SOUTH DAKOTA LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE EXAMINES LAB GROWN MEAT PRODUCTS
PIERRE, S.D. (Todd Epp / SDBA) – South Dakota lawmakers moved closer to restricting lab-grown meat today (Tuesday), as a Senate committee approved two bills targeting the emerging food technology.
The Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee voted 4-3 to advance House Bill 1109, sponsored by Rep. John Sjaarda, R-Valley Springs. The measure would ban the sale and production of cell-cultured meat in South Dakota.
The committee also passed House Bill 1118, authored by Rep. Jana Hunt, R-Dupree, prohibiting state money from being used to research or promote lab-grown meat products.
“It’s (lab-grown meat) not here already, so it’s a good time to make it illegal,” Sjaarda said.
The legislation comes amid federal approval of cell-cultured chicken products by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Food and Drug Administration.
“You’re being asked to say the South Dakota legislature knows better than USDA and FDA whether a product is safe,” said Nathan Sanderson of the South Dakota Retailers Association.
Tamar Lieberman from the Good Food Institute testified remotely that lab-grown meat could address future food needs.
“Global meat demand is expected to double by 2050, and there is quite simply not enough available grazing and farming land to satisfy that demand,” she said.
HB 1109 includes a sunset clause that says the ban will expire in 2035 unless renewed.
Agricultural organizations were divided on the measures. A representative from the Rhoden Administration also opposed HB 1109, saying it was anti-competitive.
Some legislators expressed concerns about food safety in the United States, questioning some decisions the FDA made on not banning some red dyes earlier.
“Europe, which started the research on this in 2013, is only allowing lab-grown protein to be in their pet food,” Hunt said. “They are not allowing this for human consumption yet.”
The bills advance to the full Senate, where, if passed and signed into law. would align South Dakota with Florida and Alabama in restricting cell-cultured meat products.
RESISTANCE TO FINAL BUDGET REQUEST FOR A NEW PRISON IS ‘A REAL POSSIBILITY’ IN PIERRE
PIERRE, S.D. (John Hult / South Dakota Searchlight) – There is “a real possibility” that South Dakota lawmakers say no to Gov. Larry Rhoden’s request for the final $182 million needed to fund a new men’s prison, a Republican leader said Thursday at the Capitol in Pierre.
The comments were in part a response to questions about how the state intends to meet its constitutional obligation to balance its budget in the face of a significant revenue shortfall.
Republican leaders intend to hit the balanced budget target through spending cuts. Assistant Senate Majority Leader Carl Perry, R-Aberdeen, said he could see some support for a proposed “sin tax” on nicotine products like vape pens and nicotine pouches. But Senate Majority Leader Jim Mehlhaff, R-Pierre, said the general consensus is that cuts are a preferable approach.
House Assistant Majority Leader Marty Overweg, R-New Holland, waved off the nicotine tax as anathema to his party’s DNA.
“I’m a Republican,” said. “I don’t like to raise taxes.”
Former Gov. Kristi Noem’s proposed budget would cut programs and services. Some of her ideas, like a $1 million cut to the State Library, have run into fierce resistance, and none of the cuts have yet to earn either chamber’s full-throated support. One of her budget increases — a $4 million fund to let parents use public money for private education — was dashed early in the legislative session.
Rhoden, who took office when Noem ascended to a cabinet post with the Trump administration, reiterated on Thursday that Noem’s budget is also his, and that budget cuts are his preferred approach, although he’s open to discussing specific cuts.
He also promised a “reset” with lawmakers in some areas where they’d clashed with the former governor. From his first day, however, he’s held fast to Noem’s yearslong commitment to a controversial plan for a new men’s prison, and to the still-more controversial site the state selected south of Sioux Falls.
Lawmaker concerns
Rhoden’s certainty has clashed with the growing concerns of GOP legislative leaders during the 2025 session. Past legislatures signed off on $62 million in preparatory spending for the 1,500-bed facility, meant to replace the 144-year-old state penitentiary in Sioux Falls.
