We've been remiss in posting a digest of news and opinion about plans to capture CO2 created in a production of ethanol and build pipelines to transport it to places for sequestration.
I urge the Iowa Utilities Board to deny building permits for the Summit, Navigator, and ADM/Wolf CO2 pipelines in Iowa for three reasons.
First, the evidence from scientists and engineers at the University of Iowa and Iowa State University:
1. Complete capture of CO2 during ethanol production would have very minor effects on U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.
2. The amount of CO2 captured during ethanol production would be a tiny fraction of what would be emitted out of vehicle tailpipes.
3. Eminent domain used to build CO2 pipelines in Iowa would force farmers and landowners to allow degradation of their fields and forests for very little public benefit.
4. Allowing profits to accrue to private pipeliners using eminent domain would be a corruption of the ideal of private sacrifice for public good and should be prevented.
Map: The proposed route of the 2,000-mile Summit Carbon Solutions CO2 pipeline that will carry pressurized carbon dioxide from ethanol plants to a sequestration site a mile underground in central North Dakota. About 470 miles of the pipeline would be located in South Dakota.
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. . . Of the 217 delegate ballots cast in the endorsing convention, 149 — or 68.7% — were for Dornink and 68 — or 31.3% — were for Hanson. A candidate needed 131 votes — or more that 60% of ballots — to receive the party’s official backing. Delegates were from Freeborn, Faribault, Mower, Steele and Waseca counties.
“It’s humbling to receive the endorsement,” Dornink said in a speech after convention officials announced the results, pointing out how hardworking Hanson was.
He said he will listen to everyone in his role as senator, noting he tries to live his life by Jesus Christ’s message to treat others as you would want to be treated. . . .
Hanson, of Hayward, referenced reopening her business in defiance of Gov. Tim Walz’s mandates on restaurants in the pandemic, accusing Walz of violating constitutional law and being protected by a “crooked legal system.” She faced both civil litigation and criminal charges tied to reopening, and was arrested after failing to appear for one of her hearings.
A jury ultimately found Hanson guilty of six misdemeanor counts of violating an emergency executive order and was sentenced to 90 days in jail, missing her 39th wedding anniversary, the birth of her granddaughter and spending Christmas with her family, she said.
Throughout her fight, Hanson has taken her message out across the state, and it has also spread throughout the nation.
“I am a fighter who puts the Constitution and the people first over any political ambitions and desires,” she said. . . .
Though Hanson sat alone at the defense table, she had support and encouragement during breaks from her husband, Vern, and consultant Keith Haskell, who said he was associated with an organization called the National Action Task Force in Washington, D.C.
Two Rosemount police officers got faces full of pepper spray last month when they tried to arrest a man suspected of larceny and impersonating a police officer.
Police from Sioux Falls, S.D. called Rosemount March 21 and asked local police to arrest Keith Douglas Haskell, 44. The South Dakota department planned to extradite Haskell to Sioux Falls so he could face charges there.
Sioux Falls police warned Rosemount officers Haskell has a history of impersonating police officers and likely had police equipment. . . .
As far as we can tell from case listings in South Dakota's eCourt system (registration required), the only charge of impersonating an officer in his record (49C06003714A0) was dismissed by the Prosecutor, though he was convicted of petty theft and intent to defraud through use of a scaning device on a payment card. Jail time was suspended and probation only lasted six months.
We're waiting to hear back from the clerk of the Minnehaha Court for the documents in the case, as well as that of 49C07000836A0.
Hanson or Dornink? The voters in the Republican primary in Senate District 23 will decide this one. We'll be watching several other establishment v. patriot pairings/triplings in Minnesota as they move toward August.
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.
“The world cannot afford for prime farmland to lie fallow,” said Arkansas Sen. John Boozman, in calling for the USDA to release cropland, penalty-free, from the Conservation Reserve, which pays landowners an annual rent to idle fragile cropland for 10 years or more. “I believe you can do more,” Boozman said at a Senate Agriculture Committee hearing with Vilsack.
The USDA announced on Thursday that landowners could begin field work this summer — instead of waiting until Oct. 1, the usual starting date — on land that is scheduled to leave this reserve this year. Now they can harvest hay, prepare land for a return to production, or plant a fall crop following the end of the primary bird nesting season, which falls between July 1 and Aug. 1 in most of the country.
We're not sure what magic process transforms fragile cropland into prime farmland, but perhaps Boozman took an extension class at the U of A's famous creative writing program.*
Despite being a graduate of the program--or maybe because of that training, we have our doubts about abandoning conservation measures, especially after observing this winter's massive snirt fest here in northeastern South Dakota.
We reacted to news in the Minnesota Reformer of this change on Twitter, prompting a reply from the chair of the Minnesota House Environment and Natural Resources Finance and Policy Committee, South St. Paul DFLer Rick Hansen, who owns farmland in southeastern Minnesota:
Agricultural landowners who are not renewing their agreements this year with the federal government to keep their land out of production have the ability to put that land back to work earlier, a potential boost to wheat and other crop production amid global shortages, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Thursday.
Those who have land enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program now have the option to terminate their contract early if they are in the final year of the contract. Under normal circumstances, landowners would have to wait until October to put the CRP land back into production or would be required to repay the money they’ve received from the program.
“They can now voluntarily terminate without penalty for those acres that are coming out of that program,” U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack told a U.S. Senate committee on Thursday, “so that they’d be in a position to do work now on that land, to either prepare it for a crop or to potentially think about other crops that can be grown during the course of the winter.”
He said the equivalent of about 1 million acres of agricultural land is leaving the program this year — the difference between the acres that are expiring and the newly enrolled acres this year. In March, about 22.1 million acres were actively enrolled, according to USDA data.
President Joe Biden has warned that people “are going to starve to death” if millions of tons of wheat and corn in Ukraine is unable to be exported because of the ongoing Russian invasion, which began more than three months ago.
Ukraine is a significant producer and exporter of those crops, much of which is sold to African nations. Ukrainian officials have accused Russian troops of destroying farms and stealing grain and equipment. It’s not yet clear how much the war will affect Ukraine’s crop production this year.
Agriculture groups such as the American Farm Bureau Federation have been pining for months for the USDA to release CRP farmland back into production without penalty to help boost the global food supply.
In letters to CRP landowners this week, the USDA offered early terminations to those who hadn’t renewed their enrollment.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “unjustified invasion of Ukraine has cut off a critical source of wheat, corn, barley, oilseeds and cooking oil, and we’ve heard from many producers who want to better understand their options to help respond to global food needs,” Zach Ducheneaux, administrator of USDA’s Farm Service Agency, said in a press release Thursday. “This announcement will help producers make informed decisions about land use and conservation options.”
CRP contracts typically last for 10 to 15 years. Landowners set aside the land to reduce soil erosion and improve water quality and wildlife habitat, and the government pays them per acre. Those rental payments vary widely, depending on where the land is located.
Payments for Iowa land have the highest average at about $234 per acre, according to a recent USDA report. Payments for Nevada land were the lowest at about $10 per acre.
Landowners can end those contracts whenever they chose, but they must repay the rental payments with interest and face a potential additional penalty. The USDA periodically offers early termination without repayment or penalty. In 2017, the department offered it to certain landowners to encourage land sales to new farmers and ranchers.
“I think it’s a great step in the right direction, but I believe that we can do more,” U.S. Sen. John Boozman, R-Arkansas, told Vilsack during a Senate agriculture committee meeting Thursday, which was convened to address the challenges facing farmers and rural communities.
Boozman said early terminations should be more broadly offered to CRP participants to “allow potentially millions of acres to return to food production.”
Vilsack said the USDA is seeking to balance short-term and long-term global food concerns — especially as they pertain to climate change — and that CRP’s emphasis is on less desirable agricultural land.
“We basically have been focusing on highly erodible areas,” Vilsack said, “areas that are not particularly productive.”
Senator calls for supplemental crop insurance
Sen. John Hoeven, R-North Dakota, said the USDA should offer to supplement potential crop insurance payments to farmers who are late to plant this year.
Corn planting in North Dakota has been severely delayed this year by wet weather. Just 20% of the state’s corn had been planted as of Sunday, compared to the five-year average of 66%, according to a recent USDA report.
Wednesday was the final planting day to get full crop insurance coverage for most of the state’s counties. Hoeven worries that some farmers might not plant because it’s too financially risky.
“In a time of food inflation, we want as many of them as possible planting a crop,” he said.
Vilsack said he would consider the proposal.
USDA data show that corn planting in at least 11 states is behind the five-year average, including most of the top-producing states. Iowa leads the country in corn production and, thanks to a stretch of favorable weather, was close to catching up with the five-year average on Sunday. Still, there are concerns that early planting delays will affect yield potential.
Minnesota, a major corn producer, had planted 60% of its corn compared with the five-year average of 86% as of Sunday. Soybean planting was also significantly delayed in that state and in North Dakota.
Like Minnesota Reformer, Iowa Capital Dispatch is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Follow Iowa Capital Dispatch on Facebook and Twitter.
Also worth a looksee for the consequences of boosting farm production during wartime? The classic short documentary film, The Plow That Broke the Plains.
Photo: Certain landowners are paid by the government to remove their land from agricultural production. Photo courtesy of the Farm Service Agency.
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.
Update: A friend in Minnesota suggested that we remind non-South Dakotans that each state district elects two House members, as well as a state senator. Senate districts aren't divided into two House districts, as is the case in Minnesota and other states. [end update]
We've been following the curious case of South Dakota District 1 Republican state house candidate Logan Manhart since Dakota Free Press broke the story with its findings back on May 5.
A June hearing date has been set to answer residency questions about a District 1 legislative candidate.
A civil lawsuit filed May 16 in Hughes County is challenging Logan Manhart's residency qualifications as a candidate for South Dakota Legislature. The lawsuit was filed against Manhart, the South Dakota Canvassing Board and Secretary of State Steve Barnett.
Manhart has asked for more time to compile his response. But a response has been filed by Barnett, and a hearing date has been set for 10:30 a.m. June 13 in Pierre before Judge Christina Klinger. . . .
About that response?
A response filed Wednesday by Barnett's attorney, Clifton E. Katz, claims the court lacks jurisdiction and the suit fails to state a claim for relief. The South Dakota Democratic Party also lacks standing, per the response.
A writ of prohibition essentially seeks court action to prohibit something, like disqualifying a candidate for office. Such a request is typically found at the end of the court document, but no such request is included in the lawsuit, according to Barnett's response, so a writ of probation cannot be issued.
The lack of jurisdiction argument is two-fold. First, per the claim, a writ of prohibition is only allowed when there is no other speedy, adequate remedy. And state election statutes provide that remedy, allowing petitions to be challenged within 10 days of being filed.
The response also argues that Manhart, as one of two Republican candidates for District 1, was automatically certified as a candidate and that, according to state law, the South Dakota Supreme Court has exclusive jurisdiction over primary contests for state office.
We contacted the Hughes County Court in order to obtain the new documents. Here's the response from the State Canvassing Board and South Dakota Secretary of State Steve Barnett (converted to a pdf from a TIFF we received from the clerk):
South Dakotans might recognize Frankenstein's name from her work as Special Counsel in the South Dakota House's investigation into the impeachment of Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg. In mid-December, Dakota Free Press's Cory Allen Heidelberger reported in Gosch Picks Jackley Pal Frankenstein as Special Counsel for Ravnsborg Impeachment:
Apparently spurred out of his lethargy by Senator Lee Schoenbeck’s weekend excuse-popping, House Speaker Spencer Gosch finally picked a lawyer to help his special House committee investigate killer Jason Ravnsborg. Serving now as special counsel to the House Select Committee on Investigation for the impeachment of our Attorney General is Republican fixture Sara Frankenstein . . .
