PIERRE, S.D. – South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley has joined a letter sent by 44 members of the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG)  to U.S. House leadership endorsing the Child Exploitation and Artificial Intelligence Expert Commission Act of 2024.

The Act would establish a commission to “investigate and make recommendations on solutions to improve the ability of a law enforcement agency to prevent, detect, and prosecute child exploitation crimes committed using artificial intelligence.”

Quoting Jackley, “AI is useful in many ways, but the technology can also be used to harm people, especially children, we need to protect the children.”

Attorney General Jackley this year presented legislation that revised certain definitions to the current child pornography laws and also criminalized the possession, manufacturing, or distribution of child pornography to include Artificial Intelligence generated image and videos. That would include “deepfake” images or videos of an actual child that have been manipulated to make it look like the subject is a child engaged in prohibited sexual acts and AI-generated images that do not depict any actual person but are created to look like a child engaged in prohibited sexual acts.

The legislation was part of Senate Bill 79 which was passed by the Legislature and signed by the Governor.

Other Attorneys General who part of the 44-member coalition sending the letter are from Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Guam, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, U.S. Virgin Islands, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wyoming.

 

MITCHELL, S.D. – A former Mitchell baseball player charged with rape has accepted a plea deal, according to court documents.

On Monday, Lincoln Bates pleaded guilty to one count of Accessory to a Felony.

As a result of the plea, Bates will testify in connection to an incident that happened in Rapid City last year involving the Mitchell Legion Baseball team.  In exchange for his testimony, all other charges will be dropped.

Six players were charged with rape following the incident which is alleged to have happened in Rapid City when the team was in town for a tournament in June of 2023.

The following individuals have been indicted:

• Hudson Michael Haley for Second Degree Rape, Aiding and Abetting Second Degree Rape and Second Degree Rape. These charges involve two separate victims.
• Landon William Waddell for Second Degree Rape, Aiding and Abetting Second Degree Rape, Aiding and Abetting Second Degree Rape. These charges involve two separate victims.
• Peyton Douglas Mandel for Second Degree Rape and Aiding and Abetting Second Degree Rape
• Carter Ryan Miller for Second Degree Rape and Aiding and Abetting Second Degree Rape
• Karter Marcus Sibson for Second Degree Rape and Aiding and Abetting Second Degree Rape

In April, a judge found Mitchell baseball coach Luke Norden not guilty of a felony and not reporting child abuse. A charge against Mitchell Baseball Association former board member Jeremy Borgan was also dismissed.

 

IPSWICH, S.D. – A teacher and coach in Ipswich, SD is facing charges of rape, sexual exploitation of a minor and sexual contact with a child.

Online court records show that 47-year old Jeromy Loken was arrested on Thursday for first-degree rape of a victim younger than 13.  According to the Ipswich School District’s website Loken teaches industrial technology and physical education in addition to coaching track.

Details about the investigation leading to the charges are not being released by authorities, but there is a petition for a protection order against Loken on record.  That petition contains information from a woman who states that Loken is her day care provider’s husband and she claims that in early June Loken offered candy to her child in exchange for sexual acts.

According to the South Dakota Department of Social Services website, a state-registered family day care in Ipswich is listed as “Provider currently suspended.”

A hearing on the protection order petition is scheduled for June 18 in Edmunds County Circuit Court.

 

DES MOINES, IA – Tuesday, the State of Iowa asked the U.S. Court of Appeals to lift an injunction blocking two portions of SF 496.

The oral arguments were regarding the appeal that the State of Iowa filed after the court issued a temporary block on the law which resulted in the removal of several hundred books in Iowa schools.

The plaintiffs are asking the court to temporarily block the implementation of SF 496 while the lawsuit proceeds because of “ongoing irreparable harm to LGBTQ+ students”. It is also asking that SF 496 then be declared unconstitutional and permanently blocked.

The law, which the Republican-led Legislature and GOP Gov. Kim Reynolds approved early in 2023, bans books depicting sex acts from school libraries and classrooms and forbids teachers from raising gender identity and sexual orientation issues with students through the sixth grade.

The plaintiffs argue that Senate File 496 violates their First Amendment right to learn and read freely.

Attorneys argued if libraries are a form of government speech, and whether or not that can be restricted.

The state is arguing that school libraries are required to support school curriculum, which the state sets. On the other side of the coin, the argument is that the law is contradictory. And that students have a right to diverse viewpoints in school.

The law bans these books at schools, not at bookstores or public libraries.

In a statement, Attorney General Bird says, “Inappropriate books do not belong in the hands of school children. As a mom, I know how important it is for parents to have a say in what books and materials their kids have access to. Today, we made the case in court to defend Iowa’s law that protects kids, families, and parental rights. It is common sense.”

 

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Mark Moran / Iowa News Service) – One version of the Farm Bill being debated in Congress would cut billions of dollars in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits from agriculture-dependent states, including Iowa and groups fighting hunger in the state are pushing back.

The version of the Farm Bill released by Rep. Glenn Thompson, R-Pa., the House Agriculture Committee Chair, would cut nearly $30 billion in SNAP benefits over the next decade, including $170 million in Iowa, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Luke Elzinga, board chair of the Iowa Hunger Coalition, said based on the projections, the cuts would have a big effect on the most vulnerable people in the state.

“I think that’s especially concerning,” Elzinga stressed. “Because right now, we have food banks and food pantries across the state that are facing record-breaking demand.”

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Thrifty Food Plan, which creates funding formulas for SNAP and other food assistance programs, would also freeze future benefits. Thompson and others have argued their version of the Farm Bill amounts to responsible budgeting and planning.

Elzinga’s coalition has tracked numbers showing SNAP benefits are already not enough to keep up with providing the lowest-cost meals in the state and come in about 20% below what it takes to make ends meet at the dinner table.

“We’re talking about families getting typically less than $6 a day per person,” Elzinga pointed out. “It’s really already just not enough to get by. So many people are struggling with higher food prices, housing costs and child care costs.”

This is not the final version of the Farm Bill to be debated but Elzinga argued releasing a measure with such major cuts to SNAP benefits is not a good starting point for negotiations. In his view, it creates the perception for Congress, low-income people are not high on the priority list.

 

SOUTH DAKOTA (Kathleen Shannon / Greater Dakota News Service) – About 1.6 million acres of Great Plains grasslands were destroyed in 2021 alone, according to a recent report, an area the size of Delaware.

One program is working to help conserve them. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Grassland Conservation Reserve Program guides South Dakota producers and landowners in grazing and haying practices to enhance conservation. The South Dakota Farm Service Agency said it has helped protect almost 7 million acres of grasslands in the past three years.

Owen Fagerhaug, conservation program manager for the agency, said participants receive several types of technical recommendations.

“What can the acreage support for animal units? There’ll be stocking rates, stubble height that needs to be left after the grazing period,” Fagerhaug outlined. “Obviously pest management for weed control and invasives on the landscape would have to be controlled.”

Fagerhaug noted the 10-15-year contracts temporarily remove the threat of landscape conversion for producers. Registration for the program is open until June 28.

More than three-quarters of South Dakotans said they’re more likely to vote for political candidates who support healthy grasslands management, in a 2023 poll from the South Dakota Grassland Coalition, which helped launch a public service campaign called, “Where Good Things Grow.”

Jeff Zimprich, board member of the coalition, said voters understand what’s at stake.

“They know that grasslands provide clean water, clean air,” Zimprich stressed. “They know grasslands build healthy soils. And they appreciate what’s involved in the economy as well.”

In addition to the livestock industry, healthy grasslands economically support beekeeping, hunting, tourism and more.