Rally tally looking up!

Two bikers died in separate crashes that occurred about 15 minutes apart on Monday. C'mon, South Dakota, you can send even more Republicans home to Jesus so just try harder!

Rally carnage at record pace!

Sturgis has already killed twelve Republicans as the medical and law enforcement industries are cutting fat hogs!

Extreme fire weather returns to permanent disaster area

It looks like South Dakota's Earth hating governor will get another opportunity to beg the Trump Organization for more federal moola with the Bigly Fire is burning near Pactola Lake. 

Yep, so what’s not to like about six or seven month winters, a year-round wildfire season, rampant racism, chilling effects on civil rights, an extremist legislature, a repressive law enforcement industry, living in a chemical toilet, sacrifice zone, perpetual welfare state and permanent disaster area?

Trump Organization now threatening Prairie Pothole Region

The number of acres in 'agroecosystems' has tripled since the 1940s so poor ag practices like tiling have made soils unable to absorb rainfall creating toxic runoff and flooding. 

In red states like South Dakota freedom equals the right to pollute and agriculture is the leading source of pollution in the waters of the United States. Most East River lakes are already eutrophic shit holes filled with toxic algae and unable to even support fish populations so the Prairie Pothole Region is becoming increasingly threatened by the encroachment of industrial agriculture but more irrigation means pumping from depleted aquifers mainly recharged by the Prairie Pothole Region. 

And, after massive failures of state agencies like South Dakota Game, Fish and Plunder invasive species like zebra and quagga mussels are taking over waterbodies as diving ducks like the Canvasback, Redhead, Bufflehead, Lesser Scaup, Common Goldeneye that feed on the pesky bivalves are being eliminated. 

Yes, the US Environmental Protection Agency and US Fish and Wildlife Service are within the Executive Branch and as Commander in Chief the president could simply order the Army Corps of Engineers and all to stand down.

On July 24, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service opened an unusually brief, 14-day public-comment period seeking information about how it manages agricultural drainage pipes—a type of perforated pipe called drain tile—installed near federally protected wetlands. Comments are due August 7. But the information request appears to be the opening move in a process that could weaken protections for more than 28,000 conservation easements covering over 1.5 million acres in Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Iowa. Simply put: drain tile installed too close to a prairie pothole would effectively drain that wetland and eliminate waterfowl and wildlife habitat. 

If the government now permits drainage systems close enough to starve them of water, the easements may survive on paper while the wetlands themselves quietly vanish—and much of America’s migratory ducks, geese, and other water birds along with them. “The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is considering repealing the rule that protects the integrity of the Duck Stamp easements that have been purchased for generations.” [A Quiet Rule Review Could Drain the Prairie Pothole Region, America’s “Duck Factory”]

Learn more at South Dakota Searchlight.

Plunge in Rural Mainstreet Index reflecting GOP failures ... again

Creighton University's Ernie Goss follows the economies of ten midwestern states including South Dakota's where the manufacturing sector lost about 800 jobs over the last year or 1.8% of its manufacturing base, ag workers still face severe stressors and a mental health provider shortage affects 62 of South Dakota's 66 counties. 

July's Index dropped below growth neutral for the fifth time in the past six months, bankster confidence plummeted to 42.1 or well below 50.0 growth neutral and the economic confidence index slumped to 34.2 from June's 42.1. Goss says low commodity prices, high diesel and fertilizer costs and a worldwide economic slowdown are also driving lousy numbers and because of the continuing trade-tariff volatility farm equipment sales continue to lag to a very weak 27.8 down from June's 28.9. 

Hot and dry conditions are degrading pastures nationwide but South Dakota is facing some of the worst ratings.

The July RMI for South Dakota declined to 43.4 from 54.7 in June. The state’s farm and ranchland price index decreased to 55.0 from June’s 57.7. [Rural Mainstreet Index Plummets for July]

Piper's death row conversion unlikely to change catholic Jackley's compulsion to kill

Catholicism is hope like gonorrhea is charity.

In 2001 Briley Piper pleaded guilty to five crimes including first-degree felony murder in the kidnapping, robbery, torture and killing of 19-year-old Chester Allan Poage near Spearditch, South Dakota. 

