
“My phone started blowing up,” said Doeden, who was scheduled to speak at the event. “I called (Brown County GOP chair) Rich Hilgemann and asked him what was going on.”
It turned out that the post referred to a lower office, and even that announcement was called off at the last minute, removing some luster from the Lincoln Day gathering.
Still, tongues were wagging, a telling sign in South Dakota politics.
The fact that a social media message sent ripples of intrigue through the state Republican establishment shows how Doeden’s influence has risen over the past 15 months amid the party’s populist turn.
"He checks a lot of boxes for a candidate," said Carl Perry, a Republican state senator from Aberdeen who served as assistant majority leader in 2025 and was endorsed by Doeden. "He's an independent person who has done well financially and has a great family. I don't know if his ideas will be the ones that the people of South Dakota choose to support, but he's definitely going to get their attention."
Political newcomer means business
Some see Doeden's ascent as a sign of deteriorating public discourse, given his penchant for inflammatory rhetoric and hardball tactics.
Others view his profile as proof that outsiders can make an impact in an arena traditionally controlled by career politicians.
“He seems intent on being a major player,” said Jon Schaff, a political science professor at Northern State University in Aberdeen. “That could be as a candidate or behind the scenes raising money and pushing a pugnacious agenda.”
Doeden didn’t commit either way during a recent interview with News Watch at his newly remodeled house and office on the rural outskirts of Aberdeen.
But he looked like a man who meant business, emboldened by the political tides in South Dakota and national tone-setting of President Donald Trump.
The property has the feel of a command center, with conference rooms and an office suite for Doeden, with plenty of front-facing windows so that he can "see people coming."
The 50-year-old Groton native also showed off a full-sized indoor court for basketball and pickleball, while a Polaris Ranger utility task vehicle sat waiting in the spacious driveway.
“Believe it not, we do have recreational activity around here,” said Doeden, with a self-deprecating nod to his hulking physique, an extension of his days as a football player and shot put standout in high school.
'Mad and angry is not a public policy'
There is a Trumpian aspect to Doeden’s methods.
He made waves in the business world before coming to politics as an outsider, latching onto a populist wave after “liberal nonsense,” as he calls it, “started leaking into South Dakota.”
His politics are personality-driven, not policy-focused, though he talks of lower property taxes, limited government and parental choice for schools.
He uses new media to his advantage, bypassing traditional outlets with paid social media posts, video snippets and a podcast called “Unfiltered,” in which he rails against the establishment with his newfound interest in public affairs.
“Up until two years ago,” Doeden told News Watch, “I was literally the least political person that you’ve ever met.”
His influence so far has been channeled through the self-funded Dakota First Action political action committee, boosting Republicans viewed as "patriots" or "solid conservatives" and berating "RINOs" (Republicans in Name Only).
The PAC took aim at mainstream Republicans during the 2024 primaries and helped defeat 14 incumbents, with Doeden spending more than $77,000 on targeted text messaging and mailers for 17 candidates.
Those efforts helped swing legislative leadership to the party’s right flank, buoyed by grassroots opposition to carbon pipelines and the state’s plan to build a prison in rural Lincoln County.
“He was looking for candidates who were committed, Christian and conservative, as well as upholding landowners' rights," said Perry, who defeated Katie Washnok, president of Aberdeen Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, in the primary after Doeden dumped more than $6,000 into the race.
The intraparty attacks, some of them mischaracterizing legislative votes or positions, rankled party traditionalists. Others noted the irony of Doeden calling people RINOs when his first vote in a Republican primary came in 2024.
“He’s a very mad and angry person,” said Lee Schoenbeck, a longtime GOP state senator who retired from office last year. “Mad and angry is not a public policy platform. It doesn’t educate our children, create jobs or make our communities safer. He will need to set forth a policy platform that is more than just being mad and angry.”
Different kind of change agent
Doeden has been open about his interest in running for statewide office in 2026 as part of a “conservative revolution” in South Dakota, if past misdeeds and establishment resistance don’t impede his path.
He flirted briefly with a U.S. House run in 2024 before reversing course and forming Dakota First Action, using resources from his car dealerships and real estate holdings, a portfolio built without generational wealth or a college degree.
The Aberdeen Chrysler owner has ruffled feathers with frequent takedowns of Republican standard-bearers, saying that U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson “acts like a liberal, talks like a liberal and, worst of all, votes like a liberal.”
A campaign spokesperson for Johnson told News Watch that the congressman "has worked hard during President Trump's first 100 days to advance the Republican agenda of securing the border, getting tough on China and keeping men out of women's sports. South Dakota knows he's a conservative who gets things done. Toby peddles fear and anger. Luckily, there's a limited market for that in our state."
In speaking with News Watch, Doeden criticized the job performance of Gov. Larry Rhoden since taking office in February, citing that as a possible reason for Doeden to enter a high-profile gubernatorial race in the coming months.
Rhoden and Johnson are widely expected to be in that 2026 primary contest, possibly joined by Attorney General Marty Jackley and South Dakota Speaker of the House Jon Hansen, a fellow populist and property rights advocate.
