YANKTON MAN CHARGED WITH MURDER FOLLOWING SUSPICIOUS DEATH
YANKTON, S.D. – An investigation into a suspicious death has led to a murder charge in Yankton.
The Yankton Police Department says 19-year-old Theodore Kranig Jr. is facing one count of second-degree murder and one count of first-degree manslaughter.
On Friday, Dec. 13, Yankton Police responded to an apartment in the 1000 block of Walnut Street to perform a welfare check. Once at the residence, an officer found an unresponsive individual and attempted life-saving measures. This individual could not be revived and was pronounced dead. The name of that person has not been released at this time.
Police have not provided any other details about the victim or the investigation as they are still gathering information and evidence. They say further details will be released as the investigation continues.
“There is no indication of an ongoing threat to the public, and residents can be assured that their safety remains a priority,” said Yankton Police in a press release.
The Yankton Police Department is encouraging anyone with information on this case to contact them at (605) 668-5210 or Crimestoppers at (605) 665-4440.
NEW DETAILS BEING RELEASED ON OFFICER INVOLVED SHOOTING IN YANKTON ON DECEMBER 5TH
YANKTON, S.D. – More details are coming out about the officer involved shooting that happened in Yankton a little over a week ago.
Court documents are offering a bit more of the story of what happened in the high school parking lot on Thursday, December 5th. Police got a call around 7:44pm of an intoxicated individual at the Summit Activities Center where a wrestling triangular was going on.
Authorities were told the individual was sitting in his pickup in the parking lot and had either a shotgun or a rifle in his lap. It was also revealed that the man had been asked to leave the event due to his state of intoxication and surveillance footage shows him vomiting in the gymnasium and staggering as he left the building.
When police arrived, they identified and attempted to contact 40 year-old Andrew Jondahl of Watertown in the pickup, but he was non-compliant, yelling profanities at the officers. At some point, Jondahl got out of the vehicle with two guns, at which point the affidavit says officers fired several rounds.
Jondahl was shot and was given medical aid by officers and a responding ambulance before being transported to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Charges have been filed against Jondahl, who was hospitalized after being injured in the shooting. He is facing two charges of aggravated assault against a law enforcement (class 2 felonies) and one charge of possession of a loaded firearm while intoxicated (class 1 felony).
The two officers who fired shots gave statements to DCI saying officers had given Jondahl loud verbal commands, and that they were in clear police uniforms and identified themselves as police.
The officers said when Jondahl exited the vehicle he had at least one long gun in his hands with the stock on or near his shoulder. The officers said they feared for their lives and and the lives of the other officers.
Jondahl has yet to be arrested although a warrant for his arrest has been issued, with a $100,000 cash bond being set.
NORFOLK CITY COUNCIL TO CONSIDER SETTLEMENTS WITH 3 OFFICERS PLACED ON ADMINISTRATIVE LEAVE
NORFOLK, NE (KTIV) – After months of investigations the City of Norfolk, Nebraska, its police chief and two high-ranking officers could reach settlements on the officers’ departure.
Investigations began in August of this year with Norfolk Police Chief Don Miller and Captain Chad Reiman being placed on administrative leave.
At that time the City of Norfolk said in a press release “This administrative leave is not disciplinary in nature, nor should it be interpreted as a pre-judgment of any kind.”
On Sept. 12, a third officer, Lieutenant Josh Bauermeister, was placed on paid administrative leave as a city authorized an outside, neutral investigator to begin reviewing the Norfolk Police Division’s work environment.
At a special council meeting in late September, community members offered their support to the officers.
The Norfolk City Council’s agenda shows the three officers have reached a possible agreement with the City of Norfolk to leave the Norfolk Police Division. That agreement is to be presented at Monday’s city council meeting for possible approval.
Under the proposed agreement, Chief Miller will retire on Dec. 31, 2024. The agreements for Captain Reiman and Lieutenant Bauermeister have them voluntarily resigning from their employment at the Norfolk Police Division.
The settlement with the city would also release the three from the investigation and all liability, allowing them to leave in good standing. Under the agreement, the three will refrain from further legal action or investigations, which public service officers are allowed, under the rights of the Nebraska Civil Service Act.
In the officer’s settlement agreements, the three will each receive six-figure payouts. Chief Miller could receive $408,000, Reiman $250,000 and Bauermeister $150,000.
The settlements will have to be approved by the city council to pass. The agenda did not provide any details on why the officers were placed on administrative leave.
