SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Rick Weiland, the co-founder of Dakotans for Health, came out with a warning to the 55,000 people who signed the petition to place the abortion issue back on the ballot in November. Weiland and his organization are cautioning of a deliberate and organized campaign by the Right to Life (RTL) organization to coerce signers into withdrawing their support from the petition.

In a post to the 55,000 individuals who lent their signatures to the Freedom Amendment petition, Weiland declared, “Right to Life has intensified their efforts to deceive you into retracting your support from our petition.”

The group revealed instances where parishioners at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Sioux Falls were provided with misleading materials, including a ‘Liar Flyer,’ and formal legal forms urging the removal of their names from the petition. He warned that similar tactics are being employed online, in public spaces, and within various churches across the state to pressure signers into renouncing their support.

Dakotans for Health underscored the importance of standing firm against this orchestrated attempt at changing minds. Weiland remarked, “It was evident from the outset that the Right to Life extremists controlling the State Legislature aimed to thwart our efforts when they hastily enacted emergency laws facilitating organized campaigns to coerce or intimidate petition signers into withdrawal.”

Dakotans for Health say their goal is a safeguard against governmental overreach and they encourage folks who signed their petitions to reaffirm their commitment and support for the Freedom Amendment by visiting www.dakotans4health.com

 

PIERRE, S.D. (Kathleen Shannon, Greater Dakota News Service) – There are nearly 150,000 miles of rivers and streams in South Dakota, but new data show many of those don’t meet state standards for safe water quality.

According to the state’s 2024 surface water quality report, nearly 80% of waters studied don’t meet the quality requirements for their intended uses, including recreation and aquatic life. The primary contaminants are E. Coli and Total Suspended Solids, which make rivers run brown. The report says some of the culprits are river bank erosion, runoff from large farm operations and sewage overflows.

Travis Entenman, managing director with Friends of the Big Sioux River, said those can pose human health risks through drinking water.

“When there’s excess nutrients in the water, it takes more cost, energy, equipment, time, money that goes into cleaning our water before we can drink it,” he explained.

Much of the contamination comes from nonpoint sources, meaning it accumulates from many small inputs, which are hard to regulate. Instead, the state offers incentives for voluntary action by landowners to prevent runoff, but Entenman said there’s more interest in those incentive programs than there is funding available.

Entenman expects that to change as the Natural Resources Conservation Service, which provides technical assistance to landowners, gets funding from the Inflation Reduction Act. Projects that can improve water quality include riparian buffers, waste management systems for livestock operators and alternative practices for row-crop growers. Entenman hopes to see many people get involved.

“When a river or lake becomes impaired, it’s kind of like a death by a thousand cuts,” he added. “So, if you’re doing the right thing, but your upstream neighbor isn’t, it’s not going to solve the larger issue.

 

ST. PAUL, MN (Mike Moen, Minnesota News Connection) – The end date for Minnesota’s legislative session is less than two weeks away. One of the remaining debates is gun safety and supporters of a safe firearm storage bill hope lawmakers finish the job.

Earlier in the session, a bill addressing so-called “straw purchases” of guns received heavy focus and eventually won House approval. The House also has advanced a measure that says if a gun isn’t within reach of the owner, it has to be unloaded and equipped with a locking device, or kept in a safe storage unit or locked room.

Susie Kaufman, chapter lead for Minnesota’s Moms Demand Action chapter, said it’s a reasonable way to block access to guns to those who shouldn’t be picking them up.

“Storing a gun on the top shelf of a closet or underneath a seat cushion – both of which are places that guns have been stored in Minnesota – where children have gained access to them with deadly consequences,” she explained.

House Republicans were loudly critical of the bill, saying it places severe limits and creates confusion for homeowners who want to protect themselves in case of an intruder. But supporters say it aligns with standard practices of responsible gun owners. It’s not clear yet if these plans will clear the Senate.

Kaufman pointed to research from the advocacy group Everytown that says rates of unintentional shootings were 78% lower in states with safe gun storage laws. She feels the right to protect yourself and your loved ones should be paired with commonsense gun ownership.

“And I would also suggest that guns can be stolen,” she continued. “There have been very well reported incidents in Minnesota where guns have been stolen from homes where they were not properly secured, and then used in crimes. ”

Exceptions were added to the bill, including situations for hunters. This proposed measure and the straw purchase bill are expected to be signed by Gov. Tim Walz if they reach his desk. The Legislature is scheduled to adjourn May 20.

 

LINCOLN, NE (Mark Richardson, Nebraska News Connection) – It’s National Nurses Week, and educators and healthcare officials say there just aren’t enough of them to go around. A combination of retiring baby boomers and nurses who chose to leave the field after the pandemic has left a projected shortfall of more than 5,400 nurses in Nebraska’s hospitals, clinics and long-term care facilities.

Linda Hardy, Nebraska Nurses Association president, explained that the system is not training enough new nurses to fill the vacancies.

“I think across the country we have a nursing shortage,” she intoned. “But the other thing we have a shortage of are nurse educators – and also, clinical sites for student nurses to be able to practice their clinical skills.”