“We’re looking ahead to 2026 and trying to figure out where I can be most effective,” said Doeden. “I’ve always been a fighter, and I don’t get caught up in what everybody else is going to do.”
This story was produced by South Dakota News Watch, an independent, nonprofit organization. Read more stories and donate at sdnewswatch.org and sign up for an email every few days to get stories as soon as they're published. Contact Stu Whitney at [email protected].
Photo: Dakota First Action PAC founder Toby Doeden (left) was a featured speaker at the Brown County Republican Party's Lincoln Day Dinner on April 10, 2025, in downtown Aberdeen, S.D. (Photo: Lakeside Media/via South Dakota News Watch).
This abridged South Dakota News Watch article is republished online with permission.
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Harkin Institute’s wellness symposium focuses on the future of clean water
Iowa is an outlier for the wrong reasons, according to several environmental advocates who spoke at the Harkin Institute’s annual wellness symposium, which this year focused on the future of clean water.
Speakers at the symposium noted Iowa’s cancer rates, which are the second-highest in the nation, the state’s overwhelming amounts of animal manure and its problems with polluted water.
This was the setup to launch an initiative between the Iowa Environmental Council and the Harkin Institute to explore the relationship between environmental risk factors and cancer rates in Iowa.
“At its heart, this entire initiative is about each out you, and about Iowans,” Sarah Green, IEC’s executive director said.
The initiative will combine both community outreach and a “rigorous” review of academic research on the subject.
The review will result in a public report and journal article with visual data mapping to show environmental risks and cancer rates. The two organizations aim to share these reports widely across the state and hold 15 listening tours to hear and amplify Iowan’s lived experiences with cancer.
“Our goal is to give voice to Iowans — whether they’re urban or rural — give them a voice, give them the opportunity to share and document their story,” Green said.
Green said it’s now “well established” that certain factors, like tobacco use, tanning beds and alcohol consumption contribute to cancer rates, but she questioned “what else might be at play.”
Cancer research was a priority outlined in Gov. Kim Reynold’s Condition of the State address earlier this year, when she called on the Legislature to fund a $1 million partnership between the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services and the University of Iowa to research factors contributing to Iowa cancer cases.
Adam Shriver, the director of wellness and nutrition policy at the Harkin Institute, said the partnership between Harkin and IEC would “address the gaps” in the conversations about cancer in the state.
“Part of what’s motivating our project is that even though there are lots of groups talking about studying the high cancer rates, there are some groups that want to limit what we’re looking at when we’re having these conversations” Shriver said.
Future of clean water
The Harkin Institute for Public Policy & Citizen Engagement, based at Drake University aims to facilitate public policy research and citizen engagement. Previous iterations of the Harkin On Wellness symposium have centered on topics like well-being in schools and healthy food.
Sue Mattison, Drake University’s provost, said the 2025 topic, the future of clean water, touches “every community, every discipline and every life.”
Mattison, who is also an epidemiologist, said she has seen “firsthand” the impact environmental factors, like water quality, can have on health outcomes.
“We know that climate change, population growth, pollution and the burden of inequitable environmental infrastructure are putting immense pressure on our water systems, and it’s clear that no single sector can change these challenges alone,” Mattison said in her opening comments at the symposium. “The problems we face require collaboration across every sector.”
The event featured speakers across disciplines who discussed the need for cleaner water through the lenses of cancer research, environmental ligation, public policy, community action and even art, with a satirical video listing the ingredients in Iowa’s “pure” drinking water.
Speakers identified industrial agriculture practices, like the over-application of nutrients to cropland, and runoff from confined animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, as key polluters to Iowa’s water.
The most mentioned pollutant, nitrate, enters streams from manure, fertilizer, septic and sewage runoff. On its own, nitrate is not a carcinogen, but when ingested, it interacts with other compounds that can be carcinogenic, according to the National Cancer Institute.
Excessive consumption of nitrate can also cause health issues like blue baby syndrome, thyroid problems and adverse pregnancy outcomes.
Lu Liu, an assistant professor at Iowa State University, said only 4% of public water systems in Iowa treat drinking water for nitrates, according to a recent study.
The study “Disparities in potential exposures to elevated nitrate in Iowa’s Public Water Systems” was published in February and found that more than 7% of Iowa’s average population are exposed to drinking water with nitrate levels in excess of 5 milligrams per liter. This metric is half of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s limit on nitrate in drinking water, but Liu said existing research of exposure at the 5 mg/L level has demonstrated negative health outcomes.
Jim Larew, an attorney with the northeastern Iowa environmental group Driftless Water Defenders, said he has seen the reputation of Iowa change over the years from a state with high education rates and healthy citizens, to the state with some of the highest rates of cancer in the country.
Larew, who has litigated against issues like the renewal of a water use permit for a CAFO at the head waters of a trout stream, said it would be a “misstatement” to blame all of the cancer in the state on industrial agriculture.
“But surely, when you look at the maps and incidences of cancer and where we’re doing the most intensive farming, there’s at least an association,” Larew said.
He said environmental work, to him, is also a social movement that is on the “cusp of a civil rights movement” in Iowa.