SOUTH DAKOTA ADOPTS NEXTGEN BAR EXAM BEGINNING IN JULY 2027
PIERRE, S.D.- The South Dakota Supreme Court is announcing the adoption of the NextGen bar exam for those seeking admission to practice law in South Dakota beginning in July 2027.
The NextGen bar exam is being developed by the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE), which currently develops bar exam content for 54 of 56 U.S. jurisdictions. The highest court in each U.S. jurisdiction, which in South Dakota is the state’s Supreme Court, has authority over the admission of attorneys to practice in its courts, aided by its own bar admission agency.
“The adoption of the NextGen bar exam reflects South Dakota’s commitment to assuring that our future lawyers possess the practical skills and knowledge needed to effectively serve our communities,” said South Dakota Supreme Court Chief Justice Steven R. Jensen. “The NextGen exam, along with other alternatives the Court is currently considering for bar admission, will ensure that newly admitted legal professionals are not only well-versed in the law but also equipped to meet the evolving demands of the profession.”
The NextGen bar exam will replace the current bar examination and will test a broad range of foundational lawyering skills, utilizing a focused set of clearly identified fundamental legal concepts and principles needed in today’s practice of law. Designed to balance the skills and knowledge needed in litigation and transactional legal practice, the exam will reflect many of the key changes that law schools are making today, building on the successes of clinical legal education programs, alternative dispute resolution programs, and legal writing and analysis programs.
Dean Neil Fulton with the University of South Dakota’s Knudson School of Law said, “The primary goals of the bar exam are to ensure that law school graduates are ready to effectively serve their clients and to protect the public, and this updated approach is designed to achieve that purpose. I am confident that the new bar exam represents a significant step forward for legal education and testing in South Dakota.”
The South Dakota Supreme Court and Board of Bar Examiners have been following the development of the NextGen bar exam and have hosted a prototype exam and nominated representatives to sit on a standard setting panel. The NextGen bar exam has been adopted by 29 jurisdictions.
The South Dakota Supreme Court will develop rules regarding the adoption of the NextGen bar exam in South Dakota, and the public will have an opportunity to comment during a rules hearing. Learn more about the NextGen bar exam at https://www.ncbex.org.
STATE LIBRARY BUDGET CUT WOULD HAMSTRING LOCAL LIBRARIES
PIERRE, S.D. (John Hult / South Dakota Searchlight) – A cut to the South Dakota State Library’s budget would be devastating to local libraries and the citizens who rely on them – including homeschool families – local librarians and library advocates say.
Republican Gov. Kristi Noem proposed a $1 million cut to the State Library during her budget address on Dec. 3, among other cuts in response to the depletion of federal pandemic relief funding and declining sales tax revenue.
Trimming the State Library’s budget would eliminate the vast majority of funding for the organization, which is an arm of the state Department of Education. The library currently has 21 employees; the budget cut would lay off a dozen of them, according to the governor’s proposal.
Nancy Van Der Weide, spokesperson for the department, said via email that the cuts will reduce database access and interlibrary loan support.
The office “will continue to support South Dakota Accessible Library Services (Braille and Talking Books) and professional development programming for public and school libraries” with the remaining nine employees, she wrote.
Seven State Library employees work in accessibility services. The budget cut would keep them but leave just two people to handle everything else. Opponents doubt the state will be able to afford to continue training or professional development if only two people remain on staff to service the entire state.
One program, for example, allows librarians and staff to earn a certificate of public library management through a four-year course whose students meet once a month all year and meet in-person for a full week of training once a year. Van Der Weide did not respond to a message asking if that program specifically would remain if Noem’s proposal goes through.
Elizabeth Fox, president of the South Dakota Library Association and librarian for the H.M. Briggs Library at South Dakota State University, cannot envision the state offering anything that intensive with a dozen fewer people.
“With two people, they cannot do the training,” Fox said.
Fox and others in the library community say Noem’s proposal endangers public access to information and could leave local librarians floundering as they work to serve their communities without an adequately funded State Library to guide them.
“I’d say it would be like chopping them off at the knees, but it’s not even that,” said Jane Norling, vice president of the State Library Board and director of the Beresford Public Library. “It’s chopping off at the head, because three-fourths of the staff will be gone.”
Librarians: State Library benefits all South Dakotans
The state Library Association recently updated its homepage with a link to talking points on how to advocate for the State Library.