They’ve also opted to fund a new $87 million women’s prison in Rapid City — a project that’s faced no public outcry — and placed nearly $600 million into an interest-bearing “incarceration construction fund” meant to help the state pay for a new men’s prison without bonding.
In November, the Department of Corrections announced it had been handed an $825 million “guaranteed maximum price” for the men’s facility.
Last week, a House panel pondered a Rhoden administration bill that would top off the prison fund with $182 million and clear the DOC to begin using the money. The project would convert the Lincoln County site from a corn field encircled by gravel roads into a sprawling modern correctional campus accessible by paved roadways and serviced by city-level utility infrastructure.
Lawmakers on the committee were lukewarm to the idea.
On Thursday, one day after that House panel sent the prison money request to the House budget committee with a neutral recommendation and a host of questions about ongoing expenses, at least one state GOP leader said the quiet part out loud: The state’s 105 lawmakers might say no to the $182 million prison question.
“That’s a real possibility right now,” Overweg said. “It’s early. I don’t think anything is cast in stone when it comes to the prison. I think we have a lot of conversations to have yet. I think there’s a lot of decisions that need to be made. In the end, it’s going to come down to 105 different votes.”
Three of the four leaders on hand for Thursday’s press conference in the Capitol’s Rushmore Room voiced misgivings of varying degree. Perry, for example, said he’s not especially bothered by the location of the facility, but that “the funding mechanism” troubles him.
“I don’t think that people are saying no to a prison. What they’re saying is maybe no to the financing,” Perry said. ”Instead of taking that $182 million and putting it into the prison right away, maybe we could take $80 million of that and use it for other projects.”
The state could consider bonding for at least part of the prison’s construction bills, he suggested – especially given the tight budget.
House Majority Leader Scott Odenbach, R-Spearfish, said he has concerns about the price of roadways, potential change orders to the prison and ongoing operational costs.
DOC and Rhoden officials said Wednesday that the $825 million guaranteed maximum price — a figure that would make the prison the most expensive taxpayer-funded capital project in state history — doesn’t include every cost.
The state has $24 million set aside for “contingency,” for use in the event of change orders, for example. The price to pave roads is also not included, and the state has yet to produce an estimate for the available options.
“Nobody likes surprises, and those things, when you collectively add them up, can be big surprises,” Odenbach said, adding that he’s worried his grandchildren will be on the hook for the high price of ongoing operations.
In response to Odenbach’s questions the day before, DOC Secretary Kellie Wasko told the House panel on Wednesday that the new facility would cost $21 million more each year to run than the penitentiary.
Taken together with the unknowns on the construction side, Odenbach said, “we have to be very careful as stewards of the taxpayers’ dollars” to make sure all the money questions are answered.
Mehlhaff spoke up on behalf of the lawmakers with fewer lingering concerns. There’s “diversity of opinion” within the caucus, he said.
“I fear that we are falling into analysis paralysis, and that’s going to wind up costing our taxpayers probably $1.2 billion if we continue to twiddle our thumbs.”
Mehlhaff’s higher figure was a nod to the DOC’s assertion that extended delays and redesigns could add up to hundreds of millions of dollars in additional costs.
Governor decries delay suggestions
That was Gov. Rhoden’s starting point in his response to the lawmakers’ comments, which came less than an hour later in the same room. The longer the state waits, he said, the more the prison will cost.
When told of the suggestion that a no vote on the prison funding was a “real possibility,” Rhoden said “I hope that’s not accurate.”
Paying upfront spares the state from interest payments that would accompany bonding, he said. A January budget overview handed to appropriators points out that the use of one-time dollars translates to about $600 million in dodged interest.
He described the site as a “gift from God,” because of its proximity to Sioux Falls and the fact that it was already state property. Before it was chosen as the prison site, the state had leased it as cropland and used the profits for public schools.
The thought of a pause “makes me sick to my stomach,” he said, because finding another site or reworking the current plans would amount to “starting from square one.”