“This is not something that just involves lawyers and judges — if we’re going to move things in the right direction — it requires people,” Larew said.
Photo: The Des Moines River in Johnston on April 7, 2025. (Photo by Cami Koons/Iowa Capital Dispatch).
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On Wednesday, Minnesota House Agriculture Committee co-chair Rick Hansen, DFL-S. St. Paul, participated in The 2025 Harkin On Wellness Symposium, as part of a panel which focused on the Future of Clean Water.
This year’s theme was chosen to highlight and synthesize the progress being made around the country in protecting and improving water quality through community engagement, environmental education, watershed protection, water conservation initiatives, and innovative water quality monitoring programs.
Clean water is fundamental to public health and environmental sustainability and is increasingly under threat from climate change and other human-caused risks. Community-based initiatives that protect and improve water quality have been shown to have lasting, positive impacts on both human and environmental health. Furthermore, programs that engage communities in hands-on water quality improvement and conservation can foster environmental stewardship that benefits current and future generations.
This year’s event will recognize groups working to preserve clean water, including nonprofit organizations, environmental groups, and community organizations, for the tremendous role they play in protecting this vital resource.
Watch Hansen's talk from the event's panel on Agriculture, Water, and Public Health Across the United States. It's a good historic review of ag and water policy in Minnesota, which ends with a lovely discussion of the Lawns to Legumes pollinator program, as a model for individual citizen and community involvement.
According to its website, "The Harkin Institute for Public Policy & Citizen Engagement exists to inform citizens, inspire creative cooperation, and catalyze change on issues of social justice, fairness, and opportunity." The institute honors its namesake, Senator Tom Harkin who represented Iowa in the United States Congress. He served Iowa’s 5th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1975 to 1985 and was a U.S. Senator from 1985 to 2015.
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Bussman ousted longtime 7th District chair Craig Bishop, a staffer for U.S. Rep. Michelle Fischbach, in a contest that far-right activist group Action 4 Liberty characterized as a “MASSIVE rebuke on the corrupt, anti-grassroots, and anti-liberty tactics CD7 has used to protect RINO politicians,” meaning, “Republicans in Name Only.”
Many of Bussman’s views have become commonplace on the fringes of the Republican party, including vaccine skepticism, election denial, January 6 revisionism and a general hostility toward established science.
But a Reformer review of Bussman’s social media accounts finds that he has espoused many outlandish conspiracy theories that go well beyond standard conservative activist fare.
He has argued that the collapse of a World Trade Center building during the 9/11 terror attacks was the result of a “controlled demolition,” and that a “cruise missile,” rather than American Airlines Flight 77, struck the Pentagon that day.
He has shared multiple videos arguing that the moon landings were faked, and that more recent footage of astronauts aboard the International Space Station was faked as well.
He has shared with followers a video entitled “5 Reasons Why I BELIEVE in the Flat Earth (And You Should Too!),” as well as numerous other videos claiming that the earth is flat.
Bussman’s elevation to a leadership position is part of a statewide pattern that alarms longtime Republican activists: The party is allowing itself to be taken over by the fringe, lowering the odds of victory in future statewide elections.
“It’s bad for Republicans who want to win,” said Michael Brodkorb, former deputy chair of the Minnesota GOP who has vehemently opposed the party’s embrace of Donald Trump and figures like him, going so far as to publicly endorse Kamala Harris last year. “This is what happens when party leadership opens the gates of the insane asylum, and people come in off the streets and the inmates run it.”
On the fringes of the fringe
Bussman’s Facebook posts demonstrate a longstanding interest in multiple extreme fringe theories. On May 8, 2023, he posted a video purporting to show “leaked footage of our flat earth from 1977,” showing an obviously computer-generated animation of a dim sun traversing flat icy terrain.
A year later he shared a video stating that a pilot “proved” the earth is flat because the sun and the moon were visible in the sky at the same time, a phenomenon which occurs on most days.
And on August 14, 2024, he posted the “5 Reasons Why” video about flat earth, which asks, among other things, that if the Earth is actually spinning, “why aren’t we all being flung out into space?”
Bussman has similarly posted multiple videos purporting to prove that the moon landings and other parts of the U.S. space program have been “faked.” He has shared video of an actor pretending to be film director Stanley Kubrick admitting that “he was responsible for faking the US Moon Program,” as well as a lengthy video claiming the landings were a “hoax” based on various false and spurious claims about film footage of them.
He has repeatedlysuggested that a celestial structure called “the firmament” prevents space travel, which is a common trope among many flat-earthers.
Bussman’s conspiracy theorizing extends to world events like the 9/11 attacks as well. On March 22, 2024, he posted a conspiracy video and asked a skeptical follower “Have you seen the video of building 7 collapsing and the cruise missle [sic] hit the pentagon? I had a friend invomved [sic] in the clean up of the towers- no plane wreckage.” He has posted several other videos containing similar sentiments.
Reached by the Reformer for comment, Bussman did not deny that he was an adherent of any of the conspiracy theories that he posted about on his public Facebook profile. “You can print whatever you want,” he said. “I spent 20+ years in the Army defending that right, but if you do that, there would be no chance of me speaking with you in the future.”