Unsurprisingly, catholic Attorney General Marty Jackley says death row cases like Piper's take up too much time in the legal system. High financial burdens led Nebraska lawmakers to repeal capital punishment but voters reinstated the practice.

Bob Gruss is Jackley's fellow member of the Church of the Holy Roman Kiddie Diddlers. In 2018 Gruss wrote an essay on capital punishment in the Rapid City Journal.

The death penalty is always an inhumane and inappropriate punishment. I pray that South Dakota joins the many other states that respect the dignity of life by ending the death penalty — in particular for those with severe mental illnesses. [YOURS: Death row no place for mentally ill]

A state-ordered lethal injection isn't criminal justice; it's suicide by cop but Hell is life in the South Dakota State Penitentiary. 

In the autumn of 2007, Piper was teaching himself Spanish and asked the priest who was doing prison ministry at the South Dakota State Penitentiary, where Piper was serving his sentence, if he knew anyone willing to practice the language with him by phone. The priest called Caminando Juntos, a ministry serving immigrants in Sioux Falls, and Presentation Sr. Gabriella Crowley volunteered. Court records show that Piper had sought to introduce new expert evidence concerning possible brain damage, extensive childhood trauma and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, which he argued could have affected his reasoning, impulse control and ability to form intentions at the time of the crime, when he was 19. No execution date has been set yet, although South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley said after the May ruling that an execution could take place in late 2026. [He pleaded guilty to murder. As he awaits execution, Catholic supporters say he's changed.]

A federal judge in Minnesota just sentenced murderer Vance Boelter to two life sentences plus forty years for the assassinations of Melissa and Mark Hortman.

No doubt philandering Earth hater US House candidate Jackley will force the postponement of Piper's execution until after the November general election.

Today in red state failure: Casey Tibbs Foundation on shaky foundation

In 2011 an earthquake that occurred ten miles under the sinkholes that developed in the Pierre Shale in Stanley County, South Dakota was large enough to be felt by humans who live there. 

Recall that the US Army Corps of Engineers touted the construction of the Oahe Dam on the geological formation known as Pierre Shale. Engineers faced fierce pushback and technical headaches due to the high risk of slope failure, which could easily bend, stress, or rupture buried pipelines. The topic was covered at the conference of the United States Society on Dams in 2009: Slope Stability Concerns on Pierre Shale, Oahe Dam - Pierre, South Dakota...655, Robert J. Worden and Michael T. Kelly, USACE. 

That same shale accounts for the systematic breakup of roadways and railbeds in South Dakota likewise confounding KeystoneXL pipeline engineers. Pierre Shale-associated mining or void failures continue to plague development in the state, famously triggering massive evacuations and lawsuits from neighborhood sinkholes in areas like those between Piedmont and Black Hawk.

Due to the shifting ground, the Casey Tibbs Foundation says areas outside of designated pathways may present safety hazards. Public safety is their highest priority, so they ask that all visitors stay on designated sidewalks and walkways while on the property and visit only during normal business hours. Conditions are being monitored around the clock. [Sliding hillside poses potential problem to Casey Tibbs South Dakota Rodeo Center in Fort Pierre; Foundation Board says it’s not an imminent threat at this time]

Stretches of I-94 in North Dakota crossing directly through Pierre Shale subgrades routinely encounter severe buckling, specifically around Bismarck, Mandan, and Menoken.

In a related story extreme wildfire potential has returned to the horrible red states on the northern Plains.

Norbeck Society pushing back on Neiman influence in LawCo

After a century of fire suppression, a decades-long moratorium on prescribed burns, a lack of environmental litigators and GOP retrenchment the Black Hills National Forest has been broken for decades. The collapse of the Black Hills hydrologic region was forecast in 2002 even as the mountain pine beetle raced to save Paha Sapa water supplies. Nevertheless, Hulett, Wyoming-based Neiman Enterprises bought the former Homestake mill in Spearditch in 2008 after logging most of the Black Hills National Forest into the dirt. 