He also repeated something his staffers said on Wednesday: delays would hike the price through inflation by as much as $40 million a year.
The guarantee of an $825 million top-end price expires on March 31.
“I hear stuff being said that there are all these unanswered questions. Well, quite frankly, that is just not the case,” Rhoden said. “There are a lot of questions that have been answered, very thoroughly, and if you haven’t gotten your questions answered, you haven’t been listening.”
The administration, he said, has been “palms up” in the process.
Rhoden toured the existing penitentiary recently and said the pre-statehood facility is unsuited for modern correctional purposes. The time to build is now, he said Thursday.
“We are this close to having this project fully funded,” Rhoden said. “They need to understand the ramifications of not getting this done. We will cost the taxpayers of this state tens of tens of millions of dollars by not getting this across the finish line.”
NATIVE AMERICAN ACTIVIST LEONARD PELTIER RELEASED FROM PRISON AND HEADED HOME
SUMTERVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Native American activist Leonard Peltier was released from a Florida prison on Tuesday, weeks after then-President Joe Biden angered law enforcement officials by commuting his life sentence to home confinement in the 1975 killings of two FBI agents.
Peltier, 80, left Coleman penitentiary in an SUV, according to a prison official. He didn’t stop to speak with reporters or the roughly two dozen supporters who gathered outside the gates to celebrate his release.
Leonard Peltier as he was released from prison in Florida Tuesday (Photo-Angel White Eyes)
Peltier, a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians in North Dakota, was headed back to his reservation, where family and friends will celebrate his release with him on Wednesday and where the tribe arranged a house for him to live in while serving his home confinement.
Throughout his nearly half-century in prison, Peltier has maintained that he didn’t murder FBI agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams during a confrontation that day on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Native Americans widely believe he was a political prisoner who was wrongly convicted because he fought for tribal rights as a member of the American Indian Movement.
“He represents every person who’s been roughed up by a cop, profiled, had their children harassed at school,” said Nick Estes, a professor of American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota and a member of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe who advocated for Peltier’s release.
Biden did not pardon Peltier. But his Jan. 20 commutation of Peltier’s sentence to home confinement, noting Peltier had spent most of his life behind bars and was in poor health, prompted criticism from those who believe Peltier is guilty. Among them is former FBI Director Christopher Wray, who called Peltier “a remorseless killer” in a private letter to Biden obtained by The Associated Press.
One of his attorneys, Jenipher Jones, said Peltier was looking forward to going home.
“We’re so excited for this moment,” Jones said before his release. “He is in good spirits. He has the soul of a warrior.”
His supporters outside the prison, including some who waved flags saying “Free Leonard Peltier,” were elated.
“We never thought he would get out,” said Ray St. Clair, a member of the White Earth Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe who traveled to Florida to be there for Peltier’s release. “It shows you should never give up hope. We can take this repairing the damage that was done. This is a start.”
Peltier was active in AIM, which formed in the 1960s and fought for Native American treaty rights and tribal self-determination.
Peltier’s conviction stemmed from a 1975 confrontation on the in Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota in which the two FBI agents were killed. According to the FBI, Coler and Williams were there to serve arrest warrants for robbery and assault with a dangerous weapon.
Prosecutors maintained at trial that Peltier shot both agents in the head at point-blank range. Peltier acknowledged being present and firing a gun at a distance, but he said he fired in self-defense and that his shots weren’t the ones that killed the agents. A woman who claimed to have seen Peltier shoot the agents later recanted her testimony, saying it had been coerced.
He was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and given two consecutive life sentences.
Two other AIM members, Robert Robideau and Dino Butler, were acquitted on the grounds of self-defense.
Peltier was denied parole as recently as July and was not eligible to be considered for it again until 2026.
Generations of Indigenous activists and leaders lobbied multiple presidents to pardon Peltier. Former Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, a member of the Pueblo of Laguna and the first Native American to hold the secretary’s position, praised Biden’s decision.