The more moderate wing of the Minnesota Republican party has been attempting, mostly in vain, to keep people like Bussman away from the levers of power. Much of the energy propelling Bussman and similar candidates comes from Action 4 Liberty, a far-right group that has made a name for itself mostly by attacking elected Republicans for being insufficiently far right.
Brodkorb argues that the extent of the party’s extremism problem became clear in 2024, when it nominated Alex Jones acolyte Royce White to take on Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar in the U.S. Senate race, and Republicans in the 7th Congressional District refused to endorse Fischbach — one of the more conservative representatives in the entire U.S. House — for reelection. Fischbach nevertheless sailed to victory over her primary opponent by nearly 30 percentage points, a sign that the fringe elements taking over the party lack widespread support among GOP voters.
“Bussman has nothing on his resume that has ever shown that he can organize and win,” Brodkorb says. “That hurts Republicans statewide.”
A Republican victory in a statewide race, for instance, will require running up the margins in reliably conservative places like the 7thDistrict. Bussman’s inexperience and fringe beliefs make that much harder to do.
“Those views shut down conversations and alienate people inside the party,” Brodkorb said.
Bussman and his ilk will also likely alienate more moderate, independent voters in the suburbs and exurbs, which Republicans need if they are ever to overcome the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party’s numerical advantage, evidenced by the GOP’s two decade long losing streak.
Bussman, for his part, is critical of people who don’t “do their own research” and endorse the same conspiracy theories he does. A meme he posted to his Facebook profile in August 2024 argues that, “Never before in history have we had more access to facts, and never before have we had so much stupidity!”
Image: A digital illustration of a flat earth. Roman Budnikov/Alamy Stock/ via CNN.
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Another chapter in the Trumpy war against libraries.
As a former staff member of The Library Company of Philadelphia (the one Ben Franklin and friends started), I'm puzzled by the "conservative" animus toward libraries. It's not as if the Framers didn't consult the Library when drafting that document.
Checking out some books through local libraries could soon cost more than a standard library card fee.
Libraries were instructed Monday to immediately suspend use of the state’s interlibrary loan courier program.
The courier service transports books and other library materials across South Dakota from the libraries that have them to those that don’t, typically faster and more efficiently than would be possible though the U.S. Postal Service.
The State Library relies on federal funding from the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to pay for the program.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order in March directing the head of that federal agency — which provides a federal grant that funds around half of the South Dakota State Library’s services — to cut its operations to the “maximum extent allowable by law.”
Former Gov. Kristi Noem sought to cut state library funding in her proposed budget to a level too low for the state to continue receiving federal matching funds. The state Legislature, however, approved a pared-back library budget large enough for the state to maintain access to about $1.4 million in IMLS funding.
While South Dakota hasn’t gotten confirmation its funding is cut, Department Secretary Joe Graves told the state Board of Education Standards on Monday, the federal government notified other states they’re receiving cuts.
“South Dakota, at least to my knowledge as of 8 a.m. this morning, hasn’t heard. So we don’t know what’s going on with that,” Graves said Monday.
Email to librarians signals service loss
The State Library cannot renew the contract with its interlibrary loan courier service at the end of April because of “uncertainty” about funding, according to an email sent to librarians that same day, which was reviewed by South Dakota Searchlight. Department of Education Spokeswoman Nancy Van Der Weide confirmed the suspension.
“The South Dakota State Library will not be renewing the contract until it is certain that the funding to support this service is in place,” she said.
Van Der Weide did not answer questions about any other impacts to the State Library expected as a result of the Trump executive order. She told South Dakota Searchlight recently that “we do not have a clear indication” of what might happen with future grant funding.
Congress authorized grant funding through federal fiscal year 2025. The department “is waiting on a grant award” for 2025, Van Der Weide wrote in an email last month.
Libraries could charge for, limit service
About 70% of South Dakota libraries share books with each other through interlibrary loan, according to the State Library website. Without the courier service, local libraries and governments will need to pay to ship books to other libraries across the state, according to South Dakota Library Association President Elizabeth Fox. That costs an average of $5 an item each way, she said.
To pick up the new cost, local libraries could limit how many interlibrary loans an individual can make, or charge a fee when someone requests an interlibrary loan.
“Each library will have to determine how they deal with this,” Fox said.
Hill City Public Library Director Tammy Alexander plans to discuss the impact with members of her library’s board of directors next week. She sent requested books through the mail yesterday to Brookings and Chamberlain libraries.
“Like all budgets right now, even our small city budget will have cuts for 2026,” Alexander said. “My board will have to decide if they’ll allow me to include that.”
The State Library also pays for subscription-based academic databases, accessible at no cost through any public library in the state. It also provides support for summer reading programs, organizes professional development workshops, and offers Braille and talking book services for readers with disabilities.
Noem’s proposed cut would have pared down services to those last two items.
‘This is disheartening,’ lawmaker says
Lawmakers softened budget cuts this winter with the expectation they’d budgeted enough money to preserve the IMLS federal grant funding. The plan spared the jobs of all but 3.5 State Library employees, but dissolved the board that oversees the State Library.