Manhart has sworn to make Senate District 1, one of the last places in South Dakota represented in part by a Democrat in the state legislature, a Republican stronghold
We also wonder whether his own registration in two different states at the same time is what prompted him to participate in the non-insurrection part of the January 6, 2021. The Aberdeen news reported this nugget:
[Steve] McCleerey claims Manhart's Wisconsin voter registration in 2020 and 2021 and his participation in four elections during that time is a breach of South Dakota's residency requirements for legislative candidates.
State law requires candidates to live in South Dakota for two years prior to running for a state legislative position.
But Manhart also maintained his South Dakota voter registration at his Bath address during that time and has said his move to Wisconsin was to go to school.
After working on President Trump’s Re-Election Campaign in 2020 in Wisconsin (Manhart campaign website), Manhart took a position as a field director in July 2021 with the Republican Party of Wisconsin. It's unclear whether he was hired before or after he finished his six-course certificate in leadership development and management at Chippewa Valley Technical College in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
Goodness gracious.
Photo: Manhart in DC on January 6, 2021. Screengrab of photo montage via Manhart's Twitter account. Given that he himelf was registered to vote in two different states at the same time, we certainly can understand why he needed to travel to Washington to own the libs about election integrity.
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 federal judge ruled Thursday that the South Dakota Secretary of State’s Office is not following federal laws requiring state agencies to make it easier to register to vote.
Judge Lawrence Piersol, of the United States District Court for the District of South Dakota, issued a wide-ranging opinion that sided with two South Dakota tribes, the Rosebud Sioux and the Oglala Sioux.
The tribes brought suit in 2020, arguing that the Secretary of State’s Office was not adequately addressing federal law. The National Voter Registration Act requires state agencies to help voters register to vote when they interact with government agencies for other services.
For example, voter registration opportunities must be provided under the act when people apply for drivers’ licenses, or apply for public assistance. When a person submits a change-of-address form for a driver’s license, the act provides that it should also serve as a change of address for voter registrations, at least when it comes to federal elections.
Licensing and public benefits are under the auspices of the Department of Public Safety and the Department of Social Services. Piersol found that the Secretary of State’s Office was not providing enough oversight to ensure those offices were fulfilling their responsibility under the act.
Piersol also found that the Department of Public Safety was responsible for transmitting voter registrations to the county auditor, but numerous errors were stopping that process from happening. Piersol also ruled that when the Department of Public Safety contracts with other government agencies to provide licensing services, the department is still obligated to comply with federal voter registration requirements. Such so-called “issue sites” include the office in Dupree, South Dakota in the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation. . . .
When Bud Whitehorn walked into the courtroom for his trial, no one on the jury looked like him.
It was the early 2000s and Whitehorn, a Rochester resident who identifies as African American, said every person in his Olmsted County jury pool was white except for one Hispanic man. And, he recalls, the Hispanic juror was later dismissed, leaving his fate to be decided by an all-white jury.
Whitehorn said he didn’t have any confidence in the system and considered pleading guilty to avoid a jury trial, but his attorney persuaded him to go through with the trial, confident that they could prove his innocence. Instead, the jury convicted Whitehorn.
More than a decade later, Whitehorn, who is now an ordained deacon and Rochester’s community liaison, said he still imagines what it would have been like if the jury had reflected his community — a true “jury of his peers.”
“Even if I was still found guilty, it would have felt so much better,” he said. “Would have felt like I had a fair shot.”
Whitehorn's experience is a common one. In the 2020 U.S. Census, nearly 4 in 10 Minnesotans are non-white. But the racial makeup of juries is nowhere near reflecting that level of diversity.
And not only is it a common phenomenon, it is one that has persisted for decades. The issue was acknowledged by the Minnesota court system as far back as the 1990s and again in 2021. Although the court made recommendations to improve the issue, a Post Bulletin investigation found that few solutions have been implemented and little to nothing has changed.
In 2022, people of color are still significantly underrepresented in Minnesota jury pools, according to an analysis of the latest available data by the Post Bulletin. Although U.S. law requires jury pools to represent a fair cross section of the community, people of color are less likely to make it into the jury pool compared to white residents, even though most defendants are people of color.
The jury selection process would appear to be race neutral — jury summons are sent to a random selection of people and, after questioning for potential bias, a 12-person jury is selected from the pool and sworn in. However, eight attorneys interviewed by the Post Bulletin said that these racial disparities in the jury box are baked into the system from the start. The master source list of all potential Minnesota jurors is compiled by merging voter registration records and drivers license logs (including state IDs) — two sources where white Minnesotans are more thoroughly represented than non-whites.
Jury service is also a financial burden for many, so some jurors are excluded due to financial hardship — an issue that affects people of color disproportionately compared to white people. In some Minnesota counties, the juror per diem rate doesn’t even cover the cost of parking.
Even if prospective jurors of color make it into the jury pool, they can be struck from the pool by lawyers who believe they will be less fair than others. These strikes are known as peremptory challenges and have received national criticism as a means of limiting jury diversity. Although Minnesota and federal law prohibits purposefully discriminating on the basis of race or gender in the exercise of peremptory challenges, the Equal Justice Initiative reported in 2021 that this issue persists across the country — many prosecutors “have been explicitly trained to provide ‘race-neutral’ reasons for strikes against people of color.”
Diverse juries don't just better reflect the state's changing population, evidence suggests that they also produce better, fairer outcomes. They spend more time on deliberations and make fewer factual errors, according to a 2006 study published by Stanford University. That's important because courts rely on public trust in the integrity of the justice process, but many defendants of color have little faith. This wavering confidence in the system has far-reaching effects — many of which percolate beyond the bounds of the courtroom.
“It erodes the justice system and the legal system as a whole,” said Angie Setzer, senior attorney at the Equal Justice Initiative. “Representative juries are so critical … to not just the outcomes of individual cases, but to our entire community's ability to have confidence in that system.” . . .
There's more in the subscribers' only story (though a subscription to one Forum News paper is a subscription to them all.
Police in Watertown are seeking information relating to anti-Semitic flyers distributed throughout town this week, an act officials call “disgusting” and “unacceptable.”
On Monday, the Watertown Police Department shared on their Facebook page that they’ve been receiving reports that citizens have discovered anti-Semitic flyers attached to bags on rice across the city.
The flyers include altered images that depict various politicians, executives and political journalists with Stars of David on their foreheads, accusing them of engaging in scandalous behavior. There is no evidence to corroborate any claims made by the flyers.
The Watertown Police Department has received roughly 50 reports of residents receiving these flyers, according to Captain Steve Rehorst, though it’s nearly impossible to know how many flyers were disposed of without residents making a report.
“Our thought on it is that obviously that behavior is unacceptable, and we don’t want to give it momentum,” Rehorst said. “We believe that anything like that is disgusting material and unacceptable.”
Rehorst said the flyers appear to be a part of a national campaign of hate, after flyers with similar sentiments were found in California during Passover. According to the Smithsonian Magazine, consuming rice during Passover had been banned for Ashkenazi Jews living outside of Israel since the 13th century, until the Jewish Conservative movement relaxed the restriction in 2016.
Though Rehorst is quick to speak against the sentiments shared by the flyers, he said the right to free speech places the Watertown Police Department in a bit of an awkward spot, as it doesn’t necessarily fall under South Dakota’s hate crime statute. . . .
At least 50 anti-Semitic flyers have been recovered by the Watertown Police Department and more than double that total have been found by citizens in town since Monday morning, according to information from police.
Around 7 a.m. Monday, the police department was alerted to bags of rice with anti-Semitic propaganda inside strewn throughout neighborhoods in Watertown. The bags were thrown along streets and into driveways, according to police.
Patrol Sgt. Scott Price of the Watertown Police Department said that this is the first time he has ever encountered anything like this in Watertown.
Depending on what is learned, violators could be charged with littering or a possible hate crime, Price said. There were no suspects as of Tuesday morning.
“This was unexpected and very much out of the blue. There are no notes (on the flyer) indicating who was responsible or what the purpose of this is,” he said.
People who find the flyers should call the police department at 605-882-6210.
The text of South Dakota's hate law crime follows.
No person may maliciously and with the specific intent to intimidate or harass any person or specific group of persons because of that person's or group of persons' race, ethnicity, religion, ancestry or national origin:
Another investigation from South Dakota News Watch. We're based in the area served by Grow South Dakota, mentioned in the article, though we don't use the agency for rental assistance.
Steadily rising rents across South Dakota are adding further financial hardship to renters who are already facing record gas prices, rising costs for food and utilities and inflationary increases in the overall cost of living.
The rising rents are forcing some potential renters to make tough choices, such as taking on roommates, living longer with relatives or accepting housing with worse conditions or less space than hoped for.
Urban areas of South Dakota are seeing the biggest spikes in rents. The average rent for a 2-bedroom apartment in Pennington County is up 15% from 2020 to 2022, and the monthly cost is up 10% for renters in Meade, Minnehaha and Union counties during that two-year period. Several South Dakota counties are near or above $1,000 a month in average rent for a 2-bedroom apartment.
Rural areas of South Dakota have seen lower increases in average rents, but availability of rental housing is low in many small cities and towns.
The increased costs of housing comes at a time more people are seeking to move, including people making life changes after the pandemic, recent high school or college graduates, or those who seek new housing in the summer months.
Meanwhile, as has long been the case in South Dakota, there is a growing disconnect between average wages and the increase in rent and the overall cost of living. The spiking rents also come as availability of rental housing is low across the state, further challenging those who need housing.
Across the Midwest, monthly housing rates have gone up about 4.8% since April 2021. In April 2022, the average rent for a two-bedroom unit in South Dakota was about $750 a month, according to World Population Review. Meanwhile, the minimum wage has only increased $1.30 per hour in the last four years, though a workforce shortage has prompted many employers to pay well above minimum wage so far in 2022.
A sharp increase in demand and a short supply of available units are making rental housing a hotter and more costly commodity than in previous years in South Dakota. Part of this demand comes from households “separating” in the post-pandemic world of 2022.
Census data shows that the number of households in the U.S. increased by nearly 1.48 million in 2021 after a decrease of an estimated 130,000 households in 2020. Young adults moving out of family homes and those looking to live without roommates have contributed to this, making the 2020 to 2021 jump the highest in almost ten years.
The housing market in the U.S. has become extremely competitive and costly, turning away many first-time homebuyers and adding pressure to the rental market.
According to Zillow.com, mortgage and interest rates have made homes 53% more expensive that a year ago. The National Association of Realtors saw the average home price rise 17 percent in 2021.
The median list price for new homes in the Sioux Falls metro area was $295,000 in April, according to Realtor.com, an increase of 16 percent from 2021.
While still considered a buyer’s market with more supply than demand, Realtor.com shows the Rapid City median home list price tops Sioux Falls at $329,000, an increase of 20 percent over 2021.
The spike in home purchase prices has pushed an estimated one million prospective buyers into the competitive rental market.
