LEWIS & CLARK BEHAVIORAL HEALTH SERVICES CUTS RIBBON ON NEW 60,000 SQUARE FOOT FACILITY

YANKTON, S.D. – A new multi-million dollar behavioral health center is almost ready to treat patients all across southeast South Dakota.

Tuesday morning, Lewis & Clark Behavioral Health Services cut the ceremonial ribbon on its new 60,000 square foot facility which will serve 14 counties in Southeast South Dakota.

The goal is to help individuals overcome mental health and substance abuse challenges.

Before the new facility opened, Lewis & Clark operated out of 2 separate floors at the Benedictine Center, an old dormitory, and out of the original Dakota Territory Capitol building. The new facility consolidates all of the Yankton clinics under one roof, allowing professionals to help more clients.

The change will grow Lewis & Clark’s reach from 29 crisis care and inpatient beds to 40.

“This facility is much larger and it’s allowing us to provide services to individuals with handicaps and disabilities because we’re now handicap accessible. For our substance abuse services it’s allowing us a lot more space for our individuals,” said Raelene Broz who has worked at Lewis & Clark for 10 years and currently serves as the program director for Lewis & Clark’s substance abuse program. “And it gives all of the staff the opportunity to be on the same campus and allow us to work together in an easier way than it was before when we had to building-hop.”

Lewis and Clark Behavioral Health’s Executive Director Dr. Thomas Stanage is excited for the new era of behavioral health in Yankton.

“Lewis and Clark Behavioral Health Services was founded on the vision to build a continuum of community-based services. To make community-based behavioral health services visible and accessible,” said Dr. Stanage. “When you look at this facility and all of its components, I think we did it.”

The doors to the new center will officially open on the week of July 21st.

 

FIRST HUMAN WEST NILE VIRUS CASE OF 2025 REPORTED IN BROOKINGS COUNTY

PIERRE, S.D. – The South Dakota Department of Health on Wednesday confirmed the first human West Nile virus case of the 2025 season in a resident of Brookings County. South Dakota has reported more than 2,864 human cases and 54 deaths since WNV was first reported in 2002.

“West Nile virus is an infection most commonly spread through mosquito bites,” said Dr. Joshua Clayton, state epidemiologist. “The rate of severe infection that includes swelling of the brain and spinal cord with symptoms of stiff neck, confusion, and muscle weakness is highest in South Dakota and other Midwest states. Raising awareness of human cases can ensure residents and visitors alike take action to reduce their risk.”

Individuals and families can reduce their risk by taking the following actions:

Apply mosquito repellents (DEET, picaridin, oil of lemon eucalyptus, 2-undecanone, param-menthane-diol, or IR3535) to clothes and exposed skin. Limit exposure by wearing pants and long sleeves in the evening;

Limit time outdoors from dusk to midnight when mosquitoes are most active. Culex tarsalis are the primary carrier of WNV in South Dakota;

Remove standing water that gives mosquitoes a place to breed. Regularly change the water in birdbaths, outside pet dishes, and drain water from other flowerpots and garden containers and stay away from areas near standing water; and

Support local mosquito control efforts.

These precautions are especially important for people at high risk for WNV, including individuals over 50, pregnant women, organ transplant patients, individuals with cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure or kidney disease, and those with a history of alcohol abuse. People with severe or unusual headaches should see their physicians.

 

MEDICAID CUTS IN FEDERAL BUDGET COULD HIT RURAL HEALTHCARE HARD IN SOUTH DAKOTA

SOUTH DAKOTA (Bart Pfankuch / South Dakota News Watch) – Wade Erickson doesn’t want to seem like an alarmist. But Erickson, CEO of Horizon Health Care in South Dakota, has serious concerns about how the Medicaid cuts embedded in the giant taxation and budget law signed by President Donald Trump will affect the health of South Dakotans, especially in rural areas.

Horizon provides medical care to people across a 28,000 square-mile area of the state. Each year, about 26,000 patients are treated in 80,000 appointments at 19 Horizon Health clinics, dental offices and mental-health centers in South Dakota.

Details are still to come on the cuts to Medicaid, the health insurance program for low-income Americans. But early indications are that the law will cut federal aid to health care by $1 trillion over the next decade.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that the law will remove 12 million Americans from enrollment in the Medicaid program, many due to new work requirements.

From Erickson’s standpoint, that would impact rural health in two ways.

First, patients who lose Medicaid coverage and are not able to afford medical care from their own pockets will be more likely to delay preventive care or may avoid getting needed medical treatments altogether.

“If people are afraid to access health care because they can’t afford to pay for it, or they stop taking care of their wellness and are no longer catching chronic diseases early to where they can be managed, there’s a very good possibility that it could lead to people being more sick, and also some more people dying before they would otherwise,” Erickson told News Watch.

