LINCOLN COUNTY JUDGE SAYS NOPE TO N.O.P.E. AND DISMISSES LAWSUIT

CANTON, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – A decision was handed down by a Second Circuit Judge on Wednesday on the lawsuit filed by Neighbors Opposing Prison Expansion (NOPE) against the state.

The lawsuit was in response to the proposed men’s prison site in rural Lincoln County that caught landowners by surprise.

The state filed a motion for the case to be dismissed earlier this year on the basis of sovereign immunity, among other reasons.

On Wednesday, the judge’s decision was handed down and the case was dismissed. It has raised questions about where to go from here.

NOPE Lincoln County said that they‘re disappointed with the outcome of the judge’s decision. Lincoln County Commissioner Joel Arends showed the same stance.

“What this ruling really says is that all roads lead back to elected decision-makers and it says elected decision-makers have a lot of power and a lot of authority in this state when they make these kind of land-use decisions,” Arends said.

The judge not only ruled that NOPE lacked standing to sue, but that based on previous cases the state has sovereign immunity to the suit and did not have to follow county zoning laws.

Arends is worried about the implications of the ruling in the future.

“I think a lot of people knew that was the general rule is that the state doesn’t have to follow the county’s rules. It’s unfortunate because what it does is it leads to a lot of land conflict then when the state comes in and bigfoots the county and says, ‘We don’t care about your growth plan. We don’t care about the neighbors that live there. We’re just going to do what we want,’” Arends said.

Landowners’ next steps are not clear at the moment. However, NOPE said that despite the decision, they plan to keep working on other ways to advocate for what they believe to be in the best interest of Lincoln County.

In a release to Dakota News Now, their Board of Directors and Officers said:

“We are currently evaluating the next steps and anticipate that our efforts will shift to Pierre. There, we will work with the legislature to address the hasty and rushed nature of the current plans, and will continue to engage with stakeholders to address concerns surrounding the proposed location.”

When speaking with NOPE, Arends said they told him that landowners have proposed a different site for the prison that would be in a more industrial location, fits all the state’s criteria and the current landowners are open to selling. The location is south of the current proposed site. NOPE told Arends that the state would not entertain the idea, which was puzzling to them.

“State government has an opportunity to make this right. The state could get a prison, the county can maintain the integrity of its comprehensive growth plan and the residents can have the prison sited in another location and all it simply requires is the state to move to that industrial zoned location five minutes south of there. There is a win-win to be had here. We just need smart people in state government to execute on these things,” Arends said.

It’s been a little over a year since the announcement of the land being purchased for the new men’s prison caught Lincoln County residents by surprise. Even County Commissioners did not know of the plan.

In fact, Arends says that in the over twelve months since the announcement, there are more questions than answers and the County Commission has still not directly heard from the Department of Corrections.

“They have not come to one of our meetings. They have not contacted me. I don’t think they’ve contacted other county commissioners about this,” Arends explained. “We’ve heard bits and pieces from some of their folks, but nothing official, nothing formal, nothing in terms of a comprehensive rollout of what’s going to happen. We have no idea how the construction is going to work, how it’s going to be phased in or phased out. We don’t know what they’re going to do with the roads out there. We don’t know what roads we’ll be responsible for, which ones they’ll be responsible for. We don’t know if there’s going to be agreements for the fire coverage, law enforcement coverage, things like that.”

“I think you kind of get this attitude with some folks where they think all that will just fall into place eventually, but when you’re in the state’s fastest-growing county and you’re the nation’s ninth fastest-growing county, those are things that we need to be working on far in advance so that we can make sure that we deconflict any issues that are going on. At the end of the day, the elected leaders who make these decisions about where to put these projects need to do better for Lincoln County.”

Arends said state legislature coming up with a solution would be an option, but he hoped that they appeal the case, too.

“When I put my lawyer hat on, I say to myself, ‘Yeah, it would be very interesting for them to appeal.’ I encourage them to appeal the decision so we get a definitive answer from the [South Dakota] Supreme Court on these land-use issues,” Arends said.

Arends said that the upcoming election will be essential to addressing landowner issues and he encouraged South Dakotans to look into each candidate’s stance going into November 5.

Dakota News Now reached out to the DOC for comment on this story and has not received a response at the time of publishing.