Rep. Terri Jorgenson, R-Piedmont, worked closely with the Education Department on the compromise.
“After all our hard work we put into this to restructure and save this program, this is disheartening,” Jorgenson said.
Interlibrary loans are crucial for homeschool students as well as students in public and private schools, she told South Dakota Searchlight on Tuesday. Burdening local governments with shipping costs and potentially passing the cost onto families will add up quickly.
Jorgenson and other lawmakers will need to explore funding options for library programming in the wake of the news, she said.
“Ultimately, this means we’re going to have to get creative,” Jorgenson said, “to save money and work to still provide this important service.”
Photo: The downtown library in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. (John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight).
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In one way, this is neighborhood news, since I live within the historic boundaries of the Lake Traverse Reservation, home to the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate, which straddles both South and North Dakota.
I am not a tribal member--indeed, some of my ancestors depended on SWO scouts in the 19th century while serving in the U.S. Army--but have remained open to learning my neighbors' history and culture. This is a good move for students in North Dakota, and I'm going to see about getting a copy of the SWO history for my next-door neighbors' three boys.
Revised textbooks on the five Native American tribes that share land with North Dakota will be ready in time for next school year.
For about three decades, the books went without updates due to a lack of funding, said Lucy Fredericks, director of Indian and multicultural education for the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction.
In 2023, the agency began work on editing the books with the help of federal grant money.
The revision process was a joint effort among the Department of Public Instruction, the five tribes, higher education institutions across the state and other educational and cultural organizations.
“We wouldn’t be able to get it done without our partnerships,” Fredericks said at a Thursday night reception at United Tribes Technical College celebrating the books’ completion.
The Indigenous Education Coalition — a group that included some of the series’ original authors — and Sacred Pipe Resource Center took the lead on revising the text, according to a project timeline provided by the Department of Public Instruction. They fielded input from tribal colleges, tribal education and historic preservation offices as well as other groups. Updates included incorporating more recent historical events into the textbooks.
“Really, at the heart of this is Indigenous peoples telling their own stories,” said Sashay Schettler, assistant director for Indian and multicultural education at the Department of Public Instruction.
The six-part series includes one introductory textbook and books focusing on each of the five tribes — including an all-new book on the history and culture of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate.
The state initially held off on including Sisseton-Wahpeton since its administrative center is in South Dakota. The idea was that South Dakota could produce a textbook of its own, but that never happened.
So the Department of Public Instruction during the revision process reached out to the tribe to see if it wanted to join the North Dakota textbook series.
Nick Asbury, website content specialist for the agency, said he anticipated it taking at least a couple years to write the book from scratch. The tribe managed to write it in 90 days so it could release alongside the other updated editions, he said.
“I have never seen anything like that,” Asbury said. “It was amazing to see.”
Though the series is written for a K-12 audience, higher ed institutions rely on them for information, too.
The ebooks will be available for free online this summer, according to the Department of Public Instruction. Print editions will be rolled out to schools this fall and also will be available for purchase.
The original editions of the textbooks are available for free on most ebook platforms.
The agency hopes to revise the books every three to five years going forward.
Under a law adopted by the state Legislature in 2021, North Dakota K-12 schools are required to teach Native history.
State survey data collected in 2023 indicates schools may be struggling to meet that requirement. The survey found that 75% of teachers and 89% of administrators were aware of the legislation. Additionally, 57% of teachers and 67% of administrators said they were aware of tribal history resources published by the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction.
The project was made possible in part because of federal grant funding. Superintendent of Public Instruction Kirsten Baesler noted during the event that the future of some of the Department of Public Instruction’s federal grants remains uncertain.
The agency hopes the new books will become a staple for North Dakota history classes.
“These books today provide a comprehensive and rich resource of material that our educators can use in teaching Native American culture, history and traditions in our state,” Baesler said.
Photo: Updated tribal textbooks detailing the history and culture of the five Native nations that share land with North Dakota will soon be available at public schools across the state. (Mary Steurer/North Dakota Monitor).
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.
A day trip to Lake Okoboji was transformed into an overnight after one of Mike's son's flight from Oregon turned into its own epic CF. The upside was picking up a new used vehicle Saturday from another relative to replace the 2004 Elfmobile, for which replacement parts are next to impossible.
Ironically for me, it's a flex fuel vehicle. Given my skepticism about the biofuel industry, the irony isn't lost me. Perhaps the entire weekend is an analogy for contemporary America.
That being said, a look at the new chair of the South Dakota Republican Party from the South Dakota Searchlight.
South Dakota’s new Republican Party chairman is a former Democrat, but he’s been a Republican for nine years. Now he’s concerned about “Republicans In Name Only,” or RINOs, and wants to weed them out.
“RINOs are a real thing,” Jim Eschenbaum said. “People say, ‘Don’t call us RINOs.’ Well, If you’re supporting abortion or gun control in any way, or any kind of sequestering of First Amendment rights, well, that does not align with conservative principles.”
Eschenbaum is a 62-year-old Hand County commissioner and farmer. He was a registered Democrat for 32 years until he and his wife switched when Democrats nominated Hillary Clinton for president in 2016.
