Thune, Noem, GOP shutdown cost communities nearly half billion

Costs to communities are still being tallied after Republicans shut down the government.

The Obama administration says the government shutdown last fall resulted in nearly 8 million fewer visitors to national parks, costing the parks and surrounding communities an estimated $414 million in lost visitor spending. Utah, Arizona, Colorado, New York, South Dakota and Tennessee all reopened parks. A bill is pending in Congress to reimburse those states. [AP, Rapid City Journal]

Apparently, buzzing livestock with bombers has put ranchers struggling to reconcile moral hazard with self-reliance on their last nerves.

don Juan Thune just voted to extend subsidies for Big Oil and wants Canada to build the climate killing Keystone XL pipe dream for China.

In South Dakota, Senator John Thune and Representative Kristi Noem, both Republicans, have been backing the project, which will run through thousands of acres a valuable ranch land. The ranchers they represent in Washington are disappointed that families in South Dakota may suffer to advance someone else's cause. "They want to push this agenda with these jobs and look good," rancher Dwayne Vig told the Rapid City Journal. "But they are not ranchers. I know John [Thune] comes from a ranching family, but he's not a rancher." He's also not a scientist, but that doesn't stop soon from pushing a project that research indicates will result in catastrophic climate change. [Dave Saldana, Keystone PipeLIES Exposed: The Facts on Petroleum Politicians, Crude Money and Media Spin]

Pipeline Fighters SHUT DOWN Scotts Bluff County Board's proposal to sign a letter of support for #KeystoneXL: http://t.co/43i3z5wf3a #NoKXL
— Bold Nebraska (@BoldNebraska) March 4, 2014

In the event of government shutdown, we will not be posting or responding from this account. We sincerely hope to resume tweets soon.
— Asteroid Watch (@AsteroidWatch) October 1, 2013

Due to the lapse in federal government funding, this channel will not be updated until the federal government reopens.
— USDA Forest Service (@forestservice) October 1, 2013

Due to a lapse of government funding, this account will not be active until further notice.
— White Nose Bats (@USFWS_WNS) October 1, 2013

During the government shutdown, we will not tweet from or monitor this account. For more info, visit http://t.co/xcic86yWkt
— BLM NIFC (@BLMNIFC) October 1, 2013

41 senators voted to block a bill to provide medical care for American veterans: don Juan Thune was one of them.

41 senators voted to block a bill to provide benefits for our vets #sdsen @johnthune4vp was one of them. pic.twitter.com/FpGHr78vdZ
— interested party (@larry_kurtz) March 4, 2014

Imagine a murder of LaPierreian crows.

The extremist South Dakota legislature just voted to bar some mentally ill from owning guns; and, since a majority of lawmakers is nuts maybe the state will be safer after all.

Lifted from the Brookings Register:

Several pieces of gun-related legislation are making their way through the South Dakota Capitol this session, and two national lobbying groups have jumped into the fray. The National Rifle Association and the South Dakota Gun Owners, an affiliate of the National Association for Gun Rights, have weighed in on the bills, sometimes taking opposing positions. And interviews with state lawmakers show the groups' efforts are causing a stir among representatives in the House. "You have these gun organizations coming in, and they're in competition with one another," said Rep. Steve Hickey, R-Sioux Falls. [Nora Hertel, AP]