In 2018 after the Trump Organization gutted the National Environmental Policy Act then was thrown from the White House Neiman closed its Hill City, South Dakota sawmill and is threatening to shutter another in Spearditch announcing layoffs and production cutbacks while blaming the US Forest Service. Earth hating US Senators John Thune and John Barrasso introduced the Save Jim Neiman's Ass Black Hills Forest Protection and Jobs Preservation Act of 2022 but it died in committee. The downsizing came despite Neiman's successful operations in blue states while enjoying the fruits of socialism as Republicans found a way to funnel taxpayer dollars to the Black Hills timber mogul under a partnership between the US Forest Service and the National Wild Turkey Federation. 

 

In June, 2023 an interested party asked former acting Black Hills National Forest Supervisor Jim Zornes to comment on an article appearing in South Dakota Searchlight about the heinous state of affairs on the Forest then the publication followed up on that piece with another describing the unheard of turnover of supervisors so an interested party asked Dave Mertz to comment on it. Mertz is a retired natural resource officer for the BHNF who attended a roundtable discussion in Spearditch hosted by South Dakota's lone US Representative Dusty Johnson when he sicced two fellow Earth haters on Regional Forester Frank Beum and BHNF Supervisor Shawn Cochran. 

Historian Paul Horsted, the Norbeck Society, People for Sustainable Logging in the Black Hills and the Black Hills Environmental Coalition joined the condemnation of Rep. Johnson's attack on the Forest Service.

The subtext: 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺.

Until recently the Lawrence County “Natural Resources Committee” was called the “timber committee”. To the best of our knowledge, since the name change a few years ago, they have not addressed any resource except timber.

Since 2011, science has repeatedly shown that logging on the Black Hills National Forest is unsustainable.

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙇𝙖𝙬𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝘾𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙮 𝙉𝙖𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙖𝙡 𝙍𝙚𝙨𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙘𝙚𝙨 𝘾𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙞𝙜𝙣𝙤𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙪𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙫𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙨 𝙗𝙮 𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖 "𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙤𝙣 𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙗𝙚𝙧 𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙫𝙚𝙨𝙩". In addition to the widely available information about the depletion trend of saw logs, the committee has disregarded the resulting consequences to aesthetics, habitat, wildfire risk, and how the pressure they exert on the Forest Service to cut down big trees will run the timber industry out of business for lack of suitable trees for logging.

By our calculations, within 6 years at the current pace of logging, the Lawrence County Natural Resources Committee will likely have no more “expertise” to offer to the Forest Service. Maybe at that time they will move on to other resources.

Concerned residents might consider a visit with Lawrence County Commissioners and/or Committee members about the influence the County is exerting on the Forest Service and management of the national forest lands within the county. [Norbeck Society]

Lumber prices are depressed as wildfire salvage floods mills.

In a request for comment on the status of the cooperative agency status and what it means for the Forest Service and the private timber industry, Cochran’s office said they felt the issue had been resolved and refused further comment. [Lawrence Co. regains cooperative agency status with Forest Service]

Anderson cartoon implicates SD governor

Larry Rhoden is a criminal.

ICE Shootings Follow my cartoons and accompanying written commentary on Substack: nickanderson.substack.com

[image or embed]

— Nick Anderson - political cartoonist (@andertoon.bsky.social) July 16, 2026 at 12:48 PM

Erase Denny Sanford, too

New Mexico is erasing Cesar Chavez' name because of his predatory past so South Dakota should do the right thing, too.

South Dakota still hemorrhaging talent

In 2025 WalletHub's surveys revealed South Dakota was 40th in innovation but 50th in its share of technology companies and 48th in R&D spending per capita. Today, the horrible red state is 41st in innovation, 45th in human capital rank, 47th in innovation environment and 50th in share of technology companies.

South Dakota's Republicans are horrible people

It's not just South Dakota Earth haters Pat Powers, Lance Russell, Kristi Noem and her husband who are horrible pieces of shit.