The burst of potential new renters is also reducing availability of quality, affordable housing in both urban and rural areas of South Dakota.
Tillie Morrin, 19, spent most of a recent day driving around Rapid City with her fiancée and a friend trying to find a 2- or 3-bedroom apartment that was available and that they could afford.
Morrin and her roommates were trying to land an apartment for $1,000 or less per month.
“The hardest part is availability,” said Morrin, who works as a stocker at Walmart. “Today so far we’ve been to five or six places.”
The group found one 2-bedroom apartment available for $1,200 a month but kept on looking. “That’s a little high for us right now,” Morrin said.
RENTS INCREASED STATEWIDE FROM 2020 TO 2022
This chart shows average rent increases in selected South Dakota counties from 2020 to 2022 for a 2-bedroom apartment in a multi-family complex.
County Avg. rent % increase 2020-2022
Pennington $1077 15%
Meade $1176 10%
Union $1071 10%
Minnehaha $932 10%
Davison $782 7%
Brookings $847 5%
Yankton $729 5%
Brown $863 4%
Beadle $545 4%
Lawrence $624 2%
Notes: Data shown for 2-bedroom units in multifamily housing, average rent and increase rates reported by the Washington Post.
More rural renters seeking help
In some areas of South Dakota, more tenants than ever are taking advantage of government assistance programs.
Grow South Dakota, an agency that helps low-income residents in a 17-county region in northeastern South Dakota, has seen an “astronomical” increase in financial assistance provided to needy renters, said Maureen Nelson, senior program director at Grow.
In the seven-month period from Oct. 1, 2021, through April 30, 2022, Grow provided about $975,000 in assistance to 930 people in about 350 households, Nelson said. Most of that funding was for rental and utility assistance, she said.
Prior to the pandemic in 2020, the Sisseton-based agency was providing only about $30,000 a year in total assistance, Nelson said.
The huge increase is due to higher need for help, greater availability of federal assistance and stronger “word of mouth” communication among those who potentially qualify, Nelson said. However, anyone receiving assistance must still meet federal low-income guidelines before receiving any money.
One recent challenge facing renters is that many other costs of living have gone up, including gasoline, groceries and utility costs, Nelson said.
“They’re needing more assistance with rent because everything else is going up across the board,” she said.
Furthermore, many rural areas in South Dakota have an overall shortage of housing, especially for families, Nelson said.
“There might be job openings for people to come to a town, but they’re having a hard time finding rentals that accommodate their family size,” she said.
Landlords facing higher costs, too
Nelson said landlords have also struggled financially during the pandemic, including those who were unable to evict non-paying tenants due to a federal eviction moratorium, which has now expired. Landlords are also enduring much higher costs for goods, services and mortgage payments, Nelson said.
“I think it’s been tough for landlords,” Nelson said. “If you didn’t have income coming in for six months, that makes a huge difference in their cash flow.”
Nelson said some landlords are responding by being more rigorous in screening potential tenants, placing additional challenges on people seeking rental housing.
“They might be more strict to be sure people have adequate income to pay for their rent,” she said.
Some landlords in the U.S. have begun asking for two months worth of rent as a security deposit in lieu of the traditional one month. Application fees are another expense to consider along with some landlords or management firms requiring their tenants purchase renter’s insurance.
Dustin Hoffman owns a construction company in Sioux Falls but also manages 17 rental properties in the city, mostly for low-income tenants. His 2-bedroom apartments are running about $900 a month, an increase of nearly 40 percent from two years ago.
“When you consider taxes, insurance, gas bills – everything is going up,” said Hoffman. “We were forced to raise our rates to get back to where we were before the pandemic.”
Still, even with higher rents, demand for housing remains high, he said.
“I posted one of my properties yesterday and had eight applicants by noon today,” Hoffman said during a May 25 interview, “The longest vacancy I’ve had in the last two years has been less than a week.”
Though many of his tenants qualify for housing assistance, filling an available unit often comes down to whether the person can afford the deposit and demonstrate the ability to make monthly payments despite an increasingly challenging economy.
In an April 2022 report, Yardi Matrix, a market intelligence tool that provides research reports on multifamily housing, reported an estimated need of between two and five million more housing units across the United States.
Inflation is also driving rents higher, with an overall rate of inflation increase of 8.3 percent in 2021, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Housing rental costs jumped 5.14 percent, kicking the average U.S. rent prices up 14 percent.
“The problem a lot of [tenants] have is that they’re paying high dollar for gas and groceries and everything else,” Hoffman said. “So the question becomes whether they’re making more money in their paycheck to accommodate that. A lot of the time they aren’t.”
Meanwhile, wages in South Dakota are falling even further behind increasing rents and a higher cost of living.
In 2021, the National Low Income Housing Coalition reported that the average renter’s wage in South Dakota was $13.15 per hour, or about $27,400 annually. At that wage, monthly rent must be at or below $684 to be considered affordable, or under 30% of a renter’s monthly income. Making that wage in 2022 would limit housing options to studio and one-bedroom options in some parts of the state.
Tenants with a lease have some protection against regular rent hikes. Current rent rates will stay fixed at least until the end of their current leases, unless a lease authorizes a landlord to alter the rent amount.
The South Dakota Attorney General’s Office says it is unlawful for a landlord to force a tenant to move through raising rent payments or withholding of services for the duration of the lease, so long as they make payments on time. However, in month-to-month instances, a landlord can raise rent with only a 30-day notice.
Tenants struggling to afford their rent payments do have options available to assist them if they meet the requirements. An online search for rental assistance will lead to websites for agencies across the state that can provide help to those who qualify.
— South Dakota News Watch reporters Bart Pfankuch and Stu Whitney contributed to this report.
Photo: The median list price for new homes in the Sioux Falls metro area was $295,000 in April, according to Realtor.com, an increase of 16 percent from 2021. That has forced many prospective home buyers into an increasingly competitive rental market. Photo: Stu Whitney, South Dakota News Watch.
This article is used with permission of South Dakota News Watch. Donate here to support its work.
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.
We've been following the curious case of South Dakota District 1 Republican state house candidate Logan Manhart since Dakota Free Press broke the story with its findings back on May 5.
A June hearing date has been set to answer residency questions about a District 1 legislative candidate.
A civil lawsuit filed May 16 in Hughes County is challenging Logan Manhart's residency qualifications as a candidate for South Dakota Legislature. The lawsuit was filed against Manhart, the South Dakota Canvassing Board and Secretary of State Steve Barnett.
Manhart has asked for more time to compile his response. But a response has been filed by Barnett, and a hearing date has been set for 10:30 a.m. June 13 in Pierre before Judge Christina Klinger. . . .
About that response?
A response filed Wednesday by Barnett's attorney, Clifton E. Katz, claims the court lacks jurisdiction and the suit fails to state a claim for relief. The South Dakota Democratic Party also lacks standing, per the response.
A writ of prohibition essentially seeks court action to prohibit something, like disqualifying a candidate for office. Such a request is typically found at the end of the court document, but no such request is included in the lawsuit, according to Barnett's response, so a writ of probation cannot be issued.
The lack of jurisdiction argument is two-fold. First, per the claim, a writ of prohibition is only allowed when there is no other speedy, adequate remedy. And state election statutes provide that remedy, allowing petitions to be challenged within 10 days of being filed.
The response also argues that Manhart, as one of two Republican candidates for District 1, was automatically certified as a candidate and that, according to state law, the South Dakota Supreme Court has exclusive jurisdiction over primary contests for state office.
In this case, none of the District 1 candidates are on the primary ballot. Two Republicans and two Democrats have filed to run, and all are on the general election ballot in November.
Also running in District 1 are Tamara St. John, R-Sisseton, and Jennifer Healy-Keintz, D-Eden, both incumbents. The two top vote getters on Nov. 8 will earn terms in Pierre.
Well then.
Given that Manhart was so invested in "election integrity" that he traveled to Washington DC on January 6 to help stop the certification of the electoral college vote for Joseph Biden, we're a bit entertained by this new nugget in the story:
[Steve] McCleerey claims Manhart's Wisconsin voter registration in 2020 and 2021 and his participation in four elections during that time is a breach of South Dakota's residency requirements for legislative candidates.
State law requires candidates to live in South Dakota for two years prior to running for a state legislative position.
But Manhart also maintained his South Dakota voter registration at his Bath address during that time and has said his move to Wisconsin was to go to school.
So Manhart was registered in two places at once--and as the screenshot at the top of this post indicates, got a job in Wisconsin as well. My my.
Screenshot: After working on President Trump’s Re-Election Campaign in 2020 in Wisconsin (Manhart campaign website), Manhart took a position as a field director in July 2021 with the Republican Party of Wisconsin. It's unclear whether he was hired before or after he finished his six-course certificate in leadership development and management at Chippewa Valley Technical College in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
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Today's column at the Reformer by editor J. Patrick Coolican hits it out of the park. Our impression of Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon matches Coolican's: Simon is a humble public servant. He earned our admiration with this statement on the marriage inequality amendment in 2011.
The Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party gathered last weekend in Rochester, even though their candidates for statewide office are all incumbents. Everyone presumed it would be a dull affair.
Secretary of State Steve Simon stepped to the lectern. Simon is bright, competent and responsible.
You won’t hear Simon deliver the usual self-aggrandizing bombast or partisan sallies. It’s just not his thing. Which makes him kind of dull, though given the tenor of the times, this is not a bad thing.
So when he began his speech, we could be forgiven for checking our phones.
And then a few minutes into it, Simon spoke briefly about how his great-grandfather, a Lithuanian Jew, wound up in America.
“He didn’t just emigrate to America. He fled. He fled discrimination and persecution. He was what today we would call a refugee. The year before he left for America, Jews in the Russian empire lost the right to vote.”
“And then,” Simon began, but he could go no further. He was silent, struggling to continue, for an excruciating 12 seconds, during which — if you had a shred of historical knowledge and decency — you considered what befell Lithuanian Jews and the evil that caused it.
“Things got much worse.”
Simon spelled it out: “No one knows for sure what would have happened to him had he stayed in Lithuania, but over 90% of the Jews there were eventually murdered in the Holocaust.”
Simon’s young daughter, who was on stage with him, drew closer to him, and grabbed his arm in comfort.
Simon’s great-grandfather settled in Eveleth, and thus began the family’s American dream.
“In America, he found freedom. He found a place where you could have a say. A voice in his own future. That freedom today is just as important today as it was back then.”
Simon’s ability to grapple with the gravity of human history and our role in it contrasts starkly with his likely Republican opponent, Kim Crockett.
At the GOP convention a week prior, Crockett’s campaign played a video that showed George Soros — a wealthy donor to progressive causes who also happens to be a Jewish Holocaust survivor — as a puppet master, controlling Simon.
The Jews are pulling the strings. It’s an old theme, older even than the Nazis who employed it to stoke hatred and fear. But it’s still with us, harbored by the man who killed 10 people in Buffalo the very weekend Crockett was winning the GOP endorsement.
The Minnesota Republican Party was forced to apologize, and lamely claimed Crockett didn’t intend for the Soros imagery to be antisemitic.
Crockett blew up the apology fewer than 24 hours later with a fundraising letter that referred to “contrived and bogus political attacks” and showed an image of her apparently lounging lakeside, with sandaled feet and a Tucker Carlson book.
The message was clear. Join me: You and I hate the same people.