 

DISCOVERY OF NON-CITIZEN VOTERS IN IOWA LEADS TO EXTRA WORK FOR POLL WORKERS

DES MOINES, IA – Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate says dozens of non-citizens voted or registered to vote in past elections. Pate’s office has referred those names to the Iowa Attorney General’s office for potential prosecution.

Pate’s office has sent a list of these names to county auditors. If someone whose name is on the list shows up to vote, the poll worker will fill out a voter registration challenge form and give that voter a provisional ballot. They’ll be allowed to fill out a ballot, but they must return to the county auditor’s office with proof of their citizenship for their vote to count.

Becky Bissell is the Adams County Auditor and she chairs the Iowa State Association of County Auditors. Bissell says the timing of Pate’s announcement isn’t ideal, but they should be able to meet the challenge.

”Any additional stress, none of us want to have, but we’re obviously going to follow the law. We’re going to follow the direction of the Secretary of State’s office. All of us are up to that challenge. We just want to have a fair and accurate election and do the best that we can so that’s what we’re all going to strive to do,” she said.

Bissell says they still need more information about how these alleged non-citizens voted and how Pate’s office discovered this. She says they’re still awaiting some instructions from Pate’s office on how to conduct the challenges.

Ashley Hunt Esquivel, a spokeswoman for Pate’s office, says they’ve sent information on how to help with the challenges to counties via email. She adds that Pate’s office is also sending the challenge forms by mail, and counties should have everything they need by Friday.

 

LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE PASSES ON REGULATIONS FOR APP STORES AND ENDORSES AGE VERIFICATION FOR ADULT WEBSITES

PIERRE, S.D. (John Hult / South Dakota Searchlight) – A South Dakota summer legislative study committee has endorsed a bill that would require users to prove their age with identification documents to access online pornography.

The Study Committee on Artificial Intelligence and Regulation of Internet Access by Minors made the decision at its final meeting on Wednesday in Pierre.

It also scrapped plans for bills that would aim to protect children from the harms of social media and other addictive apps.

The porn restriction bill was endorsed after months of meetings. The committee heard testimony at previous meetings from tech company representatives and advocates about both pornography and potential regulations for the other activities kids engage with on their phones.

The age verification bill closely mirrors a Texas age verification law that awaits a hearing and decision on its legality from the U.S. Supreme Court. The adult entertainment industry argues that age verification violates the free speech of users by forcing them to disclose personal information to access content.

Committee members passed two amendments to a prior draft of the age verification bill. One of them clarifies which websites would be required to ask adults for their driver’s licenses, credit card numbers, military IDs or other identifying information to prove they’re older than 18. Again mirroring the Texas law, the amended bill would apply to sites where a third or more of the content is “material harmful to minors.” That material is defined throughout the bill with passages like “predominantly appeals to the prurient, shameful, or morbid interest.” The bill defines “prurient” as “a shameful or morbid interest in nudity, sex, or excretion.”

Rep. Bethany Soye, R-Sioux Falls, opposed that particular change, saying it’s too restrictive and that lawmakers should spend some time working on the exact language to define covered websites. She voted against the amendment, but ultimately voted to advance the full bill to be introduced with the committee’s imprimatur when the Legislature convenes in January.

The amendment’s supporters — every committee member but Soye and Sen. Jim Mehlhaff, R-Pierre — agreed that passing Texas language would make South Dakota’s version less likely to see court challenges.

The other amendment removed a section on deceptive trade practices, which would have opened adult websites up to enforcement actions from the state’s Consumer Protection Division.

Instead of that, the bill would level criminal penalties against websites that fail to age-gate their adult content.

Previously, the committee had tentatively advanced app store and device-based age verification proposals for further discussion. No state in the nation has tried that approach, which is endorsed by Facebook’s parent company Meta. One of the bills would have required app stores and apps to offer more parental controls, including controls on apps a child would download. The device-based version would have restricted content available on phones or tablets designated as belonging to or primarily used by minors.

South Dakota lobbyist Doug Abraham testified against that idea Wednesday on behalf of the App Association, a trade group funded in part by Apple. Abraham pointed out that current parental controls offer most of the same tools the bills would expect app developers to use.

Abraham said the bill would upend those tools in favor of new ones that would be needed to comply with the letter of the law. He also suggested that the bills could run afoul of the First Amendment by restricting access to protected speech by adults.

“Everyone using a smartphone is going to have to use their personally identifying information,” Abraham said.

