GOP governors driving pessimistic economic outlook

South Dakota leads the nation in the growth of violent crime and Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana is driving economic opportunity from his state.

The Creighton University Mid-America Business Conditions Index for March, a leading economic indicator for a nine-state region stretching from North Dakota to Arkansas, fell from February’s reading. Ernie Goss, director of Creighton University’s Economic Forecasting Group says the numbers fell a bit from month to month. Goss says inflation also continues to slowly increase in the region. [WNAX]

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

It’s an article of history, almost of faith, that a rising economy benefits the president, his party and its White House ticket. And there’s plenty to brag about: The national jobs report for February was greeted with adjectives that ran the gamut from “strong” to “wow” to “barnburner.” “The United States of America’s coming back,” Obama said Wednesday in Cleveland, and that should be good news for the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee. [POLITICO, Hey governors: you didn't build that]

Habitat destruction, lapses in ethics, crime spikes, increased incarceration rates, more people infected with sexually transmitted diseases, the failure of prisons, human trafficking: all mark the terms of Republican governors in South Dakota.

More evidence of Gov. Dennis Daugaard's tyranny: a third of qualified teaching grads leave South Dakota while the remainder struggle with certification.

The findings come from the School Administrators of South Dakota, which surveyed all nine of the state’s college programs for aspiring teachers. More than 770 college students reportedly earned a teaching degree at a South Dakota institution, but 260 were placed in an out-of-state job, according to the organization. [Sioux Falls Argus Leader]

Some wonder whether cost of living adjustments could stem the exodus.

“This has me worried,” Dr. Steve Willard, superintendent of the Belle Fourche School District said at the Belle Fourche School Board retreat Monday evening. “We have had 10 openings before, but the openings we have are more difficult to fill.” Willard said that although Gov. Dennis Daugaard appointed a Blue Ribbon Taskforce to examine issues with school funding and teacher shortages, he is concerned because at this time there are no teachers or school administrators serving on that force.

Read it here.

From the Huron Daily Plainsman:

A 2 percent boost in state aid to education gets the funding level back to where it was in 2010 prior to the cuts, so South Dakota school districts continue to struggle with teacher retention, Rep. Peggy Gibson, D-Huron, said. Vacancies are often being filled with people not certified to teach. “So that’s a real big problem in our district and throughout the whole state,” Gibson said at the Beadle County Democratic Forum on Thursday.

Read that here.

Patrick Anderson in the Sioux Falls Argus Leader:

South Dakota teachers have the lowest average salary in the country, and school districts across the state have reported candidate pools in the single digits and unfilled teaching jobs.

Here.

So, don’t hold your breath parents, teachers and employers. The “great teachers” Daugaard predicts for South Dakota probably won’t be flooding our school districts with applications. South Dakota Republican governors and legislators in the past 12 years haven’t solved the funding problem. T.S. Eliot’s poem, “The Hollow Men” has a line for that kind of paralysis: “Gesture without motion.” [David Walder]

A concerned or trustworthy US Representative would call out a failed executive like Dennis Daugaard.

South Dakota deserves better.

Black Hills bat listed as threatened

A step toward preserving some Black Hills habitat has been taken.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced today it is protecting the northern long-eared bat as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), primarily due to the threat posed by white-nose syndrome, a fungal disease that has devastated many bat populations. The Service, states, federal agencies, tribes, conservation organizations and scientific institutions are working together on a national response team to address white-nose syndrome through disease monitoring and management, conservation and outreach. For areas of the country affected by white-nose syndrome, the measures provided in the interim 4(d) rule exempt “take” (a term under the ESA that includes harming, harassing or killing a listed species) resulting from certain activities. In parts of the country not affected by white-nose syndrome, the 4(d) rule recognizes that activities that result in incidental take of bats are not imperiling the species. These activities will be exempt from the Act’s prohibitions. Purposeful take, however, other than removal of bats from dwellings, is prohibited. [excerpt, press release, USFWS]

GOP donors being subsidized by the federal government to log in the Black Hills are putting pressure on the state's congressional delegation to resist habitat protection for the black-backed woodpecker, too.

#USFWS now protecting the northern long-eared bat as a threatened species under the #ESA: http://t.co/2QtF5sowBw pic.twitter.com/c0TlYdJjLG
— US Fish and Wildlife (@USFWSMtnPrairie) April 1, 2015

New Mexico uranium enrichment given green light; SD tribes ignored on Dewey Burdock

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has given approval for URENCO USA to double its capacity at a nuclear enrichment facility near Eunice, New Mexico.

It also means the company can store more raw and depleted uranium on site and can re-feed uranium tails left over after the enrichment process back through their centrifuges to recover more enriched uranium for nuclear fuel. [Las Cruces Sun-News]

South Dakota, another red state attempting to nullify federal health care law and where Republican legislators like Don Kopp confuse federal scientists' findings on climate change with ass-trologic forces, the hubris in eliminating state-sponsored public comment on in situ uranium extraction while the GOP is actively smothering the EPA, is nothing short of stupefying.

