Letter: Tester, Walsh oppose PRTC expansion

In a letter to the Secretary of the Air Force and to the Air Force Chief of Staff, Montana Senators Jon Tester and John Walsh have voiced their opposition to the proposed expansion of the Powder River Training Complex in southeastern Montana. Citing the potential loss of 95 Montana jobs, concerns over the safety of Montana citizens from aircraft based at South Dakota's Ellsworth AFB and outcry from residents in the area, the Senators wrote that they are unwilling to include the Little Bighorn National Battlefield within PRTC.

Rapid City likes having billions of dollars injected into his economy by the federal government as do Wyoming, Colorado and Montana.

South Dakota's vulnerable junior senator, Republican John Thune commiserated with donors over Ellsworth Air Force Base's likely loss of B-1B bombers and believes that expanding the Powder River Training Complex would help secure the future of the base.

Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh met with the service's top brass during a weeklong conference at the Air Force Academy that ended Saturday. Facing $1 trillion in Pentagon budget cuts over a decade, he wants the tools used by corporate America to weather the downturn. Bases haven't been examined since a Base Realignment and Closure round in 2005, and Welsh is joining a chorus of Pentagon brass who want to cut real estate. The military doesn't have a 2014 budget to work with, instead functioning on the same funding program used in 2013 under a stop-gap bill to end the government shutdown. [Tom Roeder, The Colorado Springs Gazette]

The Peoples Republic of Brookings is not just home to South Dakota's most obese GOP blogger.

“We are pleased with our third quarter financial results for fiscal 2014. For the quarter, our order volume included a number of multi-million dollar video system orders in the Live Events and Commercial business units and included over $20 million of third-party advertising orders. Due to the cyclical nature of our sports business and outdoor construction season, our third quarter historically is our lowest performing quarter, however our overall sales and operating income levels improved over last year due to an increase in order activity.” said Reece Kurtenbach, president and chief executive officer. [press release, Daktronics, Inc. (pdf.)]

Just a reminder: former SOS Gant employee, Pat Powers fled his hometown, Pierre...at least twice...for the Peoples Republic of Brookings. Why? Because the state's capital is a shit hole.

Noem vulnerable: What Republican Rebound? New Battleground Survey Finds GOP Vulnerable: http://t.co/qp1lvqApV9 #sdhouse #sdsen
— interested party (@larry_kurtz) December 12, 2013

Real estate values in Brookings County are rebounding from the horrors of the Bush era.

Some officials in the Dakotas are sparring good-naturedly over whether the North or the South is better off. North Dakota's energy boom has money flowing into the state coffers and the state economy. But South Dakota also has a strong economy and low unemployment, and some leaders there say that state has a better quality of life. [KFGO, Fargo, North Fucking Dakota]

The forecast for the week shows Mr. Kurtenbach will continue to freeze his fucking ass off so this interested party can keep working on his tan.

Disclosure: I'm long DAKT.