Secondly, health providers like Horizon, which already run on small or even negative profit margins on some procedures, will see less revenue and could be forced to reduce services.

About 65% of Horizon’s annual budget is funded by the federal government, with roughly 20% coming from Medicaid, which sometimes does not cover the full cost of patient treatments and procedures. Other federal funding sources include Medicare and the annual payment made as part of the Federal Qualified Health Center program.

As a federally qualified center, Horizon cannot turn away any patients. If fewer people are covered by Medicaid, Horizon will have to ask them to pay on a sliding scale or simply provide unreimbursed coverage if the patients cannot afford to pay.

“Just because people lose coverage doesn’t mean they stop getting sick or they should stop taking care of their wellness and chronic conditions,” Erickson said.

“That is super important, that we are able to continue to support that. But without insurance or without a payer source other than themselves, which honestly, people can’t afford it if they’re on Medicaid, so they’ll be uninsured,” he added. “That will just lead to more uncompensated care and make it really difficult for us to maintain services in rural communities.”

Erickson acknowledged that there are many unknowns about how the cuts to Medicaid will play out in the coming years. But he is concerned that reductions in coverage may put rural providers and patients into untenable positions.

“We already have patients who choose whether to get groceries or get their prescriptions, so it’s going to land on the most vulnerable people out there,” he said. “And we have to figure out, how are we going to serve all these new patients who are uninsured?”

Law’s goal is to cut fraud and waste

President Trump and Republican leaders in Congress have said the health care changes in the new budget bill will reduce fraud and waste and ensure that Medicaid is serving those it initially intended: pregnant women, people with disabilities and children.

Cuts in some programs were necessary in order to fund some of Trump’s other priorities, such as increasing immigration enforcement, boosting defense and providing tax cuts.

The bill includes a $50 billion new fund to help rural hospitals offset revenue losses. But the nonpartisan KFF research institute estimates Medicaid spending in rural areas will fall by $155 billion under the new legislation.

“It’s very clear that Medicaid cuts will result in rural hospital closures,” Alan Morgan, CEO of the National Rural Health Association, a nonprofit advocacy and research organization, told KFF in July.

A $1.65 billion program in SD

Medicaid in South Dakota provides medical, dental, vision and pharmaceutical insurance coverage for qualifying low-income adults and children.

The cost of the Medicaid program in South Dakota in calendar year 2024 was about $1.65 billion, according to data from the Department of Social Services, which administers the program.

DSS officials did not respond to an interview request from News Watch.

Medicaid enrollment and costs in South Dakota rose significantly in July 2023, when voter-approved expanded guidelines kicked in, and both metrics have continued to rise since then.

In June, about 144,300 people were enrolled in Medicaid in South Dakota, with 78,500 children and 65,800 adults covered by the insurance plan. The cost of the program was $155.5 million that month, with the state paying about 40% and the federal government paying around 60%.

While cuts to Medicaid will affect all health care providers across the state, including large health groups in bigger cities, rural providers and patients have fewer options to adapt to changes and as a result may see more acute impacts.

Long-term care industry worries but 1 positive

Providers in the long-term care industry in South Dakota are also trying to determine how the recent budget law will affect their ability to provide care or even remain financially viable, said Mark Deak, executive director of the South Dakota Health Care Association.

The association represents about 170 nursing homes, assisted-living and senior-care homes as well as about 90 vendors and suppliers to the long-term care industry in the state. Many of those facilities, particularly in rural areas, have experienced financial challenges in recent years, leading 10% of nursing homes to close during the early 2020s, Deak said.

While the budget bill does not contain direct cuts to long-term care funding, anticipated reductions in Medicaid funding could squeeze revenues for facilities that on average receive 54% of income from Medicaid enrollees, Deak said.

As a result, care facilities could be hit with revenue challenges, especially in rural areas where workforce is limited and costs can be higher, he said. Meanwhile, potential residents with limited financial resources could find it harder to obtain long-term care.

“Given how tight the margins are, and how tight the budget could get, it just ratchets up the level of anxiety,” Deak said. “Given the overall fiscal pressures, we’re just thinking about what the impacts could be.”

Another less-prominent piece of the legislation, Deak said, will shorten by a month the time period long-term care facilities have to process and be reimbursed for new residents, which also could make it less likely they will take in new low-income residents.

The law did include one big win for long-term care facilities.

It paused a federal staffing level requirement that Deak said would have forced facilities in South Dakota to hire 300 new nurses. That was an expensive and potentially impossible directive to meet given the lack of available workforce, he said.

Waiting and watching in Winner

Brian Williams, CEO of Winner Regional Health, said it’s too early to know how the Medicaid cuts in the federal budget bill will impact his facility and its patients. But he’s staying abreast of funding developments to be prepared if bad news does arrive.