This isn’t the first time Crockett has done a public goose step dance.
She previously apologized for comments she made to a New York Times reporter about East African immigrants coming to Minnesota.
“These aren’t people coming from Norway, let’s put it that way. These people are very visible,” she said in 2019, in an article that led her to leave her post at the local conservative outfit Center of the American Experiment.
Then, more recently, she proceeded to disavow earlier apologies. “I would say everything today that I said in 2019,” she said. Her comments were merely taken out of context, she said, as if there could be any context that would explain her comments.
Setting aside her loathsome views about anyone who doesn’t share her ancestry, Crockett is also a danger to the office of the secretary of state.
To begin with, she’s ignorant, or lying. In another fundraising letter, she wrongly asserted the secretary of state “counts the votes.” Counties and cities count the votes.
She told supporters that Republicans have to overcome a “margin of fraud,” despite the overwhelming evidence that elections here are free, fair and legitimate, the results confirmed by statutorily mandated audits.
She’s also in whole hog on the 2020 election lie, which directly led to the insurrection of Jan. 6. It was a failed coup that sought to ensure some people in this country — people with similar tribal hatreds as Crockett — get to run things in perpetuity.
Her stated aim is to create barriers to voting, perhaps hoping to discourage participation in self-government by people she hates.
We rightly bemoan the loss of civility in public life these days, but the way back to civility isn’t just being charitable to our political opponents.
Paradoxically, we must also shun those who have lost the privilege to engage in public life because of their bigotry and bullying.
Minnesotans — beginning with the Republican candidates who are running on the ticket with her in the fall — should cast aside Crockett. Scott Jensen, the likely GOP candidate for governor, should explain that Crockett’s bigotry and thirst for authoritarianism have no place in the Republican Party or in public life.
Given Jensen’s desire that Simon be imprisoned for his management of the pandemic-fraught 2020 election, I don’t have much faith.
This column is republished online under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Please donate to the Minnesota Reformer.
Photo: Secretary of State Steve Simon paused to gather himself during his speech at the DFL State Convention, as he told the story of his great-grandfather escaping tyranny as a Lithuanian Jew. Screenshot, via Minnesota Reformer.
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Voting rights advocates are alarmed by Minnesota Republicans’ endorsed candidate for secretary of state Kim Crockett, who has called the 2020 election “rigged.”
She played a video at the state Republican convention with the theme “Sending out an SOS” that portrayed the election system in crisis and controlled by a Jewish puppet master, George Soros, with the caption, “Let’s wreck elections forever and ever.”
Crockett recently appeared at a showing of the Dinesh D’Souza documentary called “2,000 Mules,” which is filled with debunked conspiracy theories about the 2020 election.
In short, Crockett is a proud believer in what has come to be known as “The Big Lie,” the false assertion that former President Donald Trump won the election both here and nationally.
Of particular concern for voting rights advocates: As secretary of state, Crockett could play an outsized role in the future of Minnesota democracy. Although the secretary of state does not “count the votes” — despite what Crockett erroneously told supporters in an email — the secretary of state oversees statewide elections and operates the statewide voter registration system.
Michelle Witte, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Minnesota, said Minnesota city and county associations agree the state’s election systems are fair and accurate, and a 2018 legislative audit of voter registration found minimal errors.
“To me, it’s very irresponsible for anyone to sow doubts without facts,” Witte said. “When people make claims that truly undermine our confidence in our democracy … you better have the facts to back you up.”
Crockett, who has not returned repeated texts and calls and has given few interviews of late, told Republican delegates that she’s been called by God to run. “My campaign has been filled with the holy spirit since day one,” she said.
Crockett wants more restrictions on voting by mail and wants to make it harder to vote by shortening the early voting period, pushing in-person voting over mailed ballots and requiring people to show identification to vote. Her campaign sent supporters an email saying Republicans need to overcome a “margin of fraud” in the upcoming election.
With her party’s endorsement, Crockett is likely to face Secretary of State Steve Simon, a second-term Democrat, in November.
During the state Republican convention, Crockett accused Simon of using the pandemic to change how Minnesotans vote, and saying it’s time to “root out” a “partisan election process he’s built.”
Crockett said Minnesota should “return to voting in person” and reject the “insecure, chaotic absentee balloting system and vulnerable wireless equipment connected to the internet.”
Yes she has voted by absentee ballot in every state general election since the introduction of no-excuse absentee voting.
Crockett is part of the Conservative Partnership Institute’s “election integrity network,” which is led by Cleta Mitchell, who played a key role in trying to help former President Donald Trump flip the Georgia election results. The incident is being investigated by a special grand jury in Fulton County.
Normally low-profile secretary of state races around the country have attracted more attention and money than usual in the wake of Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen. Republican Trumpists are seeking to install loyalists in key election positions, particularly in battleground states where President Joe Biden narrowly beat him.
The election watchdog Brennan Center is tracking fundraising in what it considers battleground races this year, and Minnesota is one of them. The center recently released a report noting that fundraising in Minnesota’s secretary of state contests through March surpassed $650,000, the highest since at least 2010. Simon has raised about $520,000 of that — more than all the candidates put together at this point in each of the last three cycles and far more than the $90,000 raised by Crockett.
Simon has called the 2020 election “fundamentally fair, accurate, honest, and secure.”
The Brennan Center is keeping tabs on candidates who claim the 2020 election results were illegitimate, as well as those who threaten not to certify results or call for baseless “full forensic audits.”
Crockett checks many of those boxes: She has accused Simon of rigging the system when he agreed to a judicially approved consent decree after a voting rights group sued the state to expand mail balloting for safe voting during the pandemic.
Crockett was legal policy advisor for the Minnesota Voters Alliance, which calls itself an election integrity watchdog that seeks to “increase voter participation,” but has taken legal action against Simon and counties over election administration.
Crockett has handed out campaign literature at events where the speakers claim the 2020 election was stolen, even though Minnesota Republicans picked up a congressional seat, maintained their state Senate majority and picked up state House seats.
She hailed one of these conspiracy theorists, Rick Weible, as a “voter data hero.” For more than a year, the former St. Bonifacius mayor has been posting “Midwest SwampWatch” YouTube videos laying out election fraud claims based on faulty assumptions.
According to her LinkedIn page, Crockett worked as a consultant for the American Majority Election Integrity Project, a conservative group that trains people on things like “how the Big Rig happened in 2020.”
She’s also pushing an “Eyes on Every Ballot” initiative and is recruiting election judges “with the help of patriot groups,” in the hope that if more Republicans watch elections, more Republicans will win.
The Brennan Center also noted GOP’s endorsed candidate for governor Scott Jensen said the “election process was bastardized” and said that Simon should go to jail for the way he ran the last election.
This mistaken belief that the 2020 election was rigged against the GOP runs up against overwhelming evidence to the contrary. The 2020 Minnesota election included thousands of Republican election judges and a random group of precincts in every county were hand tallied to ensure accuracy. Post-election reviews by county administrators found no significant irregularities.
Crockett says her plan to recruit more GOP election judges has been thwarted by Hennepin and Ramsey counties because they are requiring their employees to get COVID-19 vaccinations: “We can’t let Steve Simon and county bureaucrats block citizen election judges, from any political party, from serving in these critical roles designed to keep our elections honest.”
She attributes Republicans’ recent success in Virginia to getting more Republican observers into precincts, saying she has a “Virginia plan for Minnesota,” though there’s a more conventional and likely explanation for Republicans’ success in Virginia: The party that controls the White House in off-year elections often does poorly, and Republicans received more votes, especially in rural areas where Republicans are strongest.
This article is republished online under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. If you enjoy read article from the Minnesota Reformer, please consider donating to the publication here.
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The headline in Wednesday's Mankato Free Press, UPDATED: Finstad gets GOP nomination; ex-Hormel CEO wins DFL nod, frames the primary in the Minnesota First Congressional District special election in curious way, relegating the Democratic nominee to a no-name plutocrat.
Such are the times in which we live.
Mark Fischenich reports more details:
Former Hormel CEO Jeff Ettinger will be the Democratic contender to replace the late Congressman Jim Hagedorn in an Aug. 9 special election. On the Republican side, former state Rep. Brad Finstad of New Ulm nudged out current Rep. Jeremy Munson of Lake Crystal in the special primary election.
With 100% of the precincts reporting, former Finstad had 38% of the vote. He was within less than 400 votes of Munson with 37% of the vote. The margin of victory is above the level that would trigger a taxpayer-funded recount.
Two marijuana legalization candidates were already set to advance to the Aug. 9 ballot because they were the only candidates in their pot-focused parties. Tuesday's voting, along with the absentee ballots cast in advance, determined which Democrat and which Republican would join them.
On the Republican side, it was immediately a two-man contest between Finstad and Munson. Hagedorn’s widow, deposed Minnesota Republican Party Chairwoman Jennifer Carnahan, was a distant third with 8%, followed by Matt Benda, an Albert Lea attorney (7%), and Rochester state Rep. Nels Pierson III, a Butterfield native and Gustavus Adolphus College graduate (5%).
A former state representative from New Ulm who was the top USDA official in Minnesota during the administration of President Donald Trump, Finstad is the preferred candidate of many popular and long-serving Republican legislators in southern Minnesota. Munson, by contrast, carried a large contingent of social media followers into the congressional campaign and was endorsed by national political figures such as Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Rand Paul of Kentucky.
Finstad held the lead for the first hour after polls closed, but Munson surged ahead by the time half of the precincts had been counted, only to have the race tighten again. With 76% of precincts reporting and nearly 30,000 votes cast, Munson had a 13 vote lead.
Just before 11 p.m., Finstad had edged ahead again by 30 votes. By 11:22 p.m. it was 414.
All of the top vote-getters appeared to be well-liked by their nearest neighbors. Ettinger won 91% of the Democratic vote in Mower County, Munson picked up 61% in Blue Earth County and Finstad finished with 76% support in Brown County. . . . .
Twas not so for Hagedorn widow and disgraced former Republican Party of Minnesota Chair Jennifer Carnahan, though Blue Earth's local paper reported before the election in Special Primary Election to be May 24 that Carnahan was considered a frontrunner and well-known around town:
One of the names on the Republican side of the primary ballot of May 24 is that of a Blue Earth woman, Jennifer Carnahan, the widow of Jim Hagedorn.
“Some people are surprised to learn that I live in Blue Earth,” Carnahan said in an interview last week. “But I moved here quite a while ago, and I have continued to live here in our home after Jim’s death.”
Others are not so surprised, as she admits to not taking the time to cook much, so she is a frequent visitor to Average Jo’s, Farmer’s Daughters and China Restaurant.
“I am lucky there are such great restaurants here in Blue Earth,” she says with a laugh. “Sometimes I feel I live at Average Jo’s and Farmers’ Daughters.” . . .
. . . Carnahan is considered by some as the front runner in the GOP contest which has nine other candidates. She says she feels confident of her chances as she has name recognition across the First District and the state, because of her husband and because of her years of work in the Republican Party.
That copy drew the ire of our best sources in Blue Earth, one of whom suggested the only Carnahan sign was the one in her own lawn, while the place peppered with Munson signs.
Our source was on to something, though they might have overstated the situation. In the end, returns for Faribault County show that Jeremy Munson received 44.58% (502) of the ballots cast, Finstad netted 29.57% (333) of the vote, while the grieving widow was third with 16.61% (187) of the votes.