The Oglala Lakota Nation is suing to protect the Inyan Kara Aquifer.

In releasing a “Preliminary Economic Assessment of the Dewey-Burdock Uranium ISR Project” on March 14, a company that wants to be the first to mine for uranium in South Dakota’s underground water table omitted any mention of the Oglala Sioux tribal government’s staunch legal battle against the proposal. Clean Water Alliance is urging citizens to request a public hearing in the vicinity of the proposed Dewey-Burdock operation, also close to Cameco Inc.’s Crow Butte area solution mines and mills south of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in northwest Nebraska. [Native Sun News, posted at Indianz]

The Albuquerque Journal reports that NM Governor Susana Martinez' campaign staff includes at least one member of the scrum Heather Wilson used in her failed US Senate bid. Wilson, now President of South Dakota School of Mines, wants to bury radioactive waste in South Dakota:

The South Dakota School of Mines & Technology announced Thursday a partnership with RESPEC, a local mining and energy company, to conduct experiments in the Pierre shale formation east of Rapid City to better understand how the rock formation behaves during mining. The research would examine how the formation might work for storage of energy products and disposal of waste. The waste disposal could be used for byproducts of fracking operations like flowback water or slurries from drilling, which can pick up radioactive elements that are naturally occurring in the ground, said Lance Roberts, RESPEC senior vice president. He said it could also be used for radioactive waste like from nuclear energy operations. School of Mines President Heather Wilson said the next step is to begin developing initial experiments as well as working to leverage the investment from the state to increase funding from other sources, like the federal government and private industry. [Jennifer Naylor Gesick, Rapid City Journal]

When Black Hills Corp. greases candidates like Heather Wilson while South Dakota's Board of Minerals and Environment makes conflicts of interest harder to find and the Public Utilities Commission is stacked with Republicans, the blur of the revolving door is vertiginous .

Voters decided to change the name to Oglala Lakota County in fall. Legislature concurred during session. Governor made it official today.
— John Hult (@ArgusJHult) April 1, 2015

Childless religious bigot Sibson vying for Mitchell school board

Christianic white supremacist, misogynist, pariah and witless GOP pawn, Steve Sibson, will compete with Kevin Kenkel and Twyla Mah for the open one-year Mitchell school board term.

On the topic of candidates filing for two separate seats in the same election, South Dakota Secretary of State Shantel Krebs told The Daily Republic on Tuesday that codified law allows for candidates to run for one office per election. In the instance that a candidate successfully files paperwork for two races, such as city and school elections, Krebs said the school and city attorneys would need to discuss the matter. [Mitchell Daily Republic]

Sibson is a 'special' case, if you get my drift. He reminds readers of Madville Times that former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney answers to Santa Satan before country.

A perennial loser, Sibson suffers from paranoid delusions and acute depression.

Sibson's Religionist Right is resisting parts of Common Core because the standards stress human influence on climate change, genocide of indigenous by colonizers, gender equality and social justice.

The city's election is scheduled for June 2.

Under Daugaard a third of teaching grads flee state

More evidence of Daugaard tyranny: a third of qualified teaching grads leave South Dakota while the remainder struggle with certification.

The findings come from the School Administrators of South Dakota, which surveyed all nine of the state’s college programs for aspiring teachers. More than 770 college students reportedly earned a teaching degree at a South Dakota institution, but 260 were placed in an out-of-state job, according to the organization. [Sioux Falls Argus Leader]

Some wonder whether cost of living adjustments could stem the exodus.

“This has me worried,” Dr. Steve Willard, superintendent of the Belle Fourche School District said at the Belle Fourche School Board retreat Monday evening. “We have had 10 openings before, but the openings we have are more difficult to fill.” Willard said that although Gov. Dennis Daugaard appointed a Blue Ribbon Taskforce to examine issues with school funding and teacher shortages, he is concerned because at this time there are no teachers or school administrators serving on that force.

Read it here.

From the Huron Daily Plainsman:

A 2 percent boost in state aid to education gets the funding level back to where it was in 2010 prior to the cuts, so South Dakota school districts continue to struggle with teacher retention, Rep. Peggy Gibson, D-Huron, said. Vacancies are often being filled with people not certified to teach. “So that’s a real big problem in our district and throughout the whole state,” Gibson said at the Beadle County Democratic Forum on Thursday.

Read that here.

Patrick Anderson in the Sioux Falls Argus Leader:

South Dakota teachers have the lowest average salary in the country, and school districts across the state have reported candidate pools in the single digits and unfilled teaching jobs.

Here.

So, don’t hold your breath parents, teachers and employers. The “great teachers” Daugaard predicts for South Dakota probably won’t be flooding our school districts with applications. South Dakota Republican governors and legislators in the past 12 years haven’t solved the funding problem. T.S. Eliot’s poem, “The Hollow Men” has a line for that kind of paralysis: “Gesture without motion.” [David Walder]

A concerned or trustworthy US Representative would call out a failed executive like Dennis Daugaard.

South Dakota deserves better.