“We do not fully understand how these cuts may or not impact us. But we’re very concerned and we’re keeping a close eye on how this is going to be implemented,” Williams told News Watch. “It could have a negative impact on our ability to get reimbursement for a lot a services we provide.”

The small, independent health group that includes a hospital, clinic and long-term care facility in south-central South Dakota’s Tripp County has been forced to make tough choices already this year due to revenue challenges.

In February, Winner Regional ended its birthing services, forcing expectant mothers to drive an hour or more to give birth with a doctor present.

Erickson, of Horizon Health Care, said he plans to contact members of Congress to urge them to modify or soften the cuts to Medicaid.

“That’s why we really have to tell our story of the impact of what it’s going to do to people across the country, and in our case, the people of South Dakota.”

 

SOUTH DAKOTA SCHOOLS SCRAMBLE AFTER FEDS WITHHOLD $25.8 MILLION IN FUNDING

SOUTH DAKOTA (Makenzie Huber / South Dakota Searchlight) – Teacher contracts were signed in the spring and school district budgets were prepared months ago. But weeks before school starts, South Dakota schools are missing $25.8 million they planned to use for the upcoming school year, according to the state Education Department.

Distribution of congressionally approved funds were paused indefinitely by the U.S. Department of Education on June 30 for review. The department’s decision to withhold $6.8 billion in funds for education triggered alarms nationwide about how the lack of funding will affect hiring of staff as well as student enrichment, after-school and language-learning services.

The funding freeze affects several programs, including Title II-A (educator training and recruitment), Title III-A (English learner support), Title IV-A (student enrichment and after-school programs), migrant education, and adult education and literacy grants.

Sandra Waltman, director of public affairs for the South Dakota Education Association, said school districts are “scrambling” to figure out their budget without the federal funding. That could mean eliminating vacant positions ahead of the school year or dipping into reserves “as long as they can.”

“This undermines the trust the community has in their public schools. This ‘we’re going to give you money but not give you money’ situation makes families question whether their school is going to have the resources to provide an education,” Waltman said. “They might wonder if they should look elsewhere. Maybe that’s the point: to undermine the ability of the public school system to provide support to students who need them.”

Pause could lead to long-term, larger ripple effects

A coalition of Democratic attorneys general and organizations including the National Education Association and National Association for the Advancement of Colored People are challenging the funding freeze in court.

South Dakota Education Secretary Joseph Graves said in an emailed statement to South Dakota Searchlight that the funding could continue “without further interruption” once the federal department completes its review.

“The funding pause means that some schools in South Dakota will need to remain flexible as they prepare for the 2025-26 school year,” Graves said. He added that schools still have access to $57 million in some Title I funds, which are primarily used to support schools with a high percentage of students from low-income families. That available funding is the “lion’s share” of federal K-12 education funding in the state.

Waltman said her organization urged South Dakota congressional delegates to “make it clear to the Trump administration that South Dakota schools need these dollars.”

She said the funding freeze will lead to larger consequences.

“If those dollars aren’t restored and we don’t see meaningful investment from the state and federal level, it’ll be difficult for our schools to sustain,” Waltman said. “They’ll look at reducing staff and cutting programs, and some rural schools will struggle to stay open.”

Huron Superintendent Kraig Steinhoff said that the fear, uncertainty and concern because of the funding freeze is “unfortunate and unnecessary.”

“It makes people question whether or not education is going to continue to be supported,” Stenhoff said, “and whether teaching is an occupation people should consider staying in.”

How schools are handling the missing funds

Huron relied on more than $760,000 in what are now frozen funds last school year, Steinhoff said, making it one of the largest recipients in the state. Sioux Falls, Rapid City, Oglala Lakota County and Todd County also receive large amounts of frozen funding.

Oglala Lakota, Sioux Falls and Huron use many of their funds for teacher, counselor and instructional coach salaries.

Sioux Falls, the largest district in the state by number of students, has up to $3.5 million in federal funds affected by the pause.

That’s the equivalent of up to 40 full-time staff, said Kirk Zeeck, Sioux Falls assistant superintendent of academic achievement. About $1.5 million of that funding is used for instructional coaches providing professional development for teachers, including behavioral training and engagement strategies.

Most of the funding on pause at Huron goes toward salaries for extra teachers to reduce the student-to-teacher ratio and staff meant to assist and support students – such as migrant liaisons, summer school staff and paraprofessionals. The funding also goes toward transportation for elementary school students and other programs.

Since staff contracts have already been signed, schools are on the hook to pay for those even though the funding isn’t readily available, Steinhoff added.

For Oglala Lakota County, the paused funding is mostly used to support salaries of instructional coaches and counselors. That includes retention and recruitment bonuses for teachers in one of the most rural and impoverished districts in the state. The annual $1,500 retention bonus is paid out the first pay period of August, said Superintendent Connie Kaltenbach.