Scores of Minnesota Republicans, for one, seem to have their own horror stories about Carnahan, according to public statements and sources who spoke to The Daily Beast who know Carnahan or worked with her.
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We can't claim to offer any original insights into the collapse of the budget and tax cut agreements at the close of the Minnesota legislative session on Sunday.
Rather than engage in fingerpointing--as much fun as it is--we'll simply put together a digest of news reports.
At a press conference last Monday announcing a framework to finish out the legislative session, Gov. Tim Walz and legislative leaders were asked a number of times for more details rather than just grand total numbers.
The outline split the budget surplus into thirds: $4 billion for tax breaks, $4 billion for new spending, and $4 billion left on the bottom line in case the economy worsens.
Lacking specific on things like taxes, health care and education, Walz told the media it is their role to be skeptical, but he was “pretty confident” things would come together.
Um.
After another week of DFL and Republican members blaming the other side for the lack of success, the state’s top elected official said just before 1 a.m. he’s open to calling a special session — something he previously pledged not to do — in hopes of reaching agreement on myriad supplemental funding bills that also contain key policy across the spectrum.
“We’re 90-95% of the way there, we’re sitting on the proverbial 1-yard line. Just punch it in. Just get it done.”
Walz plans to meet with legislative leaders Monday morning, where presumably a timeline will be discussed. “The sooner the better makes the most sense,” he said.
“The Minnesota House is ready to come back and get the work done,” House Speaker Melissa Hortman (DFL-Brooklyn Park) said after members left the House Chamber late Sunday, the last day bills could be passed in the regular session. She would like a special session this week. “We hope our Senate GOP colleagues will in the morning agree that we need to come back and finish the work for the people of Minnesota.”
“Minnesotans expect us to show up and get the job done. We have had a tendency in recent years to have a final agreement toward the close of session, come back in a special session and finalize that work,” said House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler (DFL-Golden Valley). “We still have an opportunity to do that.”
“We are not interested in a special session,” Senate Majority Leader Jeremy Miller (R-Winona) said mid-afternoon Sunday. He reiterated that post-session.
Also while it was still daylight, Senate Minority Leader Melisa Lopez Franzen (DFL-Edina) said she does not want a special session called unless there is pre-approved agreement. “We’re not going to come here as we’ve done in the past and just wait and see if there’s another agreement. That is a waste of our time and taxpayer dollars.”
“I think it’s good for everybody to go home and sleep on this for seven months and we’ll come back and do what’s right for Minnesotans,” House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt (R-Crown) said shortly after midnight.
Behind-the-scenes omnibus bill deal-making between the governor, legislative leaders and committee chairs mostly proved futile.
Health and Human Services? Denied. Public Safety? No deal. E-12 Education got an incomplete. Transportation crashed. Environment and Natural Resources? You get the drift. . . .
Legislative leaders addressed the media Monday, May 23, following the adjournment of the Senate sine die. The budget framework agreement reached by Governor Tim Walz, Senate Majority Leader Jeremy Miller and House Speaker Melissa Hortman was left unfilled, as lawmakers failed to pass supplemental funding for education, public safety, the environment, public safety and state agencies. In addition, the major tax relief measure hailed by the tax chairs earlier in the week did not reach either House or Senate floors for a final vote.
Governor Walz said that negotiations throughout Sunday were productive, and he believed legislators will work to finalize the budget areas in the coming days.
The GOP-led Senate and DFL-controlled House reached Sunday's midnight deadline without passing numerous sweeping policy packages, including a previously agreed upon $4 billion tax deal and proposals for education and public safety.
Walz planned to meet with House Speaker Melissa Hortman and and Senate Majority Leader Jeremy Miller on Monday morning to hash out the details of a short special session to wrap up agreed-upon bills, which could happen as early as this week.
Only the governor can call a special session, a regular occurrence over the past decade as the Legislature frequently missed deadlines to complete its work. Walz had repeatedly said over the past couple months that he would not call another one.
"At the end of the session we are really close but not done and we need a little extra time," Hortman said.
But that possibility is still being met by resistance from Republican leaders.
"We're always happy to listen, but the reality is the deadline was midnight and that deadline has come and gone" Senate Majority Leader Jeremy Miller, R-Winona, told reporters early Monday.
Speaking to reporters after midnight, Hortman and Miller shared contrasting visions for how close — or far apart — the two sides were on multiple key pieces of legislation. On public safety, a top priority for all three state leaders, Hortman expressed optimism that a deal could be close. Yet Miller, moments later, described being "pretty far apart" on the bill and cited differences over funding for police and community nonprofits.
Hortman described reaching an agreement on health and human services spending to be the most difficult task still before lawmakers. Senate Minority Leader Melisa López Franzen, DFL-Edina, had earlier said that legislators were nearing agreement on health and human services spending.
"We are trying to unclog the logjam here," she said, accusing Miller of not bringing Senate Democrats to the table to get work done. "We're willing to work. We're willing to get that logjam freed up. But no, there is fault on both sides."
Meanwhile, House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt, R-Crown, blamed Democrats. He said they "are not letting go of the unnecessary spending that they want to do right now."
Over the weekend, legislative negotiators reached a $4 billion tax deal that would eliminate state taxes on Social Security income, lower the bottom income tax tier from 5.35% to 5.1% and expand tax credits for homeowners and renters. But the fate of the tax agreement is tied to a broader deal that includes an additional $4 billion in proposed spending.
Sen. Jason Isaacson, DFL-Shoreview, pressed Miller around noon Sunday on the logistics of completing the various bills. Isaacson said that if deals were reached Sunday afternoon, he believed that could be too late for Capitol staff to do the work needed to prepare bills for votes before the midnight deadline. . . .
Minnesota legislators spent hours giving fond farewell speeches Monday as billions of dollars in tax and spending proposals remained in limbo — and the campaign trail blame game that will dominate the next five months was underway.
"I'm hearing pretty clearly from Minnesotans, 'Give us the money back from this and invest in the things that make our lives a little easier,'" said DFL Gov. Tim Walz, who has sole power to call legislators back into a special session to finish the tax, education, public safety and other bills that state leaders failed to wrap up during their regular session. "It shouldn't be that hard and we can get win-win-wins across the board."
But he ended a meeting with top legislative leaders Monday with no timeline or clarity on next steps. Walz said he's ready to call legislators back, but Senate Republicans asked for a few days to "decompress" after a marathon of legislative work over the past week.
Lawmakers' official work slammed to a halt at 11:59 p.m. Sunday, the deadline to pass bills this session. Formally, they could do little at the Capitol on Monday apart from retirement speeches. Some wandered around the building waiting to hear whether they should keep working or go home, while interest groups aired their frustrations that lawmakers left so much work undone.
"The collapse is imminent," said Sen. Jim Abeler, R-Anoka, who proposed spending $1 billion to boost pay for long-term care and group home workers, personal care assistants and others in the midst of a health care staffing crisis. "People are going to come to harm, and everybody knows it."
As key dealmakers met privately to determine next steps, Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott Jensen gathered his supporters for a rally outside the Capitol. He was joined and endorsed by Kendall Qualls, one of the candidates Jensen recently bested in the fight for the Minnesota Republican Party's backing.
"I'm going to ask you to remember Forrest Gump, one of my heroes. His mother taught him, 'Stupid is as stupid does.' I don't know if our present governor got that message," said Jensen, a former state senator. "We've got a lot more problems coming down the pike because we've got someone who thinks they're a king and you're his subjects. And that's got to stop." . . .
Readers can draw their own conclusions about the efficacy of that sort of imaginary hero worship.
The Minnesota legislative session fizzled to a close on Monday, May 23, without resolution on a number of issues, including how to dole out the historic $9 billion budget surplus.
Ahead of the Sunday, May 22, deadline for passing bills at the Capitol, lawmakers finished writing a nearly $4 billion tax bill that would've cut the lowest income tax bracket and eliminated the tax on social security benefits.
They also agreed to spend $4 billion on spending for schools, public safety, long-term care facilities and group homes.
But partisan disagreements over the biggest spending bills kept them from getting done on time. And without those pieces of the end-of-session agreement, Democrats said the tax bill shouldn't move forward.
Now, Gov. Tim Walz and leaders in the Minnesota House of Representatives, along with groups that wanted to see lawmakers pass those bills before the deadline, say lawmakers should come back for overtime.
But Republicans, frustrated about not being able to pass the tax bill before the clock ran out, say there's little point since lawmakers couldn't reach deals in the four-month regular session.
Here's a look at what happened this weekend and where things could go from here. . . .
In the end, the Minnesota Legislature ran out of time early Monday to strike deals on how to spend the state’s historic budget surplus, leaving billions on the state’s bottom line unless DFL Gov. Tim Walz and legislative leaders finish the work in a special session.
Lawmakers blew past a midnight deadline, failing to pass new spending for public safety, schools, health and human services, tax cuts and a capital infrastructure bill.
Because they passed a two-year budget last year, they don’t have to pass anything this year, but the state’s burgeoning problems in education and public safety had constituents clamoring for a fresh infusion of money, while both parties also sought to give some of the surplus back in the form of tax cuts and credits.
Last week, House Speaker Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park, Senate Majority Leader Jeremy MIller, R-Winona, and Walz announced they had reached a broad framework for the state budget.
The framework, which sets spending on the surplus for the next three years, included: $1 billion for education; $1 billion for health and human services; $450 million for public safety; $1.4 billion for a bonding bill; $4 billion for a tax bill and $4 billion left unspent in case of any future disruptions to the state economy.
“We hope our Senate GOP colleagues will in the morning agree that we need to come back and finish the work for the people of Minnesota,” Hortman told reporters in a post-session press conference, arguing that lawmakers should return in a special session to finish passing bills. “There’s a lot of really important work that we can do for the people of Minnesota.”
Miller, for his part, called the process frustrating, blaming the House DFL for not finishing on time. He seemed less interested in a special session, even though the bills outstanding contain some of the Senate GOP’s top priorities, including full exemption of Social Security income from state taxation and an income tax rate cut.
Walz told reporters that he expected to meet with legislative leaders on Monday to try to negotiate a special session agenda.
“We’re happy to continue these discussions, but the reality is… we’re not interested in a special session. For goodness sake, get your work done on time,” Miller said.
The sticking points were numerous. On public safety, Miller said Senate Republicans pushed for more funding for law enforcement and tougher penalties for certain crimes. House DFL lawmakers, Miller said, relented on more funding for police but pushed back against harsher criminal penalties.
“That just wasn’t acceptable to Republicans,” Miller said.
Still, the session was not a complete wash. Lawmakers approved new money for higher education, veteran services and agriculture, which includes a drought relief package. Previously, lawmakers found compromise on replenishing the unemployment insurance trust fund and approving pandemic hazard pay to frontline workers.
Despite recriminations between lawmakers of slow-walking offers and bad-faith negotiating, Hortman struck an optimistic tone for finishing bills in a short special session. She cast the inability to finish on time as a byproduct of a part-time Legislature whose calendar was set decades ago.
“This has become a fairly typical occurrence,” she said. “We have a very complicated state budget, and a big state with a lot of people in it and the length of the legislative session set that we decided in 1970 has shown us over the last 20 years to not be long enough.”
Minnesota special sessions have occurred fairly regularly in the past few years, including monthly during the worst of the pandemic.
