Opportunities for bipartisanship

SEARCHLIGHT NEWS

By Joshua Haiar

U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, said this week that permitting reform could offer a rare opportunity for bipartisan action in Congress.

Thune discussed the issue on Tuesday during a summit hosted by Northwestern Energy, which has about 65,000 customers in the state and plans to merge with Black Hills Energy to become Bright Horizon Energy Corporation.

Thune told attendees lawmakers are considering shorter federal reviews for energy projects and time limits on legal challenges from project opponents.

“As soon as they’re ready to go, we’ll put it on the floor” of the Senate for a vote, Thune said.

By Joshua Haiar

Republican U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds unveiled a bipartisan bill Wednesday at Dakotafest that would pay farmers to convert less-productive cropland back to grass and allow the acres to be grazed by livestock all season.

The Rebuilding America’s National Cow Herd Act, or RANCH Act, would create a voluntary federal program with an enrollment cap of 20 million acres. Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota co-sponsors the legislation.

Under the proposal, eligible land would need to have had crops planted on it in at least four of the previous six years or have history of being cropped, according to a bill summary from Rounds’ Office. Farmers would sign 10- to 15-year contracts and establish and maintain perennial grasses or non-woody vegetation like wildflowers, buckwheat or radishes.

COMMENTARY

By Mary Garrigan

I started writing this column because the man who was, arguably, South Dakota’s best known Jewish person, died earlier this month.

But I’m really writing it because of the way Stan Adelstein lived and worked and made a positive impact on his community and state during his nine decades of life. Surely there are other men named Stan who have lived in Rapid City, but whenever I heard that name mentioned in Rapid City circles in the last or 30 or 40 years, and I heard it a lot, I never had to wonder who they were talking about. When it came to public life in western South Dakota – whether it was political, legislative, religious, philanthropic, economic development, community advocacy or media coverage of any sort, there was ever only one Stan.

FROM STATES NEWSROOM

By Anna Claire Vollers

In the summer of 2023, a third of the fire engines owned by the fire department in Kansas City, Kansas, were unusable. Five of 15 pumper trucks were out of commission, and the department was waiting on parts from the manufacturer.

So Kansas City fire officials went on a nationwide hunt for trucks. But their frantic search turned up just four they could buy immediately, and the vehicles were designed for smaller, more rural departments.

Their experience was not unusual: Municipalities and fire departments in every state are struggling with soaring prices and years-long delivery times for trucks. It’s a crisis many cities and departments lay squarely at the feet of the country’s biggest fire apparatus manufacturers.

AROUND THE REGION

SD NEWS FROM OTHER MEDIA

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