“We said we couldn’t align with that one, so we were already planning to vote for Trump, and we both switched and became Republicans,” he said.
Eschenbaum got more politically engaged while fighting Iowa-based Summit Carbon Solutions’ proposed $9 billion carbon capture pipeline, which he calls a “boondoggle.” The project would transport carbon dioxide emissions from dozens of ethanol plants in five states to an underground storage site in North Dakota, where the carbon could also be used to extract oil from old wells. For the carbon it sequesters underground, the project could qualify for billions in federal tax credits for removing heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions from the atmosphere.
The project’s need for eminent domain has motivated staunch opposition in South Dakota. Eminent domain is a method of forcing landowners to provide access to their land, in exchange for compensation determined by a court.
Members of a grassroots movement against the pipeline’s use of eminent domain have had a big impact on South Dakota politics. They helped oust 14 state Republican lawmakers in last June’s primary election; referred what pipeline critics considered a pro-pipeline law to the ballot in November, where voters rejected it; and helped pass a law earlier this year barring carbon pipeline companies from using eminent domain.
Eschenbaum was a leading figure in the ballot referendum campaign.
“That did indeed gain me a lot of public exposure,” Eschenbaum said. “I did public informational meetings all over the state before the general election.”
Eschenbaum said the people he met along the way encouraged him to run for state Republican Party chairman. Some of those same people were becoming more active in the party themselves, and were shifting the party’s power balance to members of the anti-pipeline movement.
“They said we need good, honest, outspoken leadership,” he said. “I always tell people the truth is easy to speak. It’s not tough to speak what you believe.”
The state party elects a chair during the first meeting of its state central committee in each odd-numbered year. Voters include Republican county chairs, vice-chairs, state committee members and other designated officials.
Eschenbaum was elected chairman in February and recently spoke with South Dakota Searchlight. The following conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Many Republican donors now give money directly to causes or candidates rather than the state party. Is the state party organization relevant anymore, and why does it exist?
It is, because of the state organization, the county organizations, the county precinct committeemen and committeewomen, and the elected Republican officials in the county who are part of that county central committee.
It exists, most importantly, because of its party platform. That party platform is amended by the entire group of people, which would include precinct committeemen and committeewomen who go to the state convention.
That platform shows what the South Dakota GOP stands for, and then I think our elected officials should be held to the task of promoting and voting along the lines of that platform. And so there is a purpose.
I agree that people are funding candidates now instead of just throwing all the money to the state or state party. And I am perfectly OK with that. We don’t need any more money thrown to the state GOP than what we need to operate.
And we’ve already taken $77,000 out of the annual operating costs of the state GOP. Reggie Rhoden, Governor Rhoden’s son, was executive director and he was being paid $5,400 a month. He resigned at the meeting on February 22, when we did the elections. And we have decided thus far that we don’t need an executive director. Nobody knows that he was doing much.
What makes someone a Republican?
I think you should be a constitutional conservative. And what I mean by constitutional conservative is that you vote and represent Republicans based on the two constitutions: the South Dakota Constitution and the U.S. Constitution, which everyone raises their right hand and swears an oath to when they’re sworn in. And then our party platform, which is conservative values.
I have even proposed a South Dakota GOP scorecard. I don’t know if the state central committee will decide to do it, but it would be based on just those three principles, the two constitutions and the party platform.
How do you define the factions in the Republican Party?
Well, it’s establishment power players and power to the people.
The average Joes are realizing they have a voice. It comes from that 2024 primary. A lot of those candidates that got voted out, those incumbents that got voted out, had all kinds of money behind them from the ethanol plants and Summit Carbon Solutions. And the people got out and talked to people. This is what party politics should be. This is what government should be.
Do you want to unify Republicans?
The best thing I can do to bring them all together is be open and honest and communicative with them, and I’ve been doing that.
I feel like the South Dakota GOP has been run by just a few power players, and they really didn’t want a new voice or input. I’ve stated this so many times: They ask for our money and our vote, but they don’t want our voice. They don’t want us involved in the process, and that’s just a terrible thought when you’ve got a state central committee that’s composed of about 200 members and the bylaws.
The bylaws make it clear to me that the chairman’s job is to facilitate the operations and decision-making of the state central committee. The state central committee should have the power, not the chairman or any other executive director or anything. The state central committee’s discussions and decision-making should guide the party.
And that’s what I ran on. I ran on a campaign of power to the people and being accessible to the people, and so far it’s going good.
Some of these counties that did not want me elected are starting to talk to me. There was quite a while there that they didn’t like this farmer from Hand County getting in amongst the politicians.
But I said our state motto for God’s sake is “Under God the People Rule,” and some of these politicians, they get elected to office, they get a fat head about what it is they want to do or who they want to benefit, or using government to do business, and that’s not what government is intended to be. It’s supposed to be a minimal service to the people, and it just keeps growing and growing and growing and getting more authoritarian and powerful, and that’s not what our founders intended it to be, in my opinion.
Why were you a Democrat? Why did you become a Republican?