The failure of lawmakers to approve the budget bills threatens to derail top priorities for the Senate GOP, House DFL and governor as the 2022 fall elections get closer.
Senate Republicans started the session focused on supporting law enforcement, announcing a series of packages to bolster police departments with recruitment and retention bonuses. They also frequently pointed out rising violent crime in the Twin Cities to justify their tough-on-crime agenda.
House Democrats, meanwhile, pushed hard for increased education funding to help address funding shortfalls in special education, as well as advocating for more affordable child care and health care for lower-income Minnesotans.
The governor, who pitched direct payments to Minnesotans as a centerpiece of his economic agenda, compromised on several of his priorities, but still stood to see many of his proposal incorporated into a final budget deal.
Walz appeared ready to call lawmakers back to the Capitol to finish the budget deal struck last year.
“We’ll finish this. We have to. The ball is on the one-yard line,” Walz said. “This is the nature of deliberative bodies. They tend to be this way. It’s not an excuse, but it’s a reason.”
Monday is the last full day of the 2022 legislative session, but under state law, lawmakers cannot pass any bills in the last 24 hours. Instead, lawmakers will meet to send off a long list of retiring House and Senate members who will not be running under the newly drawn legislative maps.
Photo: The statue on the dome of the Minnesota state capitol. A pretty place where good and bad policy ideas and spending sometime go to die. Or linger.
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As for McFarquhar's intentions, we'll let her speak for herself in two Facebook videos she posted before and after filing at the Lyon County Courthouse:
Larvita McFarquhar, owner of Haven’s Garden restaurant in Lynd, Minnesota, who’s faced fines for keeping her restaurant open, took the trip to D.C. with a crew of her friends—Janice Evans (Victoria White), Molly Wentzel, and Steve Lahr. On their trip, they stopped in Gettysburg to live-stream about how they weren’t allowed into five different bathrooms for refusing to wear masks. . . .
The four talked about their experiences in D.C. during two live-streams posted on Molly Wentzel’s Facebook on January 8. They all repeated the debunked theory that the violence that happened at the Capitol was orchestrated by “antifa and BLM.” White and Wentzel said they went into the Capitol building while Lahr and McFarquhar didn’t enter the building.
Will the Republican primary in Minnesota Senate District 15 be a test of established leadership versus extreme conservative activism draining the swamps of St. Paul?
Photo: Gary Dahms in an intimate moment on the Senate floor with Majority Leader Jeremy Miller, R-Winona.
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Questions about residency have cropped up in the past week or so for a candidate running for the South Dakota House of Representatives and a current member of the Aberdeen City Council.
Logan Manhart, R-Bath, is one of four candidates running for two District 1 House seats. One of his opponents, former state legislator Steven McCleery, a Democrat from Sisseton, has filed a civil complaint questioning Manhart's residency.
McCleerey claims Manhart's Wisconsin voter registration in 2020 and 2021 and his participation in four elections during that time is a breach of South Dakota's residency requirements for legislative candidates.
State law requires legislative candidates to live in South Dakota for two years prior to running for a state legislative position.
Manhart voted in four elections in Eau Claire, Wis., between February 2020 and April 6, 2021, according to voter records in the complaint filed against him.
Manhart declined comment Thursday as he evaluates his legal strategies. He had yet to file a response in the civil case, and no hearing date had been set.
According to his campaign webpage, he was attending college in Wisconsin during the time in question.
"In 2021, Logan graduated with a certificate degree in Leadership Development and Management, with the goal to return home and further the conservative cause in his favorite state," his website reads, though it doesn't offer details about where he attended school. . . .
Prior to registering to vote in Wisconsin, Manhart voted in two elections in South Dakota as a registered Brown County voter. According to the Brown County Auditor's Office, Manhart registered to vote as a Republican in July 2016 and voted in the general elections in 2016 and 2018. His voter registration did not lapse but, was updated in 2021 when he canceled his Wisconsin voter registration, Auditor Cathy McNickle said.
According to the South Dakota secretary of state's website, a residence is defined as "the place in which a person has fixed his or her habitation and to which the person, whenever absent, intends to return."
The definition goes on to say that if a person leaves temporarily, they haven't changed their residence. A person loses his or her residency when they move with the intent of making that place their permanent residence, per state law.
Secretary of State Steve Barnett said he couldn't speak in detail about the complaint, but he expects the court to make a fairly speedy decision.
The residency question, Barnett said, comes down Manhart's intent to return to South Dakota.
The validity of candidate petitions can be challenged up to five days after they've been filed with the Secretary of State's Office. After that, Barnett said, it's an issue for the courts. . . .
Sand's use of Manhart's campaign website prompted us to recall some posts from his personal Facebook page from the Summer of 2021 that suggest Manhart was living and working in Wisconsin. There's the July 15, 2021 post (screenshot at the top of this post in case of the Facebook embed is made private or deleted):
Worth noting that this doesn't seem to be a short-term, election-year job, but one taken during an off year. It's unclear exactly when in 2021 (as Dakota Free Press reports):
There's also that life event in the screenshot of moving to Green Bay, Wisconsin on August 31, 2020--not exactly part of South Dakota, as far as we know. We don't see anything about intent to return to South Dakota during the summer of 2021.
The first mention of his candidacy that the public can see was posted on December 12, 2021.
Screenshot: After working on President Trump’s Re-Election Campaign in 2020 in Wisconsin (Manhart campaign website), Manhart took a position as a field director in July 2021 with the Republican Party of Wisconsin. It's unclear whether he was hired before or after he finished his certificate in leadership development and management at Chippewa Valley Technical College in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
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Back on March 10, Session Daily reported Bill offering relief for drought-hit farmers passes House; that was HF3420, by a 101-33 vote. Such luminaries as the Ag committee minority lead, Starbuck's Paul Anderson, Browns Valley Republican Jeff "Goose Poop" Backer, Alexandria conservative Mary Franson, and cattle farmer Dale Lueck voted for it.
Too much help for farmers? Too much money for broadband? Too much money left for the DNR tree drought relief?
You'd think they'd at least honor Elbow Lake Republican Ag Chair Torrey Westrom's hard work in stealing away the stand-alone HF3420 after he assumed the gavel after the first conference committee meeting on April 20 for it. They kept those empty talking points about how much they loved farmers but hated trees for weeks.
Let's hope the Senate Republicans behave themselves and pass the report before adjournment.
With time to work dwindling, a conference committee working to reconcile agriculture bills came to an agreement on several appropriations and policy changes Saturday.
The conference committee report to HF3420 combines the omnibus agriculture and broadband supplemental finance and policy bill with one that would provide relief to farmers from the 2021 drought.
It was passed 69-64 by the House a few hours later. It now awaits Senate action.
“We’ve got a very strong, solid bill for the state of Minnesota on all the fronts for farmers, for agriculture, for rural broadband and the connectivity that’s become so important in our lives,” said Sen. Torrey Westrom (R-Elbow Lake), who sponsors the bill with Rep. Mike Sundin (DFL-Esko). “We can be, I think, proud as a conference committee to be a big piece of this policy and financing that will be moving forward.”
“It’s been somewhat of a longer journey than probably necessary, but I think we hit on all the points,” Sundin said. “Had we had more money, it would have been a little better bill.”
The combined total in new appropriations for agriculture, drought relief and broadband would be $50.9 million from the General Fund in the current biennium and $32.5 million in the next biennium.
Funding was a sticking point in deliberations, with the House looking for $60 million in new funding this biennium and the Senate proposal adding just $5 million. With guidance from Gov. Tim Walz and caucus leadership, a $7.5 million in additional agricultural spending was agreed upon.
Under the agreement, the Department of Agriculture would receive an additional $1.5 million in fiscal year 2022 and $6 million in fiscal year 2023. And $7.5 million would be added to the department’s base in the next biennium.
The committee finally agreed to an $18.4 million package. The Agriculture Department would receive $13.1 million to support farmers hit by the 2021 drought, with $5 million going to the Department of Natural Resources to replace drought-killed seedlings and $300,000 for resolving well interference.
Grants from the Agriculture Department would be offered to farmers or producers in counties designated as a primary natural disaster area from July 19, 2021 to Jan. 1, 2022, or in a contiguous county. Assistance would be available up to $7,500 per farmer based on expenses incurred and attested to in response to the drought.
Among agriculture appropriations, the Senate proposed $7 million in livestock and specialty crop grants, while the House was at $5.1 million. The agreement would appropriate $8.1 million.
Additionally, $2.5 million would be transferred to the Rural Finance Authority, $1.5 million to the Agriculture Emergency Fund and $1 million to the University of Minnesota for veterinary diagnostic laboratory equipment.
Broadband boost
Improving broadband access throughout the state would get a big boost. An appropriation of $25 million from the General Fund in fiscal year 2023 would be transferred to the Border-to-Border Broadband Fund.
The Department of Employment and Economic Development must also prepare a grant application to the U.S. Treasury Department, requesting that $60.7 million of Minnesota’s capital projects fund be allocated for broadband projects.
The total would fund a lower population density pilot program to provide broadband to unserved and underserved areas, as well as a broadband line extension program.
Photo: Some drought stricken corn. Source: Minnesota Department of Agriculture.
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We've been following the journey of proposals to use the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund and are happy to see the conference committee report passed the House last night.
Quick work by a conference committee to reconcile the annual appropriations from the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund took another step late Saturday when the House repassed the bill.
“It restored the merit-based approach for the cream-of-the-crop projects,” said Rep. Rick Hansen (DFL-South St. Paul), who sponsors the bill with Sen. Torrey Westrom (R-Elbow Lake). “Those projects that scored over 70 on the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources, those were retained with the House position, they were fully funded at that House position based on the scoring, based on the merit of the members, whether they were citizens or legislators on the commission.”
Hansen said the conference committee report would fully fund 36 House projects for a total of $38.81 million and increase funding to 16 other House projects with $4.08 million. There are also 21 Senate-only projects that would be funded at a total of $14 million.
“This bill has, I would argue, improved significantly since it left the chamber,” said Rep. Josh Heintzeman (R-Nisswa). “There’s still a few things I have concerns with, but I want to thank our Senate counterparts for a strong negotiation and my red vote is now green.”
Hansen noted what he felt were three important aspects of the final committee report.
A total of $6.4 million would be dedicated to research on aquatic and terrestrial invasive species. The University of Minnesota would receive $6.23 million to support the university’s Invasive Terrestrial Plants and Pests Center.
“This center is known for its work in helping solve problems around the country, whether it’s in the farm, the field, around the factories, in our neighborhoods, working on problem solving terrestrial invasive species,” Hansen said.
The bill would establish a center for prion research and outreach with $3.88 million going to the university for help in solving chronic wasting disease.
It would also fund increased diversity in conservation careers.
“It reflects a changing Minnesota and makes aggressive outreach to try to involve more Minnesotans in the outdoors both in enjoying the outdoors but also conservation,” Hansen said.
We'll update this pot when (and if) the Senate passes the conference committee report before adjournment.
According the Journal of the House, page 13330-1, those 19 House member voting against the conference committee report are: Bahr; Bliss; Daudt; Demuth; Drazkowski; Garofalo; Gruenhagen; Hertaus; Koznick; Lucero; McDonald; Mekeland; Miller; Mortensen; Munson; Neu Brindley; O'Driscoll; O'Neill and Rasmusson.