“Our district is going to do all we can to ensure we maintain all the funding as best as we can,” Kaltenbach said. “We’ll cinch the belt in other areas.”

If funding isn’t resumed in time, Kaltenbach said the district would likely stop professional development travel and advertising for vacant staff positions. She said she’ll maintain and protect counselor positions in the district “as best we can so students don’t bear the brunt of that.”

Freeze impacts after-school programs: ‘We’re a tool to break the cycle of poverty’

Federal funding for some after-school and summer programs throughout the state is included in the $25.8 million freeze. Those programs, identified as 21st Century Community Learning Centers, are created to provide children, especially low-income students, with a safe place to eat and spend time outside of school areas.

Waltman said families depend on the programs to “fill the gap between after school and when parents can get off work.”

Frozen federal funding accounts for about 40% of the Boys and Girls Club of the Missouri River, according to Executive Director Pat Breen. The award is $246,741 a year, based on fiscal year 2024’s grant documents.

The organization operates the summer and after-school care program for the Wagner Community School District and Marty Indian School. Students are offered afternoon snacks and a meal each day, and they can stay until 8 p.m. during the school year or between 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. on weekdays during the summer.

The programs serve a combined 160 students per day, with more than 1,000 students rotating in and out of those slots last year.

“This is a vital mission,” Breen said. “We’re all about personal accountability and academic enrichment. We’re a tool to break the cycle of poverty.”

Funding for 21st Century programs will be reimbursed by the state Department of Education through August, according to the department. That’s because, since the grant funds cover projects over a five-year period, the department reserved a portion of last year’s awards to cover existing projects.

There are 25 active centers in South Dakota, according to the department.

Sarah Hanson, managing director for children, youth and families at Volunteers of America Dakotas, said the organization’s Kids Campus Central in Sioux Falls is “operating as normal” through mid-August because of the remaining funding from last year. In addition to the program, the organization’s missing $197,309 grant funded a dedicated Science, Technology, Engineering and Math tutor and transportation home for students whose families can’t pick them up.

Hanson said staff are preparing for the possibility they won’t receive funds in time for the new school year. They’re helping families seek other tuition assistance to help the program replace the frozen funding, including state Child Care Assistance, or scholarships.

“Our hope is that by starting early and being proactive, we can limit the number of families who are impacted,” Hanson said in an emailed statement. “Still, the loss of a funding stream this significant will have real effects.”

Hanson said transportation will be offered during the school year regardless of federal funding, because without it, “many families won’t be able to attend at all.”

Keiz Larson, executive director and CEO of YMCA of Rapid City, said her organization was not granted additional funding through August for two after-school programs in Box Elder and Fall River County because the programs restart in August. The YMCA is missing $147,695 between the two programs, based on fiscal year 2024 grant documents.

The after-school program in Box Elder serves the Douglas School District and Ellsworth Air Force Base with care, homework support and enrichment for students. YMCA is the only licensed elementary after-school and summer care provider in the rural Fall River County area, serving Edgemont.

If the frozen funding isn’t released by the end of the week, it could permanently jeopardize care for over 120 families in both communities.

“It’s hard to start something back up after you close it,” Larson said.

 

NEBRASKA IS SUING COLORADO OVER RIVER WATER AND A CANAL PROJECT

LINCOLN, NE (KOLN) – Nebraska’s Governor and Attorney General said the state is taking Colorado to the U.S. Supreme Court because Colorado isn’t following a 100-year-old agreement about sharing water from the South Platte River.

The South Platte River Compact, made in 1923, says how much water Nebraska should get in the summer (irrigation) season and winter. Nebraska says Colorado is breaking that deal in two big ways:

Colorado is taking too much water from the river in the summer, which means Nebraska farmers aren’t getting what they need.

Colorado is blocking Nebraska from building a canal in Perkins County, which would help Nebraska get the water it’s promised.

Because this is a disagreement between two states, the U.S. Supreme Court has to step in and decide what happens next.

“Today’s action comes only after we made every reasonable effort to resolve our differences with Colorado,” Gov. Jim Pillen said via news release. “Ultimately, Nebraska must push forward to secure our water for future generations. Although we hoped to avoid a lawsuit, we are confident we remain on schedule to complete the Perkins County Canal by 2032.”

Colorado Governor Jared Polis called Nebraska’s lawsuit ‘meritless’ in a statement Wednesday afternoon..

“I am disappointed that the States of Colorado and Nebraska will need to waste time and money in court over this meritless challenge. Colorado has always been in compliance with the South Platte Compact and other applicable agreements. We have also continued to meet in good faith with Nebraska, despite its attempts to intimidate Colorado landowners and damage our agricultural communities. This escalation by Nebraska is needless, and Colorado will take all steps necessary to aggressively defend Colorado water users, landowners, and our rural economy,” said Governor Polis.