According to a Nebraska Health Care Workforce Collaborative report, 66 of the state’s 93 counties have been declared medically underserved, and nine have no nurses. The report points to degraded “emotional health and well-being” as the main reason for staff shortages.

Hardy added healthcare providers and state officials are studying how to increase the investment in educational facilities and clinical sites to train new healthcare workers, and said one goal is to recruit them when they are young.

“There’s a collaborative effort to try and get more healthcare workers, not just nurses but radiology techs, pharmacists, etcetera, into the pipeline from high school kids. So, that’s a good thing,” she insisted.

Carole Johnson, administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration, said her mission during National Nurses Week is to highlight the vital role nurses play on the front lines, providing care, comfort and support to patients every day, but added the best way to honor them is to support them from training through retirement.

“You have to be investing in the nursing workforce. And so we’re providing scholarships, loan repayment, stipends, upskilling – a whole host of training initiatives to really help ensure that we can recruit people into nursing and that when they’re there, that they stay,” she continued.

 

PIERRE, S.D. (Joshua Haiar, South Dakota Searchlight) – For the second time, a committee of state lawmakers denied an attempt by the Department of Game, Fish and Parks to increase the number of waterfowl licenses for out-of-state hunters, leaving the controversial rule change’s future in doubt.

Game, Fish and Parks Secretary Kevin Robling told the committee Tuesday that the proposal is intended to boost hunter numbers.

“The issue is not less ducks, it is less people are picking up the shotgun to hunt ducks across the nation and across South Dakota,” Robling said.

The original plan to add 315 nonresident licenses sparked hundreds of opposing public comments after its introduction in March. The Game, Fish and Parks Commission reduced the proposal to 105 licenses and adopted it in April.

The proposal then went to the Legislature’s Rules Review Committee, a group of six lawmakers. The committee rejected the proposal for the first time on April 15 and sent it back to GF&P.

State law says if the Interim Rules Review Committee sends a rule back “to consider amendments,” the agency may make the amendments and resubmit the rule at the next committee meeting.

During a May 2 GF&P Commission meeting, department lawyer Nick Michels said GF&P would resubmit the proposal without changes “because there were no proposed amendments.”

“It wasn’t exactly clear what the grounds were for the reversion,” Michels said at the May 2 meeting. “I think they just wanted more clarification, honestly.”

On Tuesday, Robling defended the proposal. He said the department supports the change to address a decline in waterfowl hunting participation.

“We need to stop saying ‘no, you can’t hunt here’ to waterfowl hunters before the department has nobody to say no to any longer,” he said.

Robling said the 105 new nonresident licensees would likely harvest 536 of the 32 million ducks that migrate through the region annually.

“For these reasons, the department is very confident this issue of 105 licenses will have no biological impact on duck populations in South Dakota and across the flyway,” he said.

The proposed licenses would only be used on private land in some parts of eastern South Dakota, but not in the northeastern corner of the state, where resident hunters have complained of too much competition for a suitable hunting spot. The change would increase the nonresident license allocation from 6,300 to 6,405, generating about $9,000 for the department. Resident licenses are unlimited.

Opponents of the move said they agree the biological impact would be minimal. But they said the change would put greater pressure on a declining number of available hunting spots.

One factor in declining hunter numbers is vanishing waterfowl habitat, according to a 2017 Game, Fish and Parks survey. Over 70% of responding hunters reported being “very concerned” about the loss of hunting opportunities due to a loss of wetlands. One of the culprits for that is “drain tile” — perforated pipes in the soil to drain unwanted water from farm fields.

Another factor is hunting guides, who sometimes pay farmers for exclusive hunting rights on a piece of land. That means more nonresident licenses could create more revenue for guides — resident and nonresident — who lease more exclusive access for hunting.

“That’s the kind of pressure that starts to eliminate resident hunters like myself,” said John Simpson of Pierre, one of several people who testified against the rule change Tuesday.

“Our biggest fear is commercialization,” testified Chuck Dieter, professor emeritus of natural resource management at South Dakota State University. He said there are 25 resident commercial outfitters in the state, and “what’s disturbing to me is there are 28 nonresident guides that come over from other states and guide other nonresidents in South Dakota.”

The state does not require guides to carry a specific guiding license, nor does it track how many acres are leased for exclusive waterfowl hunting access.

Dana Rogers with the South Dakota Wildlife Federation said the commercial guide industry would be the primary beneficiary of the rule change. Rogers said he appreciates the commission rolling back the proposed number of additional licenses to 105, “but that’s not why all of the people were there testifying, submitting public comments.”

“They wanted this to be killed,” he said. “Not amended.”

Rep. Roger DeGroot, R-Brookings, said the testimony about limited access changed his view.

“I was taken aback today when I heard comments that outfitters can lease private land, then allow nonresidents to come and hunt that land,” he said. “It actually changed my whole view of the whole thing.”

The committee then voted 4-0, with two members excused, to send the proposal back to the department again.

“The vote today effectively kills this proposal,” said Committee Vice-Chair and Rep. Jon Hansen, R-Dell Rapids, in comments to South Dakota Searchlight.