About half those nay-sayers are either running for different offices or retiring, according to a list kept by the Legislative Reference Library. Heckova a legacy. But we doubt those running for the Minnesota Senate will find kindred spirits when/if the conference committee report make it to the Senate floor tody (as it should).
Logo: The Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund logo.
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Even though fuel prices have hit an all-time high, state officials and business operators in the South Dakota tourism industry remain optimistic that the summer of 2022 will be another record-setting season for visitors and revenues.
Tourism industry experts say the post-COVID desire to travel,South Dakota’s wide variety of tourist attractions and a reputation for great hospitality have overridden visitor concerns over high gas prices, at least so far in 2022.
Gas prices have been on a steady rise in recent months, and are well above what drivers paid for fuel last year.
On May 19, 2022 the national average price of regular unleaded gas was $4.59 per gallon, according to the American Automobile Association. The South Dakota average was $4.20 per gallon, AAA said, and all 50 states had an average price over $4.00 per gallon on that date.
For comparison, the national average price on May 19, 2021, was $2.90 per gallon of unleaded.
Deb Schuetzle, operator of the Hitching Horse Inn in Pierre, credits South Dakota’s welcoming reputation as a big reason the state remains a popular tourist destination even during a time of soaring fuel prices.
“We really thought that maybe our gas prices may affect our tourism season, but thus far, it has not,” said Schuetzle, who runs the four-room bed and breakfast inn. South Dakota has a “warmth and charm people just love,” she said.
The Hitching Horse Inn has routinely been full this year and has had to turn some people away, Schuetzle said. “It has been really looking up … and I’m probably ahead of last year. So I’m very, very pleased with that.
Tourism is among the state’s largest industries, and many South Dakota towns and residents rely on visitor spending to maintain a thriving economy.
In its 2021 Economic Impact Report, the South Dakota Department of Tourism said 13.5 million people visited the state that year. Those visitors spent an estimated $4.4 billion in 2021, an increase of 30% over 2020.
The industry generated $354 million in state and local sales taxes in 2021. Visitor spending represents 5.1% of South Dakota’s economy and supports one in every 17 jobs in the state. Tax revenue that tourism provides saves South Dakotan households $980 per year in taxes, the department said.
“Tourism in South Dakota is a job-creating, revenue-generating industry that plays a vital role in supporting the state’s economy year after year. It’s not just valuable for the state of South Dakota, these efforts impact communities and families throughout our state,” Katlyn Svendsen, spokeswoman for the South Dakota Department of Tourism, wrote to News Watch in an email.
Key branches of the tourism industry include lodging, retail shopping and food and beverage sales. With fuel prices almost a dollar higher per gallon than in 2021, transportation may play a bigger role in the choices tourists make in 2022 but is not expected to result in a major drop in visits or revenues, Svendsen said.
“We may see shorter trips, less money being spent on food, beverage, souvenirs, etc. [But] we remain confident that our family-friendly, affordable state, featuring world-class outdoor adventure, will continue to draw visitors to South Dakota,” Svendsen wrote.
Teri Schmidt, executive director of Experience Sioux Falls, which aims to attract visitors to the Sioux Falls area, said gas prices do not appear to be a major deterrent to visits to the region so far.
“Our visitor guide requests are up, the interest in Sioux Falls, the calls that we’re getting … those are all up. If those are any indication, we should have a really good summer again,” said Schmidt. “South Dakota and Sioux Falls offer what people are looking for — the great outdoors, activities, events, culture, sports, our state kind of has it all.”
Svendsen added that in the first quarter of 2022, the state was already outpacing 2019 visitors counts by 18%. She added that Arrivalist, a mobile geolocation tracking company, showed that South Dakota had the highest jump in overnight stays so far this year, with an 11% increase compared to 2019.
While the high gas prices are making travel more expensive, many visitors are continuing to make vacation plans.
The high price of petrol did not dissuade Duane Johnson and his wife Trish from taking a long driving vacation this month. The retired couple from Wisconsin stopped to fuel up in Rapid City on May 17 on their way home after visiting their daughter in Salt Lake City.
Gas prices were so volatile that the Johnsons paid $3.80 a gallon when they left Wisconsin two weeks earlier to make the 2,600-mile round trip journey. In Rapid City, they paid $4.48 a gallon for mid-grade unleaded gasoline. Unleaded cost them $4.80 a gallon in Salt Lake City, Johnson said.
“How about that? Almost $100 to fill up,” said Johnson, who felt compelled to point out that he is not movie actor Dwayne Johnson, The Rock.
Johnson said the couple discussed the cost of gas before embarking on their vacation, but decided the desire to visit their daughter overrode their concern over fuel costs.
“The gas prices do affect us, but they haven’t stopped us,” he said.
The couple considered saving money by driving to Utah in their Toyota, which gets more than 20 miles per gallon, but took their gas-guzzling Chevy Silverado (14 mpg) because they wanted to bring a bed and other goods to their daughter and needed the cargo space.
Johnson said the couple’s wanderlust will keep them on the road this summer, with trips planned to Montana and again to Salt Lake City. But if gas goes to $6 a gallon or higher, Johnson said the pair will likely fly rather than drive, or perhaps cut back on travel altogether.
“What are you going to do?” Johnson said. “If you want to travel, you have to pay to do it.”
According to 2022 fuel prices outlook published by Gasbuddy, a site that predicts and publishes fuel prices online, drivers may save a little at the pump throughout the summer months. The predicted rate for May averaged $4.25 per gallon with June falling to $4.21, July at $4.18, and $4.23 in August.
Schmidt also highlighted that travelers within the state are just as important as those who come from far and wide.
“We want those long-distance travelers coming through, but equally as important are people in our region,” she said. “We’re a weekend destination, and that is a lot of what helped us pull through COVID.”
President Biden placed a ban on imports of Russian crude oil in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in February. Domestic oil producers are also ramping production back up after the events of 2020 dropped the demand for oil. In a White House briefing on March 31, Biden announced an unprecedented release of federal crude oil reserves at a rate of 1 million barrels per day for the next six months to help smooth out the market until domestic producers can keep up with the demand. However, across the U.S., drivers are still paying more per gallon than ever before.
GAS PRICES ACROSS THE GREAT PLAINS
Here are the average prices for a gallon of regular unleaded gas by state on May 17, 2022.
State Price per gallon
Montana $4.30
Wyoming $4.26
South Dakota $4.17
North Dakota $4.13
Iowa $4.12
Nebraska $4.11
Minnesota $4.11
Source: American Automobile Association
Kylie Carlson is the 2022 recipient of the Jeffrey B. Nelson Investigative Journalism Endowed Internship, and is working as a reporter for South Dakota News Watch. A native of Britton, S.D., Carlson is a 2022 journalism graduate from South Dakota State University.
Minnesota friends: fill up before you leave the North Star State if you're coming over to check out the many bison calves in the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate's herd or the White-Faced Ibises in area lakes and wetlands.
Article used with permission of South Dakota News Watch.
Photo: Gas prices in mid-May, including at the Pilot gas station in Rapid City, were more than a dollar per gallon higher in 2022 compared to the year prior. Diesel prices are climbing even faster than prices for gasoline. Photo: Bart Pfankuch, South Dakota News Watch.
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Kim Crockett, who won her party’s endorsement Friday to become the Republican nominee for secretary of state, is being condemned for campaign imagery she used at the state GOP convention showing George Soros as a puppet master, an old antisemitic theme.
Jacob Millner, Upper Midwest regional director for the American Jewish Committee, issued a statement:
“Criticizing George Soros and his politics is one matter. But portraying him in a video as a puppet master controlling elections is a vicious antisemitic trope … It’s made worse by the fact that the puppet strings appear connected to Steve Simon and Mark Elias, both of whom are Jewish. Kim Crockett must immediately apologize and repudiate this bigotry.”
Crockett did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
This isn’t the first time Crockett has been called out on allegations of bigotry. She previously apologized for comments she made to a New York Times reporter about East African immigrants coming to Minnesota.
“These aren’t people coming from Norway, let’s put it that way. These people are very visible,” she said in 2019, in an article that led her to leaving her post at the local conservative outfit Center of the American Experiment.
However, in a recent video posted by former GOP operative Michael Brodkorb, Crockett disavowed earlier apologies. “I would say everything today that I said in 2019,” she said. Her comments were merely taken out of context, she said.
That's the past racism we mentioned in our post. We're sad she didn't stick with her 2019 apology.
The new advertisement by the National Republican Congressional Committee shows Democratic candidate Dan Feehan next to stacks of dollars and an image of Jewish-Hungarian philanthropist George Soros. . . .
The chairman of the Minnesota Republican Party has apologized for a campaign video shown at the recent state party convention that showed Jewish Holocaust survivor George Soros as a puppet master controlling Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon, who is also Jewish.
The puppet master motif, which was used in a campaign video for GOP-endorsed secretary of state candidate Kim Crockett, is an antisemitic theme long employed to stir suspicion and hatred toward Jewish people.
It drew coverage earlier this week from the Jerusalem Post.
David Hann, the GOP chair, said in a statement that he spoke to the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota, and “We wish to assure our friends in the Jewish community that the image was not intended to invoke hostility toward the Jewish people. It should not have happened, we apologize, and are committed to working with the JCRC to educate our staff and candidates on antisemitism.”
Hann said he spoke to Crockett and concluded, that “the depiction of Mr. Soros was not intended as antisemitic, and that neither Ms. Crockett nor her creative team were aware that the depiction of a puppet-master invokes an old but persistent antisemitic trope.”
Crockett, who did not immediately respond to a text message, is a graduate of the University of Pennslyvania Carey Law School, where she was a founding member of the school’s Federalist Society chapter, according to her LinkedIn page.
As former GOP operative Michael Brodkorb reported, the state party informed the campaigns prior to the convention that “All content needs to be tested, reviewed, and approved at your campaign rehearsal,” which means party officials saw and approved the video.
It’s unclear who produced the video.
Crockett’s campaign has paid Nativ3 Digital Marketing nearly $21,000, but Max Rymer, the company’s president, said the firm “definitely, definitely, definitely” had nothing to do with the Soros video. The company created the campaign’s website and has made social media content.
He said a volunteer produced the video, which Rymer said, “ain’t exactly Hollywood (quality.)”
This is not the first time Crockett has been accused of bigotry.
She previously apologized for comments she made to a New York Times reporter about East African immigrants coming to Minnesota.
“These aren’t people coming from Norway, let’s put it that way. These people are very visible,” she said in 2019, in an article that led her to leave her post at the local conservative outfit Center of the American Experiment.
However, in a recent video posted by Brodkorb, Crockett disavowed earlier apologies. “I would say everything today that I said in 2019,” she said. Her comments were merely taken out of context, she said.
Deena Winter contributed reporting.
We're disgusted with Crockett and not much happier with the Republican Party of Minnesota's pathetic excuse for her and itself.
Update: A tweet from Michael Brodkorb:
NEW: As she hides from the media and public, @KimCrockettSOS sends out a picture sitting by a lake and describes the ongoing controversy about her anti-Semitic campaign video as “contrived and bogus political attacks.” Crockett just negated the @MNGOP’s apology yesterday. pic.twitter.com/rtJOjkDlXx
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Two companies are planning to construct pipelines to collect carbon dioxide emissions from ethanol plants in Minnesota and surrounding states and store the CO2 underground in North Dakota and Illinois.
