KWAT: Airport closed for Obama visit

Watertown Regional Airport Manager Todd Syhre told KWAT Radio that the airport will be closed to the public and to general aviation traffic from noon to 6pm this Friday.

The first of several huge C-17 cargo transport planes which carry vehicles used in the presidential motorcade will arrive in Watertown at 2:30 this afternoon. Additional arrivals of transport planes are expected on Thursday afternoon and Friday morning. Local law enforcement has been working with the Secret Service on security during the presidential visit. The exact route of the presidential motorcade from the airport to the Watertown Civic Arena will not be made public.

Read it here.

A SDGOP likely gubernatorial candidate thinks President Obama is off the mark by choosing Lake Area Technical Institute as a backdrop for the state's failure to train workers.

Republican Rep. Mark Mickelson of Sioux Falls said. Without the local leg of that funding stool, "we end up with a little less money overall," he said. "That ends up crimping our ability to offer important classes, whether that's new classes or expanding capacity." The Legislature has been working to give communities more permissive authority to help finance their tech schools, Mickelson said, "but there isn't a long line of people stepping up saying, 'Hey, we want to fund this school.'" [Sioux Falls Argus Leader]

Should we be frightened for his safety in an historically violent state where Obama has only 30% approval?