South Dakota ethically bankrupt; Colorado cannabis repeal fails

Two words of advice for Mark Sanford: Bill Janklow.

Brian Rounds is the son of former earth hater Gov. Mike Rounds.

The junior Rounds' plan accepted by the South Dakota's Public Utilities Commission, where he is an analyst, forcing NorthWestern Energy to buy power from a local wind farm, where the elder Rounds sits on the board, did not immediately feel like a conflict of interest to Argus Leader reporter, David Montgomery in response to a question submitted at today's 100 Eyes webcast.

From a piece by Joshua Zumbrun and Craig Torres posted at Bloomberg:

A group of bankers that advises the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors has warned that farmland prices are inflating “a bubble” and growth in student-loan debt has “parallels to the housing crisis.” “Agricultural land prices are veering further from what makes sense,” according to minutes of the council’s Feb. 8 gathering. “Members believe the run-up in agriculture land prices is a bubble resulting from persistently low interest rates.”

Former Chiefs of the Soil Conservation Service and Natural Resources Conservation Service have submitted a recommendation to Congress urging conservation compliance as a requirement for crop insurance as part of any food/farm legislation.

Policing for Profit finds South Dakota's law enforcement industry still profiling persons of color. After being stopped for speeding by a white state employee Tam Hoang Nguyen submitted to a search that led to his detainment.

Kristen Wyatt has been covering the Colorado legislature as it hammers revenue from the state's voters' overwhelming support for legal cannabis. She tells readers of the Coloradoan that an eleventh-hour maneuver to reject the will of the people has been thwarted:

The repeal effort had enough Senate co-sponsors to suggest it would meet the two-thirds threshold needed to clear the Senate. Its prospects were murkier in the House. Another marijuana regulation bill that passed the House on Monday sets an open-container equivalent for marijuana and requires marijuana to face the same indoor air quality restrictions as tobacco. The House gave the bill final approval 62-3. Senators were mulling a pot tax rate greater than 25 percent, a 15 percent excise tax for school construction and a special 10 percent cannabis sales tax. Those would be in addition to local and statewide sales taxes. The 25 percent tax rate has already cleared the House and was headed to the Senate floor Monday.[Wyatt, AP]

Denver's Westword has in depth analysis. HuffPost Denver here.

From Wikipedia:

The regulation of prostitution in the United States is not among the enumerated powers of the federal government. Under the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, it is therefore exclusively the domain of the states to permit, prohibit, or otherwise regulate commercial sex, except insofar as Congress may regulate it as part of interstate commerce with laws like the Mann Act.

But not cannabis?

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