Current regulation of those pipelines is left to counties.
The Montevideo-based environmental group Clean Up the River Environment, or CURE, petitioned the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission to regulate carbon pipelines like these.
The Commission decided it has regulatory authority and voted to initiate a rulemaking process.
“We agree with the PUC that they have both the authority and the duty to the public to regulate where these pipelines will go,” CURE Campaigns Director Maggie Schuppert said in a statement following the vote.
“There are already communities, tribes and landowners who are in the pathway and impact zone of these proposed projects and they deserve a process where information can be made public and rural communities can have a say.” ...
The 2,000-mile, $3.7 billion Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline would cross 469 miles in South Dakota, carrying CO2 north from 32 ethanol plants in five states to a site in central North Dakota, where the CO2 would be buried more than a mile underground.
The South Dakota portion of the Summit project was submitted for permitting to the PUC in February, and a public hearing is expected to be held before the end of 2022.
The $3 billion, 1,300-mile Navigator project would capture CO2 from 20 ethanol and fertilizer plants in five states. The Navigator pipeline would cross 62 miles in South Dakota and terminate at a site in central Illinois. Navigator plans to submit its pipeline permit application to the PUC this summer, said Elizabeth Burns-Thompson, a company spokeswoman. . . .
Minnesota utility regulators Thursday deemed carbon dioxide pipelines as hazardous, meaning they must get state approval to be built.
The unanimous decision affects two multibillion-dollar CO2 pipelines slated to cross Minnesota, transporting CO2 waste from several ethanol plants in the Midwest.
The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) must approve pipelines that carry hazardous materials — oil for instance — but state law does specifically list carbon dioxide as hazardous. PUC commissioners interpreted the 1988 law as including CO2 pipelines.
"The Legislature was being rather broad and gave us broad scope," Commissioner John Tuma said at Thursday's PUC meeting. Both pipeline companies disagreed, saying that scope is narrow.
The PUC will now initiate a rulemaking process, which will likely take a year, to codify CO2 as a hazardous pipeline material for regulatory purposes. Actual approval of any CO2 pipeline could take many months after that.
CO2 is considered a hazardous pipeline material under federal law and in other states that would host the pipelines. . . .
Several state agencies submitted comments to the PUC favoring state regulation, including the departments of public safety, commerce and transportation. So have environmental groups, Indian bands and labor unions.
"We would encourage you in your review to use common sense," Kelly Applegate, the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe's natural resources commissioner, told the commission Thursday. "If there is a breach in this pipeline there will be violent plumes of gas that could suffocate people and animals."
CO2 is heavier than air, so if a pipeline ruptures it can collect in low-lying areas and displace oxygen. It's a potential asphyxiant and can cause breathing difficulties, rapid heartbeat, vomiting, headaches and impaired thinking.
The worst U.S. accident on a CO2 line appears to have occurred in 2020 near Satartia, Miss. A 24-inch pipeline owned by an oil and gas company ruptured, leading to the evacuation of more than 300 people. Forty-six were treated for injuries at local hospitals.
No known fatalities have been reported from any CO2 pipeline incidents in the United States.
While CO2 is not flammable, it's heavily pressurized in pipelines, leading to the possibility of "ductile fractures" that rip open a pipeline if there's a leak.
"There aren't small leaks in any of these pipelines," said Hudson Kingston, policy and litigation attorney for Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, which pushed for PUC regulation. "When it blows up, it blows up."
"These are highly pressurized gases that meet that meet the definition the Legislature set out," Kingston said.
Kingston was referring to a provision in state law granting PUC authority over pipelines designed to operate "at a pressure of more than 275 pounds per square inch and carry gas." CO2 pipelines operate at three to four times that pressure.
The PUC sided with that argument.
"If it is over 275 psi, it seems the Legislature is saying it is dangerous," Tuma said. . . .
We'll continue to watch the proposed ethanol CO2 pipeline projects.
Map: The proposed route of the 2,000-mile Summit Carbon Solutions CO2 pipeline that will carry pressurized carbon dioxide from ethanol plants to a sequestration site a mile underground in central North Dakota. About 470 miles of the pipeline would be located in South Dakota.
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While Manhart did not respond to multiple attempts to contact him, his campaign website, social media activity and newspaper clippings offer some credibility to Democrats’ allegations.
After graduating from Aberdeen Central High School in 2017, Manhart moved to Wisconsin to continue his education, according to a biography on his campaign website. While there, he “found his strength and passion for politics” while working on a reelection campaign for then-President Donald Trump.
“In 2021, Logan graduated with a certificate degree in Leadership Development and Management, with the goal to return home and further the conservative cause in his favorite state,” his biography reads.
In one tweet from Manhart’s personal account on Oct. 23, 2021, he posted a selfie of him doorknocking in northwestern Wisconsin, while another tweet on Oct. 30, 2021 pictures him alongside U.S Congress Republican candidate Derrick Van Orden at an event in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. . . .
Sally Jo Sorensen of Bluestem Prairie has helpfully posted the court documents in the court challenge to Manhart’s fraudulent candidacy. The affidavit backing the SDDP/Steven McCleerey complaint includes as Exhibit #1 Manhart’s nominating petition for District 1 House, 84 signatures (including one invalidated by the absence of the voter’s county) across eight sheets. The eighth petition sheet, as ordered in Exhibit #1, was circulated by Allan Novstrup of 1705 Northview Lane (Al’s winter address in Aberdeen).
Novstrup collected five signatures, two on Thursday, January 6, and three on Friday, January 7. The five signers wishing to nominate Manhart for District 1 House came from four Aberdeen addresses:
916 N Lincoln St
1017 11th Ave NE
1005 N Roosevelt
714 S Kline
All four addresses are in District 3. All five signatures that Novstrup collected came from his own constituents in District 3. None of the signers Novstrup solicited could validly sign Manhart’s petition.
I cannot conclude that Manhart is just as dense as Novstrup in missing the obvious District 3 addresses on his District 1 petition. The five sheets Manhart circulated show he knew he needed signatures from outside of the Hub City. He collected lots of rural Aberdeen signatures, plus signatures from his home base of Bath, Groton, and other northeast tundra outposts. Manhart’s a lying menace to democracy, but he’s not stupid.
Check out the rest of the cray-cray details at Dakota Free Press.
Photo: Logan Manhart helped draw attention to the UW-Eau Claire College Republicans voter registration table on campus in Eau Claire on Tuesday, September 28, 2021, as part of National Voter Registration Day. Dan Reiland / Eau Claire Leader-Telegram via the Mitchell Republic.
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Family members of the late U.S. Rep. Jim Hagedorn are suing his widow, Jennifer Carnahan, to recoup medical expenses related to treatments he received in Arizona before his death.
Two lawsuits filed in district court Monday by Hagedorn's mother, stepfather and sister allege they helped pay for cancer treatments he received at Envita Medical Centers after he was told he had exhausted his options at Mayo Clinic in Rochester.
If those treatments weren't successful, Carnahan made a "clear and definite promise" to use the inheritance she was to receive after his death to reimburse his family members, according to both lawsuits.
Carnahan, who is running to replace her husband in Congress, said in a statement that her husband's estate is required to go through the probate process in the courts to "determine the disposition of assets in accordance with Minnesota law."
"There is nothing further we are allowed to do at this time," she added. "I wish Jim's family well and know this time has been very difficult for all of us." . . .
Read the rest at the Star Tribune. [end update]
A Wednesday morning tweet by Blois Olson's Morning Take generated some discussion:
DEVELOPING: Congressional candidate Jennifer Carnahan is being sued for reimbursement of a loan taken by the family for cancer treatment received by the late Congressman Rep. Jim Hagedorn by Hagedorn's mother and step-father. #mn01
This document and others related to the case can be found via Minnesota Court Records Online by entering case number 22CO2234.
While the attention on twitter was about the rift between the widow and the late congressman's mother and father-in-law, we were more taken by points outlining the reason for the loan to the Jim Hagedorn family:
2. In January of 2022, Decendent was informed by the Mayo Clinic that it had exhausted its options for treating his cancer.
3. Decedent and Defendant made the decision for the Decendent to obtain treatment at Envita Medical Centers in Scottsdale, AZ ("Envita")
4. Decedent's health insurance did not cover the costs associated with the treatment by Envita.
Second it partly confirmed a tip that a source in Blue Earth County had sent shortly after Congressman Hagedorn's death: that Hagedorn had left treatment at the Mayo Clinic and gone to Arizona for other treatment. The Envita site publishes articles such as Insurance-Based Care Limits Personalized Precision Cancer Treatment Options. That matched the description of the care, though the source was more skeptical about the treatments.
We find ourselves pausing at Envita's Disclaimer:
Envita doesn't make any guarantee of outcomes. Results are not typical and will vary from person to person and should not be expected. The information provided on this Site is for educational purposes only. Envita makes no guarantees or promises. You should not expect the same outcomes as the patient testimonials. Please consult a physician before beginning any treatment program or making any adjustments in your healthcare, diet, and /or lifestyle. Do not remove yourself from any prescribed medications or treatments without consulting your doctor. Any and all dietary supplements or nutritional products and treatments discussed on this Site are not FDA- approved and are not intended to diagnose, treat, prevent, or cure any disease. The information contained in this website is for general information and educational purposes only. While we endeavor to keep the information up to date and correct, we make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied. None of the dietary supplements or nutritional products discussed on this Site are FDA-approved, and they are not intended to diagnose, prevent, treat, or cure any disease or illness. Not all treatments provided by Envita are FDA approved for the diagnosis and treatment of any diseases. This Site and its services are for consumer educational use only. Nothing contained in this Site is or should be considered, or used as a substitute for, medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. This site and its services do not constitute the practice of medicine. Users should always seek the advice of a physician with any questions regarding their health or medical conditions. Never disregard, avoid, or delay obtaining medical advice or following the advice of a physician because of something you have seen or read on this Site. Not all of Envita's treatments are available in the United States some treatment is offered to Hermosillo, Mexico. No guarantees are made for any of Envita's treatments anywhere. Please consult a physician or oncologist prior to starting any treatment.
Despite being based largely in the Twin Cities in her political career, Carnahan signed up to be a delegate from Faribault County, where the town is located. It is possible to register as a delegate remotely, and Wear said that on Feb. 1, Carnahan was with Hagedorn in Arizona, where he was receiving treatment. . . .
Our source had claimed that Hagedorn had died in Arizona, but the Faribault County Register reported in Replacing Congressman Hagedorn that "Hagedorn died on Thursday evening, Feb. 17, in Rochester." Earlier it had reported on February 20 in Rep. Jim Hagedorn died last Thursday:
"“Congressman Jim Hagedorn passed away peacefully on Feb. 17,” a statement from his campaign office stated. “He was surrounded by his wife, Jennifer, extended family, and friends."
We're glad he made it home to Southern Minnesota.
We've had many friends stricken with cancer, and some have sought alternative or non FDA-approved treatments when their physicians gave them grim news. Other than a Vietnam veteran friend in Philadelphia, none of these folks are still with us.
We can only feel sadness that Congressman Hagedorn's expense didn't do better than Mayo Clinic--and that his mother's loan has not been repaid.
Photo: The late Jim Hagedorn (foreground, red shirt) campaigning in Rochester during the pandemic. Source: Rochester Post Bulletin.
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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