Articles

Brighter light to shine on big-project breaks

Tax refunds for business plans will be decided in public meetings

Special lawmaker study panels set

Legislators selected for committees on K-12 funding and domestic violence

SD Hall inductee was legendary behind-the-scenes lawman

Christenson, who will be inducted into SD Hall of Fame this fall, went on to work with Mickelson

• Bernie Christenson

Wind farm wins electricity battle before SD regulators

Clark facility succeeds in forcing purchase by NorthWestern.

Geese overpopulation targeted

Looser rules proposed to bring numbers down in South Dakota.

GF&P eyes golf cart use by campers at state parks

Change would require sticker, lights, mirrors, insurance for electric carts.

• Photo

Custer State Park to get new visitor center

GF&P Commission advances plan for $3 million facility.

• Norbeck Visitor Center

Fishing license sales trailing 2012 by significant amount

Among residents, sales of one-day licenses are down 60 percent and annual licenses are off 58.9 percent.

GF&P seeks smaller deer harvests

Thousands of fewer licenses, tags could be available for 2013 seasons.

Sprucing-up planned for SD Capitol

Building’s third-floor repair plan to focus on legislative area.

Columns

MERCER: Might a tax holiday cure slow economy?

PIERRE — As taxpayer relief and job incentives go, the best idea of the 2013 legislative session never stood a chance.

• Bob Mercer

MERCER: Friends remember Ruth Karim

Ruth Karim left this world Feb. 10 at age 82. Her funeral Feb. 16 at Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Pierre marks the final passing of one of the co-founders of the South Dakota Right to Life organization.

• Bob Mercer

MERCER: Local control bottom line in armed sentinels issue

Think of the opposite side of the argument. The Legislature says no. There is a deadly incident at a school without a resource officer and without law enforcement within short response time.

• Bob Mercer

MERCER: To win and lose: Four greats who left us

Saturday marked one year since the death of Bill Janklow from inoperable brain cancer. His four terms and 16 years in the office made him South Dakota’s longest-serving governor.

• Bob Mercer

MERCER: Women indicate influence growing in SD Legislature

PIERRE — The 18 women who will be in the state House of Representatives for the 2013 session that starts Tuesday are the largest number in the history of the South Dakota Legislature.

• Bob Mercer

MERCER: Term limits pave fast path to power in SD Legislature

The old ways, of biding time and building respect while waiting a turn, are gone.

• Bob Mercer

MERCER: Christmas tradition shines on at Capitol

How state Buildings and Grounds staff got the massive tree, whose branches spread perhaps 20 or more feet wide, through a double-doorway that measures perhaps six feet wide at the Capitol’s front, is a feat remindful of Houdini.

• Bob Mercer

MERCER: Socialism in a democracy

PIERRE — As South Dakotans weigh the social merits and the financial perils of embracing expanded Medicaid coverage available under Obamacare, let us take a breath and look at two other federal programs that embody the same principle of offering a big benefit to all.

• Bob Mercer

MERCER: Sometimes a kiss isn’t just a kiss

Not since their first inaugural ball, when they danced together for the first time as South Dakota’s then-new first couple, did Jean and Mike Rounds have such a big public moment that seemed so personally genuine, as they did Thursday morning.

• Bob Mercer

MERCER: Is planning panel the Legislature’s fountain of youth?

The Legislature’s Planning Committee is off to a confusing start. The law creating the new panel was passed earlier this year. The law’s language has lawmakers baffled.