State Senator Tom Pischke of Dell Rapids is charged with two counts of Offering a False or Forged Instrument for Filing, according to the Minnehaha County Sheriff’s Office. The charges relate to potentially fraudulent election forms submitted to the Minnehaha County Auditor’s office. Pischke is also a Republican precinct committeeman, and would typically be eligible to vote at the Republican party’s state convention later this week. Jim Eschenbaum is the Chair of the South Dakota Republican Party. He said Pischke told him he wouldn’t be attending the convention Monday evening, but Eschenbaum didn’t learn about the charges until Tuesday. [Bill Janklow's idea of public radio]

Trump's failures are scaring the shit out of banksters: Goss

Agricultural workers face unique stressors, such as severe economic fluctuations, high workload isolation, and an ongoing statewide mental health provider shortage affecting 62 of South Dakota's 66 counties.

Creighton University's Ernie Goss follows the economies of ten midwestern states including South Dakota's and back in 2024 he acknowledged President Joe Biden's leadership. But until now Republicans weren't anxious to write a new farm bill because the agriculture recession made the Biden/Harris administration look bad. 

A cynical observer might suspect bankers provided gloomy outlooks to Creighton's Rural Mainstreet Index for at least five months especially in midwestern swing states to sink Democratic Party prospects just as Republicans in congress stalled immigration reform because it makes sense to Earth haters that after he was elected again the Orange Julius would run America into the dirt so banks can foreclose on the whole dealio to massage auction price points. 

Goss said that the region has lost some fifteen thousand jobs over the past 12 months and South Dakota's manufacturing sector lost about 800 jobs over the last year or 1.8% of its manufacturing base.

"When we look at what we're selling with agricultural goods and livestock in China, it's still down about 68% as compared to the same period in 2024," said Goss. "We've improved over 2025 numbers, but again, when you compare it with 2024, we've still got a long way to go, particularly on soybean and pork--pork would be a number-two product there." Goss says more than 26% named passage of a five-year farm bill as the number-two answer. Like members of Iowa's congressional delegation, he says farmers and bankers are frustrated with Congress' inability to pass an expanded farm bill. "This has been going on for a couple of years now," he said, "trying to get a five-year farm bill instead of these one-year bills. Farmers are facing so much volatility out there. There's no reason, in my judgment, for farmers having to deal with a one-year plan instead of a five-year plan." [Survey says tariffs still a top banker issue in KMAland]

Olson on Bruner

Editor's note: Matt Bruner supported Ted Cruz when he was a South Dakota delegate to the 2016 Republican convention. Bruner farms near Carthage where he has taken some $3500 in federal subsidies, supports candidates in the far white wing and even Republican former legislator, Steve Hickey called him a racist. When pressed by an interested party on Faceberg recently Bruner said he doesn't care whether a farm bill is passed after he posted a picture of rotten corn saying, "but it's not actually black. Thus, it's Kamala corn." 

South Dakota's favorite former teevee anchor, Shad Olson notices Bruner's misogyny, too.

I've said for years that in national conservative political circles, South Dakota has long been a laughingstock of RINO incompetence, dominated by the most corrupt, talentless, self-aggrandized band of mediocre people anywhere in politics.

It's nice when they're generous enough to prove it in viral fashion.

Pretty rough night for the Thune, Rhoden, AFP wing of the club.

These are NOT Republicans... and never have been. And they've been holding this gullible state hostage for decades under false pretense that everyone in America now sees through.

John Thune could be doing anything, anywhere come January 2029. But I promise you, after blocking the SAVE Act, punctuated by Matt Bruner's clown show denial of Scott Presler's attendance at the state GOP convention, Thune will NOT be the U.S. Senator from South Dakota.  

Matt Bruner, the "bouncer" who's now ticked the national radar for kicking MAGA superstar Scott Presler out of the SDGOP state convention has no idea the mercy that's already been extended him over the past year. It'd be a shame if Matt's DM's [sic] and his pathetic, equally awkward attempts to woo a certain blonde South Dakota lawmaker were added to the public bonfire of his idiotic, Democrat-operative shitshow that's now made the national scene.

He sent her pictures of porn stars and other scantily clad women, comparing her anatomy to theirs, complimenting her admittedly luxurious feminine figure... and expressing his ardent desires to take her out to dinner. I guess this sort of thing constitutes high romance for a guy who drinks Bud Light out of cans inscribed with John Thune's name.

I never considered him a contender. She found him repulsive. His political stupidity and clear devotion to the neocons were my only concern.