Lawmakers voted against endorsing the app- and device-based verification bills in part over fears of potential legal action. Sen. David Wheeler, R-Huron, said he doesn’t believe it’s wise for the state to be the first to pass a bill that’s almost certain to draw a legal challenge.

“To be the tip of the spear on this one probably goes too far,” Wheeler said.

Representatives from Attorney General Marty Jackley’s office told lawmakers they would be comfortable defending such a law, but they did not tell the committee whether or not to endorse the ideas.

The committee’s recommendations or rejections would not stop individual lawmakers from proposing their own tech regulations during the 2025 legislative session.

 

WARDEN OUT AT SOUTH DAKOTA STATE PENITENTIARY

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (John Hult / South Dakota Searchlight) – Teresa Bittinger is no longer warden of the South Dakota State Penitentiary in Sioux Falls.

Department of Corrections (DOC) employees got an email late Tuesday evening from Director of Prisons Amber Pirraglia announcing the warden’s departure. Within minutes, the email was posted to a Facebook group for the friends and families of inmates. The email was sent independently to South Dakota Searchlight by sources connected to the DOC.

“This decision was made after careful consideration and in alignment with the goals and standards of the department,” Pirraglia wrote.

The email goes on to say that Pirraglia will serve as interim warden, and that a “nationwide search is underway” to find wardens for the South Dakota State Penitentiary and the maximum security Jameson Annex, which is located on the Sioux Falls prison site.

That would mean an additional warden. Bittinger had been warden for both facilities.

DOC spokesman Michael Winder confirmed in a Wednesday morning email that Bittinger is no longer warden. He did not characterize the nature of Bittinger’s departure and said no other personnel information will be shared.

Bittinger was warden of the prison campus in Sioux Falls for less than two years. She was appointed in March 2023 to fill the role on an interim basis and became permanent warden the following month.

Bittinger’s departure came one day after lawmakers on a legislative oversight committee spent nearly an hour and a half in a closed discussion with DOC Secretary Kellie Wasko.

The committee went into executive session after a short discussion of a weekslong lockdown at the Sioux Falls prison’s three housing units. Commission Chairman Ernie Otten, R-Tea, closed the session in part to discuss “personnel and contractual matters.”

No one mentioned Bittinger during the public portions of the hearing.

Her departure comes at a tumultuous time for the DOC. The Sioux Falls lockdown was reportedly undertaken as a preemptive action, meant to weed out and seize contraband across three buildings.

The campus-wide searches included teardowns of three large sweat lodges, prompting a letter last week from Oglala Sioux Tribal President Frank Star Comes Out demanding an explanation.

Those were only the most recent controversies. The agency is also dealing with the fallout from incidents of inmate-on-inmate violence at Mike Durfee State Prison in Springfield in June, and from two bouts of unrest in March at the penitentiary that injured a correctional officer and sparked criminal charges for a handful of inmates. Those events came in the weeks following a temporary shutdown of electronic tablet-based communications.

The DOC has also faced criticism from the family members of inmates, who organized a group meant to pressure officials to respond to their concerns about safety, the price of commissary items for inmates and the impact of repeated lockdowns.

Meanwhile, the agency aims to build a new men’s prison in Lincoln County, about 15 miles south of the penitentiary, to replace most of the existing Sioux Falls facility that dates to 1881. The state has already committed $569 million to the plan, but has yet to lock in a guaranteed price.

Neighbors to the site, long used as farmland, have presented fierce resistance. They formed a nonprofit called Neighbors Opposed to Prison Expansion, filed a zoning-related lawsuit against the DOC that was dismissed Wednesday, have organized multiple public forums and have helped spark questions from lawmakers to the DOC on the feasibility of its site selection and construction plans.

If built, the new prison will be the most expensive taxpayer-funded capital project in state history. Another construction project — an $87 million women’s prison in Rapid City, to relieve overcrowding at the women’s prison in Pierre — is underway, so far without any of the controversy that has dogged the men’s prison project.

Bittinger herself arrived in the wake of scandal. She took over for warden Dan Sullivan, who took over for former Deputy Corrections Secretary Doug Clark, who’d served as interim warden after a 2021 shake-up tied to allegations of nepotism and sexual harassment that have never been explained by Gov. Kristi Noem’s administration.

The shake-up resulted in the ouster of former warden Darin Young and others at the Sioux Falls facility.

Sullivan, a 23-year veteran of the federal prison system who came to Sioux Falls by way of Minnesota, served less than two years before Bittinger’s appointment.