My wife and I were both raised in Catholic Democrat families. And what do young people do if they haven’t really gotten themselves involved in politics in high school and started making decisions of which way they’re going to go? You register the same as your parents were.
Well, as abortion became a bigger topic, my wife and I both agreed we wouldn’t support any Democrat that supported abortion.
The Democratic Party that we aligned with was more of that JFK kind of a Democrat that worked for the working class and common people. The party got away from that. They just got further and further away from it. They just keep stepping to the left even more all the time and supporting all kinds of foolishness that the Republican Party does not support.
Is there anything you’d like to add?
I’m extremely involved as chairman — like I said, responsive to people. I’m trying to make every Lincoln Day Dinner [a fundraising event for county Republican parties] across the state that I can possibly get to.
These are complaints that I heard about the previous chair or previous administration. You’d have a Lincoln Day Dinner, give plenty of notice for it, and they’re like, “No, very busy that day.”
If you take a job like this, you have to commit the time that it takes to do it right. I don’t know why that didn’t happen previously. It could be speculated probably two or three different ways.
I said when I took this job, “I will not be a butt kisser to any politicians. I’m working for the people to elect good politicians.”
Just because you’re elected to office currently does not guarantee you’re going to get reelected to office again. It just doesn’t.
Photo: Jim Eschenbaum, representing the South Dakota Property Rights and Local Control Alliance, participates in an election forum on Sept. 19, 2024, at Dakota Wesleyan University in Mitchell. (Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight).
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BAXTER — About an hour into a Republican forum for the Minnesota Senate District 6 election, candidate Matthew Zinda told the crowd that his opponent Keri Heintzeman and her husband Rep. Josh Heintzeman are funneling campaign donations to benefit themselves and pay for legal fees.
Keri Heintzeman said Zinda, who unsuccessfully primaried Rep. Josh Heintzeman last year, had an unnatural fixation on her family.
Suddenly, a pajama-clad man from the crowd of about 100 interjected, accused Keri Heintzeman of lying and cut her off, after he’d already repeatedly interrupted the candidate forum Tuesday evening.
Matt Kilian, president of the Brainerd Lakes Chamber of Commerce and the event’s moderator, had enough and asked the man to leave. After a brief conflict, a police officer escorted him out.
The special election embodies many of the trends that have emerged in American and Minnesota politics in the past few decades, from nasty name-calling to designs on dynasty.
And what Minnesota political story of the 2020s would be complete without Jennifer Carnahan, whose political career has careened from fallen state GOP party chair to congressional wife and widow, mayor of Nisswa and now Senate candidate.
Plus, a cigarette-smoking, pickup truck-driving Democrat, Denise Slipy, who is hoping she’ll be the one to finally win back some Greater Minnesota voters, against long odds.
Senate District 6 is ruby red Republican. Eichorn in 2022 won the seat by 27 points. Crow Wing County voted for President Donald Trump over Kamala Harris by 31 percentage points.
Voters will determine which Republican will run against Slipy, the sole Democrat, during a Tuesday primary. The general election is April 29.
The Republican frontrunners, however, are well-known in the district: Keri Heintzeman, Josh Gazelka and Jennifer Carnahan, who was not at the Baxter forum due to illness, she said.
Keri Heintzeman
Keri Heintzeman was the director of Trump’s 2024 campaign in Minnesota’s 8th Congressional District. Her husband Josh has been in the Minnesota House since 2015, and Keri’s frequently been a presence at the Capitol, often with a few of their half dozen children in tow.
Keri Heintzeman knocks on doors and distributes lawn signs in Brainerd before a candidate forum in Baxter on April 8, 2025. (Photo by Glen Stubbe/ Minnesota Reformer)
She’s out-raised her Republican opponents by far. In the few weeks since Eichorn resigned, she’s raised over $50,000, according to her campaign finance report.
Heintzeman, 44, has an organized campaign: She’s been knocking on doors, mailing campaign materials and recruited around 20 volunteers for field work.
In an interview with the Reformer, Heintzeman said she’s “by far the most conservative” candidate compared to the other Republicans running.
“I believe this district is blood red and loves President Trump and deserves a senator that will represent those values,” Heintzeman said.
The Heintzemans decided that when Josh was elected to the House, they weren’t going to split up the family, Keri Heintzeman said. The family stays at a hotel when the Legislature is in session. It’s a home base for other Republican legislators to kick back and unwind after a long day at the Capitol.
Keri Heintzeman was born in International Falls and has lived in the Brainerd Lakes area since eighth grade. She married Josh Heintzeman when she was 18 and has helped homeschool all six children.
Keri Heintzeman and her son were in Washington D.C. on January 6, 2021, but she said they left after Trump spoke. They were two states away when they realized what was happening at the U.S. Capitol, she said. She said she was there to support Trump and believed “he had done a good job and deserved our respect for the four years that he had put in.”
Keri Heintzeman said she believes there was fraud in the 2020 election and at minimum the U.S. should have voter ID laws.
Josh Gazelka
Josh Gazelka is the son of former Minnesota Senate majority leader and failed gubernatorial candidate Paul Gazelka.
Gazelka, 31, told the crowd at the candidate forum Tuesday he didn’t want to be there.