She mostly ignored him, she and I shared a few laughs over his antics, but she was too nice to say the things that I will, and I never felt need to respond to a guy who looks like Yosemite Sam after ingesting a basketball... life clearly dealt him a tough set of genetics out of the box. But Karma arrives in interesting ways.

Couldn't happen to a nicer illiterate.

Typical Hansen/Rhoden supporter.

Tribal nation trapped in South Dakota growing cannabis industry

Washington and Nevada are the best states for cooperating with tribal communities planting the seeds of cannabis economic development but South Dakota not so much.  

White people in South Dakota are clearly too stupid to manage the industry and if the Neanderthal South Dakota Legislature had any integrity or ethics (they don’t) they would empower the tribal nations trapped in South Dakota to be the sole cannabis producers, inspectors and distributors in the state (they won't).

Today, the Oglala Sioux Tribe’s marijuana industry brings in about $700,000 per year through fees and taxes; currently across Pine Ridge Reservation there are 11 dispensaries, 11 processors and nine cultivators according to the most recent executive director for the Marijuana Commission, Justin Pourier. Today, our cultivators still travel to Flandreau to have their crops tested, added Pourier, we’ve looked at having someone set up a testing lab here on the reservation or bringing in a mobile lab but that hasn’t worked and to build our own lab here would cost $700,000 to $1 million for the equipment so our cultivators make that trip regularly to Flandreau – there is an agreement that as long as they are carrying a correct manifest, SD State Patrol will not bother them. [Lakota Times]

The State of South Dakota receives revenue from the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe through a compact with the 423 member Isanti Dakota Oyate but disputes over cannabis, liquor and gaming have been ongoing for decades.

Christianic white supremacist Earth hater Ismay popped for Class 6 felony

With short, fat, white Travis Ismay stalking county commissioners and patrolling Butte County for aliens it’s a wonder whether Belle Fourche can protect its own residents. But sure, migrants fleeing oppression and seeking asylum in the United States are criminals according to Butte County Sheriff Fred Lamphere who also accompanied Howdy Doody Dusty Johnson at a State of the Union address. Western South Dakota is a de facto portion of the American Redoubt where white christianic Republicans are holed up for the End Times.

An arrest warrant was issued Tuesday for recently re-elected Rep. Travis Ismay, R-Newell, on the felony charge of intentional damage to a highway. Around the same time as the indictment alleges Ismay damaged the highway, an individual allegedly used a road grader, without authorization, to grade a portion of Wilson Road, near Belle Fourche, Dwayne Heidrich, who was Butte County highway supervisor at the time of the incident, said. Fred Lamphere, Butte County sheriff, did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication. Under South Dakota law, “a sentence of imprisonment in a state correctional facility for any term suspends the right of the person so sentenced to hold public office” However, if found guilty and fined, state law would not prevent Ismay from serving in office. Ismay won the District 28B house seat June 2 with 55% of the vote. He beat Larry Schmoltz in the race. [Felony arrest warrant issued for state Rep. Travis Ismay]

SD Earth haters introducing invasive species into Black Hills streams

South Dakota's Earth hating congressional delegation obstructs attempts by the US Fish and Wildlife Service to streamline the agency as it weans support from a hatchery notorious for introducing invasive species to Black Hills watersheds and into the waters of the United States. And with the Trump Organization supporting the release of hybrid non-native trout by South Dakota's Department of Game, Fish & Plunder native species are being threatened in the Missouri River basin.

Larry Rhoden and his other white meat supporters purport to be small-government conservatives but they're really just helping themselves instead of finding a way for communities to finance rearing for private ponds and begging the feds for more moral hazard money while pretending to be self-reliant.

Earth haters like Rhoden believe America is only great when Republican presidents are in power and revere an executive who is gutting the Environmental Protection Agency, promising to clearcut the Black Hills National Forest, pledging to mine public lands sacred to Indigenous peoples, erasing the workforce and putting septic systems in sensitive habitats all in the name of making white America great again. 