As a young child, Peltier was taken from his family and sent to a boarding school. Thousands of Indigenous children over decades faced the same fate, and were in many cases subjected to systemic physical, psychological and sexual abuse.
“He hasn’t really had a home since he was taken away to boarding school,” said Nick Tilsen, who has been advocating for Peltier’s release since he was a teen and is CEO of NDN Collective, an Indigenous-led advocacy group based in South Dakota. “So he is excited to be at home and paint and have grandkids running around.”
NEBRASKA STATE PATROL MOURNS TROOPER LOST IN FATAL SNOW PLOW INCIDENT ON I-80
LINCOLN, NE (KOLN) – The Nebraska State Patrol provided additional details regarding the trooper who was killed in the line of duty on Monday.
Trooper Kyle McAcy, 31, was hit and killed while responding to a crash on Interstate 80.
“Trooper Kyle McAcy had a way of creating smiles in conversations with friends, with family and even with complete strangers,” NSP Colonel John Bolduc said. “His infectious personality impacted countless people throughout his life. To lose him in the line of duty was not only the loss of a trooper, but someone who uplifted the world for the better.”
A preliminary investigation determined Trooper McAcy and another trooper responded to a crash that involved a Nebraska Department of Transportation snow plow and two passenger vehicles at 9:20 a.m.
NSP said one of the vehicles had hit the rear of the snow plow as it was plowing eastbound I-80 near mile marker 424.
The troopers checked on everyone involved in the crash and noticed one person suffering from neck pain. While another trooper provided first aid to the driver whose vehicle that came to a rest in a ditch, Trooper McAcy spoke with the plow driver who was outside of his vehicle.
NSP believes Trooper McAcy was asking the plow driver to move the snow plow. As he was returning to help others, NSP said the plow went in reverse and hit him. The other motorists alerted the other trooper.
Everyone went to help — but the trooper had already passed away from his injuries.
One of the drivers involved in the initial crash said he was one of the last people to speak with Trooper McAcy. Brandon Reeves said McAcy had him get into the other troopers cruiser to stay warm, and offered a comforting presence.
“He made me chuckle a little bit cracked jokes telling me not to drive off with it,” Reeves said. “That was comforting because, ya know, making me laugh in a situation where I was a little scared.”
NSP has asked the Sarpy County Sheriff’s office to investigate the crash. The Iowa State Patrol has been asked to conduct a post-crash inspection of the snow plow.
When asked about the plow driver, Colonel Bolduc said, “That person is hurting as well. It’s a tragedy for everyone involved. It will take time to process that.”
The trooper’s cruiser is now on display outside the Nebraska State Patrol Troop A Headquarters at 4411 South 108th Street in Omaha.
The patrol also set up a page on their website for people to send messages to McAcy’s family.
NSP will provide additional details regarding paying respect to Trooper McAcy.
McAcy was a ten-year veteran of the NSP. He was a graduate of Camp 56 and wore badge #302. He had served in the Patrol Division, carrier enforcement and as a crisis negotiator. He was stationed in Omaha.
The Nebraska Department of Transportation sent the following statement:
“Our thoughts and prayers are with Trooper McAcy’s family, friends, and fellow troopers. NDOT has been cooperating with Sarpy County and the Nebraska State Patrol and will continue to do so. We are deeply saddened and hurting alongside our NSP partners. At this time we ask that all inquiries be directed to the Sarpy County Sheriff’s Office due to the ongoing investigation.”
Governor Jim Pillen and First Lady Suzanne extended their condolences to Trooper McAcy’s family.
“We are deeply saddened, and our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of Trooper McAcy. His loss is a reminder of the call to service bravely demonstrated by our law enforcement personnel every day. We know Trooper McAcy’s death will be felt deeply by his NSP family.”
Gov. Pillen has directed flags to be flown at half-staff on the day of Trooper McAcy’s interment. That order will be released, pending the announcement of funeral arrangements.