“I was not expecting to run. I was not intending to run. If you told me three weeks and one day ago that I’d be sitting here talking to you about my candidacy, I probably would have laughed you out of the room,” Gazelka said in an interview with the Reformer.
Gazelka said he felt an obligation to the community to step up and run after hearing the news about Eichorn’s arrest.
Gazelka said his campaign mostly consists of digital ads and calling voters on the phone. Campaign signs, he said, are hard to print expeditiously, so he’s taken a creative approach.
“Fortunately for me, a guy with the same last name as me, Gazelka, ran back in 2004. I tracked down some of his signs from 2004 and retrofitted them to work for this campaign,” Gazelka said.
He showed the signs to the Reformer but asked they not be photographed. The white and blue campaign signs say “Vote April 15 Gazelka.” The “Vote April 15” was placed on top of his dad’s name, “Paul,” but it’s still slightly visible.
Asked if he’s relying on name recognition alone, Gazelka said he’s trying to get his message out there so people learn who he is.
“Nepotism — that’s one that comes up. I’ve been called a second-generation swamp monster. A lot of creative names,” Gazelka said.
Gazelka is currently a vice president for a marketing company based in Texas. He owned a hard cidery, but it closed in part thanks to Minnesota’s hostile business climate, he said. Gazelka said he wants to bring a business perspective to the Legislature and pass bills that help struggling small businesses.
He said his father hasn’t given him campaign advice, but Paul Gazelka did give him a $500 campaign donation, according to his campaign finance report.
Jennifer Carnahan
Jennifer Carnahan is the former chairwoman of the Minnesota Republican Party who resigned in the wake of allegations that she presided over a toxic work culture — she was also connected to a major GOP donor who’s serving a 21-year prison sentence for child sex trafficking.
Which is less than ideal in a special election to replace Eichorn.
She declined the Reformer’s request for an interview.
“I have no doubt your outlet will continue issuing salacious, misleading, and defamatory statements about me — without my voice,” Carnahan wrote in an email.
Carnahan won the Nisswa mayoral race in November, a political comeback after she’d tried to replace Hagedorn in Congress following his passing in 2022.
Late last month, Carnahan through her attorney sent the Minnesota DFL Party a letter threatening to sue unless the DFL retracted and publicly apologized for posting about Carnahan’s ties to Anton Lazzaro, the convicted sex trafficker whose arrest began the chain of events that led to her departure from the Minnesota GOP.
“You co-hosted a podcast with a child-sex trafficker, socialized with him, and raised huge sums of money from him to support Minnesota Republican candidates. If you follow through on this absurd lawsuit, it will end as one more addition to your long list of failures,” wrote Heidi Kraus Kaplan, Minnesota DFL executive director.
Carnahan has raised over $11,000 in individual campaign donations, according to her campaign finance report.
In a Wednesday Facebook post, Carnahan said the Heintzemans are trying to buy the Senate seat.
“We don’t need to have a husband and wife from the same household representing us in St. Paul. That’s a total conflict of interest. There is no independence there. It’s two people then that are looking out for their household and they’re living 100% solely on our taxpayer backs,” Carnahan said.
In a campaign post, Carnahan described herself as a “political outsider,” despite running for Minnesota Senate in 2016; serving as chair of the Minnesota Republican Party from 2017 to 2021; marrying a politician shortly after his election to Congress; serving on Trump’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders during his first term; running for Congress in 2022; and serving as the current mayor of Nisswa.
Denise Slipy
Denise Slipy is an environmental health and safety professional and first responder for North Crow Wing County. She said she’d been gearing up to run for the Minnesota House in 2026, but is now taking a shot at the open Senate seat.
Slipy described herself as a moderate Democrat. People in the area know her, she said, because of her work as a first responder. She’s also dressed up as the Grinch a few times for Christmas.
She said that late DFL U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan was a good friend and mentor to her.
Slipy acknowledged that the district is very red, but she said she can sway Republican voters by listening and acting as a voice for rural Minnesotans in the Senate.
“There’s more that unites us than what divides us, and the extremes on either side … have to stop. The extremes are getting us nowhere. It’s those of us who are middle-thinking, moderate, common sense folks that need to have a voice at the table,” she said.
Slipy would bring geographic diversity to a metro-dominated DFL Senate caucus. She likes her American flag-bedecked clothes — and her smokes.
“I don’t condone smoking at any age for anybody. I do smoke, but I’m a person. That’s one of the big things — I’m gonna fight for you because I’m one of you,” Slipy said.
She also drives a truck with a sticker that reads, “Jesus loves everyone you hate.”
Photo: Minnesota Senate candidates placed hands on hearts for the Pledge of Allegiance before the candidate forum in Baxter on April 8, 2025. Left to right: Steve Cotariu, Josh Gazelka, Keri Heintzeman, John Howe, Doug Kern, Angel Zierden, Matthew Zinda. Candidate Jennifer Carnahan did not attend. Eight GOP candidates want to fill the Minnesota State Senate seat vacated after Justin Eichorn was arrested in a prostitution sting. (Photo by Glen Stubbe/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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