Finescale dace was the only fish identified in Black Hills streams by the Custer Expedition in 1874 but the creek chub and white sucker are also native. Brown trout are not native to the Missouri River either but recently, GF&P fisheries staffers electrofished for them in Spearditch Creek.

To do this, a net was placed in a shallow area of the creek to prevent fish from escaping downstream. The team starts 100 yards downstream and walks upstream. Every fish is netted and a fin is clipped so that in the future, people know that it had previously been caught and migrated to other areas of the study zone. All the fish in the first 2 transplants he participated in recently swam away on their own. A sampling of Rapid Creek fish later this summer will help determine how many fish have survived. [GF&P transplanting brown trout from Spearfish to Rapid Creek]

Trump Organization gifts Neiman with Black Hills logging bonanza

Until recently there haven’t been enough litigators to sue the Forest Service allowing Republicans to infiltrate management of the Black Hills National Forest and there is no evidence to support the claim that logging is effective insect control. Some imaginary war with the bark beetle on the BHNF is really more a fight for clean water because after all dead trees don't suck aquifers dry. Until forest managers and South Dakota's Earth hating congressional delegation get that they are being preyed upon by the Neimans to take legacy trees and leave the doghair for someone else to deal with because they aren't focused on hardwood release, prescribed fire and restoring the Hills bioregion to what it was 150 years ago.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service and the State of South Dakota’s Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources (DANR) have signed a 5-year shared stewardship agreement that expands cross-boundary forest management and strengthens South Dakota’s forest products industry. Following the initial 5-year term of the agreement, parties may then consider extension in increments of three years. [press release]

Learn more at South Dakota Searchlight.

South Dakota, Trumpistan sinking fast

Creighton University's Ernie Goss has been warning that the Trump Organization is bad for American agriculture and follows the economies of several breadbasket states including South Dakota's — one of the slowest growing in the US. 

Almost 57% of rural banksters are freaking out because the Rural Mainstreet Index fell to 45.7 in May from 47.9 in April and three quarters of them recommend no change to Federal Reserve interest rates. Farm equipment sales dropped to 18.2 marking the 33rd straight month below growth neutral or 50.0.

The May RMI for South Dakota declined to 45.7 from 47.9 in April. The state’s farm and ranchland price index climbed to 52.3 from April’s 48.0. South Dakota’s new hiring index for May sank to 44.8 from 48.0 in April. According to trade data from the [International Trade Association], South Dakota exports of agriculture goods and livestock for the quarter of 2026, compared to the same period in 2025, fell by 55.1% to $25.6 million. [Creighton]

Feds boosting ethanol but North Dakota soils are shot, too

Aquifer sources are not considered high quality for irrigation because of their salinity levels but fossil water from limestone contains the minerals that made us human. In my home state of South Dakota some eight million acres are salt-impacted due to seawater intrusion, fertilizer and other soil amendments, irrigation with saline water and roadway deicer applications. Soils are worn out from decades of pesticides, poor farming practices and manufactured fertilizers. Shallow wells and waterways suffer impairment from nitrate pollution making water less available especially where aquifer levels are dwindling.

In North Dakota soil salinity affects at least 6 million acres or about 13% of the state's total land area impacting over 90% of local agricultural producers. Traditional deep-rooted prairie grasses and diverse small-grain rotations have largely been replaced by heavy corn and soybean rotations allowing the water table to rise and deposit more salt at the surface. Expanding white and brown saline patches force farmers into a loop of spending money on seeds that fail to emerge exposing the trade-off between short-term financial profitability and long-term soil health.

In January, Earth hater and former North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum pulled the Bureau of Land Management leases from American Prairie. In February BLM and Forest Service bumped the Animal Unit Month or AUM lease to $1.69 from $1.35 for one cow and her calf, one horse, or five sheep or goats for a month, created an app that locates unused grazing allotments then threw bison off federal land and ended conservation rules.

Roads in northwest North Dakota are reporting extremely low visibility due to blowing dust and dirt. KELOLAND News also received photos from our viewers of dust storms in South Dakota. [Dust storms rage in North Dakota and South Dakota]

Learn more from North Dakota State University.

Most of them know not to use apostrophes in plurals https://t.co/6rx2oTZZTi

— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) May 14, 2026