Librarians are concerned not just by the proposed $1 million state funding cut, but by the loss of another $1.3 million in grant funding through the federal Institute for Museum and Library Sciences. States are expected to match their grant funding at a 34% rate. Noem’s proposed budget wouldn’t leave enough money to do that, and notes that the budget cuts include a $1.3 million loss of federal funding.
The State Library uses grants to pay for a wide range of educational databases and resources like study guides and practice tests for the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) and Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT).
Other databases accessible through the State Library include ancestry.com and Swank K-12 Streaming, which allows schools to stream films for educational purposes without paying licensing fees.
“Without this statewide subscription, schools would need to pursue individual licenses in order to legally stream movies,” Doris Ann Mertz, library coordinator at Custer School District, wrote in an email to Searchlight. “This is so cost-prohibitive.”
Norling noted that homeschooling families in the Beresford area rely heavily on local libraries, ordering books through interlibrary loans and using the databases funded by the State Library.
“We do borrow books for them, so that’s an impact to them,” Norling said.
The State Library offers a courier service for interlibrary loan materials.
The professionally curated databases and information sources like World Book Encyclopedia for general information or PubMed for scholarly publications are important for students and the public, Fox said.
There are other options like Wikipedia or Google Scholar, the library association president said, but those free resources can be manipulated and don’t have the reliability of an encyclopedia. Anyone can edit Wikipedia entries, she said, and Google Scholar ingests scientific research without filtering out questionably sourced materials.
It’s unclear what database resources might remain if the State Library were to be stripped to a bare bones budget. A single three-year state contract with a company called ProQuest that pays for citizen access to databases like the ProQuest Research Library, U.S. Newstream and Heritage Quest has a $512,000 price tag.
Van Der Weide did not reply to a question asking her to elaborate on what database resources would remain available if Noem’s cut takes effect.
Training, coordination
Custer County Librarian Sarah Myers earned her public library certificate through the State Library’s Public Library Training Institute. Myers said the four-year training offered her the kind of education that would otherwise require a master’s degree.
No school in South Dakota offers an accredited master’s in library science degree, according to the American Library Association’s database of accredited programs.
Myers sees the opportunity for librarians like her to train without moving out of state, paying tuition and leaving their local libraries in the process as invaluable to a state where few counties or cities can afford to attract a degreed librarian.
“Librarians need training. They need to know how to do their jobs,” Myers said. “One way to get that is to get a master’s in library science, but that’s not always affordable to everyone.”
The national association’s president told Searchlight that state librarians – all 50 states have one – coordinate a host of services for local libraries, and do so with an eye to meeting local needs.
Beresford’s Norling and others pointed out that the State Library coordinates summer reading programs and trains librarians as each summer approaches. American Library Association President Cindy Hohl said that’s a common role for state libraries.
Beyond state-level help with program set-up, there are nationwide summer reading resources available each year, and local librarians connect with them through their state libraries.
“Educators are always interested in how we can decrease the summer slide,” Hohl said, referring to the tendency of kids to lose ground in literacy in the summer months if they aren’t reading.
Hohl said state libraries are in the best position to make sure citizens have access to the most valuable information to local audiences, through database subscriptions or otherwise offering guidance to locals on content curation.
“Whether it’s helping a small business owner research the market or helping our homeschool parents find resources that are designed for children and their special learning needs, that’s what a state library does,” Hohl said.
Cut could present difficulties for digital content
The State Library acts as facilitator for a consortium of local libraries that offer e-books and other materials through an app called Libby.
Local libraries pay a population-based fee to join the “South Dakota Titles To Go” consortium, with the state librarian facilitating the program and serving as the contact point for OverDrive, the company that owns Libby.
That’s a big concern for Ashia Gustafson, director of the Brookings Public Library. Libby has grown incredibly popular since 2020, she said.
“It got a lot of people through the pandemic, because we couldn’t physically be open,” Gustafson said.
Fox, who works across town at SDSU, suspects the Libby consortium will ultimately survive, but she also expects it’ll take a few messy years for the group to find its bearings without a state-level coordinator.
“The State Library has the expertise to negotiate contracts and to run the sort of behind-the-scenes, techie stuff that many of the librarians involved in this don’t have that expertise in,” Fox said.
Tom Nelson, president of the State Library Board and a former legislator, told South Dakota Searchlight “there’s going to be a fight, or at least a very, very good discussion” on the State Library cut.
The personnel at the library now do more for the state than most citizens realize, he said.
“Each one of those employees has a face, name and a job to do,” Nelson said. “I just think that the people who made these recommendations to the governor either didn’t do the research, or they ignored it.”
